I must confess that for as long as I can remember, I've felt felt a tinge of loneliness; ok, more than a tinge. It isn't because I don't have tons of friends--I mean, I don't, but I don't need tons. The few I've got are all I need because I've never been the type of person who judges herself on popularity (Thank Buddha, or else I'd have been morbidly depressed by now!), because I know how fleeting popularity really is.
No, the truth is that I've almost always felt lonely for one reason: the sinking feeling that there are precious few people who view the world and those in it the way I do. For some reason, this matters a great deal to me. And this is the reason that I sometimes feel like I'm miles away even while surrounded by humans.
I feel as though I should qualify this by saying I DO NOT, in any way, think my way is the best way, the only way, the obvious way etc and further--that "way" I am referring to is fundamentally related to my job--not random "ways" of things in general.
Glad I could make that crystal clear for us -____-.
Ok, moving on...
Often, when I'm feeling alone, I like to keep moving. Specifically, I like to go for walks. Don't ask me why. So this is the state of affairs that brought me to Center City Philly last Friday night. As I roamed Queen Village, Society Hill and Olde City after dark, I found myself replaying some of the interactions with various people I'd had up to that point in the day. When my mind settled on one of the day's conversations--I don't remember which--I distinctly recall feeling a rising tide of frustration. And while I'm sketchy on the details of the conversation which sparked these thoughts, I know precisely what frustrated me that evening, because it's something that consistently frustrates me to no end: the realization that most people seem to have no handle on what it means to be "intelligent." Not that I feel that I have a monopoly on the definition. It's just that I feel that people throw the word around like it's a hacky sack, with little to no thought about how their use of the term speaks volumes about what they value in terms of mental capacity.
So, you guessed it. I'd like you to weigh in on the subject. What does it mean to be "intelligent"? Who's the smartest person you've ever known? What is it that makes them so intelligent in your view? Be specific, cite examples and do your best to arrive at a definition. But DON'T consult a dictionary. If you absolutely can't resist the temptation to chew on someone else's thoughts on the subject, I'd like you to Google quotations on intelligence and tell me if you come across one that sums up your views on the topic--or one that doesn't if playing devil's advocate is your thing.
Share the quote with us and connect it with your response.
Don't rush your thinking. Let it marinate...
You may come up to me and attempt to entertain me with the principles of astrophysics, the discipline behind derivatives, and elements of quantum physics, but you will hardly be proving your "intelligence". From me these people will only be able to hear an "okay" or some other obvious answer of disgust and disinterest. Of course scholastic intelligence is always wonderful to have, but it doesn't always do it for me. In my eyes, intelligence is not always school oriented; it is sometimes just general knowledge. Tell me about the stars that make up Orion's belt, tell me about some of the Marvel and DC comic books and how they were made, tell me about how animals migrate. I believe that this general knowledge is intelligence because general knowledge comes from experience, not always a textbook.
ReplyDeleteThe most intelligent woman in my life does not constantly flash her math degree in my face nor is she building me up to be a mathematician. The most intelligent person in my life happens to be my mother. My mom is constantly schooling me on the ways of the world and without her I truly believe that I would be lost. For instance, my mom taught me that you cannot trust each and every single person that you would normally consider a "friend". I'm not going to go into specifics of the situation seeing as the world is a relatively small place, but I'm thankful that my mother was there to assuage both my overall baffled state and my pain. If not for my mother, I would have continued to have been duped by this person and I probably never would have learned such a valuable life lesson.
My mother has also taught me that presentation is sometimes everything. Anyone that knew me my freshman year of high schools knows that I, on a daily basis, looked like I had just rolled out of bed. I would wear at least three different (and conflicting) colors at the same time. My friends and I would laugh about this, but in all honesty, I could not see what I was doing wrong. One day my mom sat me down and told me that I looked somewhat disheveled. She let me know that she was proud that I was grabbing clothes without wrinkles in them, just the color scheme needed to be altered. If I showed up to a job interview looking like a walking rainbow, I would never get the job because the interviewer wants to hire someone that looks presentable, not like a bag of skittles. Now that I am a junior, it is safe to say that I still wear my hooded sweatshirts, but I am more aware of what colors I am wearing. In fact, if you look in my closet right now, you will notice a plethora of gray shirts and sweaters. Gray happens to go with a majority of the sweatshirts that I have, so everything works out in the end. Now when I look at myself in the mirror, I am able to say that I look less like a box of crayons and more like an organized human being.
When I was a lot younger, intelligence used to be limited to what I was taught in school. As I aged, I learned that what you are taught in school is not all there is to life. The quadratic equation will not be applied to my everyday life (I have no plans on having a math oriented career). General knowledge is intelligence and it is something that I live for; it's something that will get me through life. Without my mother, I would be an absolute wreck. Although I do not say this enough, I am thankful for all of the knowledge and wisdom that my mother has bestowed in me throughout the years. Even though getting an education is a must in today's world, don't get so caught up in your textbooks that you are unable to make to make a decision without using some kind of formula. Sometimes general knowledge is all you need.
I very much appreciate that you also believe that "textbook knowledge" only has a limited claim to intelligence. I absolutely agree that an essential part of intelligence is experience not only because it provides you with experiences you may not otherwise have, but also it reinforces what you have learned elsewhere and makes it truly meaningful. When knowledge becomes meaningful to you, that's when you know you have gained intelligence from the material you have learned. Great blog post.
DeleteJasmine, this was absolutely perfect. I have to agree with exactly what you are saying, general knowledge is what I was trying to describe in my blog post but was unable to put words to it. We learn from textbooks, but I tend to believe that most of our knowledge we gain is from common sense or general learning we do from other people, such as your example of your mom. She teaches you what you'll need in the real world and I think that is great! This was an awesome post, I agree with it fully and it helped me better understand how I could have written my post.
DeleteJasmine, I love your reply. Just like you, I do believe that “textbook knowledge” does not encompass someone’s real intelligence. You’re right in saying that experience is an integral part of intelligence. The knowledge that we gain from other people, not textbooks, and actually become important to us is what makes us more intelligent. Our general knowledge is what will help us survive in the real world. No quadratic equation or derivative is going to help us in our everyday life. Your blog post was great and I’m glad that I actually took the time to read it.
DeleteI completely disagree with the way you seem to minimize "textbook knowledge." What people often classify as general knowledge is a manifestation of what they think is important. For example, comic books are only really important to those who enjoy that brand of entertainment. Textbook knowledge ultimately has the ambition to go beyond what we think it is important. They try to explain how the stars shine, how life exists, how economies thrive, how electricity can be manifested, how consciousness exists and so on. Though I'm not knocking the migratory habits of cheetahs, they pale in significance when those textbook worms work to attain the knowledge of how they exist in the first place or how we are intelligent enough to have a conversation about them. Whether or not we chose to believe it, e=mc^2 is more universally relevant than Captain America. So why is the latter considered generally intelligent but not the former? And in the end, what we learn through experience incredibly censored unconsciously and just because you have an opinion substantiated by one or two abstract experiences, doesn't mean you're right.
DeleteWith this said, I do retain though that I admire your passion for your opinion as you do with most things. Perhaps it's just hyperbole to emphasize your point but I mainly see your blog as attacking disciplines that you just happen to not enjoy or prioritize. And not that general intelligence is in anyway inferior or unneeded, but who is to say what generalize intelligence actually is. If all we ever needed was general intelligence, what would motivate us to learn more? If living to age one hundred automatically satisfied our desire to learn and explore, we would live in a world that would be almost completely unrecognisable.
I agree Jasmine intelligence does not always have to deal with school like most people do, its something everyone has and in different ways. I also think my mother is intelligent because she raised me to be the person I am along with the help of others but in the end intelligence is having general knowledge.
DeleteI know what you mean when you say textbooks don't say all there is to be about intelligence because it isn't. I feel like intelligence can be anything that depends on your life at that point in time. Because we are in school by which the only knowledge called upon often is from textbooks that may be why people most often associate knowledge from intelligence. In the work place it may be whoever is the best at their job.
DeleteWhen we are asked to define things it becomes very obvious how our values and world view cloud our own opinions on subjects like this. Kids in AP Lang will probably have a much different definition then kids in lower-level classes or a much different opinion from, say, college professors. And for me personally I have never really been able to pin down what 'intelligence' is. Traditionally I have been told that it is someone who is good at bookwork, someone who can solve logic or mathematic problems easily, and someone who does well in school or work. And of course people with all the qualities are no doubt intelligent; certainly they are what is considered 'traditionally intelligent'. But if we go by those standards then there are millions of people who are undoubtedly intelligent that would never be considered so. Perhaps someone never got schooling; is their inability to do problems a schoolchild would know how to do somehow an insult to their intelligence? It is not necessarily things you learn that makes you intelligent because anyone can parrot back information. Rather it is an inherent quality that can manifest in different ways. Say that uneducated individual sought out an education. I think an indication of intelligence is the ability to pick up new information quickly and to be able to understand it and work with it effortlessly. To that sort of intelligent person learning would not be much of chore; they would probably seek to further their education themselves. Because to make proper use of a keen and intelligent mind you have to use it, and use it for things you enjoy. I absolutely hate the idea that apathy and aloofness is somehow an indicator of intelligence. You can sit around smoking your pipe in your bathrobe all you want and talk about the simple masses but that doesn't make you smart, contrary to popular belief. That just makes you pretentious. Rather, intelligence seems to shine through in passion. Someone who is passionate about something and who truly considers it critically and gets deep into the inner workings of that something are not dull or dimwitted people. Another sign of true intelligence is being able to hold smart and thoughtful conversations with other people. Being able to argue a point, or explain something in detail or to simply keep up with the other person's thinking takes smarts. It shows that you can actually take something, take someone's words and analyze them critically and form your own opinions. Having strong opinions that are not easily influenced is another quality that betrays a smart mind. I don't mean that you are stubborn and obstinate and refuse to listen to reason. (part 1)
ReplyDelete(part 2)
ReplyDeleteWhat I mean is that you won't allow people to influence personal opinions and viewpoints, and if they do someone you consider their own opinions critically before making any amendments to your own. Just going along like a sheep and changing your values and beliefs as soon as someone mentions something to make you doubt is not anything to be particularly proud of. These are all qualities I consider an intelligent person to have by my own definition; there are other things more abstract but I can safely point to these features and say 'there, you should have those'. I consider an intelligent person to have these qualities because some of the most intelligent people I know all possess them. My grandfather, for example, who is a college professor at Stockon is one of the smartest people I know (and I would be lying if I said it doesn't intimidate me- I have a lot to live up to in my family). I can always count on him to engage in interesting conversation, or recommend interesting books to me or just stun me with some of the stuff he knows. He jokes that he has knowledge of everything in the world but sometimes it seems awfully true. I think my dad is an intelligent dude in the same way.... even if he wasted his ivy school education on a rather useless degree. But honestly, I am in no way to define what intelligence really is. There are certainly different forms of intelligence out there and people who will appreciate those differences. But this is just my way of seeing it.
