Some observations regarding intelligence
Boy, that sure sounds like an Enlightenment treatise, but it’s no attempt to write that, I assure you. Sometimes you need to state the obvious. Sometimes the obvious isn’t so obvious after all.
Being poor does not mean being stupid, and being rich does not mean being smart. The rich are not always smart and the smart are not always rich. (The poor aren’t poor because they’re dumb!) Being socially adjusted does not imply being stupid, nor does it mean being smart; being maladjusted is no sign of genius, nor of stupidity. Being good is no sign of intelligence, and being evil is no sign of the opposite; and vice versa. Being like you and me is certainly not a sign of intelligence — but being utterly unlike us is isn’t either. Those who are different are sometimes different because they see things more clearly than us, other times because we’re right and they can’t see it. Sometimes they’re different just because, well, tastes differ and yours aren’t better than theirs. Those who are wrong aren’t automatically dumb and those who are right clearly aren’t always smart. Being conservative, in the sense of working to preserve the traditional, is not a sign of maturity or immaturity; neither is being progressive, in the sense of working to change the traditional. (Progress versus conservation is a matter of determining the cost and benefits of change versus the cost and benefits of keeping things as they are.)
Intelligence is not a recipe for success, but stupidity is a recipe for disaster. (Effort is a necessary component of the former, not the latter.)
Praising the smart for being smart is not conducive to great achievements — praising them for effort is. That’s what the available science says, anyway. Praising the stupid for being stupid is, of course, the height of stupidity.
Encouraging the average to lead is not smart. Encouraging the smart to lead is, up until a certain point where intelligence becomes so out of touch it’s unfit for leadership again. Encouraging the stupid to lead is, well, never a good idea. Ability to lead is not determined by intelligence; we need the smart, natural-born leader to lead, not the smart but unsure or overly assertive. But remember, morality is orthogonal to intelligence.
High intelligence is abnormal. Expect it to behave different from average, for good or bad. Low intelligence is abnormal too; the same goes for it. No amount of intelligence can sway public opinion in favor of the good or the true, because public opinion is as much a function of emotional commitment as rational persuasion. Expect this to hold true also of the opinion of the intelligent on a select few matters: humans, being irrational beings capable of rationality, are not immune to irrational urges just because they’re smart.
Fear, anger, hate and love transcend intelligence. No manner of smarts can shield against them.
Smart women are as smart as smart men, but men’s intelligence is more widely distributed: there are more smart men than smart women, more dumb men than dumb women, and more average women than average men. Sex can give no predictions about intelligence on the level of a single individual. It goes without saying, but don’t estimate a person’s intelligence based on sex or race or nationality.
Sometimes the most intelligent things ever said are wrong. Sometimes the stupidest are right.
Intelligence is not completely static. The brain adapts to what you use it for, although you won’t go from failing algebra to being a rocket scientist at NASA overnight. Probably not ever.
There can be no ultimate rationality when it comes to attitudes towards life. The glass is both half full and half empty; no amount of intelligence can determine that one answer is more correct than the other. Depression and euphoria are often unconnected to intelligence, although abnormality of any kind makes it harder to adjust to life in the society of averages, and that again can cause depression. Sometimes knowledge is empowering, other times it is depressing.
But knowledge is not equivalent to intelligence. The ignorant are not always stupid and the smart are not always informed. There is an important difference between knowing of something and understanding something, and there is a difference between those capable of understanding but currently not in the possession of it, and those who don’t understand and never will.
IQ is not the ultimate measure of intelligence, but neither is it worthless and completely disconnected from that elusive g, for general intelligence. Just because your IQ is low doesn’t mean IQ is a sham, but neither does it mean you’re necessarily stupid or that you’ll never achieve great things. Just because your IQ is high doesn’t mean IQ is spot on, nor that you will necessarily achieve greatness, or have troubles fitting into society.
We need people who think. Even stupid reflection is reflection, but intelligence wasted is useless.
I can’t predict your intelligence based on whether you agree or disagree with this post, nor based on whether you cared to read it or skipped out of boredom.
