Intelligence: How is it defined?

[total-recoil]

Before I start, I'd like to say I don't particularly pay much attention to I.Q. tests. I've never done one and, if I did, I'm sure I'd perform badly.
There are many many aspects to this issue. First and foremost, I think the tenacity to go on and on seeking answers to your questions is the most fundamental basis for learning. It doesn't matter how long it takes you to jump from A to B.
The reason I think some people go on to become scientists, programmers and physicists is they all possess a yearning to learn as much as they can about their field of interest. Whereas, a lot of other people are too busy going out, watching T.V. and so on to burn the midnight oil with a text book.
Once I knew a girl who was frightening in biology classes. She could complete a whole test in seconds flat, leave the room and go home while the rest of us were still struggling on question number one. I recall I sort of had the hots for that particular girl as she was so smart. She got A grades all the way through. I got my fair share of B's. I even recall one essay got shredded and returned.
Even so, you'd be surprised how adaptable the brain is. Like any muscle if you subject it to work, it will develop. The more you think and wrestle with a problem, the more chance you stand of finally finding the solution.
"You know Sir, it's a funny thing. All my life I kept running into smart people. I don't just mean smart like you and the people in this house. You know what I mean. In school, there were lots of smarter kids. And when I first joined the force Sir, they had some very clever people there. And I could tell right away that it wasn't gonna be easy making detective as long as they were around. But I figured, if I worked harder than they did, put in more time, read the books, kept my eyes open, maybe I could make it happen. And I did. And I really love my work, Sir."
Lieutenant Columbo LAPD.

 

[Kelly]

I don't consider myself intelligent whatsoever (I've never done an IQ test) I just stumble along and when I get focused on doing something...for example web design I read up about it as much as possible and practice and do it over and over again until I can do it right or realise I will never get any better and give up (PHP I'm looking at you!)

I like Columbo by the way, I have the box set with all of them in. My memory isn't very good but was that the episode where some fairly well off woman's husband is murdered and she gets really arsey with him because he keeps touching things...I think he uses an expensive crystal bowl as an ashtray and there's a very moody butler...wait was that the one where the guy died in his gym...ah they are all melding into one now. I vividly recall him asking for a dustpan and brush because he drops some ash (or something) on the carpet in the gym because I was thinking why the heck would anyone have carpet in a gym....ooops bit of a tangent there :lol:

 

[total-recoil]

O.K. the gym episode. A business man is found crushed under a weight on his own in a gym. It was actually murder. The gym owner had killed him and then made it appear as if the victim had tried to lift too much weight, failed and been crushed. Columbo applies some very basic logic. He goes to the gym and asks what kind of weight the members are lifting on a daily basis. Only one guy can lift 220 pounds and that's the gym owner. The guy who was found dead had a 220 pound weight on him but had never lifted more than, say, 130 pounds. So why would he be trying to lift 220 pounds on his own? It didn't make sense and Columbo soon rumbles it.
Yes, he lacked social skills. Sneezing all over the place and once treading on a saudi's robe, tearing it.

I don't consider myself intelligent whatsoever (I've never done an IQ test) I just stumble along and when I get focused on doing something...for example web design I read up about it as much as possible and practice and do it over and over again until I can do it right or realise I will never get any better and give up (PHP I'm looking at you!)

I like Columbo by the way, I have the box set with all of them in. My memory isn't very good but was that the episode where some fairly well off woman's husband is murdered and she gets really arsey with him because he keeps touching things...I think he uses an expensive crystal bowl as an ashtray and there's a very moody butler...wait was that the one where the guy died in his gym...ah they are all melding into one now. I vividly recall him asking for a dustpan and brush because he drops some ash (or something) on the carpet in the gym because I was thinking why the heck would anyone have carpet in a gym....ooops bit of a tangent there :lol:

 

[total-recoil]

I love Kung Fu the series as well. Also Lost In Space, Six Million Dollar Man and even the Hulk is a good laugh.

 

[Gomendosi]

I am smart enough to know that I am not smart enough to know the things I need to know to not be aspergical!

It is not that I am not clever, I have my moments as anybody does, those fleeting moments of clarity when the world just fades away long enough for the Ah-Ha moment to appear, but it seems that I am far too busy trying to be normal to develop real intelligence, does this make me stupid or a charlatan I wonder?

 

[Bay]

Intelligence is lopsided and is always relative. There will always be people smarter in some areas than others, and always someone who is smarter than you. We all know or have heard of someone who is a genius but who cannot cook an egg, someone who can put together an engine blindfolded but cannot write a business letter, etc. I wish that our culture could celebrate and foster different ways of being intelligent, beginning in early childhood. I suspect that many of us might not bear the psychological scars that we do, had our individual forms of intelligence been nurtured and valued instead of measured against that of other people.

 

[FishyEnthusiest]

From an IQ stand point I have taken it twice. Once i scored a 95 and the other time was 100. Meaning average. I would consider myself really smart in certain subjects though such as dogs, I am getting there with fish tanks and i know a significant amount about cars too. I never did well is school though unless it was something of my interest. I failed many college classes but when it came to psychology I scored the highest in the class.

 

[Arashi222]

Everyone is intelligent. But there are differing kinds of intelligence. Yes IQ tests are a standardized test but they really are more relative. Some people are Smart or have common sense (and these days can be concluded as Intelligence of sorts. I know that we all have things we aren't good at and things we are. who is to say what true intelligence is anyway?

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

I watched three prominent gifted scientist debate on U-tube about science in general, mixture about physics' quantum mechanics UFO' s very entertaining sort of like hanging with my family during a family reunion. One thing bothered me some facts they got wrong as they are all younger than me got their facts from books not life experience. the discussion turned to world records that were not broken for long periods of time they were mixing up long jump with high jump Bob Beamon's record made in Mexico, with the Fosbury flop by Dick Fosbury the only commonality was both were done in Mexico, both were Olympic records. I've seen my brother do this to me get facts wrong and then pass the off as correct, so bright people do not impress me. last argument was over tractors I said my dad owned a 210 Allis Chalmers he said it was a international, next we meet I had the proof it was an Allis he admitted as soon as we got together it was an Allis but tried to say he said Allis previously, this amaze's my wife, I had print outs of both. we both have eidetic memories. He is a Mensa member master of trivia, but can have a selective memory, he has instant recall great for game shows. Mine is slower but more accurate. So do not take IQ too seriously, Intelligence is more nuanced.