I am very interested that you included the aspect of passion into your definition of intelligence. I think everyone here will agree that what you called "traditional intelligence" is only a partial definition, but passion is not something I had considered. In my blog response, I focused on how once you learn the information you have to use it with passion but I like that you took it the other way and said that you also need passion to start. I also liked your bathrobe description of someone with the traditional type of intelligence, it made me laugh.
DeletePaige, I met your grandfather back in middle school and the man is intelligent! Grandparents just have this way about them that intrigues me to no avail! I will also agree with you that knowledge can be extremely intimidating. When people discuss things that are over my head, I literally feel like a lame duck. I just have to sit there and hope the conversations ends rather quickly. I also agree with your point of there being several different forms of intelligence. If there were one set definition of intelligence I have a feeling that a lot of people would be dubbed intellectually obsolete.
DeleteEven though you haven't taken Psych, as you stated in my reply, you are very right when you say that there are definitely multiple intelligences. Perhaps one of them comes in the form of charisma. As I recalled my encounters with you grandfather (which doesn't sound wrong in any way), I was always struck by his charisma and overall attitude. It must be an effective tool in his teaching since he, as a master of rhetoric, would surely get a 5 in AP Exam.
DeletePaige, I liked how you connected your response to passion because there are people who are very intellegent and don't have the desire to seek more. I also liked how you stated that there is no true defintion of intellegence because everyone is different and there is not one single person who shares the same intellegence.
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DeleteI always had a great appreciation for the grand amount of passion that people possess but I could never put into words why I admired it so much. Since you were able to relate passion to intelligence, I think that may be one of the reasons why I appreciate it so much. Someone who is passionate about a certain area of study will quickly pick up on the knowledge simply out of pure zeal. I also believe that intelligence is manifested through their abilities to hold intellectual conversations filled with personal insight. It shows that they have a full understanding of said subject if they are able to take a concept, that may be broad or vague, and break it down for a critical analysis. I agree with your overall interpretation on intelligence and how its definition is unrestricted.
DeleteYour grandpop reminds me something like Dumbledore but funnier and im a little jealous. I agree that at the root of intelligence is passion and that the passion for knowledge of a subject can be found in all shapes and sizes, it's truly amazing and upsetting that so many people are not credited with being intelligent.
DeleteI find the ability to have meaning, thoughtful conversation to be a dead ringer for intelligence. Not to suggest that if you can't have such conversation, you're not intelligent, but this meaningful conversation is a manifestation of intelligence in the way that we humans seem to most value. And I guess that is all the matters.
DeletePart 1
ReplyDeleteThanks to my recent crash coursing for the upcoming AP Psychology exam, I cannot help but consult my College Board-approved schema of what intelligence is supposed to be. It seems that many of us think of two types of intelligence (unless you’re Howard Gardener and you believe that there are up to eight different kinds of intelligence). Crystallized intelligence is essentially what you know from memory or what you know as a somewhat unconscious skill set. It is not merely your capacity to memorize but it is very closely associated with long-term retention. You can think of it in terms of famous generals, SAT vocab words, important pieces of literature, etc. Then there is fluid intelligence which is the capacity to think logically through abstract problems to come to a solution. People often think of fluid intelligence in terms of the stereotypical scientist, based off of the archetype of Einstein, who spends years scratching down math equations to finally come up with some grandiose generalized theory.
Some debate over which type of intelligence is, for lack of a better colloquialism, more legit. And yet some argue that experience is an overriding factor. I disagree because there are many middle-aged people who simply have had their heads up their asses for fifty plus years. Experience, I agree, is a great facilitator of intelligence if and only if your crystallized intelligence allows you retain these experiences and your fluid intelligence allows you to draw inferences from these experiences that help you continue to develop and grow as a person. But back to the fluid vs. crystallized debate. People often generalize humanitarian disciplines as demanding more crystallized intelligence and scientific or mathematical disciplines as demanding more fluid intelligence. There are obviously some exceptions to this rule since AP Lang does in fact require inductive and deductive reasoning skills. Also James Clerk Maxwell, who literally quantified light, was neither a biologist nor a psychologist but a physicist. You simply don’t see such a demand for fluid intelligence in biology or psychology but I digress.
I personally believe that fluid intelligence is “more legit” since humans have invented a little something called “writing shit down.” This in itself may imply that having the capacity to remember random things is impressive, and sometimes it is, but if you memorize hundreds of pages of ancient folklore and mythology, you’re not necessarily a genius. You’re probably just Homer, the man that everyone taking English I hates. It seems to me that fluid intelligence is at the forefront of almost every major innovation and invention. Innovation and invention, by their very definition involves a new step forward or a deviation from past methods which in itself suggests crystallized intelligence. This is not to say, however, that crystallized intelligence is useless or unnecessary. Every person who has strong fluid intelligence needs to have some degree of crystallized intelligence. If you forget day-in and day-out the basic elements of your own passion or discipline, no degree of fluid intelligence can save you. So to after much contemplation, intelligence to me is a combination of both of these forms of intelligence skewed more towards fluid intelligence. An idealistic ration of fluid to crystallized is maybe around three to two.
Part 2
ReplyDeleteIt’s very difficult for me to arrive at the single most intelligent person I know since, though I have my own definition of intelligence, there are still many factors in terms of personality or past experience that may distort my view of any certain person. I feel that a lot of people will probably cite their parents as exceptionally intelligent and in a certain regard it is kind of hard not to since parents tend to be our primary mentors from youth. Plus we tend to spend more time with family and can pick their brain more often as a result. Removing all of that, I still retain that my Dad and my grandfather both have an amazing deal of fluid intelligence. Individually, they all know how to fix anything of any physical structure. Lights, tables, cars, bikes, ovens, air conditioners, phone chargers, pools, guitars, garage doors, telephone poles, aircraft carries, proton accelerators, and so on! And none of them ever consult any text or instruction manual whatsoever before doing so. They just look at a problem and they know how to solve it. They must have some very deep unified theory of how everything works. If I were to then pick someone who has a great deal of crystallized intelligence, it would be my Uncle Dave (my family is very creative with names). He is a military history buff and knows everything from the body count of Hastings to how many times Colin Powell was passed up for promotion for being black. He also has a fixation with the evolution of dogs and at one time recited the over one hundred and fifty dog breeds of canines that are currently recognized by the American Kennel Club. If he has a remote interest in anything, even the color red, he will read up to three of four textbooks about it. It’s pretty amazing. Unfortunately, I cannot think of someone who unifies the two in that previously mentioned to two ratio. No one I have ever known has struck me as so breath-takingly amazing as Newton, Euler or Medeleev. Not that the odds of meeting someone that intelligent here on Somers Point Road are in any way substantial.
In some way, I believe than another facet of intelligence is knowing that there is not a unified idea of intelligence. No offense to Bunje but I’ve always hated the question “who is the smartest person ever?” because it’s very subjective to self-serving ideas. If you like biology, you are likely to say Darwin. If you like literature, you are likely to say Shakespeare. Neil deGrasse Tyson is an astrophysicist, so it’s no surprise that he answered Issac Newton. By adding the condition that this “smartest person” has to be someone you know or have met, it may in effect bias out overall understanding of intelligence. If you work backwards by saying that the smartest person I know is smart because of X, Y, and Z, you will define intelligence as X, Y, and Z. However, if you take it upon yourself to think forward on the issue, you realize that everything from A through Z has the potential to influence intelligence in one way or another. There are just too many variables to work that down to an exact answer. If you ask Carl Gauss to calculate the probability of three people in Italy simultaneously having a dream about a macroscopic Mr. Bean fighting King Kong just outside of Nazi occupied Dubai while Shrek sodomizes a two year old boy on the thirty first floor of the Burj Khalifa and Malcolm Young drops to the floor because of a stroke at 11:47PM on April 21, 2014, Gauss will rightly tell you to go jump off a bridge. And somehow, universally defining the word “intelligence” is still more difficult than that.
Way to make use of the self-reference effect and make our psychology course have some actual real-life application. I have to say, I never would have even thought of referencing that material which I guess suggests in and of itself that fluid intelligence is in fact more important, perhaps to the ratio you suggest. It has also made me follow a rabbit trail and realize something I really need to work on given my huge lack of ability to cross reference material between classes. But more importantly, I think you really quantified what intelligence is, that it is a very complex mix of the facts and application and for that, I say you wrote a great response.
