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A comment I made on a thoughtful post at Doc Searls’ blog set off this line of reasoning.
It was about I.Q. (intelligence quotient) – and what it’s good for. Doc thinks it’s often (ab)used in way that’s harmful to kids. I feel it is indicative of potential.
In his 1983 book, “Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences”, Howard Gardner described 8 domains of intelligence:
- linguistic
- logical-mathematical
- spatial
- musical
- bodily-kinesthetic
- intrapersonal
- interpersonal
- naturalistic
‘Intelligence’ implies innate ability or potential. However, it does not guarantee performance. That’s a limitation of the scope of application of I.Q. test results.
Applied ‘intelligence’ results in wisdom and experience. And in the real world, that is more valuable – just as results will always outweigh promise or projections.
And wisdom is not exclusively in the domain of the ‘intelligent’. With a low I.Q. but rich experience, you may be much wiser than many ‘geniuses’.
An example may explain better. Let’s say your ‘musical I.Q.’ is low. A person with higher scores will run circles around you in a musical sense, effortlessly.
But you can match – or even exceed – their performance, except it will take you hard work, training, and a lot more ‘effort’ to do it.
If you’re a tennis fan and are old enough to remember them, the classic case studies would be John McEnroe and Ivan Lendl – the ‘artist’ and the ‘machine’.
Also, an ‘intelligent’ musician will not reach levels of excellence instinctively alone – unless that innate potential is harnessed, refined and enhanced by practice and training.
Only then will it become ‘wisdom’ – and not stagnate as just ‘intelligence’.
However, by knowing where one lies on an ‘intelligence scale’, it may be possible to structure and focus energies and ambitions to maximize one’s potential more… um… well…
Intelligently?
Share your thoughts about wisdom vs. intelligence – and any personal anecdotes from your own past.
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Dr. Mani
Please take a look at my latest blog post. I “tagged” you in a “meme”.
http://beginners-make-money-on-internet.blogspot.com/2007/11/meme-anyone.html
Dena
I don’t believe IQ as a scale of intelligence. Like you said, wisdom can be attained by experience. And trust me it matters…
This topic is really close to me as I was slow dumb guy (low IQ)for first 14 yrs. In 15 yr (in my 10th standard) I took the bull by horn
. I did everything I could to make myself more smart, intelligent (so to speak).
By the end of year I ranked 2nd in Math national olympaid. Raised my scores from meagre 60% to above 90%.
In next few years I learnt NLP, hypnosis and everything under the sun to become better than normal people…
Frankly speaking It doesn’t matter where you lie on intelligence scale… I have ADD and for first 8 years of schooling I had hell lot of problem putting together a structured content(writing essays/answers) in english. Heck I still have that problem. It didn’t stopped me becoming the guy I am today.
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