Comment by Fwirt

Something I’ve been thinking a lot about recently is the relationship between perceived intelligence, wealth, and motivation. We tend to self-select our social group for people of similar mindsets, so we often don’t get much exposure to the “other”, and it can be a bit shocking. But I think the point that a lot of “high IQ” people miss is that there are varying forms of intelligence that are not captured by an IQ test and still correlate highly with financial and social success. I know people that are incredibly bad with their money and make life choices repeatedly that put them in stressful situations, and yet they always seem to be the darling of their friend group even though they are constantly in need, and somehow manage to land on their feet. We all know people who don’t seem to understand the basics of their field, and yet somehow have been promoted to a leadership role where they make 2-3x the salary of the “experts” they are managing because they are better at networking and office politics.

In at least the United States, being a “self-made” person is often equated to being skilled in their field, but in reality the skill they possess is knowing how to get other people’s money. And oftentimes the reason why these people have so much money is precisely because they don’t spend it on things that an “intelligent” person would (like curing malaria).

So in relation to the article, I would disagree that there are “no stupid people”, I would say that there are objectively stupid decisions made by all of us when viewed from a certain perspective or goal. Giving away money to help others is stupid from the perspective of somebody whose only goal is to have a lot of it. You can be socially stupid, financially stupid, or logically stupid, and your form of stupidity may correlate to success in your culture. And if you are stupid in a way that makes you unsuccessful, it leads to frustration.