Wow Hauta, way to give me 'hell' and NOT in a game! I also note that everyone seems to be ignoring the thread except TrPrado and that speaks to itself. And what people pass off as 'knowledge' is someone else's ideas they glom onto. I will give you one sign of my intelligence that is not disputable. I have one BS, two MA's and one MBA and attained them with someone else paying my way through scholarships (my parents didn't). That is FINANCIAL intelligence.

Yes, don't be cruel to Capt Brad of impressive Spinnaker fame, he is remarkably intelligent, for a Navy blighter.

Not knowing things bothers me. Every time I encounter a question I don't know the answer to, that's motivation enough to want to know the answer next time.

I just think "what would capt BRAD say?" and then put down the opposite.

I'm impressed that you can figure out what capt brad is saying and THEN work out the opposite! You're definitely smart pw~

In all seriousness I think capt brad has had his moments. Don't actually be mean to him :p pick on ND instead.

"something intelligent"

there, I've written it, I'm now allowed to post in here :p

One thing I want to point out is that there are differences in the words smart, clever and intelligent and that knowledge on its own isn't a good indicator to measure the greatness of a mind. Sure, the majority of great minds have/had a vast knowledge of different topics, but just because someone has accumulated comparably knowledge doesn't automatically mean this person has also cultivated a great mind.

Just wanted to point that out since there are too many people out there that acquire some kind of paper from a higher school and think they are now elevated above people who haven't such a paper in any regard and just stop to think. (And to be clear I mean no one especially with this and my post here isn't supposed be an attack on anyone on the forum [it's just something that I noticed in RL and wanted to share in here], it's just a way to say that after you have finished your studies and you aren't doing something useful with it, well then you aren't more than a biological usb stick/data storage.)

I'd recommend studying physics, because of the problem solving skills it teaches, and how it helps understand the complexities of the world. (But then i would say that as a physicist)

As for intelligence, it really means 'those mental abilities which our society deems valuable'. Hence the theory of multiple intelligences postuaktes ~8 :

musical-rhythmic intelligence (which i have almost none), visual-spatial (where i'm above average), verbal-linguistic (where i am about average), logical-mathematical (where i am considerably above average), bodily-kinesthetic (where i am at most average, but it is typical to assume most professional sports stars are above average), interpersonal (ie understanding other people, a part of emotional intelligence, where i am probably below average), intrapersonal (understanding yourself, the other part of emotional intelligence, where i am again below average), and naturalistic (which is about understanding nature and natural cycles, which farmers supposedly possess).

Of course not all members of the forum, or any group will accept that all the types of intelligence are actually valuable to society. And thus reject them as types of intelligence at all. But such an arguement is largely semantic.

Intelligence as an idea is constructed for social purposes. Why do we value it? What social purpose does it serve? As is the opener's question.

The fact that diplomacy palyers are above average intelligence is not surprising. We are a group of people who are interested in a very challenging board game (i think harder than Go, or Chess) which tests multiple types of intelligences, from the inter-personal, to the logical, to the verbal-linguistic (except in gunboat perhaps).

So we are intelligent because we are a self-selecting group of people who share intelligence as a common trait.

I suppose "looks smart" can easily be interpreted as well dressed, & a tailor's dummy can be very well dressed, and look extremely smart.

Ambition, passion and endurance are the traits I look for in people that I want to work with. The most important form of intelligence is curiosity in my opinion. If I discuss work with you and you haven't asked me a question after 5 minutes, I will drop everything and figure out why you're not asking questions.

Reading. One of my favorite hobbies since a very young was reading the encyclopedia. And then letting "random" facts float around and wait for them to be connected. And being around people who know things I don't, and listening to them. I have a Ph.D. in history, which means that I was able to spend several years reading basically as a full-time job. So obviously that gave me a rare opportunity to learn about things. But if you spend your spare time reading you can still learn plenty.

One of the most important skills you can learn is how to read critically, to see when an author is trying to get you to think like them and to evaluate their evidence. Some of my most definitive experiences of coming to believe something were drawn from books where an author worked really hard to make an argument and couldn't muster the evidence to be convincing (I'm not talking about politics or religion here, but about historical arguments). I think that does require some help from an experienced person.

