I object to calling things like athletic or artistic ability “intelligence”. Also, the ability to get along with people, to be a politician so to speak, that’s a real gift from God, but I think intelligence has a specific meaning and that is what is measured by IQ. The ability to think at a high level. IQ is supposed to measure one’s raw ability to do this, rather than being a test of knowledge.
I remember when I was a kid I asked my mother (who was very smart, IQ-wise anyway) who was the smartest person in the world and she said there was no way to know. I always remember her saying the smartest person in the world might be living in a hut in the hinterland somewhere, but they might still have the highest IQ.
But, I also agree with those who say “brains aren’t everything”. Look at the people who’ve been running the country, no doubt most of them are reasonably smart, I have no doubt that some are quite brilliant (of course some are definitely dopes). But that hasn’t been enough to keep them from inflicting many bad plans and schemes on the populace.
I could say this has been due to the ridiculous expansion of the Fed’l Govt. but I think examples like the crooks who ran Bell, California disproves that.
I suppose that it has come from we, the people, just not paying attention. The MSM is also to blame for passing out distorted, biased, and misleading information. Such as what another posted pointed out and he’s right, a person of “average” intelligence will not be getting a PhD in physics. A person of average knowledge or background can do this, because their high IQ will enable them to expand that knowledge and overcome any handicaps they have due to a bad or deprived upbringing.
Bravo!!
If you put it that way, then "intelligence" refers to one specific way of using one's brain. Because no matter what skill is under consideration, all skills arise from cultivating a part of the brain. Whether it is the athletic part, the academic part, the artistic part, or whatever. Perhaps there should be words equivalent to "intelligence" that refer to cerebral gifts other than academic intelligence.
As far as intelligence and politicians go--well, that is a difficult one. Anyone with an IQ above 90 could have foreseen that forcing banks to make loans to people would cause great trouble down the road. Congress started pressuring the bad loans in the 90s; every attempt to stop that policy was met with demagoguery. So, clearly, politicians do NOT often act in the most intelligent way possible, and often, act in the least intelligent manner.
Case in point, Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, IQ 167, who was living in a hut without electricity or running water.