<p>We humans generally consider ourselves to be intelligent. Is this a universal, general or average trait, or is it only a limited number of persons who are intelligent? We judge our intelligence by comparison with ourselves and with other beings that we consider less intelligent. It’s like a person alone in a room saying I am tall, because I do not see anyone who is taller than me.</p>
<p>If human beings were truly intelligent there would be no need of police, armies, social security, laws or consumerism.</p>
<p>You may say intelligent people may misuse their intelligence - but that would be a dumb thing to do, indicating a lack of intelligence. You might say intelligent people sometimes do stupid things, yet it seems that stupid things being done is quotidian.<br />
It is understandable that in a dire emergency some short term solution may be optimum. That is not a continuing situation. Surely, an intelligent person would carefully weigh the possible consequences of any action they might take, considering extreme long term consequences, say over a thousand years into the future.<br />
In <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Wikipedia</a> Intelligence is defined as “the <strong>capacity</strong> for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving”. But is it intelligence if you have these capacities, but do not use them?</p>
<p>So my question is “Are human beings truly intelligent?”</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-03-19T02:55:42.293Z
A modified version of this question may be suitable for philosophy.SE, but it will only attract opinion-based answers here, and is thus off-topic.
Arnon Weinberg
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-03-19T05:12:36.630Z
May I recommend that you look into [temperamental differences](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temperament), the various different models - all indicating potentially different outcomes  somewhat independent of innate ability.
Jiminy Cricket.
<intelligence>
Are human beings truly intelligent?
Rich
# Are human beings truly intelligent?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-03-19)

We humans generally consider ourselves to be intelligent. Is this a universal, general or average trait, or is it only a limited number of persons who are intelligent? We judge our intelligence by comparison with ourselves and with other beings that we consider less intelligent. It’s like a person alone in a room saying I am tall, because I do not see anyone who is taller than me.

If human beings were truly intelligent there would be no need of police, armies, social security, laws or consumerism.

You may say intelligent people may misuse their intelligence - but that would be a dumb thing to do, indicating a lack of intelligence. You might say intelligent people sometimes do stupid things, yet it seems that stupid things being done is quotidian.  
It is understandable that in a dire emergency some short term solution may be optimum. That is not a continuing situation. Surely, an intelligent person would carefully weigh the possible consequences of any action they might take, considering extreme long term consequences, say over a thousand years into the future.  
In [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence) Intelligence is defined as “the **capacity** for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving”. But is it intelligence if you have these capacities, but do not use them?

So my question is “Are human beings truly intelligent?”

**Tags:** intelligence

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: A modified version of this question may be suitable for philosophy.SE, but it will only attract opinion-based answers here, and is thus off-topic.  
> **username_2**: May I recommend that you look into [temperamental differences](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temperament), the various different models - all indicating potentially different outcomes  somewhat independent of innate ability.  

---

## 0 answers

