What determines human intelligence? Most people talk about someone's mental ability using two templates: "smart" and "dumb". But what is the meaning of these concepts? On the basis of what characteristics do people classify this or that individual into one of these groups?
Often, when talking with your friends, girlfriend or family, you may hear how they speak unflattering about the mental abilities of your mutual acquaintance. You may wonder how he came to this conclusion. And the interlocutor most likely will not be able to answer anything concrete. Not counting the cases when it really comes to the mentally disabled. "Well, I can see from the conversation." Or: "He did something that only a complete idiot can do." Another example is the assignment of a person to the cohort of “smart” ones. You may hear: "He uses such clever words in his speech." Or: "He finished school with a gold medal." There are many examples and the criteria will be very different. I will give the most popular arguments for the mind.
But does this division system work in practice? Let's go in order.
In fact, all these qualities are acquired with the help of one single medium - reading. Reading fiction, we expand our vocabulary, adopt beautiful speech constructions and can demonstrate our erudition. Reading educational literature and memorizing the necessary information allows you to achieve success in your studies. Does it follow from this that if you read all the books from the list a la "100 best books of all times and peoples", then you will certainly become smarter than those who have not read these books? Of course not. Because intelligence is not determined by the amount of literature read. It is possible, for example, to enter into the computer database all the knowledge accumulated by mankind, and upon request it will give the desired answer. Even the cheapest calculator instantly performs any arithmetic operations with huge numbers,which is beyond the power of any person. However, neither a computer nor a calculator is smarter than humans (at least not until artificial intelligence is invented).
How to define human intelligence?
It is not enough to have knowledge. The ability to give out memorized information like a search engine does not speak of you as a person of high intelligence, no matter how eloquent your presentation is. I talked with people who graduated from school with a gold medal, and they were not capable of an interesting conversation. The thoughts with which they operated did not belong to them, but to the authors from whom they were borrowed. Their sayings are clumsy, their phrases are hackneyed and can contradict each other. A static mind does not allow them to generate something of their own, even with a huge pool of knowledge. And I also talked with some gopnik who had never read a single book in his life except for the primer. And often they are degenerates. But sometimes, among them, you come across the most interesting people. They have a lively mind and really their own thoughts and opinions. But due to the fact that he wears abibas and suffers from a lack of culture,most would classify her as “dumb”. And in defense of all marginalized intellectuals, I present to your attention the most fair criteria of a high mind.
A person who has sufficiently developed these qualities in himself and has even basic knowledge from school life, in a discussion is able to smash any pseudo-intellectual crammer to smithereens. Therefore, friends, develop, learn something new and remember that it is not enough to remember new information. It is useless without proper understanding.
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