What makes you intelligent?

[Codelyy 1,289]

Can I respond to this? xD 14 year old me is basically a different person to 21 year old me.

I think it's hard to answer "my own question" cause there are different forms of intelligence, plus being knowledgeable about a subject doesn't exactly make you intelligent automatically. Intelligence is based on a lot of different things which while can include knowledge, includes stuff like maturity, common sense, creativity, etc

I remember writing this back when I was kinda obsessed with the idea of seeming intelligent. I used to think becoming a programmer was a good way to make myself seem intelligent but even though I'm a full-time games programmer now, I learnt that it really doesn't.

[Splashee 28,593]

I can count backwards from 100 to 1, without thinking. I cannot say the alphabet backwards though. But that still makes me intelligent 

[Narcissus 356]

Being better versed in one subject over another doesn't equate to higher intelligence. It's just a more expansive knowledge in one area. Intelligence should be measured in how well someone processes knowledge overall rather than how good they are at any one thing. Savants can be geniuses at one thing and nothing else but that doesn't necessarily gain them recognition as particularly intelligent. Intelligence, knowledge and skill are different matters altogether. 

[Clawdeen 20,239]

Bold of you to assume I'm smart

[Raskolnikov 1,716]

Intelligence is about dryly memorising and parroting outdated textbooks and following instructions unquestioningly and the more parroting and obeying you do the more intelligentsier you are. 

[Longhaul 8,054]

I've known people that have great knowledge about certain things and yet they were still dumb as a bowl of rocks.

[Iforgotmybrain 6,952]

I'd say my brain, but, well... you know.

[ExplosionMare 21,317]

Being able to form my own opinions and not care about "majority rules" in ever scenario.

[Longhaul 8,054]

I know a lot of stuff, but I don't know if that qualifies me as intelligent.

[Sparklefan1234 179,551]

@Clawdeen told me I was smart once.

[Clawdeen 20,239]

4 minutes ago, Sparklefan1234 said:

@Clawdeen told me I was smart once.

You are smart bestie!

[Sparklefan1234 179,551]

1 minute ago, Clawdeen said:

You are smart bestie!

You’re smart, too, Bestie! (Told ya she said it once.😜)

[Crypty Scribbles 6,403]

O! That's simple. Glasses make me look intelligent as hemp 

[Street Light 643]

intelligence is a vague, small net that gets tossed into a large and diverse pool :3

there aren't specific onsie-twosie things that make someone intelligent. i kinda detest the categorization, to be perfectly honest >:3c

[Sparklefan1234 179,551]

Seriously,

I think people have different levels of knowledge on specific subjects and whatnot so that makes them intelligent about certain things such as a hobby or interest. 

Edited 13 hours ago by Sparklefan1234

[Night Sky 855]

When we seek to define intelligence, we limit it. So then we have to devise other categories of intelligence, and compare and contrast them against each other.

. ..even though they all share the quality of intelligence, regardless of the differences the various types give rise to. 

The trick, I think, might lie in the fact that trying to define intelligence is not much different from trying to define consciousness. 

The definition of consciousness is. Yes. Exactly. You already know it when you see it, if you're reading this. But something about putting it into words never seems to compute entirely.

Therefore, if we cannot decisively define consciousness, we're only going to do marginally better with decisively defining intelligence. And if that is so, how can we really separate the various types of intelligence that we've come up with into a neat and tidy hierarchy? 

Being visually oriented and having a sense for the subtleties of aesthetics is not less profound than being good with math. 

Human society may prize an intelligence relating to people, math, engineering or science, but that's pretty arbitrary, even if it is efficient. What kinds of faculties and talents we possess, and the training we get to hone those abilities doesn't fundamentally change or prove anything about how the world is. They just all do something unique to help us survive and to make survival worth bothering with. 

I'd say all intelligence is preferable to ignorance. Intelligence, properly marshalled, can at least potentially help us to accomplish things that might be worth doing. 

Ignorance can only shield us from things we don't want to see. 

Find out what you're best at and develop it to the fullest. Don't bother over whether your painting stacks up against the moon landing. Someone else will see to whatever you can't. That's the magic of diversity, if we don't crush it whenever it starts to emerge.