And remember that "knowledgeable" and "smart" are not the same thing. You can accumulate facts and information and that is useful, but there is a skill (maybe a talent) in putting them together. But knowing things does not hurt.

Uh this thread feels like yer targeting him and calling him stupid..."This question is directed only to people who've written something intelligent. (Sorry, Capt-Brad)"

Its in the OP insulting him but not in a fun friendly way. Or in a hilarious way like I did to GMO1101107 herbecide guy.

But if Brad thinks its a roast. By all means: gimme the horseradish

To answer the OP, I have a Masters of Fine Arts, and my Bachelors is in Acting and Playwriting. My father is a History teacher, my mother is a writer and poet.

So I was actually stumped by the question, so I asked the lady. The response is insightful, but also trivial: "...Smart people have interests." She also looked at me as if I were retarded, so there's that.

I think a major part of it is that when your intellect is such that the day-to-day of yon standard modern life doesn't sufficiently challenge or interest you, you need something else to occupy yourself. Not everyone would use that to pick up trivia, but look at where you're asking – I'd wager there's a HUGE selection bias going on in favour of book smarts among people who play webdip. Diplomacy is a very, very cerebral game; people who are actually interested in it will typically be the kind of people who tend to soak up knowledge easily.

As for specifically how I got to know so much trivia, uhhh. I think most of us know the feeling. You learn a piece of new trivia, like how the Incas didn't use money. And then you ask yourself a tangential question about how Inca society worked, so you look up Inca society. Two hours later, you know everything there is to know about quipu, Inca messenger systems, Inca economy, and war slings. I don't think this is a normal thing to do, but I do it all the time, and I suppose a lot of other people who play webdip do as well.

This only really happens when something tickles my fancy, though; I've met people with enormous troves of sports knowledge who were utterly amazed at my ability to, say, narrow down a guess as to where Enver Hoxha is from down to 2 countries based only on spelling of the name. I can only think "But... you know everything about every player who ever played in this sports team I never even heard of."

@Clownie, that sounds like a typical trait of aspergers (though that diagnosis has been merged into ASD now) do you have many others? Rigidity (aka stubborness, or inflexibility, or ease of following rules... But only the rules you consider important or choose to follow), divergent thinking (linking ideas across different areas), taking verbal things literally (whether intentional or not, seeing humor in a literal interpretation even when the meaning is clear to you... Younger aspies tend to misunderstand, but i still enjoy intentionally misunderstanding people)

Can't think of anything else off the top of my head.

Yeah, I was diagnosed with Asperger's when I was 8 or something.

Really? That is interesting.

FTFY:
"[Online] You learn a piece of new trivia, like how the Incas didn't use money. And then you ask yourself a tangential question about how Inca society worked, so you {NMR, CD then ruin your RR}."

I read Thomas Gets a Big Load and laughed for 2 days because of his facial expression.

Wtf does that mean? Lol. I think its funny but I have to +1 you for creativity there

For the record, I like CAPT_Brad (despite his views on everything). I was just razzing him and have kind of a running bit with him.

As for me, I did most of my learning after college. (Learning isn't fun when it's structured and on someone else's schedule). Like most of y'all, I have an inquisitive mind and look stuff up all the time. For example, I always have an open tab for etymonline.com.

I'm in uni now, and I absolutely loathe it. Everyone's been telling me school's going to be better in the next segment all my life, and it's just been getting progressively worse. I wonder where the meme that school is about learning even came from.

I actually love college compared to High School atleast @Clownie

Genetics

http://www.thepoke.co.uk/2016/02/17/awesome-innuendo-laden-childrens-books/
@BB

For many people, college/uni puts you in an environment where it is easier to find like-minded colleagues. High school doesn't give you access to as many people and it isn't self-selecting in the same way.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Especially with me being part of a program as small as 29 program in my class/year I feel pretty close and well bonded to everyone and its been a semester.