Here, we’ll discuss why Michael Jordan and Eminem are smart, but their IQs might not reflect this. Who cares about intelligence anyway? What you want is to succeed in life. This article will explain that you have to be intelligent to succeed, but you don’t need a high IQ. And since there are an infinite number of ways of succeeding, there is an infinite number of intelligence definitions. And of course, we cannot measure success without knowing what it is. If intelligence is the extent to which someone is successful (not their capability to be successful), then we must define what success is before we can say if someone is intelligent. In this sense, we are working backwards - taking a result and concluding on the intelligence of the individual instead of the current paradigm which tests the individual and applies a degree of intelligence based on their score. A score which no one should care about unless we are correlating IQ with success, ie predicting success on the basis of IQ test scores.

Potential for Success vs Actual Success

Why is intelligence correlated with acheived success and not capacity to acheive success? IQ tests will measure your capacity to do something - not what you’ve already done, so our new definition adds that extra element of achievement. But why? The logic is, nature does not reward talent, it rewards acheivement. There are two kinds of energy - potential and kinetic. But as you know from 8th grade science class, only kinetic energy is actually dissipating - doing what nature wants it to do. So, we define success based on what nature wants for you. If you have talent and have done nothing with it, then you are lacking somewhere. It goes against nature to have unused talents and it is very much an ability, or a capacity to convert talents into actual achievement. We get annoyed at successful people with little talent, but the fact is, they have the most important talent of all - the ability to acheive. So, it’s part of the equation here. Nature does not care about potential, so why put it in your definition of intelligence? The new paradigm is: we all have the same level of potential. Or to be more specific: any differences we have in terms of potential success are insignificant. I’m not saying all men are created equal, I’m saying all men have relatively the same potential for success. Of course, if actual achievement is figured into the calculation for intelligence, it implies that your intelligence level is not static, since your success level is not static. Indeed it is not - one might have a real string of “intelligent years” only to succumb to lesser intelligent years down the road. Success comes and goes and everything in the universe is in motion - how could your intelligence level stay the same?

The Scientific Definition of Success

Right, so what is success? Success is defined by how well a system dissipates energy. Period. All other definitions are simply anecdotal or are in some way derivative of this. Look at any situation - human, or otherwise - and this definition can be applied, though it won’t always be immediately obvious.  This is why we can say that we all have relatively the same potential for success. All systems deal with energy and The Second Law of Thermodynamics states that the energy of any system is dissipating - ie the order is decreasing. A classic example is an ice-cube melting. Energy is dissipating when the ice becomes water. And the ice cube is successful (yes, there are successful ice-cubes) to the extent that it melts. The faster it melts, ie the faster it moves from a state of order to a state of disorder, the more successful it is. This obviously must be translated to the human experience. Here we go.

The Human Definition of Success 

Why are you on this earth? Why do humans exist? People have been pondering these questions as long as anyone can remember and the answers seem to all be incomplete. I would be silly to think this conclusion should be different, but I’ll take a stab at it anyway.  To keep it simple, I’ll start at the top of the hierarchy (human drives) and move down the ladder (energy dissipation).

3. Human level - what do humans want to do? Pass on their genes

2. Gene Level - why do genes want to be passed on? This is simply one way for them to dissipate energy - by organizing themselves into complex structures which fit into complex low-energy environments or holes. Think of evolution as a system to create keys for an infinite number of key holes. Fitting into a key hole would be how the energy is dispersed, so species mold themselves into the shapes of keys which will fit into the key holes. The other way for genes to dissipate energy is to die and decompose. This is coincidentally our other big goal in life. But since life dissipates energy better than death, most of us try to hold out as long as we can. Evolution is like a pool of water cut off from the ocean. Eventually a series of streams find their way to the ocean.  Imagine a virtually infinite number of streams and each little stream is like a form of life. Genes are made of matter too and the same behavior seen by the water can be seen by all living things. We’re all just trying to make it to the ocean.

