Since it’s the start of the school season, it might be a good time to think about IQ. Just what is “intelligence”? Is it limited to one particular form of mental capacity, or are there many types of intelligence?

This is a hot question in the fields of psychology and sociology. The classic “psychometricians” say that their IQ tests are relevant indicators of a person’s thinking capacity. However, the sociologists say that the people doing the measuring are measuring what they think is relevant. In other words, the test is biased; it’s rigged to measure the things that are important to a certain group, i.e. the “American establishment”. The critics of IQ feel that there are many different types of intelligence, some of which aren’t appreciated here in the 21st Century USA, but may be important in other places or in other times. According to the sociological critics, standard IQ tests measure the mental skills that have been deemed most important to success within our modern American economy and culture.

I personally sympathize with the sociological approach. I’ve taken various IQ tests in my time, and they always indicate that I’m a little bit above average but nothing to write home about. Not quite MENSA material. Well! If those tests haven’t been able to detect my genius and brilliance, obviously something must be wrong!

But seriously, folks, those tests do focus on certain things to the exclusion of others. Perhaps the main thing they try to measure is quickness. Take an IQ test, an SAT, a LSAT, a GMAT, whatever, and the clock is running. You’ve got to be quick. Think fast. Time is money. I mean, is that really what intelligence is all about? Or is all this a reflection of modern social values stemming from our highly competitive economic system? I honestly think there’s another kind of intellectual capacity which these tests pass right on by, and that’s the ability to deeply understand a complex concept.

The typical IQ test question goes something like this: “Person A drives in one direction for 3 hours at 40 miles per hour. Person B starts out one half hour later along the same road from a point 200 miles away, heading towards person A. BLAH BLAH BLAH” You’ve got 30 seconds or whatever to fiddle with some math ratios and solve for a number. OK, that’s cool, but does that really mean that you’d be able to understand the social, economic and historical factors that led to the American Revolution or the Civil War? Does that mean that you will be able to work with quantum mechanics? Does that mean that you can write a beautiful and moving symphony? What I’m saying here is that the ability to understand something so deeply that it’s “down in your bones” might count for something too. But not on an IQ test.

The IQ critics and multiple-intelligence people have been able to identify a variety of mental abilities that are not captured by standard tests, but which are clearly part of human experience. These include social intelligence, spatial / design intelligence, muscle-body intelligence, etc. But the kind of intelligence I’m aware of (because I don’t have it) is political intelligence. Political intelligence is close to what is meant by the word “shrewd”. It probably correlates quite closely with what the standard IQ tests measure, given that shrewdness and political success often correlate with speed. Political intelligence is, in my opinion, the chief determinant of success as we know it today (i.e., fame and fortune, widespread acclaim, power, big money, that kind of stuff).

To make it in the USA today, whether in business or politics or academia or even sports and the arts, you have to have a fast mind, the ability to do some quick math, and a good memory. You need to be able to make a start at most any kind of problem that comes your way. Obviously, in sports and the arts, you also need the body and the talent, but lots of people have those things and never make it to the big leagues. To get anywhere in any field, you’ve got to be able to impress people. So, in addition to political intelligence, you’ve also got to be a good schmoozer (i.e., just enough social intelligence to open some doors) and have a lot of self-confidence. Oh, and it certainly matters what your body looks like. Certain types of faces and body shapes help get people to the top. Let’s face it, dumpy looking people (which I probably qualify for) generally don’t become CEOs or submarine commanders or super models or NFL quarterbacks or US senators. The rare exceptions prove the rule.

And then, finally, you need luck. At some point, how your life goes is determined by a shake of the dice.

I’ve been to the academy of political intelligence. It’s called law school. I didn’t do so well; I got thru with a B minus average. It never got me far in terms of “success”. But I did get to observe some law students who did go pretty far. I’ve also observed non-lawyers who have done quite well in life, and they usually have the same “shrewdness” and “brightness” that successful law students have.

Is this a bad thing? Well, it doesn’t have to be. Shrewdness could theoretically be used for good. Unfortunately, it’s usually used to make a good appearance so as to get whatever you or your client wants, even when the truth gets plowed under.

Truth, unfortunately, is the main casualty of our modern fixation with IQ and fast, shrewd minds. Truth and wisdom can’t be measured very well in a one-hour, one-hundred question multiple-choice test. The slower, “down in the bones” type of knowledge that I spoke of before doesn’t necessarily correspond with high IQ. A slow but inspired thinker may be able to dig deeper than a seemingly bright person. You know, the tortoise versus the hare thing. Thankfully, there are still lots of people who fall in love with the truth, professors and engineers and researchers and doctors and computer programmers and others who keep trying to better understand all the stuff they work with, despite all the pressure from their shrewd bosses to “keep things moving and keep the money rolling in”. Those are the people who generally don’t make the news and don’t get rich. To all of those impresarios of wisdom out there, fighting the demands of a sound-bite, profit-maximization world, my hat goes off to you. And to all of you kids still in school, wondering whether to go for the golden life or suffer some deprivation for the truth, well … at least you now know what your choice is.