On Intelligence and Knowledge

Intro

It's the time of year when finals roll around and rapidtables.com experiences significantly more traffic than usual. To be honest, it can be jarring to look at where your grade stands—especially if you haven't been keeping track the whole semester—but it can also be pleasantly surprising. Lately, I've taken the stance that it's somewhat pointless to plug and play numbers on grade calculators for a few reasons. As I just mentioned, sometimes it can be demotivating to see that you really need to lock in on the final to get an acceptable grade. Aside from that, I genuinely think there's merit in the idea that if you're going to do something, you should take the time to do it right. In this case, that means if you're enrolled in a class—regardless of whether it's exciting, relevant, or whatever—you should take joy in pursuing the knowledge it offers. Not only because it costs a lot of money to enroll in these classes, but because it's simply cool to know things. Game theory? Sure. Maximizing the Sharpe Ratio of a portfolio? Might as well know that. Conducting a J-test? It's interesting, at least.

All that being said, I don't necessarily have the most dazzling GPA of all time. I hover around 3.5, which isn't terrible, but at the same time doesn't jump out at you and make you think, "Wow. This kid must be cracked." Still, I like to think of myself as a smart person. I'm sure everyone likes to think this way—I mean, who is going around taking pride in the thought of "I'm so stupid"? There are things that make me question my intelligence, like doing poorly on an exam I thought I'd aced, or struggling through homework assignments. Facing some difficult classes and upcoming finals, I've been wondering: "Am I naturally intelligent? What even is intelligence? And if I'm not naturally smart, can I make myself smarter?"

What is Intelligence?

I've grappled with this question for a few years now. What does it mean when someone says they're smarter than you? Is it simply the amount of knowledge stored in your brain, or is there more to it? The way I've come to interpret intelligence and whether someone is "cracked" boils down to a couple of things. The first—and arguably less important—is how much information you know. The second is how good you are at critical thinking. By this I mean, how skilled someone is at solving problems they've never seen before, using limited information gathered in the past. Anyone can memorize flashcards and pass classes by putting in time, but the real separation emerges when you need to derive outcomes from unfamiliar situations. Examples that immediately come to mind are Competitive Programming and Leetcode.

If you're unfamiliar with Competitive Programming, it essentially builds on regular Leetcode-style problems, adding the pressure of timing—not just how fast you can submit an answer, but how efficient your answer actually is. Websites like Codeforces host frequent contests with fresh questions, making memorization impossible. To me, this is a great indicator of true intelligence. Competitors must refine their critical thinking abilities—not only problem-solving skills but speed as well. Another great example is Chess. The greatest chess players generally have some of the highest IQs and are widely considered geniuses. Of course, chess involves considerable memorization, but the number of possible chess games is essentially endless, meaning at some point players rely purely on instinct and critical thinking.

Am I Cooked?

As much as I'd like to be insanely cracked out of my mind and able to tackle any challenge, I'm also aware of life's unfairness. Some people are born smarter. Some people are naturally more athletic or sociable. Is this cope? Probably. Because while I do believe there are innate traits you're born with, I also firmly believe it's possible to improve. Everyone has a range—so maybe I won't end up being the genius pioneering humanity's next age, but I can strive to get there. That's what's amazing about life: you never truly reach the top of your range. I'm reminded of a quote by Ernest Hemingway: "There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self." So, my takeaway is simply this: be as intelligent as you want to be, and let everyone else do the same.