How intelligent can a relatively stupid person become if they apply themselves?

10 comments

  4. I’m digging way back here but there is a range of intelligence people can operate within as an individual. Maybe it was achievement range.

    Education is so helplessly politicized now I can’t seem to find it. I’ll keep digging. What I’m looking for is at least 15 years old.

    It’s realistically going to depend on how stupid but don’t be suprised by how deeply a bad subculture or Other failure with an individual person can ruin a good intellect and push their achievement index way way down. At a certain point the level of retardation creates diminishing returns and there is only so much you can get.

    The point it that a dutiful, hardworking, properly enculturated person can achieve quite a lot.

  5. There are a lot of intelligent people who are doctors and lawyers but are also stupid. Take the doctor who, with the assistance of another stupid person, lifted a lawnmower to cut a hedge while it was still running.

  6. It isn’t just the intelligence. It is the attitude and work ethic that matters more, in my opinion. I always told my kids that natural talent can only take you so far if not coupled with a willingness to work. As an employer, I would take an “average” person who worked hard over a smart person who coasted on his intelligence any day. The hard workers had usually suffered setbacks and learned how to overcome them, making them resilient. Smart people who tended to find easy success usually had trouble coping once they ran into resistance.

  7. zero intelligences. Intelligence is not the same as being educated. The ability to recite facts and political theories does not make one intelligent. Intelligence is generally the ability to problem-solve, apply facts and theories to new situations, and exercise sound judgment–none of which requires an education. Plenty of highly educated stupid people out there.

    In contrast, I offer up my grandfather. Ran away from shitty and dirt poor family and joined the Navy at 16 in WWII. Received his HS equivalency and later electrician certifications through correspondence school. First house was one of those Sears Do it Yourself mail-order thingies. Built his own boat by hand. Fixed his own cars. Could logic map any problem, electrical or otherwise. Built his own model railroad diorama complete with his own engineered switchboard with over 200 switches and dials. Once I was reading a lengthy choose your own adventure book and put in down. A half hour later he had mapped out all possible outcomes. Excellent gambler. Knew more about history than most of my history teachers. Had an entire library room in the basement filled with history, philosophy, science, and mathematics books. Would go through the crossword puzzle books lickety split. Helped me study for the “logic games” section for my LSAT exam.

    Dude had almost zero formal education and to this day was the most intelligent person I have encountered in daily life.

    Contrast that to my kid sister. Lives at home at 38. Has a master’s degree in education. Calls me everytime she had to teach history or civics because she cannot understand basic fucking concepts and has no ability to analyze or understand anything beyond surface level. Nearly bankrupt. Constantly fucking up the simplest things. Can’t cook for herself because she can’t follow instructions on a god-damn package. Gets lost, even with GPS. Does really dumb shit like gives her bank account number out when selling shit online. Believes in essential oils, astrology, healing crystals, and whatever god-damn fad is next.

    How she has the same DNA as me and gramps is fucking mind blowing.

  8. Intelligence can be thought of as the CPU of your brain. You’ve either got a powerful chip installed or you don’t. No amount of software upgrades (studying) will improve the performance/capabilities of the chip-it can do what it can do.

    ​

    Education is what happens when you apply yourself through learning/studying, and you “streamline the software” so the chip you have runs more efficiently. You learn how to think, how to study, etc. That’s why you need to learn algebra (or choose your subject from school)”that you’ll never use the rest of your life.” It’s like doing bench presses or curls- you’re never going to win a fight doing preacher curls, but because you did them you can defend yourself. Same principle with education: you’re never going to use the algebra, but the tools your brain gets by doing the exercise will serve you well, no matter what “chip” you have installed.

  10. Literally every single person has the capacity to be intelligent you just have to want it. It just comes from learning it’s really that simple.

Leave a Reply
You May Also Like