Comment by coldtea
4 days ago
>That's resourcefulness and I would argue that being resourceful is not the same thing as being smart.
You could argue that but you'd be wrong. Resourcesfulness is highly correlated with intelligence.
Also, what's the idea we're discussing here? That poor people can't be extremely intelligent?
Intelligence is about acquiring and processing information; resourcefulness is about adaptation to deal with limited resources. There is a relationship, obviously, but these are not the same things.
Humans have a high baseline intelligence (as compared to other animals) and are an inherently adaptable species. This is what has allowed us to survive and thrive despite the fact that we're pretty vulnerable physically.
People in wealthy countries are often more impressed with the resourcefulness of people in poor countries than they have legitimate reason to be. That's because, again, humans are an inherently resourceful species. We are literally hard-wired to be able to survive in resource-constrained environments.
The conveniences of being wealthy significantly reduces the need to be resourceful in the ways poor people have to be, so people in wealthy countries are often amazed by resourcefulness that is fundamentally human.