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.

AI intelligence shouldn't be measured with a single metric like IQ. AIs exhibit "jagged intelligence," being superhuman in specific domains (e.g., mastering 200 languages) while simultaneously lacking basic capabilities like long-term planning, making them fundamentally unlike human minds.

The stereotype of the brilliant but socially awkward tech founder is misleading. Horowitz argues that the most successful CEOs like Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page, and Elon Musk are actually "very smart about people." Those who truly lack the ability to understand others don't reach that level of success.

The assumption that superintelligence will inevitably rule is flawed. In human society, raw IQ is not the primary determinant of power, as evidenced by PhDs often working for MBAs. This suggests an AGI wouldn't automatically dominate humanity simply by being smarter.

Professor Sandy Pentland warns that AI systems often fail because they incorrectly model humans as logical individuals. In reality, 95% of human behavior is driven by "social foraging"—learning from cultural cues and others' actions. Systems ignoring this human context are inherently brittle.

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.

Intelligence is a rate, not a static quality. You can outperform someone who learns in fewer repetitions by simply executing your own (potentially more numerous) repetitions on a faster timeline. Compressing the time between attempts is a controllable way to become 'smarter' on a practical basis.

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.

French psychologist Alfred Binet created his test to identify children needing extra educational resources. He explicitly warned against using it to measure innate, fixed intelligence or future potential, a purpose it was later co-opted for in the U.S., which he considered a betrayal.