Intelligence vs. Smarts

08/22/23 • 14 min

1 Listener

This episode is about the difference between intelligence and smarts, and why one is valued more than the other despite being less useful in the world.
The core here is realizing that people are not spreadsheets. They are emotional, hormonal, misinformed, status-seeking, insecure creatures trying their best to make it through the day. So if you have to choose between understanding how the world should work in theory vs. how it actually works in practice, lean towards the latter. It’s like historian Will Durant once said: “Logic is an invention of man and may be ignored by the universe.” That is so smart.

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Fluke -- A Story About How Fragile The World Can Be

This is a short personal story about a fluke event 16 years ago that changed everything in my life. You probably have a similar story, and there is so much to learn about how everything can change from an event you never saw coming.

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