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Illusion of intelligence

TiredThinker May 23, 2021 at 17:48 4100 views 18 comments
You know how sometimes you look at someone and you just know they are super smart. You see the activity in their eyes and you see the most modest confidence one can see in an expression and you wish you could know what activities are going on inside their mind? They don't even seem that concerned with their immediate surroundings as most people are.

How often is this intuition a correct assumption of an actual intelligent person, or is it probably always too subjective to be true and they could totally be a dumbie? I assume recognizing intelligence must be evolutionarily necessary?

Comments (18)

Apollodorus May 23, 2021 at 20:30 #540816
Quoting TiredThinker
I assume recognizing intelligence must be evolutionarily necessary?


There may be other factors involved but the ability to recognize intelligence could be an evolutionary process. We possibly unconsciously detect intelligence or lack of it in the same way we detect emotion, etc. on the basis of eye movement, facial expression, body language, etc.

TiredThinker May 23, 2021 at 21:57 #540849
What I find weird is the ability of a person to be intelligent enough to possibly know when someone else is more intelligent than they are without words. Should that even be possible?
James Riley May 23, 2021 at 22:02 #540850
Quoting TiredThinker
What I find weird is the ability of a person to be intelligent enough to possibly know when someone else is more intelligent than they are without words. Should that even be possible?


I don't have that ability.
Shawn May 23, 2021 at 22:02 #540852
Usually when someone with a superior IQ is asked a question and show little to no effort in finding the correct answer, that can be an indicator of their intelligence. You should read the stories of Shannon at college in MIT or von Neumann "Johnny" at work and how effortlessly they found answers in their fields.
Tiberiusmoon May 23, 2021 at 22:20 #540863
Reply to TiredThinker
The thing is; dumb people make a habit of using assumptions, smart people minimises those assumptions.
Knowledge has next to 0 meaning to the actual value of interlect, its problem solving and awareness/control of biases and the knowledge they hold.
SpaceDweller May 23, 2021 at 22:39 #540879
Quoting Shawn
Usually when someone with a superior IQ is asked a question and show little to no effort in finding the correct answer, that can be an indicator of their intelligence.


You mean?

Usually when someone with a superior IQ is present a problem and show little to no effort in solving the problem, that can be an indicator of their intelligence.

Otherwise we talk about knowledge not IQ.
Tiberiusmoon May 23, 2021 at 23:18 #540901
Quoting SpaceDweller
You mean?

Usually when someone with a superior IQ is present a problem and show little to no effort in solving the problem, that can be an indicator of their intelligence.

Otherwise we talk about knowledge not IQ.


^this.
Tree June 01, 2021 at 21:32 #545376
We are probably pretty bad at recognizing intelligent people. I don't think we have a any evolutionary need to spot intelligence.

But we are really good at recognizing confident people and confident people could easily be confused with intelligent people.
Wayfarer June 02, 2021 at 01:10 #545513
Quoting TiredThinker
I assume recognizing intelligence must be evolutionarily necessary?


Yes that's how come dinosaurs lasted so long. Took a massive comment to wipe 'em out.
Nils Loc June 02, 2021 at 01:25 #545522
And at the collective level, a step scale upwards... we might have the intelligence of slime mold or a dinosaur. It might take a small comment from a political nut job to wipe us out. We're all the embedded cells of a non-human superorganism.
god must be atheist June 02, 2021 at 01:59 #545538
Quoting Nils Loc
We're all the embedded cells of a non-human superorganism.


Funny thing is that superorganisms by historical example are always smarter than the component organisms. Think of cells and a fox that they make up.

Society and corporations, other systems with human components, are more powerful, but definitely dumber than humans, with no discernible IQ.

This is a first.
Nils Loc June 02, 2021 at 02:02 #545540
Quoting god must be atheist
Funny thing is that superorganisms by historical example are always smarter than the component organisms.


There is no way you can make this distinction. Smarter compared to what?
god must be atheist June 02, 2021 at 02:03 #545541
Quoting TiredThinker
How often is this intuition a correct assumption of an actual intelligent person, or is it probably always too subjective to be true and they could totally be a dumbie? I assume recognizing intelligence must be evolutionarily necessary?


I judge male humans for their intelligence beyond age 36 by looking at their forehead. If there is an accented blood vessel running through their forehead, up-and-down, then I assume they are intelligent.

With women, if they are nicely appointed, with facial make-up and mascara, and look elegant, I assume they are highly intelligent. Unfortunately some porn on the Internet where these types of women sock and do all kind of other things, destroyed this illusion for me.

If a man or a woman speaks with a learned British accent, I assume that they are indubitably very intelligent.

If a person takes off his glasses, my perception of his or her IQ drops 20 points. If he or she puts the glasses back on, the perception returns to the original IQ impression.
BC June 02, 2021 at 02:06 #545542
Quoting TiredThinker
You know how sometimes you look at someone and you just know they are super smart.


Happens to me every morning when I look in the mirror.
god must be atheist June 02, 2021 at 02:06 #545543
Reply to Nils Loc Quoting Nils Loc
Smarter compared to what?


Foxes are smarter than any of the cells alone and singly in their bodies and brains.

Sea mollusks are smarter than any one of the cells that make them up.

Cells are smarter than any one of their components taken singly: cell wall, miasma, nucleus, protoplasm.

Breast implants look smarter on a woman than any one of the molecules alone that make up the implant.
Tom Storm June 02, 2021 at 03:35 #545570
Quoting TiredThinker
How often is this intuition a correct assumption of an actual intelligent person, or is it probably always too subjective to be true and they could totally be a dumbie? I assume recognizing intelligence must be evolutionarily necessary?


I doubt it. I can't say I agree with your proposition. I have found it's often the reverse. People you assume to be intelligent because they appear 'alert and switched on' are often dumb as a box of hair.
Possibility June 02, 2021 at 14:50 #545775
Quoting TiredThinker
You know how sometimes you look at someone and you just know they are super smart. You see the activity in their eyes and you see the most modest confidence one can see in an expression and you wish you could know what activities are going on inside their mind? They don't even seem that concerned with their immediate surroundings as most people are.

How often is this intuition a correct assumption of an actual intelligent person, or is it probably always too subjective to be true and they could totally be a dumbie? I assume recognizing intelligence must be evolutionarily necessary?


I think it depends on the situation and the nature of their intelligence. I do think observing someone can often give a qualitative sense of intelligence or lack of it, but I certainly wouldn’t assume the intelligence of someone based on their appearance or demeanour. That way leads to prejudice and ignorance, as Reply to god must be atheist clearly demonstrates.
TheMadFool June 02, 2021 at 15:33 #545791
Quoting TiredThinker
You know how sometimes you look at someone and you just know they are super smart.


No!

Quoting TiredThinker
without words.


Go on!

Quoting Tom Storm
I doubt it


Are you sure?

Quoting Possibility
it depends on the situation


You're on to something there.