DeleteAlthough I'm not in AP Psych (yet...) this sort of broad characterization of two different types of intelligence makes a lot of sense. And I definitely agree that 'fluid' intelligence that involves critical thinking and actually being able to apply knowledge to solve a problem shows more skill and general intelligence then memorizing a bunch of stuff and writing it down. You could ace a test if you get a hold of the answers and memorize which bubbles to fill in and it's not hard to memorize ten vocab words in a couple hours. But actually being able to apply things you've learned to come up with a solution that is entirely your own takes a lot more work than just route memorization. I think one of the things that scare me the most about any potential future career is how well I will be able to utilize this type of intelligence. Because I want to go into a science filed and that definitely takes critical thinking- you're the one looking for answers to all the questions! But this 'fluid intelligence' is something that can be very elusive.
DeleteDave, I like how you explained and described the two different types of intellegence. I thought that there were many types of intellegence because I have not met someone who is well rounded in every subject and field. I like you said that the men in your family are the smartest people you know because I would say the same thing. Its so interesting how fathers, uncles, or whatever can come up with the solutions to the most trivial things without the need of a textbook or manual.
DeleteNice to see you turned to psychology also in trying to answer this question. I was trying to avoid it, yet once you learn the ways these "smart people" tried to answer such questions, it would seem a travesty not to incorporate some of their thinking into a response to such a blog. So we're in the same boat haha.
DeleteEverybody has some sort of intelligence. Being intelligent ranges from many different areas, one being the smartest person in the class who gets nothing but A's on every single test, quiz, or project they do, another would be having the intelligence of common sense which doesn't need calculus to figure easy life situations out. In my opinion, I believe when defining what it means to be intelligent there are a few different ways to explain it. Some people are naturally smart, where while in school every subject they take, they tend to pick up on lessons more quickly and easily. They are the intelligent people who don't need extra help or who do very well on every test. There are also intelligent people who know how to use their knowledge well outside of the classroom. They are the business dealers and the architects, they are the people who go far and beyond the algebraic equations and actually apply real life situations to create new and bigger things. I know that all sounds confusing but in my view I find it difficult to really define what it is to be intelligent because every one is intelligence in different ways so to sum up what I believe it is to be intelligent I agree with the quote by Alan Alda that said "Be as smart as you can, but remember that it is always better to be wise than to be smart." I agree with this saying because no matter how much information you gain, it depends on how you apply that knowledge in the real word that really defines your intelligence. Asking who is the smartest person that I have ever known, two names popped into my mind, one being someone we all know well and another that has made a huge impact in my life. First, sorry Neil but I have to, I find Neil to be one of the smartest teenagers I have ever known. I tell him this all the time so thought it best to use him. Yes, he is 1st in our jr. class but that's not my main reasoning. My main reason to believe that Neil is one of the smartest people I've met would be because everything he learns, or reads about he picks up on it very quickly. From politicians to anything in the current events, from every math problem developed to writing the strongest English essay, everything he seems to do tends to be correct. I am comfortable with asking him for extra help in a subject because he knows how to explain it to me. I know this all sounds pretty common but I haven't met Albert Einstein, so Neil Philip it is. The other person I find to be the most intelligent person I have ever known would be my Mommom. She keeps up on all the news and current events. She is always reading and gaining more knowledge, calling me and teaching me new things that I would have never known, most of the time the information is more useful than some of the lessons I've learned in school classes. I may not be the smartest person out there, actually I lack a lot of common sense so being able to define intelligence comes off a bit more difficult than I thought. But in any case to sum it all up, being intelligent means to be able to use any of the knowledge people gain and actually using it the right way out in the world and not just to get A's on the next test.
ReplyDeleteYes, I definitely agree that their are multiple types of intelligence! I mean there are people out there who are ridiculously smart but lacking in common sense or an ability to apply their skills. Their are people out there who are 'socially intelligent' who know how to interact with people and manipulate them. There are people out there who could probably build a plane but did horrible in English class. Intelligence can never be rigidly defined as one thing, that's it, period. If there was only one type of intelligence then the world wouldn't be advancing very far in the first place. It's definitely important to acknowledge all types and not the traditional book-smarts most people view as intelligence.
DeleteMicky, I agree that grandparents have a plethora a wisdom and knowledge! My grandmother is countlessly telling me how to prevent wrinkles (she hardly has any wrinkles, so I guess it works)! I'm not entirely sure why grandparents know so many things. Is it just their generation or is it from life experience? I truly want to know. Maybe as we age we will acquire knowledge tantamount to that of our grandparents; I sure hope I do!
DeleteI was happy to see that you also agree with the idea that the ability to actually apply rote skills and memorization is the highlight of intelligence as this is one of the main points of my blog. You also seems to suggest that the motivation to learn is a type of intelligence itself. I also agree with this idea.
DeleteYou’re right, there are different types of intelligence. There are some that we call “textbook smart” that seem to know everything that is said and done in a textbook, but are lacking in the skills that aren’t written down in a textbook. There are people who are gifted with the ability to be socially able and make friend with basically anyone they meet, but aren’t exactly the best when it comes to sitting down in a classroom and taking tests. There are people who have been successful and dropped out of school. Intelligence is something that could never really be measured.
DeleteI agree with you too when you say there are different types of intelligence, because there are no one is perfect at every single thing but there is one thing they are good at and that is what they have intelligence in. I also agree with you when you say the smartest person you have met is your mommom and I believe its all the experience they have in life that makes them intelligent.
Delete! While everyone knows a little about something, I believe no one knows
ReplyDeletesomething about everything, not even the guy on the Kahn academy videos. For that
reason, when I think about what it takes for a person to be considered intelligent, or
what exactly the definition of “intelligent” is, I have to think more about what people’s
actions are as a result of what they know as opposed to just reviewing what in fact they
do know. If someone knew a whole lot about the production of paper lets say, I would
consider that person intelligent if and only if, they did something with that knowledge. I
would expect them to make contributions to the recycling effort or maybe increase
production efficiency or maybe find a way to use as little tree as possible. The way I see
it, what’s the point of knowing something if you just keep it in your head?
! With that criteria in place, there are a lot of people I know that could be
considered intelligent, but if I really had to pick one person, I am obviously going to
chose someone who has done the most with what they know. Therefore, the smartest
person I know is my elementary school band teacher, Mr. Rushmore. While, he wasn’t a
man of the sciences or literature, he knows pretty much everything you could know
about music. Types of music, composing music, composers, rhythms, and time
signatures are all in the files of his brain, he probably even knows maybe thirty songs by
heart, and I mean playing with an instrument, not just singing along. So far, I have only
qualified him as intelligent using half of my definition, the having-something-in-your-
brain part, but to fully explain why he is the most intelligent person I know by my
standards, I also have to talk about what he does with his bounty of musical wisdom. To
answer that in the most straight forward way possible, he’s a teacher. He spends his
entire day teaching young kids his art. He tirelessly sits through lesson after lesson of
squeaking, squawking, banging, and crashing to educate these young kiddies in a fine
art. But he’s not just an average teacher, he loves what he does and literally fills his life
with it. I can’t tell you how many teachers I know that openly say that once they get
home from teaching they do nothing more related to school. Mr. Rushmore keeps
pushing until he falls asleep. when he’s not teaching, he’s practicing himself (I think I
heard him say he practices at least two hours everyday), and if he’s not practicing, he’s
conducting another band voluntarily.
! Some of you may still be skeptical of my decision and I’m totally okay with that
because no doubt all of our definitions of intelligence are going to have slightly different
nuances about them and therefore different people will apply to those guidelines. But,
regardless as one last effort to support my choice, I leave you with a quote that holds
more truth to it, and has taught me more about music than any music theory class ever
could
! “Only perfect practice makes perfect”
! Apply it to you own life and it will make sense.
I don't know what happened with the formatting.
DeleteTommi as always this was a great blog respond. I love how you said "what is the point of knowing something if you keep it in your head?" because I agree that intelligence is within the way you express your knowledge that you have. But in any case I must reply to your person you believe is the smartest you have ever met. Mr.Rushmore was honestly so amazing to have as a music teacher. He taught me so much there was to know to start us off in our music career and I can only imagine how much larger of an impact he had on you because of how much farther you have gone with music. This was a great post!
DeleteYou bring up a really good point when you say that intelligence isn't worth much into you actually apply it. Because you can have a ton of knowledge about a ton of stuff but if you just sit around on it all it will be useful is amusing dinner conversation. The guy who runs a sewage waste plant might not be considered a smart dude but he would obviously know a ton of stuff to be able to preform that job- and he would continue to learn on that job. Like I said in my own post, it's no good to sit around in apathy and belittle those you feel are inferior to you. If you're smart, or passionate, go out and do something with it! You will find some field where you are capable of holding your own and exercising your brain even if that field might not match up with a traditionally "smart" job.
DeleteMr. Rushmore is a great example of an intelligent being! The fact that he is able to remember which keys/ valves to press for different instruments is absolutely amazing. When I practice my flute and then switch to sax, I get unbelievably enraged when I forget that C on the flute has a different fingering than on the sax. I can only image what he must feel seeing as he plays more instruments that I do. He is truly a great man and the passion that he has for what he does speaks volumes. I hope to one day be as passionate as Mr. Rushmore one day.
DeleteJust like you, a music teacher is one that I think is one of the most intelligent people I know. A music teacher back in New York taught me how to play the cello. It amazes me how they could just switch from one instrument to another and still sound great playing any instrument. The fact that they could also memorize pages of music, compose and also deal with crazy kids amazes me. They might not be the smartest in the math, science or those school subjects, but they’re intelligence in music makes up for it.
