Speaking as someone who is not that bright and only indifferently educated, I鈥檓 starting to worry about the smart folks.

Elon Musk is a good case study.

Musk is a trained engineer with loads of schooling. He has drive, which is not the same thing as intelligence, but which can be handy. He has been involved in running some of the most valuable companies in the world. He鈥檚 either the richest or second-richest person in the world, depending on how stock in Tesla and Amazon are doing at any point.

He鈥檚 one of the key figures in mainstreaming electric vehicles, using a strategy that started with making EVs cool objects owned by celebrities, then rolling out cheaper models that more people could buy.

So鈥� he鈥檚 a smart guy, right?

The problem is, his actions over the last few months suggest something other than high intelligence.

Most recently, he鈥檚 started talking about how to 鈥渇ix鈥� the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and about China鈥檚 designs on independent Taiwan.

People in Ukraine and Taiwan did not appreciate his suggestions, to put it mildly.

Before that, Musk decided to buy Twitter, then changed his mind, then changed it back again. This process has made a lot of money for some lawyers. It has yet to make Twitter better, if that鈥檚 even possible.

Oh, also he once sold a bunch of hand-held flamethrowers. That made the world a better place, right?

So, is Musk smart or not?

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I don鈥檛 think we ask that question the right way.

The idea of general intelligence, measured by IQ, has been around for more than a century.

Ironically, it鈥檚 pretty stupid.

Some people are more intelligent than others, but that sort of 鈥渋ntelligence鈥� measures, more or less, the speed at which you learn new things, and a certain level of mental flexibility.

It doesn鈥檛 give you specialized knowledge, and it doesn鈥檛 mean you are always right.

I most often find intelligence in the things people work hard at learning, often out of passion, but sometimes via pure repetition.

A skilled mechanic or woodworker or gardener is very smart in their field, but someone who鈥檚 worked in fast food for 10 or 20 years also has a specialized kind of intelligence, understanding everything from the restaurant鈥檚 equipment to how to deal with a cranky customer. Do you think you could drop a surgeon into a McDonald鈥檚 and they could operate the fryer, the grill, and the cash register without any instruction?

Being smart in a field is great.

But thinking you鈥檙e smart in general is a trap for a certain kind of confident personality.

It leads the successful into thinking that their skills in one area 鈥� often business, medicine, or law 鈥� can easily translate into another area. Usually, it鈥檚 politics.

Being smart is great. Learning that IQ isn鈥檛 the be-all and end-all is better.