The popular conception of intelligence rates an ability to play with abstract ideas, above the ability to translate knowledge into action.
As a result, there are lots of “intelligent” people who can’t get a job outside of a state-funded university or research department, and lots of “unintelligent” people who are succeeding in supporting themselves and their families in the market.
This makes me question the way we think of intelligence.
School-smart people are reality-dumb, which doesn’t make them intelligent. They are not able to translate abstract ideas and prior knowledge into practical action and as a result, struggle to create value in the open market.
Your ability to interact productively with reality is the only type of intelligence that matters and your income is a much better measure of that than IQ.
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