DeleteKnowing information and applying information are very different from each other and I also believe that intelligence is only worthwhile if you can apply it to situations that turn out to be beneficial to the world. Sharing one's gift of intelligence is probably the smartest and most efficient way to put knowledge to good use. Why hoard all the knowledge to yourself when you can share it with the world? Also I like how you deemed Mr. Rushmore to be the most intelligent person you know because of his musical intelligence. Often times musical geniuses are under appreciated when in reality the amount of knowledge required in order to be musically prominent is endless.
DeleteI absolutely loved your definition of intelligence and I believe that you are absolutely right. What good is knowledge if we do nothing with it? The true show of intelligence is certainly in execution as you clearly pointed out. And although I never personally had Mr. Rushmore as a teacher, I know countless of people who have, and they all describe him in the exact same way that you did, so he must truly be a great example of your interpretation of intelligence.
DeleteI hate the word intelligent. Not because of the meaning or anything of the sort, just the way it leaves the tongue. Blah. Anyways, intelligence will never be the dictionary definition it is given. Intelligence has many different forms and everyone has some form of it. (Well, almost everyone). The general public believes intelligence is shown through the letter grade you receive on your report card, while this does reflect your effort in education, it doesn't reflect your intelligence. Intelligence is many things, for example, I know kids who are highly skilled in the ability to make music. They play guitar, drums, keyboard etc. If it's an instrument, they play it. In school, however, their grades are most certainly not the greatest. To many, this would show their lack of "intelligence". However I see the intelligence that it takes to play several instruments, not just any idiot can pick a guitar and play something soothing to the ears. It takes a kind of intelligence to accomplish that. So intelligence is everywhere, it's not just your ability to dissect a passage or your ability to solve a calculus equation or your ability to name all the generals of the American Revolution, intelligence is also playing an instrument, being able to tell the emotions of someone through their facial expressions, being able to make a split second decision of who to pass to in a game. Different types of intelligence for different types of situations.
ReplyDeleteDon't get me wrong though, textbook intelligence is very important. But I also firmly believe that the other forms of intelligence are just as important, if not more so.
I've met many people through my adventures as a Jedi Padawan, well, more like my adventures as a Northfield/Mays Landing raised kid (basically the same thing). These people have left different impressions on me, the smartest person I've ever met is a girl who's name I never learned. Last summer, my cousin dragged me to a 4th of July party his friend was having (because you know me, party animal). So instinctively, I entered the house, looked for the quietest area and made that my headquarters for social avoidance. Obviously, with the way life goes, the plan did not work. Long story short, I ended up talking to this one girl. She was pretty I guess, I was nervous so I would say she was. We talked most of the night just sitting upstairs away from the ruckus downstairs. The conversation segued from topic to topic, it was all over the place. She said something I think about everyday, "Isn't it crazy? So many ways to help other people in the world, and we still choose to hurt others. It's harder to hurt others than it is to help them, so why not just help out everyone?"
To me, that was the most sincere and intelligent thing I've ever heard. That's what I always wanted to say but never had the words to express. I don't know that girl's name, I never asked, but she's the smartest individual I've ever come across.
I completely agree with you when you say everyone is intelligent in some way, and that the meaning in the dictionary will never match my perception. Honestly I don't think its fitting, and people do grade ones intelligence based on a letter and that angers me so much.
DeleteDan, I agree with you saying that everyone has different forms of what intelligence is, and also agree to your statement that the grades do not define our intelligence. I liked your example of the people who are intelligent in music. I believe it takes skill and great knowledge to be able to learn some of the things musicians do, they aren't stupid; so even if their grades in school are not that fantastic I do not find them lacking intelligence. This was a great post!
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DeleteDan originally I to was going to share my distaste of the word "intelligence" too. It does leave a bad taste in your mouth. Anyway, I really enjoyed your example of intelligence with the playing of an instrument. Also that girl you met, that was just...wow. She has a way with words and you should try and find her to get her to talk more of her great words. People need to hear statements like that more often.
It's ridiculous how some forms of intelligence are undermined such as the intelligence needed to play multiple instruments properly, as you mentioned. Usually musical intelligence is filed as talent instead but even that seems a bit degrading. I also agree that intelligence comes in many forms and it is not restricted to the knowledge acquired through textbooks, despite what the education system may believe. You can't say that specific types of intelligence is more significant than others because one's knowledge may be useless in one circumstance but vital in another.
DeleteDan I would have to say that I agree with you that intelligence comes in much form. It is wrong to assume that a person intelligence is based on the fact that a number or letter grade. For people there are many forms of intelligence but being intelligent is the application of knowledge. For musician, they are intelligent because they were able to create so soothing sounds from noise and that is genius. So what I am trying to say is that I agree with you and that you did an amazing job on this post.
DeleteI was trying to make the same point about the different forms of intelligence in my blog, but then, I kind of forgot what my point was, so it turned into something completely different. I really enjoyed the way you presented the idea though. I'm sorry that you don't know what the girl's name is, but maybe you'll come across her again one day at a party maybe. If that happens, you should definitely share the follow up story.
DeleteI share the same sentiment with you about everyone being intelligent in his/her own ways. I believe we all have our strongest areas of life and it takes an event to occur before one truly figure out his intelligence. number or letter grades should not be the indicator of intelligence as humans are created differently and there is no standard to classify someone as intelligent. Great blog.
DeleteI completely agree with you in that I too believe that every person is intelligent in their own unique way. Intelligence is certainly not something we can squeeze into a mold and attempt to conform to, it ranges from person to person and can be exemplified in many different ways. I appreciate that you pointed out that people should be able to see beyond report card grades and consider intelligence on a broader scale.
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ReplyDeletePart 1:
Intelligence is not something that can be defined completely through a simple definition in a dictionary. Since there are many different fields of study that one can specialize in, intelligence can also be interpreted in various ways. Typically, we only praise the intelligence of those who are prominent in a scholarly or academic area. However, I believe that everyone is knowledgeable in different areas and they deserve more appreciation for their intellect. I could not label anyone as the smartest person I know because I do not feel comfortable undermining one’s knowledge in an area that he or she may take pride in. Different people value different areas of study which is why there are so many interpretations on intelligence. Someone who is specifically outstanding in the field of poetry would be viewed as a genius by those who appreciate literature while a mathematician may not care much about what a poet has to offer to the world.
Of course, I appreciate certain areas of study more than others but I still feel as if I am inclined to respect all types of intellect in all types of subjects. I could spend hours trying to identify the smartest person I’ve ever met and I would still be left clueless as to who I would deem the ultimate genius. Intelligence can range from knowledge in a field as scholarly as quantum physics to a field as practical as car mechanics. It’s interesting to think that there are so many people that possess a vast amount of knowledge in any type of subject. To devote most of your life to educating yourself in an area of interest is quite amazing and it is a great way to express both your intellectual capabilities as well as your passion. Those who are willing to dedicate their time to filling their brains with endless amounts of information are the ones who are essentially intelligent within their actions. There is no harm in learning more about a particular subject no matter how insignificant it may seem. The more time someone spends on retrieving and applying information, the more knowledgeable and intelligent they become.
We often take for granted how talented and intelligent some of our peers really are. These two characteristics are synonymous with each other despite the amount of people who don’t believe in this idea. Usually we see someone who is prominent in math or science to be intelligent for having the capacity to possess such abstract information. However, those who are prominent in art or music are considered to be talented because they have the ability to express their abstract skills in a way that strongly appeals to one of the five senses. No matter what subject it may be, these people are still required to both absorb and apply knowledge in order to be considered a guru within their field. For example, if someone is considered to be talented due to their athleticism, then they are simultaneously intelligent for the same reason. Outstanding athleticism is often aided by one’s knowledge on the process and structure behind polishing skills in order to achieve better results. The same kind of logic holds true for more scholarly prominent individuals as well. We all have a few people in mind that we may deem unintelligent and no matter how many times they prove to be “the dullest crayon in the box,” they are most likely knowledgeable in some area of interest that probably has no appeal to us. Even if they are mediocre within their specialty, they most likely possess more information within that area than you do. We can’t equally appreciate the various types of intellect but we can respect the fact that it exists.
Part 2:
ReplyDeleteEven though I can’t exactly identify the most intelligent person I’ve ever met, I can identify some traits that I personally believe to be valuable to one’s intelligence. Wisdom is vital to beneficial intellect because information and facts that are just absorbed and spit out have no value unless one can make rational inferences and judgements based on their knowledge. This goes along with the idea of how someone could be “book smart” while still managing to lack some common sense and/or “street knowledge.” The concept of how a square is a rectangle yet a rectangle is not necessarily a square can also be applied to intellect and wisdom. Those with wisdom possess intellect yet those with intellect do not necessarily possess wisdom. Along with wisdom, I believe that the ability empathize with others also contributes to intelligence despite what others may think. Empathy serves as a sign of one’s ability to think in an open-minded fashion. People who have the capability of dropping any vices related to selfishness and close-mindedness are truly intellectual because they are able to think as well as build up an understanding of the happenings outside of one’s own little world. The one’s who can empathize with others have not necessarily been victims of the situation, but in essence that is the beauty of the circumstance. These people are intelligent enough to know and understand the different types of situations that others are living in despite the fact that they may not have necessarily experienced the situation themselves. Being able to understand something outside of one’s own experience shows that knowledge has been used in order to piece together a theoretical and accurate idea of what one may be going through.
Overall, I personally appreciate a certain type of intelligence that include signs of wisdom and empathy(as well as open-mindedness, but that somewhat ties into the concept of empathy). My idea of what an intelligent person possesses is neither right or wrong because it is simply an interpretation. We all have different interpretations on how we view one’s intelligence and that’s because we all have traits that we find more valuable than others. Intelligence comes in many forms and I think that more of us need to appreciate the fact that different people respect different forms of intellect. We don’t all have to agree on what individual is the epitome of intelligence but we should all take the wide range various intellectual manifestations into account before we judge someone for lacking knowledge in a particular area of study. I believe it is impossible to know everything that is anything no matter how educated one may be. If we all have strengths and weaknesses then why do we even bother to constantly doubt one’s intellect if this concept has proven to be ambiguous?
