Yes, John, I’ve seen several intelligent people who graduated from university without any clear idea of a career or occupation they wished to pursue. Often, young people take a variety of university or college courses that interest them and then, Just before they matriculate, or shortly after, they discover that nothing has ignited their interest …
Socrates is reputed to have said, “Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people. Though all people, in their conversations, address issues in all three of these categories, the most intelligent typically engage in a discussion of ideas, because such topics provide the broadest perspective. By contrast, those of lowest intelligence …
What are some of the ideas that intelligent people talk about? Read More »
Before Darwin’s publication of On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection in 1859, most human characteristics such as talent, personalities, and moral behaviors were thought to be acquired through environmental influences such as family, education, cultural training, and other factors described as “nurture.” However, Darwin had observed that many physiological characteristics in animals are …
Why Did Galton Believe intelligence was an inherited trait? Read More »
Actually, the very unintelligent may be the only people who have never experienced self-doubt. Their unawareness of the information they are lacking, enables them to proceed without concern, until they meet with disaster. Those who possess self-efficacy and belief in their ability to achieve their goals have experienced the self-doubt that prompts them to strive …
Can you be intelligent and still have self- doubt? Read More »
Genius has many different faces. Newton, Einstein, von Neumann, Turing and Gödel were geniuses in their ability to think in the abstract and use mathematics to formulate their ideas. Leonardo da Vinci and Thomas Edison were inventive geniuses, and Mozart and Bach displayed a genius for music. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs each displayed a …
The Difference During their formative years, Hi-Q people often experience success in school, receiving the approval of teachers and regular affirmation of their cognitive strengths. They become more confident in their ability to figure things out for themselves. With this, comes a habit of forming their own opinions, independent of the in-groups to which they …
How are Hi-Q People Similar and Different from the Average in Reaching Opinions? Read More »
We hear this question from young people who struggle with the abstract challenges of mathematics and see no immediate payoff from the study of algebra. Indeed, mathematics has been described as the subject of infinitely deferred gratification, because its rewards don’t appear before a certain level of facility is achieved. A similar complaint is registered …
Since the beginning of recorded history, people have recognized that individuals differ in their ability to solve problems, deal with abstractions, and learn new ideas. We call this many-faceted ability intelligence. However, when it comes to defining this enigmatic trait, we face the famous Jainist conundrum in which three blind men grasp the tusk, trunk, …
What has surprised me most about intelligent people is the remarkably dominant role that emotion (as opposed to rational thinking) plays in the determination of their beliefs. That is, otherwise highly intelligent people, in forming social and political opinions tend to believe what they would like to believe, independent of the facts. Amid my colleagues …
Those who have accumulated wealth, rather than inherited it, share certain character traits that are manifest in a variety of different forms. Though some have accumulated substantial wealth through employment and investment, almost all the world’s billionaires are entrepreneurs. When we look at the character traits of these entrepreneurs, what do we discover? At the …
What character traits do the world’s richest people have in common? Read More »
