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You are either born with it, or you're not. It isn't something you can acquire via parenting or good education. Not even experience. However, not all children born with the potential will have the opportunity to develop it fully. That's where the parenting, education and experience come in. But those after-birth factors can only help develop the potential. It must already be there.
Having a PhD does not make you smart. Neither does a job that pays $250k, or having a BIL who went to school with Tom Hanks. You're either born with the potential, or you're not. Can't get it any other way.
life
school - assuming ambition is present also
money - assuming ambition is present also
relationships
the ability to be your own friend as opposed to being your own worst enemy
There are people who drop out of high school. They will clean toilets in old age homes for life.
There are people who finish high school in three years, go on to college and probably be very successful as a MD or lawyer.
The MD or lawyer is obviously smarter than the HS drop out. There are many slots in between. If IQ is a measure of problem solving ability then it is a good measure of smarts
Doing well at a corporation may be a measure of smarts but in many cases it could be a measure of submissiveness.
I have my own hierarchy for this type of vocabulary. From order of least to most important:
Intelligent: someone that knows lots of stuff. The ability to do well on Jeopardy, Trivial Pursuit, etc. Someone that can memorize random facts and data and quote it back.
Smart: Someone that knows what to do with the information that recall. Or if they can't recall it or didn't learn it to begin with, would know where to go find it. Someone "smart" can apply knowledge, not just simply parrot it back.
Wise: the combination of smart with learned experience. Knowing when (or when NOT) to apply it. Knowing the best way to apply their "smarts" for long-term benefit.
I could be more specific with my definitions, but most of you already know what I'm trying to say. And many will not agree with my assignment of these words with those specific descriptions, but it matters not, to me.
I would rather be considered smart (rather than intelligent) any day. In high school, I was considered very intelligent. It took one semester of college to prove that I wasn't very smart. Nor did I have the maturity or experience to even remotely claim wisdom.
Your definition of intelligent is really the definition of knowledgeable. Knowledgeable and intelligent are not coterminous. Not that you care, as you stated.
My father is super-smart, and my sister is also very smart, but i'm dumb, so I don't think it's genetics.
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