Emily, I am so happy that you said typically only those academically inclined are deemed to be intelligent because I couldn’t agree more fully! It’s a shame to think that intellect is measured in such a confined way because it embodies so much. I agree that people are intelligent in different areas of their lives as you said. I think this is due to the fact that experience produces intelligence and the two ideas are very closely knit together. Great post!
DeleteIntelligence is something I’ve struggled with my whole life, never knowing what it means which means not knowing if I even have any of it, but after truly thinking about it I have come to a conclusion, with the help of some quotes. Woodrow Wilson once said “I not only use all the brains that I have, but all I can borrow.” Intelligence to me is knowing a profound amount about a topic, no matter where any of that knowledge came from. This means it comes in many different shapes and sizes. For example I know plenty of people who are intelligent when it comes to math and science rattling off formulas and equations, none of which I understand because that is not my forte. But there are many other topics I have intelligence in, like crew for example. When I first joined the sport I had no idea even what it was then as I experienced it year after year I acquired some intelligence on the stroke and racing and everything in between. The quote I referred to earlier supports this example because not knowing anything going in forced me to take the brains of my coach and older teammates in order to learn and experience is one of the greatest teachers too. Considering my definition of intelligence is knowing a profound amount about a topic, and how one can be very intelligent in one aspect but not in another I haven’t met the “smartest person” mostly because I believe he/ she does not exist. I believe that smart people are the oldest ones in our society because they have the most experience in pretty much every topic because they have lived so long and throughout those years have experienced so many things. For example my great grandmother is 75 now and she can go on and on about pretty much everything, granted old people talk very much, but because she has done so much in her life I can go ask her for help with something and she will gladly point me in the right direction which in turn gives me knowledge and makes my intelligence level go up a notch on the scale.
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting to learn you don't believe that a "smartest person" doesn't exist. And that the smartness lies solely within our elder population. Truthfully it's hard to believe that all the old people are wise because I know quite a few and only a few actually have that wise "intelligence." But who knows I may be looking too harshly upon them.
DeleteAlonna, I agree with you that individuals are intelligent in specific areas of their lives and that experience is the best way to accumulate intelligence. Therefore, I found your conclusion that the most intelligent people are those that have experienced the most to be interesting. It led me to my own conclusion that these experienced people may all have gained intellect yet some may choose not to apply it and I find that to be a shame. Your comment made me realize that though we have intelligence it doesn’t mean we always exercise it to the best of our abilities and that frightens me. Yet, there are those that seem to hold the wisdom of the world and bestow their intelligence on to generations to come. It’s interesting how our intellect affects those around us. Good post!
Deletei love your idea that intelligence is a collection of knowledge, it makes it seem that the title to intelligence is right at your very finger tips and some would argue that it is. The world has so much to offer and to say.
DeleteAlonna I truly enjoy reading your post. I like the quote you used because I never thought of using intelligence from my own and other people. But I have to say that would be a lie because every student does take knowledge from other people in the form of teachers. That we are able to be intelligent because we learn information form others and that is amazing. This post is exactly how I would describe my cousin. Because she did borrow information from her parent and is able to do something amazing. So what I am trying to say is that you did a great job on this post and I truly loved your idea that intelligence is based on collective knowledge.
DeleteI agree with you when you mention that no one person is the smartest because it's true. Not one person is good at everything or is knowledgeable about everything because there is so much in this life to learn and discover.
DeleteThere are many people who could be listed as "the" smartest people in the world. however, no one could be listed as "the" smartest person because to every human there is a limitation of knowledge. I second your thoughts that intelligence is a collection of knowledge.
DeleteI'm so glad you brought up the idea of elders being the most "intelligent." I agree with you, I think intelligence has a lot to do with experience. It all goes back though on the idea that these people take their experiences and apply them. I think to be able to apply why you know is the very essence of intelligence. Adding on, I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place between your definition. Half of me agrees and half of me doesn't. I can't exactly pinpoint why I disagree but it's that gut feeling, dang that stupid gut!
DeleteIntelligent. The word usually used to describe the people who solve intricate math problems, who write massive research papers and discover cures for our problems. But it's lack of use for the average person is mislead. Now it's amazing and great that there is people who attend largely known schools and become important contributors to society. Being a bookworm always wonderful, but intelligence isn't always from the school education and experience. Having common sense is a prestigious enough intelligence to me. You don't need to know the exact measurements from the Earth to the moon. Having the knowledge of basically anything is intelligent. If someone someone knows every detail to the Harry Potter series I admire you from every angle because I'm still trying to understand many pieces to that story. Even if you can tell me about the origins of some pebbles in my yard and why it's good for the environment. A person didn't have to sit in a classroom with a textbook to learn this. From their experiences and interactions with the world around them they can teach themselves a thing or two.
ReplyDeleteThat aside I'd have to say the most intelligent person I would like to recognize in my life isn't going to be my mother or sister. It's actually a grandfatherly man that I find to be one of the smartest people I know and his name is Demetrios Constantelos. He is a man I don't get to speak with often enough, but he is good at getting some advice across me in only a few words. Since the long speeches are usually in Greek when I come around and I struggle understanding it. So I of course cherish the words he speaks to me in english. And recently he told me some great words of wisdom. He told me in his thick greek accent that I don't need to go to a great Ivy League college. I'd only be spending my money on the name of the school. I'd learn a little here and there, then be left in a ton of debt and have to worry about that rather than starting my life learning to do the things I want to do. Though what makes him so intelligent in my view is that he finds the right things to say to every person he speaks to. And he speaks with great wisdom behind every word. And just because he is old doesn't make him automatically wise, but it's the fact that I can understand and see that his wrinkles and withering look come from the many experiences he has endured. He has so much to share and I wish I spoke with him more often before this. The words he shares are wise, powerful, and meaningful.
Soti, I agree with your notion that not all of the intelligence we accumulate can be learned in a classroom. I have found that some of the most impactful knowledge I have come to know have been through my own experiences or in sources other than my chemistry textbook. I also found your opinion to be interesting that any knowledge is intelligent knowledge. I hadn’t thought of intelligence in a way that each person’s intelligence is measured by what they know in spite of content. Thoughtful and great post; Good job!
DeleteSotira I really enjoy that you mention that intelligence isn’t just form education. Education is helpful indeed but it is what people do with that knowledge that helps them be intelligent. I love how you are basically just saying to live and not worrying behind a textbook. That people can actually learn from the world without have to read about it in a book. This is an amazing post and I really enjoy reading it.
DeleteI really appreciate that you and others can recognize the fact that intelligence isn't just acquired from books. Especially since we are AP who devote our time to learning all the information we can, from a book.
DeleteThe sentiment that that intelligence isn't just acquired from books, redefines what the society calls intelligent today. Reading is an awesome instrument to have but as you rightfully said , we learn more from living in this world than reading. I believe, as life goes on we continue to grow in intelligence. Great job.
DeleteCOMMON SENSE! That's the word. For hours I couldn't think of the word that went along with my definition of intelligence, but now I finally have it! I think application is important when defining intelligence, but to have common sense and USE that is ultimately what I believe is intelligence. There are many layers to someone who is intelligent. Think of it like an onion, and onion is made up of layers that make up a whole. In essence, to be intelligent is to to have these "layers" of mentality.
DeleteI think it would be safe to assume that all of us, in one instance or another, have been referred to by others as “intelligent.” Whether they say we are “intelligent students” or “intelligent teenagers” more of us than not have borne that adjective as a part of our description given through various sources. As AP students it seems to come with the territory. Those that hold the most books, sleep the least, and know the most facts are regarded as the most intelligent by spectator opinion. However, I don’t regard intelligence to consist of this image. I am extremely thankful for the education that I have been fortunate enough to receive over the course of my life. I believe the knowledge given to us is priceless and are resources that will carry us through the duration of our lives. However, I don’t think the information that we accumulate should measure our intelligence. Rather it is my opinion that intelligence is learned through experience. It is being able to apply the accumulation of knowledge we have to any given situation and being able to learn from it and better ourselves because of it. Anyone can open a book and read but if the skills aren’t applied to decipher the text then it’s the equivalent of never learning to read. Intelligence is the application to what we have already learned. I have been blessed to know a numerous amount of people I would deem to be “intelligent.” However, after contemplating my answer to the posed question “Who’s the smartest person you’ve ever known?” only one person enters my thoughts; King Solomon. King Solomon was a King in biblical times who was a faithful servant of God and because of this God offered to give Solomon anything he wanted. Solomon being posed with this question asked the Lord for “a discerning heart.” (1 Kings 3:9) I was struck by this when I had first read it and have been every time since. Solomon could have asked for power, good health, or wealth; but no, Solomon’s request was that God would make him wise. He wanted to be able to discern between what was a wise decision and one that was rash and would cause destruction. Solomon was intelligent in that he knew information about being a king and a good man, and he was. However, above all else Solomon was a wise man because he could differentiate between what was right and wrong and knew how to apply his knowledge. To me, King Solomon embodies all that a wise individual is and I couldn’t think of a better example. I believe wisdom is a gift from God as is understanding. Wisdom helps us to maneuver the world in which we live and should we decide to live with wisdom we are never the same. Ecclesiastes 8:1 says “Who is like the wise man? Who knows the explanation of things? Wisdom brightens a man’s face and changes its hard appearance.” Wisdom sets us apart and causes us to see the world through completely different eyes than those lacking in it. Through it we are made aware of morality and it bestows the knowledge necessary to carry us through life in a unique way hard to come by.
