# intelligence **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 12, 2000, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence/36624 "2000-10-12T02:11:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![oldenh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@oldenh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oldenh)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2000, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence/36624/1 "2000-10-12T02:11:46Z")
does it mean you’re smarter when you finally figure out just how stupid you are ? ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2000, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence/36624/2 "2000-10-12T02:33:17Z")
You have seen one more truth in the world. I would say that’s a yes, then. ---
**Author:** ![quasar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@quasar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quasar)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2000, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence/36624/3 "2000-10-12T02:42:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by oldenh \* > \*\*does it mean you’re smarter when you finally figure out just how stupid you are ? \*\* No,but you are wiser. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2000, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence/36624/4 "2000-10-12T14:18:41Z")
Learning is a paradox. I find that that the more I learn, the more I realize that I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2000, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence/36624/5 "2000-10-12T15:18:56Z")
> [@](#): > > _Enright3 wrote:_ > I find that that the more I learn, the more I realize that I don’t know. Someone worthy of quoting (I don’t remember who but I don’t think it was Enright3) said much the same thing as Enright3 did. Something like, “Intelligence can be defined as the degree to which you realize how much you don’t know.” Certainly, everyday experience bears this out. Take your basic redneck/nazi yo-yo/any other really stupid person you can think of and generally they will espouse to having ALL the answers. They KNOW what is right and how things ought to be. Smarter people tend to equivocate more because they realize that most things are rarely cut-and-dried with pat answers. “It depends,” is a frequent refrain from these folk. As a result you may not get your answers handed on a plate to you but you will get considered opinions usually expressed as such. **quasar** does have a point on the wisdom bit as well. You are certainly wiser having this realization. ---
**Author:** ![andyman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8491ac/32.png) [@andyman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andyman)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2000, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence/36624/6 "2000-10-12T15:34:10Z")
Wasn’t it Socrates who said “All that I know, is that I know nothing?” ---
**Author:** ![quasar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@quasar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quasar)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2000, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence/36624/7 "2000-10-12T23:27:36Z")
Yep, it was the Great Socrates who eloquently enunciated such simple and humble, yet immortal, words. Newton made similar remarks regarding his own ignorance. It went something like this: I feel like a little boy playing with the sand along the shoreline while the vast ocean of knowledge lays imposing in front of my eyes. ---
**Author:** ![ricksummon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ricksummon/32/3333_2.png) [@ricksummon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricksummon)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2000, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence/36624/8 "2000-10-13T00:51:41Z")
**Bill** : Soh-krates. "The only true wisdom consists in knowing that you know nothing. **Ted** : That’s US, dude! **Bill** : Oh, yeah! And people say you can’t learn anything from the movies. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2000, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence/36624/9 "2000-10-13T03:30:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by andyman \* > \*\*Wasn’t it Socrates who said “All that I know, is that I know nothing?” \*\* I believe he also said, “I drank _what_?” Thank you, Val Kilmer (_Real Genius_) ---
**Author:** ![Phobos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Phobos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phobos)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2000, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence/36624/10 "2000-10-13T12:18:58Z")
It might be true. There was a recent study (which won an Ig Noble award I think) which showed that dumber people (excuse my politcal incorrectness) tend to have an over-inflated sense of their own intelligence. Of course this was just one study. **Jeff\_42** has a good point…the more you learn/understand, the more you realize how much stuff there is you don’t know. (Not to confuse wisdom with intelligence, but this seems relevant.) Of course, Cecil is the exception in that he knows & understands all. ---
**Author:** ![quasar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@quasar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quasar)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2000, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence/36624/11 "2000-10-13T15:58:36Z")
**Trying to integrate these concepts** What is it needed to attain wisdom? Curiosity, so you will be motivated to search for the truth. Clear Mind, so you will be unaffected by the objectivity-restricting chains constituted by paradigms and prejudices. You will interpret things like they really are, your mind will be exempt from any flawed original perceptions that you might have had, common sense being a perfect example of such truth-obstructing perceptions. Honesty, thanks to which objectivity governs sentimentalism. Your focus towards attaining knowledge leads you to dismiss erroneous alternatives and accept the correct scenarios, however perturbing they may be. This is more in tune to the OP, you need to be honest to realize that what you know is wrong or that maybe you know nothing at all. Effort, so that your motivation towards learning will be advanced to the next step: action. One thing is to have passion and another to have the sufficient will strength to propel you towards the materialization and effective consummation of that passion. Intelligence, so you can comprehend the knowledge which you have just uncovered. Memory: so you can retain in your mind and conveniently access the knowledge collected in the previous steps. Humility: so you accept your own ignorance and focus your mind on the continuos search for that which you don’t know. This is more of a reaffirmation of the Honesty stage. At this point, when you are face to face with the prospect of eternal ignorance, curiosity arises and the cycle starts all over again and keeps on going uninterruptedly until you lose track of your goal, or neurological death lays claim to your physical manifestation and puts an end to your existence. **Anihow…** All of this makes you wiser, not wise. For being wise, speaking in absolute terms and not in comparison to all of us pathetic human beings, requires knowing a significant fraction of all that is there to know. The sheer volume of possible knowledge, coupled with sensorial and intellectual limitations, makes attaining wisdom an utopia that, at least at this stage of our evolution, defies possibility. Note: for the sake of clarity and structure I separated the concepts of memory and intelligence. In reality though, memory depends on the association making creative processes inherent to intelligence and, hence, should be considered as an essential part of it rather than a separate concept. BTW, welcome to the board **Oldenh** ---
**Author:** ![Phobos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Phobos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phobos)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2000, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence/36624/12 "2000-10-13T16:16:56Z")
Good post. More 2 cents… [Confucius hat] Wisdom is a journey, not a destination. [/Confucius hat] You can be wise in some ways but ignorant in others. Complete wisdom is impossible. Intelligence helps one acquire accurate knowledge/wisdom. ---
**Author:** ![kenny\_canoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bcef8e/32.png) [@kenny\_canoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenny_canoe)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2000, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence/36624/13 "2000-10-26T16:22:47Z")
well oldenh…you did good boy!!! lots of replies to your 1st post!!! feeling smarter?