Knowledge is power…or is it intelligence?

When was the last time you met someone intelligent…

You see to me intelligence is synonymous with knowledge…or rather…an understanding of a lack thereof.

To me, intelligence is honesty. Intelligence is vulnerability. Intelligence is possibility. Intelligence is bravery. Intelligence is openness. Intelligence is an insatiable curiosity.

I don’t believe we should we should measure intelligence based on how much you’ve achieved by a certain age or what successes you’ve gained. Intelligence may be life experience.

Something that troubles me is that we seem to live in a world of comparison. A society built upon competition; and in such a world intelligence is assessed by tests. In the grand scheme of things you could argue that these tests are meaningless. They merely determine an individual’s ability to memorise a sequence of facts. And yet based on said individual’s correct identification or recollection of these facts, a measurement is made of their intelligence. However this is not intelligence. This is intellect. Intellect is impressive but intellect can be taught. Intelligence can not.

As we are moving towards a society in which superficiality, self indulgence and vanity are becoming the norm (see “selfie”), intelligence is now also being measured in another way. Intelligence (or in this case ‘success’; a widely-believed result of intelligence) is measured by number of admirers.

Consequently, what you end up with is an impressionable younger generation with some very misguided ideas and definitions of intelligence.