James Flynn (1934–2020) was a New Zealand political studies professor who documented the Flynn effect — generational IQ gains driven by abstract reasoning, not school-taught facts. He argued modern minds wear "scientific spectacles": we classify experience through abstract concepts and transfer knowledge across domains, which is what complex work demands.
He criticized universities for training narrow vocational competence while failing to teach transferable reasoning (Fermi problems, statistical literacy, cross-disciplinary critical thinking). His work anchors the "wicked world needs range" argument in Range.