The Enlightened Mind's Dilemma: Navigating Intelligence and Bias

Exploring the Paradox of Bright Minds and False Beliefs: A Stoic Perspective on Cultivating Wisdom and Virtue in the Age of Information

Uncovering the mysteries of our minds has revealed that not only the ignorant but even the most learned people can be wrong. This has dire consequences for society, education and personal growth. By studying the link between intellectual prowess and susceptibility to misinformation, we can at least try to navigate a world full of lies.

How Smart People Go Wrong: It’s hard to believe, but there is a strong connection between intelligence and bias. Multiple studies showed that smarter people were more likely to be prejudiced regardless of political party. This may sound anti-intellectual, but our brains have evolved to prioritize personal comfort over realness. It still seeks truth for us as individuals and as a group— but it also needs self-protection, social dominance and community acceptance. Even when those things don’t make sense.

The Ripple Effect: Because smart people are better at arguing, they’re also better at making bullshit sound true in front of an audience. In law, politics, media and entertainment, we have eloquent debaters who use their skills to popularize baseless ideas. You might recognize this type of person with words like "woke" or “covid-19.” These ideas are often reinforced by other influential entities, which causes entire societies to take on delusions that guide how they think about what’s happening in the world around them.

Education Needs Reform: Our historically prestigious schools have focused so much on argumentative skills that students eventually become biased adults…. Who can argue really well! We need to start teaching awareness instead of smarts because we’ll continue confusing rationality with confirmation bias without it.

The Many Forms of Intelligence: Intelligence isn’t just being good at math or learning facts; It's problem-solving, decision-making and critical thinking, too! And it turns out that your intelligence level also greatly affects your biases and beliefs. It seems obvious now, but you’d be surprised to learn how many people didn't know this before!

What Makes Us Smart: We're all born with our own cognition, and it’s shaped by everything around us. What we learn, how we learn it, and the people who teach us play a huge role in developing our thought processes. So, don't feel bad when you start to wonder why you think this way or that way! It’s just your brain doing what it knows best.

Different Ways To Be Smart: There are multiple types of intelligence in the world, not just IQ. There's emotional intelligence, which is understanding and managing emotions; social intelligence, which is being good in social settings; artificial intelligence, which is creating human-like machines; and more! Each type affects our decisions, so we should consider them all.

Avoiding The Clouded Mind: The smarter you are, the more closed off to new ideas you become… And nobody wants that! By remaining curious and embracing humbleness, anyone can avoid living inside their mental bubble. All it takes is admitting you’re wrong sometimes— there’s no shame in it!

How intelligence is connected to ideological bias shows how complicated our minds can be. And it also shows us that we need to look closer at how we learn and find truth. If we value staying curious and humble and learning to think critically about what’s in front of us, we can unlearn these biases and have better conversations.