ReplyDeleteFrancesca, I really enjoyed your thoughts of the smartest person leading to King Solomon. I would've never thought to think of knowledge and wisdom as the way you put it. And like you I believe that knowledge is priceless and we shouldn't be measured of our intelligence by how much we know either.
DeleteI thought that your application of your definition of intelligence was very unique and fitting. I would have never thought of King Solomon as the smartest person I'd ever known, but after reading your response I see how he could be a very suitable example especially for the way in which you described your perception of intelligence.
DeleteAfter much thought, I concluded that trying to define intelligence is probably one of the hardest things that I have done. Many people I know think that intelligent people do book work well, calculate correct answers, and come up with answers within seconds, but to me, someone who is intelligent must know everything, if not a lot of things. To me, an intelligent person must have charisma and experience and must be able to spread his or her knowledge unto others. An intelligent person can have a conversation with someone and leave that someone so surprised and fascinated because of all the information and notability that the smart person presented. Since there are thousands of subjects and fields of study, determining what intelligence is will have different definitions and different answers for considering who is intelligent. If someone was very interested and attached to literature, then someone may say Shakespeare, if another person was into crafts, then that someone may say Martha Stewart.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read that essay were we given last week about the studies and experience, I must say, that author makes a great point because I also think that study is also linked to experience and without it we lose so many lessons and knowledge . Even if I was lost throughout a majority of the essay, I think that the author must be an intelligent person because he or she values studies and looks like he or she tries to further the development and interest in all fields of studies , which means that the author must also believe in intelligence.
After coming up with what being intelligent is, I can say that I yet to met someone who is intelligent. I know there are a few individuals who I know that are intelligent in a certain field, I must say that I don’t know anyone who knows a good portion about everything and can present everything well and precisely. In my opinion, a few people who are considered intelligent are pretentious and supercilious because those people just want to rub their wisdom into everyone’s face. So, if someone would be intelligent, that someone should be respect to others and try to display their intellect as polite as possible.
i was going to write my blog about how i also found intelligence to be relevant to the subject at hand but i couldnt find the right way to put it, so im glad someone did :)
DeleteI find myself making “smart” and “intelligence” synonymous, however I don’t think I would call the people I find to be smart, intelligent. So I’ve decided to take inspiration from this quote by Stephen Hawking: “Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.” I find that if I threw a random civilian into a room full of mourners, an intelligent person would read their expressions and take in their clothing and the tones of their voices not ask what was wrong and make a scene. I don’t really find this adapting quality in many people so I really don’t know who I would say was intelligent. I’m assuming they would be very independent and evasive. They have this emotional intelligence in order to make everyone comfortable around them. I also find that most people with this intelligence are manipulative and I don’t think anyone likes that. Their keen awareness of other people’s emotions gives them power and make me feel vulnerable and distrusting, so I would rarely call someone intelligent; I wouldn’t give them the power or compliment. I don’t have much more to say because intelligence isn’t really a frequent word in my vocabulary, nor do I find many people to be harmful or manipulative enough to be considered intelligent. Maybe one or two people but I’d rather not call them out because in my case it’d be considered an insult. Ill describe them to you though; they re rarely who they truly are and always seem to get what they want, they seem so deep but when you delve beneath their smiley, comforting façade you find shallowness, no character. This opinion brings me to this wonderful ending quote in relevance to intelligence by the wonderful Emerson, “Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think.”
ReplyDeleteI can't seem to wrap my head around the idea of this. It seems as though the type of person you are describing isn't real at all, but simply a genetically engineered human who is emotionally disconnected entirely, and that just doesn't seem to be real. We are all characters. Maybe their characters just revolve around survival.
DeleteThis post has got me feeling "some type of way" (I tried to be funny). I agree with you that intelligent people have this overbearing power to control, for lack of a better word, others, but the way you describe them you act like you don't like intelligent people. Is that it? I'm not quite sure, but if so, I'd just like to point out that not all people are manipulative in that manner. As for intelligent people to be someone who they are not, I'd have to once again, disagree, but in a sense, also agree. I think it rather depends on the person and what their intentions are. Seeing as we both agree that they are able to control their emotions, it wouldn't be surprising to find out that someone is not who they are, but I don't think that they're this emotionless, shallow character. You're basically saying that intelligence derives from psychotic-ness. I don't think intelligent people are psychopaths. I really liked this blog post, even though I disagreed with you (lol), because it contrasted my ideas and gave me a different perspective.
DeleteI didn’t think about intelligence the way that you did but it really makes sense. I love the example you used about the people mourning over someone, an intelligent person and a smart person would approach the situation differently. That example really helped me see what an intelligent person is. Great post Danielle!
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ReplyDeleteThe answer of coming up with a unified definition for intelligence is perhaps one of the greatest questions in the study of psychology and, in a deeper sense, philosophy. Intelligence is itself ethereal. When we talk about intelligence, colloquially, or even internally, what are we referring to? Are we talking about a so-called “general intelligence” – the g factor that Charles Spearman sought to represent general cognitive ability? Or do we wish this universal definition of intelligence to include all the intelligences – that is to say, all the skills which we attribute specific intelligences to correlate? For the purposes of this blog, I lean towards the former as having the more agreeable definition.
Yet, to avoid alienating all the savants of the world or, in general, the world’s many talented people, I should limit the value to which we assign intelligence. When I speak of “intelligence”, it need not imply brilliance, nor does brilliance imply intelligence. To bring up the example of the savant again, picture a man mentally challenged in most aspects, yet a famously talented sculptor, despite his disabilities. This man is by his merits a full-fledged genius – yet I would hesitate to call him “intelligent”, at least not to the standard we hold the usual person to. This man is gifted and talented and deserves all the praise and benefit that this can possibly afford him. He is brilliant, but he is not generally intelligent. And that is totally fine!
As Spearman theorized, there is a “g factor” that accounts for the ability of some people to cognitively function on a higher level than others can. There is a bevy of research behind this idea – those who we regard as intelligent in one area or realm tend to be intelligent in many! This evidence of a general intelligence feeds this usual notion that we have of it. However, although the existence of a g factor remains – at least statistically speaking – uncontroversial, the ability to measure and its cause is still in great debate. I really don’t think I’ll solve this debate in this blog post either.
So, I will approximate my definition of intelligence to that abstract qualification of the “g factor”. Intelligence is the degree to which can perform on various tasks of cognitive ability, such as, but not limited to deduction, induction, problem solving, inference, pattern recognition, contrasting, and in general, the speed with which it takes to learn.
Part II:
ReplyDeleteNot to be cliché, but whenever I think of the most intelligent person I have ever met, the image of my father cannot seem to die. Perhaps it is my own personal confusion of intelligence with wisdom that is fueling this idea, but nonetheless, it would be heretical to claim that my father is not at least one of the most intelligent men I have ever known. He really is brilliant. He grasps everything quickly. He speaks with authority on literally everything. When he sets out to do things, he works tirelessly and efficiently until he has mastered it in as little amount of time as reasonably possible. His analyses are sharp. His achievements numerous and notable. His ideas are thoughtful and insightful and he really is the best problem-solver I know. Never in my life have I ever come to him with a problem that he could not solve. If he can’t immediately come up with the solution, he thinks and studies and researches and tries until he does. I have to say I am truly blessed to have a father like that, and I pray I could be even somewhat like that for my children (and the posterity of the world).
Applying my rigid definition of general intelligence, there is no doubt my dad would ace such a test with flying colors. Is the fact that my dad is the most intelligent person I know kind of sad? I don’t think so. But would I love to meet people who are smarter? Of course! The more the merrier – I’d love to have my life full of people like that. The idea of intelligence is one that sparks contention and debate among many people. No one has the answers. It’s our personal beliefs that guide our definitions just as they do our connotations of words. It is as abstract a concept as topics get.
I kind of wish that I had a close relative like your father. His dedication to learning is remarkable, and I think that a person like that would be a great influence someone's life. Usually claiming that your parents are the most intelligent people is a cliché, but in this case, I think it is definitely justified.
DeleteThe common interpretation of intelligence is that people just have to be book smart. People just relate intelligence with the idea that intelligence is based on numbers or letter grade. For me intelligence is not the common book knowledge instead it is applying that knowledge and asking the right question. Textbook knowledge is very important but I believe that it is what people do with that knowledge that describes a person as intelligent. There are many people in the world that can study and memorize information but it the connection and application of information and knowledge to real world situation that can only be describe as intelligent. Intelligence can vary from street intelligence, creative intelligence, or musical intelligence. People can make sounds and noise but combining it into a melodious song is musical intelligence. So ultimately intelligence is someone being able to apply his or her knowledge for something beneficial to the world.
ReplyDeleteFor me the smartest person I have ever met would have to be my cousin. She is an average person who did well in school but in my eyes she is the smartest person I have ever known. She doesn’t know how things like quantum physics, the Higgs boson particle, or the p vs. np problem but that doesn’t mean she is not intelligent. My cousin would always learned from her parents and like I said before intelligence is the application of knowledge and so my cousin is intelligent because she would always applied the lesson learned from her parents. My cousin would always know what to do in a situation no matter how dire it is and it is because she learned from her parents. My cousin would always be the one help me learn to be a better person. Even though my cousin isn’t book smart she is smart in the aspect that she was able to take all the knowledge she learned from her parents and applied it to my family. So that is my definition of intelligent and my cousin fit the description of the most intelligent person I have ever met.
Interestingly enough, I would argue that we don't perceive book smarts to be intelligence -- at least not on the social level, which is what we most value and care for in the first place. These "intelligences", though I hate calling them so, because it starts to destroy the meaning of the word in the first place, are well-understood by an increasing number of people. To the point where I can confidently say its the majority opinion.
