As you might expect, different people attribute different values to intelligence and success. The American Dream, originally conceptualized as “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” evolved after World War II into the pursuit of financial success. In Arthur Miller’s celebrated play Death of a Salesman (1949), the main character, Willy Loman is a salesman who expresses what would become a popularly accepted measure of success:
The man [Willy’s brother Ben] knew what he wanted and went out and got it! Walked into a jungle and comes out, the age of 21, and he’s rich! … The man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead. Be liked and you will never want.
Over and over again, Willy expresses the importance of being liked, and the supreme importance of being “well-liked” as the panacea for achieving the American Dream–financial success. People who believe their happiness derives from acquiring beautiful homes, exotic cars, or a lifestyle filled with amenities such as travel, will tend to put a high premium on economic success. Though they may regard intelligence as a desirable asset, they tend to attribute greater status to those who exude a higher economic lifestyle. To many of these people, the main value of high intelligence is the extent to which it can generate wealth. The typical put down against intellectual pretence is often stated as, “If you’re so smart, why ain’t you rich?
However, there are others who put a higher premium on success in sports, chess, the arts or academe. Their quest is to be highly competent, respected by their peers, and perhaps famous. Such people are typically found in academe where intelligence is valued greatly and financial status is of significantly less concern. The mathematician Paul Erdös was an example of this disposition. He was a vagabond who traveled from one mathematician’s house to another, staying sometimes for weeks at a time, and giving away his modest accumulations of money as prizes to those who could prove or disprove his mathematical conjectures.
In March 2010, the Millennium Prize of $1,000,000 was awarded to Russian mathematician Grigory Perelman in absentia. As expected, he refused the money and the invitation to attend any ceremony in his honor stating, “The main reason is my disagreement with the organized mathematical community. I don’t like their decisions, I consider them unjust.” Among other things, Perelman felt that charging fees for access to mathematical journals corrupted the purity of research. Grigory, who lives with his mother in a modest lifestyle in St. Petersburg, Russia, eschewed wealth while aspiring throughout his life to reach the greatest heights of intellectual achievement.
Most people reside somewhere between the extremes, desiring sufficient financial resources to live a comfortable lifestyle, while also valuing intelligence sufficiently enough to claim to be more intelligent than average.
