Thursday, October 13, 2005

Who is an intellectual ?

Almost all of us think we have an intellectual bent of mind :)
There is absolutely no problem with that...to each his own school of thought.

There are organisations that claim that they can certify you as an intellectual like Mensa. They have an exam that tests your IQ and cerify you if you clear that. It should look good on your CV and perhaps the interested parties can use this link here. You are allowed to take the test only twice. I havent taken the test yet, but am thinking about taking it sometime.

Is an intellectual the one that has his own way of doing things and does not care about the society...usually turns out to be a social misfit..( Ayn Rand type) ? or

Is he an influential thinker who combines his ideas with pragmatism and helps the society move forward ( Albert Einstein type) ? or

Is he the one with radical ideas that go far beyond his time and is denounced by the society as a heretic ( Copernicus type) ? or

Is he the saint, the philosopher, the inventor, the spiritual guru or the leader?

Or is he just a nondescript member of a society like the dhobi who washes your clothes or the plumber who fixes your tap or the programmer who writes stunning codes?

Or All the above ?

But what defines intellect? Has it just to do with numbers...a high IQ score perhaps? Can a person who doesn't actually tip the scales in an IQ test not be a intellect? Some questions are better left unanswered. :)

In this regard, Prospect magazine has come out with a poll that determines the worlds leading public intellectuals in contemporary society. The list has people like Noam Chomsky, The Pope, Yusuf al-Qaradawi and others. The Hindu report here.
The actual story and the list on Prospect here.
Noam Chomsky of whom I first heard of while studying a paper called 'Principles of programming languages' during my under-grad years seems to be the early favourite. The results will be announced in November and voting has closed. I just missed it by a couple of days. :)

11 Comments:

Blogger Cogito said...

I am :-)

Tough to pin down a definition. IMHO, An independent thinker whose thoughts,works shape up the world for good is an "intellectual" ...Dont get mired too much in MENSA scores..

12:39 AM

 
Blogger Ram said...

Huh ? No value addition to your CV eh??

10:42 AM

 
Blogger ada-paavi!!!! said...

hard to define an intellectual,

MENSA just wants to create an elitist society, IQ tests have been proved scientifically to be flawed, if they were representative of a persons character, why do companies give such a low weightage to tje IQ of a person??

machi nee romba yosikerai,

8:04 AM

 
Blogger PreethZzZ The Original said...

i reckon Ram, u think to much therefore you must be intellectual... :S... Ur rite in saying its really hard to decide who is and who is not intellectual...
One thing for sure an IQ test or any one test cannot definitely determine who is or who is not, I guess it varies person to person and there can be many ways in which a person can be considered intellectual!

4:12 AM

 
Blogger Priya said...

me and intelligence.. farfarfar away... so no comments :D
Plus im sure u dont fit into tht area either ;)

..p..

2:49 AM

 
Blogger Vivek Haridas said...

Even though I don't question the test on its face value, the usage of the scores has a lot of room for thinking.

My subjective 2 cents start here-->

The initial definition:-
Intelligent Quotient = (Academic Age as per test) / (Actual Age)

The initiation of this technique, like all other benevolent researches of nuclear fission, electricity or gun powder was done for a very useful purpose. The purpose of finding out who needs some extra help in school, mind you, that it was not about telling 'you are no good for school'.

Like any other finding this has evolved into vested interests of categorizing people, races and sexes. So, much so that we even have standardized IQ measurements of a Moron and an Idiot.

From a business perspective, as an employer, I may be interested in finding the best thinker in the available lot for a job in my company. The ethics of this is debatable but not immoral. However, when schools too cater to an IQ test, then they are breeding imbalance in the society. This is the other extreme of a prevailing reservation system.

Further, the tests can measure intelligence as per the evaluator's perception, but not the intentions. Some of the leading Auditing firms have highly intelligent and motivated people but the intentions could not be measured and together they have put leading economies into shambles. They have spread mistrust just by their unjust practices.

Now with years invested into intelligence testing, ventures have already begun on Emotional and Love Quotients.

In the near future, don't be surprised if your prospective Father-In-Law gives you an EQ test and your would be Wife-In-Law gives you an LQ test.

9:48 AM

 
Blogger Jeevan said...

First time on u r blog, u r blog is very nice.

3:47 AM

 
Blogger Neha said...

I dunno maybe I ll give u an example-- ME :D

5:21 AM

 
Blogger Saravana said...

ram good link da ... atlast the world can know that I'm an intellectual ;)

3:59 PM

 
Blogger Vivek Vaidyanathan said...

"Intellectualism" is difficult to define.IQ by itself is only one of the many parameters which make up your personality. EQ and LQ are parameters again which explore different facets of your personality.

Mensa membership is a definite value addition in your CV, this is subjective though.

But different companies place different importance to IQ, teamwork and communication skills are more important.

10:40 PM

 
Blogger Ram said...

Sorry for not responding earlier..
Thanks, everyone, for your comments!!

11:58 AM

 

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