DeleteI can't label a person I’ve known as the smartest person I've ever known. Comparing the intelligence of one person to another is like comparing indie rock to heavy metal: it’s just not possible. Every person has their strengths and weaknesses, and every person’s list of strengths and weaknesses is different which gives us a sense of individuality. The concept is actually quite beautiful if you think about it. If one were to divide a group of people based on their area of expertise, a person could be chosen from each group as the most intelligent person in that area.
ReplyDeleteI pondered this idea of intelligence and decided on some criteria for what makes a person intelligent: the ability to use one's knowledge to analyze a situation and come up with a solution, or the ability to critically think. I know several people who can do that, but I don't know that I necessarily would say that I think they are intelligent because I imagine an intelligent person to be someone whose statements astonish me, and I can't seem to think of a person I know personally who has ever had that effect on me. The only people who have actually had that effect on me are Sherlock and Watsky, one of which is a fictional character and the other is a musician I have never met.
Sherlock can examine a person just for five seconds and know their life story. That ability to deduce information within seconds boggles my mind. It's just so unreal, and I can't imagine how a person's brain could contain so much information. Watsky on the other hand is a much more realistic character. He uses his music to artfully and poetically comment on issues in our society sometimes through humor and other times through direct criticism supported by direct references to the issues.
As I think more and more about my idea of intelligence and who actually fits the criteria, I find myself becoming more and more disappointed in myself. My idea of intelligence was based off of what I learned of the word through past experiences. My standards of intelligence are set so high that only a fictional character could truly meet them. In that case, I would never be content with my intelligence or anyone’s intelligence. It makes me wonder if other people have been given this impression as well, and I really hope that no one else feels this way.
Intelligence when I was learning the word was someone I thought was really smart. Someone who knows all the answers in class and doesn’t have to work too hard at knowledge because they just know, all things regarding a book seem to come innately to them. That is before I realized that intelligence is relative meaning there is no smartest person because we all have our own smarts and our own areas of expertise. This is why what I always thought of intelligence is wrong because honestly what does it matter how much information one can garner from a book if they never use it. Why does it matter if it bears no real meaning to your real life? Another thing that proved my theory of intelligence wrong is the fact that there are different kinds of intelligence that go beyond the standard book smarts. Not one person could say they can draw really well, and do quantum physics oh and also on top of that they are an Olympic athlete because all of those things require a different type of intelligence and you really cannot have them all and be the best at each one. There are all types of intelligence in my book and few have anything to with books. For example, someone can have creative intelligence in the fact they can draw very well and are good at the artsy type thing (an arena where I am not very savvy). Another type of intelligence is musical intelligence which would be someone like Beethoven who could probably automatically tell if a note was sharp or flat or ,what notes sound right with other notes, or maybe they can hear a song and just play it on the piano without sheet music. This in my mind enables a whole different kind of intelligence that as just prevalent as the rest. There are many other types of intelligence like social intelligence, the ability to read someone’s emotions by their facial expressions, in my book there are many skills that can be counted as intelligence if someone doesn’t have one that has to do with books they probably have an intelligence that is useful somewhere else.
ReplyDeleteI feel the same way about intelligence. I think when we were little, we manifested ourselves in the many wonders of what the word could mean and if we could be considered 'intelligent'
DeleteI also agree with the different types of intellegences because I'm sure that not everyone who is considered intelligent really knows everything. I liked your Beethoven example too and how you mentioned the express that music brings.
Intelligence. It is quite contradictory to my statement at the beginning of the school year that boys are smarter than girls. I stand to be corrected because the word intelligence I believe is misunderstood by the society including me. Intelligence is often regarded as ones level of education and achievements but I believe there is more to intelligence than the basics. Einstein, Thomas Edison and other great people could be listed (men and women) when it comes to smartest people in the world but the standard of intelligence has not being set up right. Regarding intelligence, I could relate to our normal life. For those who are music driven, Michael Jackson is known to be the king of Pop because of the intelligence he has in the field of music, knowing the time to sing at various levels. In the broad field of science and mathematics, there are people that are known to have brought up theories that have changed the world in different ways. Many levels of life, has individuals who are intelligent at what they do including LeBron James and Christian Ronaldo. There are others who could be considered as intelligence due to the thoughts they bring to the table when working in groups.
ReplyDeleteI have not yet come across the smartest person alive or dead. In the big band theory, Sheldon considers himself as the most intelligent among the group. However, they work better anytime they work as a group. There different levels of intelligence at each stage of life. The experiences that comes with life provides us with these levels of intelligence. Furthermore, education takes up a fraction of the levels of intelligence. With education being considered as the standard of intelligence, it limits the intelligence of people because they turn to major in one particular course. Life presents to us a lot of things and I think we should consider being part of the best at our individuals because the quest for the smartest person on earth is impossible.
I know I'll get very varied and opinionated remarks for what I think "intelligence" means, but the key word here is "think." My take on intelligence might be different than some of yours and might offend you (hopefully not) but rest assured, I'm not always right!
ReplyDeleteNow that that is settled, I believe being intelligent is not characterized by one's ability to maintain knowledge. I believe that to be intelligent is to be able to take what you know and apply it. Someone can decipher a cure for cancer but would it be anything more than a thought if not applied? Being able to memorize things is a great trait, but what does that really get you other than a good grade in vocabulary? I think that to be intelligent you must be aware of your surroundings and situations. I'm speaking in a rather ambiguous manner, but intelligence itself is the definition of ambiguous. To be intelligent is to know right from wrong, even if you did the wrong thing. To be intelligent is to take your mistakes, TRY not to do them, do them anyway, but you still attempt nonetheless. Albeit, that was rather confusing and I even had to read that sentence a few times, but I can't think of another way to say it without confusing you anymore than I already have.
Carrying on, I think that we are all rather intelligent, however we are intelligent in our own unique way. There’s a major difference between what I believe is someone who is smart and someone who is intelligent. The two words might be synonymous in denotation, but connotatively, they both emit totally different things. To best summarize, I think that intelligence is very much synonymous with one’s ability to control their emotions, actions, and even others. To be intelligent is actually such a powerful thing if you think about it. I don’t wanna say manipulate for it has a rather negative connotation, but I think a person who is intelligent with words and emotion can easily control someone else.
I watch a show called “The Following,” (you should check it out, it’s fabulous) and it centers on this psychopath who marvels in this idea of death. He does all these terrible things to people, kills them in morbid ways, and yet something about him just captivates me (and no it’s not because I’m some psychopath who secretly loves killing people). This psychopath’s name is Joe and he has somehow gained the loyalty of hundreds of people that will do anything for him like kill others or even commit suicide for him. How you ask? We’ll it’s because the man is absolutely brilliant. He knows EXACTLY what to say to others to make them feel wanted and important. The way he speaks to each and everyone of his “cult members” is filled with intimacy. He doesn’t care for them, he actually just uses them, but the fact that just by a few simple words he can get them to pledge their entirety to him. It’s scary, but I truly believe this character (fictional) is utterly intelligent.
I don’t wanna confuse you anymore than I already have so I’ll leave it at that. You should all definitely watch that show. It’s absolutely mind-boggling and maybe you’ll see why I’m so fascinated by some man who feeds on death. I’m not crazy, I swear.
i hate you for having awesome responses all the time. Ugh. But this was great!
DeleteOver the centuries, intelligence has grown with mankind. As mankind has developed new technologies, intelligence too has been altered and developed. Many people who use the word intelligence define it differently then what is usually universally understood to be intelligence. Who is to say that men that lived thousands of years before the existence of laptops and iPhones were not intelligent? That is a common assumption, but a pitiful misconception. Intelligence, in simplest terms, is expressed through application of the tools one has at their disposal. If cavemen had only rocks and wood they utilized their intelligence to the best of their ability in order to make the best use of rocks and wood. In present times we have obviously come a far way from rocks and stones, but we apply intelligence in the same way. I would say intelligence is a means to measure a person's mental acuteness to various factors. The more a person is able to adapt to change, whether they are adaptive to technology and advancement in time or just to the weather, the more a person is seen as intelligent.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up I’m sure that each and every one of us was at some point in time or another told by some praise-happy adult they we were “intelligent”. Being AP students those sorts of compliments often come with the territory, but as sincere as they may be I find a great deal of fault in the reasoning behind them. To tell a child that brings home a straight A report card that they are intelligent is incorrect. The proper thing to say, or I suppose the more appropriate term would be “smart”. Sally received straight As because she is smart, she studied and she worked diligently at her grades. Sally did not receive straight As because she is intelligent. Intelligence reaches so far beyond the ability to solve an algebra equation or ace a vocab quiz in AP lang. In saying this I am in no way downgrading the imperativeness of book smarts and the importance of being a good student, but I am arguing that far too many people are unable to see past textbook-brains and conceptualize intelligence on a broader spectrum. Those who are truly intelligent can be intelligent in countless different ways. In essence, many people believe that intelligence is a product of nature, but I believe that it is more developed through nurture. And I don’t necessarily mean nurture in the sense of being raised by a guardian, but nurturing oneself and growing and learning and experiencing. That is how intelligence is procured, and it is blossomed through nurture.
In regard to the most intelligent person I have ever known, I have always thought that my dad was the most intelligent man on the planet. I know that seems super corny, but I swear I have reasoning behind it. Sure my dad is book smart, he’s actually kind of a genius with certain things. When I listen to him talk about his job it actually hurts my head, he applies knowledge from numerous diverse aspects of his education and life experience in order to solve problems (and keep planes from crashing out of the sky). But I look up to him for his intelligence in so many other ways as well. When he was young he came from nothing, his mom raised him and his two siblings entirely on her own with hardly any money. My dad was forced to grow up extremely quickly and at a very young age, and he accomplished things that no other eleven year old kid I’ve ever known could ever do. And eventually he made a life for himself and was able to build off of the negative experiences he had as a child and chose not to let his family ever live that way. And it is for those reasons that I will always view my dad as the most intelligent person I have ever known.
