Intelligence is often used as a tool to generate more sophisticated arguments for what one already believes. A higher IQ correlates with the ability to find reasons supporting your stance, not with an enhanced ability to genuinely consider opposing viewpoints.

A societal double standard exists for nurturing talent. While child prodigies in sports or music receive enthusiastic support and coaching, academically gifted children are often held back by parents and schools fearing they'll become "weird," ultimately wasting their potential.

The U.S. military discovered that leaders with an IQ more than one standard deviation above their team are often ineffective. These leaders lose 'theory of mind,' making it difficult for them to model their team's thinking, which impairs communication and connection.

The idea of a single 'general intelligence' or IQ is misleading because key cognitive abilities exist in a trade-off. For instance, the capacity for broad exploration (finding new solutions) is in tension with the capacity for exploitation (efficiently executing known tasks), which schools and IQ tests primarily measure.

Praising kids for being "smart" reinforces the idea that intelligence is a fixed trait. When these students encounter a difficult problem, they conclude they lack the "magic ingredient" and give up, rather than persisting through the challenge.

AI makes cheating easier, undermining grades as a motivator. More importantly, it enables continuous, nuanced assessment that renders one-off standardized tests obsolete. This forces a necessary shift from a grade-driven to a learning-driven education system.

The concept of '2E' or 'twice-exceptional' describes individuals who possess both a profound gift or talent and a significant challenge or disability. This framework complicates the binary sorting of people into categories like 'gifted' versus 'special ed,' acknowledging that profound strengths and weaknesses can coexist in one person.

Labeling individuals like Einstein as geniuses helps commodify their legacy, turning them into brands that can sell products from toys to technology. This branding mechanism benefits heirs and marketers but may not actually foster more world-changing work or reflect the reality of their contributions.

IQ tests focus on explicit, conscious reasoning. They don't capture 'implicit learning'—the unconscious ability to absorb patterns and social cues from the environment. This skill, crucial for social intelligence, is often uncorrelated with high IQ scores; sometimes, high-IQ individuals are worse at it.