1. Energy level - why does energy want to be dissipated? If you believe the Big Bang Theory (and we’re pretty much booking on it here), then a long time ago the universe was concentrated into a very tiny tiny space. That was the pinnacle of energy concentration and when it exploded, the energy began dispersing itself. Another visual is that of a swig of milk being poured into a hot cup of coffee. The milk is initially concentrated into one spot and slowly starts dispersing itself through the remainder of the cup. The paths it takes will be varied but you can be assured that it will always move from an area of high concentration to low concentration. That’s just how the universe is set up.

Though we are biologically here to pass on our genes, I am not implying that the most successful people are the ones with the most children and grandchildren. Evolution is not quite that simple. As stated in the article GPS - Genetic Proliferation Strategy, one can pass on their genes in other ways besides procreation. Cultural evolution has broadend the definition of success by associating culture and collective thought with biological gene pools - allowing artists, thinkers, leaders, and atheletes to be successful beyond their procreative efforts. Success now includes rushing for 2000 yards in a season or winning the Nobel Prize. No one would have cared 20,000 years ago, and even if they did, no future generations would have remembered. Success means fulfilling the goals of both biological and cultural evolution - with a noticable favor towards cultural evolution. This is why we value celebrities over good parents.

The Goals of  Biological & Cultural Evolution

And what are the goals of biological and cultural evolution? Here’s another bulletted list

Biological:

- Main goal: conceive and raise children who are in state to do the same and whose children too are in state to do the same (ie, raise a family and/or have lots of sex)

- Main goal, second best: help facilitate the above goal for members of the same gene pool and bearing that, a closely related gene pool (ie, contribute to society)

- Supportive goal: amass resources to help you in the above two goals (ie, get rich, strong, and popular)

Cultural:

 - Contribute to a belief system, since belief systems help unite individuals towards their common goal: genetic proliferation. Look closely and you’ll see that statistically, people who have followed religions have been more successful, according to the definitions of biological evolution, than those who have not. Indeed, the family that prays together stays together. And there is strength in numbers. Atheists, be they right or not, are all alone - just take a look at the US electorate.

- Create art. It is the artists of societies who have been able to pull the emotional puppet strings of the people. They are nothing more than psychological drug dealers. Our brains are set up to be emotionally manipulable. Just look at your teenage kid in his room all day listening to System of a Down. In a sense they have been able to gain a slight control over people in a society and thereby unite others to their own ends. Atheletes are in here too. Don’t tell me Roger Federer isn’t a painter. Everybody loves an artist - even a bad one. The good ones are the most revered members of society. 

Being Intelligent Means Being Successful 

With these being the goals and their achievement being “success”, intelligent beings are thusly the ones who actually achieve them. There may be a rapper out there as good as Eminem, but if he doesn’t get noticed and has to keep working at Burger King, it will be because he was less intelligent. Sure, luck plays a part in many instances, but statistically over the breadth of the population, intelligence is translated as success and success is a reflection of intelligence. There may be another tennis player as talented as Roger Federer but it is Federer’s psychology, his intelligence which have gotten him the results. And notice how his intelligence developed. He used to be a head case who was hot and cold on the courts - but in recent years he’s found the psychological plane to allow him to be hot most of the time.

So no more discussing how some people have book smarts and others have emotional intelligence or social intelligence, or whatever the flavor-of-the-month definition is, and that we’re all different. The truth is, some people are intelligent and others are not, but we all can be intelligent. Thankfully nature has left us many different ways to be intelligent, many paths we can take to get to that ocean. Some will involve using our emotions effectively and some will involve brute psychological force. Both are intelligent if both are successful. So, don’t be fooled by your IQ scores. If you’re successful in terms of the ways defined here, then you’re intelligent. If you’re not all that successful as per the definitions above, then your intelligence is lacking. The beauty of it all is, by means of study, practice, focus, and a good psychology, you’re in complete control.