What are some signs that someone has a high level of intelligence, beyond just academic or book smarts? How can one determine if they have above average intelligence?

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Assessing someone’s intelligence is extremely difficult, whether or not you take into account their educational credentials or achievements. I have seen people who are highly educated, but who believe in superstitions that are entirely unsubstantiated by scientific observation. When their opinions are challenged, they become defensive and move quickly from rational to emotional mode. I …

What are some signs that someone has a high level of intelligence, beyond just academic or book smarts? How can one determine if they have above average intelligence? Read More »

Is it possible for someone to be highly intelligent without being able to feel emotions, but still have a cognitive understanding of them?

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All humans feel emotions, especially fear, anger, frustration, sexual desire, envy and loneliness. These are all hardwired into our psyche to improve our chances of survival as individuals and as a member of a species. However, the intensity of these emotions varies significantly across individuals The term “empathy” is used to describe our emotional connection …

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In terms of societal danger, is it worse to have a foolish person who believes they know everything or an intelligent person who lacks common sense?

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The answer to this question depends to some extent on the role in which the person is functioning. In a role that has high public visibility, such as a political position, the foolish know-it-all usually presents little danger because their incompetence becomes widely observable and their influence is therefore, minimal. We have seen examples of …

In terms of societal danger, is it worse to have a foolish person who believes they know everything or an intelligent person who lacks common sense? Read More »

What are the potential negative effects of saying “I’m not good at math”?

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The greatest danger in saying, “I am not good at XXXX,” is that it signifies surrender. Once we declare that we are not good at something, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy, because we give ourselves permission to abandon the struggle to improve our level of competence. This surrender is most frequently found in the declaration, …

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Who proved Fermat’s last theorem and what was the level of difficulty in proving it?

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Around 1637, Pierre de Fermat, one of the giants of modern mathematics, issued what became the most famous mathematical conjecture in history. In his copy of Diophantus’ Arithmetica, he wrote: …it is impossible for any cube to be the sum of two cubes, or in general for any number that is a power greater than …

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Who are some celebrities with high IQs and what accomplishments have they achieved in their education or career as a result?

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The Celebrity Entrepreneurs Those celebrities or famous people whose high IQ is most apparent are the billionaire entrepreneurs like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Mark Zuckerberg. Elon Musk earned degrees in Economics and Physics and was enrolled in a Ph.D. program at Stanford before dropping out to co-found with …

Who are some celebrities with high IQs and what accomplishments have they achieved in their education or career as a result? Read More »

What steps can one take to become an intelligent and wise person? Can you share your personal experience in achieving this?

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In this post, I won’t declare myself as a wise person, but will describe what I have observed as the steps required to reach wisdom. Let’s start with a logical poser. Peter is looking at Mary, while Mary is looking at Paul. Peter is married. Paul is unmarried. Is a married person looking at an …

What steps can one take to become an intelligent and wise person? Can you share your personal experience in achieving this? Read More »

Can you provide an example of a situation where ignorance would be more beneficial than intelligence? Why do you think this is the case?

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There are many cases in the history of science and technology in which ignorance has been more beneficial than knowledge (rather than intelligence), because our “knowledge” is often incomplete or flawed. A dramatic example of this occurred when Einstein was formulating his field equations for his General Theory of Relativity. His original equations, expressed as …

Can you provide an example of a situation where ignorance would be more beneficial than intelligence? Why do you think this is the case? Read More »

Are there any unsolved problems in mathematics that have stumped even geniuses like Albert Einstein?

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When the quintessential genius Sir Isaac Newton was praised for his brilliance in deriving Kepler’s mathematical laws, mathematizing gravitational force and inventing calculus, he expressed with remarkable insight the vast difference between the magnitudes of solved and unsolved problems: I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem …

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Why do some people believe that the CEO of Tesla is not intelligent? How has he achieved success despite these perceptions?

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People often differ in their assessment of the intelligence of others, because they apply different measures to assess intelligence. If IQ is your measure of intelligence, then there is a great deal of evidence to suggest that Elon Musk has a high IQ. The following excerpt from the book Intelligence, IQ and Perception provides a …

Why do some people believe that the CEO of Tesla is not intelligent? How has he achieved success despite these perceptions? Read More »

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