Just because IQ can be improved a little does it actually mean we can equalize intelligence across people or is that a logical leap?
I see this argument a lot. Someone points out that IQ scores can go up with practice, better nutrition, education, or early intervention, and then concludes that therefore intelligence is basically equalizable if we just invest enough. That feels like a big jump to me. Even if everyone improves, the relative differences could stay exactly the same. Am I missing something or is this actually a flawed argument?
You are not missing anything. Improvability and equalizability are completely separate questions. The Flynn effect proves this cleanly. Average IQ scores rose substantially across the 20th century in most countries, but the distribution did not compress. The gap between high and low scorers stayed roughly intact even as everyone moved up. Raising the mean does not close the spread. Enriched environments also tend to let genetic differences express more fully, not less, which is actually the opposite of equalization.
Absolute improvement and relative equalization are just different things. If everyone in a race gets faster, the finishing order does not change. That is the intuition people are missing when they jump from IQ is improvable to therefore intelligence can be equalized.