What Makes an Idiot?

Cognitive Engineering

What makes an idiot? Sometimes those who are meant to be the best and brightest among us say the most idiotic things. This suggests intelligence and idiocy are not mutually exclusive characteristics. Can we prevent our own stupidity from becoming manifest or are we all just idiots in waiting? In this podcast, we look at the existence of intelligence and idiocy. We unpick recent examples of utter idiocy and shed light on the biological necessity of intelligence. We attempt to distinguish between intelligence and levels of IQ, and question why people that may say idiotic things often turn out to be brilliant in other areas. Is intelligence merely a product of evolutionary biology and to what extent is it simply confidence in different clothing? Finally, we share some of our own most idiotic moments. A few things we mentioned in this podcast: - Lunar New Deal: Gohmert suggests altering moon's orbit to combat climate changehttps://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/lunar-new-deal-gop-rep-gohmert-suggests-altering-moon-s-n1270219 - Why smart people are more likely to believe fake news https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/apr/01/why-smart-people-are-more-likely-to-believe-fake-news - Intelligence and socioeconomic success: A meta-analytic review of longitudinal research https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0160289606001127?via%3Dihub For more information on Aleph Insights visit our website https://alephinsights.com or to get in touch about our podcast email [e-mail] Image: Sean Ganann via Flickr