Instead of searching a quote on the internet, as soon as I read this post a quote that my dance teacher always says to me popped into my head. “You have never arrived; there is always room for improvement.” I feel as though this quote describes intelligence pretty well. Intelligence is never really mastered, it is impossible to have all of the intelligence in the world. There is always room for more knowledge in your brain. Now I’m not saying that no one is intelligent because everyone is intelligent in some way. If that makes any sense at all.. There are hundreds of types of intelligence in the world. Most people say that you can be book smart or street smart but it is much more complex than that. You can be intelligent in any subject as long as you know information on that subject. You can be intelligent in chemistry or turtles or even rock music. So intelligence is defined as any knowledge that you have on a subject. Intelligence is also received in two ways. Some people are naturally intelligent while others have to really work for it. I don’t understand how some people are just naturally smart but it’s like they’re born with it or something. These people don’t have to study for tests and they ace them every time. They seem to have photographic memory or are able to remember things and apply them after only one time of hearing it. On the other hand there are people that study a lot for their intelligence. These people have to hear or see things multiple times before they are able to apply them correctly by memory. Someone once told me that it takes the average person seven times of hearing something before they remember it. This doesn’t mean that these types of people are dumber than the naturally smart people it just means that everyone is different.
ReplyDeleteThe most intelligent person I know would probably be my grandpa. He’s really intelligent because he knows a lot about so many topics. He’s probably one of the oldest people I know so he’s wiser than others. He’s been around on this earth longer which gives him more time to learn more things. I feel like the older people in this world are more intelligent. They may not know how to work an Iphone but they know more about the great depression and other things in history that teenagers wouldn’t understand because we weren’t around for it. Learning about something and actually being there for something is two different things as well. You become more intelligent on a subject when you’ve actually lived through it.
I agree with your last statement when you said, "You become more intelligent on a subject when you've actually lived through it." I could've said it better myself!
DeleteAs most of my friend's can tell you, I value wisdom and know-how to an intense degree. I choose friends based on this, I choose enemies based on this, I decide whether I can respect another person based on these qualities. These qualities are not intelligence though, I feel like most people don't see the difference though which bothers me. Intelligence is measurable, you can look at numbers, papers and degrees to see if a person is intelligent (usually). Intelligence is your ability to understand and grasps know topics, things that are accepted or things that are going to be made fact. Intelligence is easy to understand. At least that is my view on it. People get this mixed up with wisdom and knowledge though. For me wisdom is intuition, a persons ability to excel in the abstract and to see the deeper parts of life and make sense of those things. Knowledge is the collection of a persons know-how intelligence is the ability to understand know things and wisdom is the ability to work with the abstract but knowledge is a persons collection of both of these, a persons whole base understanding and useless tid bits of information.
ReplyDeleteAs for the most intelligent person I know, that would have to be my father, yes its cliché but its true in this instance. My dad knows a whole lot about school topics, and whenever I need help with something he doesn't understand he is quick to pick up the book and suddenly gain a better understanding of the topic than the best student in the class. As you can imagine this while helpful, is endlessly frustrating! He also happens to be one of the wisest and most knowledgeable people I know but his most notable trait is his intelligence.
This was a great response! I also agree that people easily get wisdom and knowledge mixed up!
DeleteI never really looked at intelligence that way, I viewed it as something that couldn't be measured, and usually in the same vein as wisdom,but I can definitely see your point in why you view intelligence the particular way you do.
DeleteTo be intelligent can be taken in completely different directions. I like to put intelligence in two different categories, street smart and book smart. It is very self explanatory that book smart means you are great in school and very easily educated and street smart means you may not necessarily be great at school or test, homework, etc. but when it comes to situations you come across in life you are always on your toes and know exactly where to go and what to do next. The most intelligent person I’ve ever met when it comes to books is the one and only Neil Phillip. Yes, he is in our class and I freaking love him. Whether it is to help with Chem, math or any subject you need he always has the answers and is somebody we all know we can turn to for help. He is also very humble about his abilities which is a quality you don’t see in many people. (SO NEIL DON’T GET A BIG HEAD CAUSE I SAID THIS…HEHE). When it comes to street smart I think I am the best at that. Not being cocky or anything but I know that if I am in a sticky situation I will get through it and get out of it. I am quick on my toes and quick to make decisions unless it is about dinner because I like changing things up a bit each time. The quote I chose was, “Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think.” That being said I think that going back to Neil though he is smarter than anybody I know he has great character. Though intelligence will get him to the college of his choice so will his character. We all know people that are always just stuck in the books but when it comes to living your life and being a kid they ignore it because they have one goal. There is nothing wrong with that but those who are very smart but rude and ignorant fail to realize that they aren’t going anywhere. Like the quotes states, if you have a great soul you will be strong to live and to think.
ReplyDeleteNeil is a really nifty character, isn't he? Despite not exactly being the sharpest tool in the shed myself, I feel like I can still have good conversation with neil, partly because he explains gargantuan things in a way that people without insane amounts of brains ca grasp, and that is pretty cool. I would also definitely agree that your street smarts game is pretty legit. I've never really seen you have much trouble in many situations really, so that must be a pretty good thing :p great post!
DeleteIntelligence I think truly isn't about being book-smart. To be intelligent in my own opinion is to know the ways of the world and to be strong-minded. The most intelligent person I personally know is my mom. It's so second grade but I love her to death, she's my hero. And you can think somebody is very smart, but the fact that you love somebody, you'll stand by them no matter what- even if they're not right, but yet that STILL doesn't matter because you still think that they are so smart. I know that was confusing so let me give an example. If my mom was in a fight with somebody, even if her thoughts and logics were wrong, I would still stand by her and preach that she is correct because of how strong my admiration and love for her is. The diction of intelligent and smart are completely different to me when I hear the two- but that's just me. Somebody can be intelligent, but somebody who is smart may not be intelligent. The quote that I searched up and found to describe another way I feel is "Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently." This quote relates to myself actually 100%. I have taken the SAT's 5 times and I'm still going. Every time I just continue to fail, but I still do it more intelligently...that sounds stupid- I know. But, what I mean is that I do something different prior to every time I take the test. Whether I study more, or use a different book to take questions out of or if I choose to stress or not, I still keep going, I'm not giving up until I am satisfied with my score. Also another big example, is honors chem. I didn't pass last year and I'm retaking it with Matlack next year. Everybody thinks I'm crazy but I just want to prove to myself that I can do it. Even if I fail at some aspects of life and some tasks I may go through, I won't give up for good- I keep pushing. This also relates to my mom. Out of all of the hardships and struggles she has been through in her life she has never given up- and neither will I.
ReplyDeleteI really admire your tenacity. The fact that nothing is stopping you fro pursuing the ends to a goal, even the temporary failure o that goal is truly amazing. You're a really smart and intelligent person, so I definitely have no doubt that yo will get great scores, just keep trying!
DeleteTo me, I really don't measure intelligence by how successful one is school. I really don't think intelligence has to do with how long one spent in school. I'm not saying that with my idea of intelligence does not incorporate any type of schooling. After all, to some point, formal education does help. However, a lot of what I think makes a person intelligent has to do with wisdom that has been acquired with age. I think that intelligence is defined by the grasp a person has on the world around them. To be intelligent is to be able to understand multiple perceptions of something. The smartest person I know has got to be my dad. My dad seems to have an answer for everything. Sometimes I may not like the answer, but there are definitely no blurred lines. He has some type of fancy degree in English, did research for local biologists, went through law school. So he has the whole school part down. But I think he is so smart because he has so much to say about anything life can throw at you. He's been through being homeless, to a poor kid working three jobs to get through school, to a lawyer jetsetting around the world, so he's been through a lot between each lifestyle he's lived. His experiences always gives him a piece of mind to help others, whether it be me, or a client in need. He seems to know so much about everything. In his own unique way, he achieved that "superhero" persona that every kid views their dad to be growing up. His intelligence and piece of mind has reflected on me, and how I go about life in my own shoes.
ReplyDeleteLet me just start this off by saying that being intelligent and smart are two very different things. Being smart means that you now that a tomato is a fruit. Being intelligent means that you know not to put a tomato in a fruit salad (unless you're into that sort of thing). Intelligence is smartness with applied real world experience and/ or common sense. It would not be anywhere near a stretch to say that every single person on this blog is smart, we're all in the upper epsilon of what is considered smart at this school. The thing is, all of us have a lot more living to do before we are actually intelligent. We need more happiness, more sadness, more love, more hate, more gain, and more loss. We need everything in life for more time before any of us can actually be full fledged intellectuals. All of this being said, and having thought it through, the mot intelligent person I can think of right now is my best friend's dad, named Daniel. He was a poor kid raised i the projects, but he had talent and the drive to succeed, and so he went to college for music performance, eventually getting a record deal, and performing across various venues for many years. Before having kid and settling down, eventually learning and mastering various martial arts to teach to children. But now that his son is about to be going of t college to become independent, he has turned back to honing his passion, and is learning about how to become a music creator, producer and engineer, honing his art, and pursuing his passion behind the scenes as well as in front of it, and all of this time still being able to support his family, eve putting is son through the Prep. considering what I want to do when I'm older this man has the most insight an intelligence out of anyone I've ever met, and as given me the most information on music, adulthood, life, and what it is to be a man. He is not an old man, but the amount he has lived vastly outnumbers the years he currently has on him, and still has much more living and learning to do, which is why I would easily consider him the most intelligent person I know.
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