I can answer the headline question very easily: because being smart isn't all that's required.
Is it required at all? Perhaps... if by 'smart' you mean 'able to exploit opportunities to personal benefit'.
IQ is only a minor factor in success
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Re: IQ is only a minor factor in success
#12Re: IQ is only a minor factor in success
#13A truly smart person will have a very impressive, convincing answer to this question.
Re: IQ is only a minor factor in success
#14I have to point out that this question functions as a classical reference to the life of Thales (born 624 BC) - touted as the first philosopher. In the apocryphal story, he proved he could be wealthy if he wanted to and- according to one version - grew rich by predicting that the olive harvest would be good and investing accordingly. Having information others do not has always thus ruled the markets :)
Re: IQ is only a minor factor in success
#15The assumption here is that everyone sees the accumulation of wealth as the most important goal in life. I don't think that's accurate.
Accumulation of wealth may not be the ultimate goal, but it shortcuts your way to achieve the goals of other pursuits.
I think you will find that, in general, it does not. Often it actually detracts from your ability to pursue other goals. People think, "I need money" to do X. They put off X until they "have money". All along the way they intend to do X, but the prerequisite of getting money consumes their time and energy. The funny thing about money is that it's a bit like computer memory. No matter how much you have, you can always find use for more. I'm not going to tell you that nobody needs more than $640, but there is a point at which you have "enough money" and "enough" is usually a lot less than people imagine. Probably you have "enough money" to start now. In that way money is not a short cut -- it's a long cut.
I think for a lot of people, they don't want to compromise. So if you are thinking "I need X so I can live in the wilderness and write books without having to worry about a job", then they put off writing books until they are rich. And by the time it happens (if it ever does -- which is rare), they find that they don't like writing books, and their spouse, who was attracted to them because they are rich, refuses to live in the wilderness.
Compromise is the true short cut. It allows you to start now, with less resources than you would like. It then allows you to build your life so that the thing you wanted is part of it. Even if you need a lot of money to achieve your ultimate goal, remember that it needn't be your money that you spend.
P.S. Even if your dream is to sit on the beach every day and get drunk, I assure you that this is very common amongst the poor ;-)
Re: IQ is only a minor factor in success
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
But at what cost? Certainly you could work at a Biglaw firm in NYC (or whatever) and get rich if you're willing to trade your youth and your health. But is that smart ?
You're making several very large assumptions. 1) That you have to trade your health. I wonder if lawyers at Biglaw live longer than the bottom 75% of income earners. My opinion is that they very likely do. 2) Smart isn't applicable to the context you set up. It's dependent on what you want out of life, these are personal life choices. If I prioritize money over life expectancy, and I get rich but die at 63 years of a…
There is a difference between healthiness and life expectancy.
Re: IQ is only a minor factor in success
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
But at what cost? Certainly you could work at a Biglaw firm in NYC (or whatever) and get rich if you're willing to trade your youth and your health. But is that smart ?
You're making several very large assumptions. 1) That you have to trade your health. I wonder if lawyers at Biglaw live longer than the bottom 75% of income earners. My opinion is that they very likely do. 2) Smart isn't applicable to the context you set up. It's dependent on what you want out of life, these are personal life choices. If I prioritize money over life expectancy, and I get rich but die at 63 years of a…
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Re: IQ is only a minor factor in success
#18I can answer the headline question very easily: because being smart isn't all that's required.
As someone who comes from a family that has a few successful traditional businesses, luck and who you know plays a big part of your success. It's hard for people who haven't been in business to understand. They have been told that a great product at a fair price with fantastic customer service is what it takes. While that plays a role it is does not even amount to 50% of the formula.
In my experience business luck and knowing the right people can at least partially be the result of hard work.
Re: IQ is only a minor factor in success
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
But at what cost? Certainly you could work at a Biglaw firm in NYC (or whatever) and get rich if you're willing to trade your youth and your health. But is that smart ?
Let's not pretend that many folks in startups aren't doing just that.
The person working at a concreting factory for 60 hours a week to try and save is in the exact same position.
My biggest concern isn't that you can work away your youth and health like that, it's that a lot of people of my generation have no idea that's what they are doing and were gently coerced from a young age to imagine the house/car/work triad as the three ticks of success in life.
Re: IQ is only a minor factor in success
#20I can answer the headline question very easily: because being smart isn't all that's required.
Is it required at all? Perhaps... if by 'smart' you mean 'able to exploit opportunities to personal benefit'.
I'd expect that there are a number of factors that help improve your odds, and that being "smart" will be one of them. But so would being born into a wealthy family, or just bing born in a developed country, and be of good health, and any numbers of other factors.
As well as a huge amount of chance - e.g. my first company got funded because one of my co-founders ran into a guy in a bar that happened to be in the country for a week or two. Maybe we'd have found other funding if that didn't happen. Maybe not. We'll never know.