by Michael Isaacson

Created on: June 14, 2008

Why did YOU vote for intelligence? Each argument I've seen for choosing intelligence seems to hinge on the thought that being smart will get you rich, i.e. a vote for intelligence would give you both.

But would it?

We writers and critics think too highly of ourselves: we see ourselves as intelligent, we could not imagine living with a diminished capacity, and we weigh it more heavily to increase our self-respect.

I propose that intelligence is only one factor to making wealth, but intelligence is still the better decision.

Are you smart? Are you rich? You see where this goes. Are the people around you who are richer than you also smarter than you? This colloquial illustration should severe the absoluteness in your mind that intelligence alone gets you money. The people who started Mensa thought it did, and applied the intelligence quotient to the masses. They thought they would find the cream of the crop, movers and shakers only. What they got was a nice cross-section of society.

Hard work and charisma stand out as additional factors in money-making, but producing wealth is a very individual endeavor, almost always involving the improvement of other people's lives. Wealth can also make you comfortable. It IS better to be rich than poor. And intelligence by itself doesn't exactly make you the happiest person around (see: writers' angst).

Intelligence has its own rewards, though.

People who are smart and people who are wealthy have this in common: they want to be significant. They want their life to count. The wealthy accomplish this primarily by giving what they have. Once it is given though, it is done. Money to the poor is consumed, more is required and one person bears the weight of many, until that person no longer gives. Creating change takes intelligence. Without intelligence, no cures for diseases are found. Without intelligence, children are badly educated, companies and nations lose their bearings and drift, homes fall apart, solutions are not found and humanity generally suffers. We find significane in what we accomplish for others.

Also, when the intelligent person has given his or her brains, they sill retain them as well. If anything, the mind is sharpened by the excercise. This is just like most of the things that matter in life, things like love, respect, forgiveness, relationships, etc.

By obtaining significance more easily and often, and keeping it once it is given, I pick intelligence. It is what I value, even above comfort.

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