Caylee Clay

10-8-19

Per.1

“What is Intelligence Anyway?”

In Issac Asimov’s article, “What is Intelligence Anyway?” he discusses what he thinks the

true value of intelligence really is. Asimov makes claims comparing two different but intelligently

equal people, to show that everyone is intelligent in their own way, and that knowledge isn’t just

standardized to one test or score, there’s knowledge behind different types of things

everywhere.

Asimov is explicitly stating that based off of society’s reasoning, people who have the

intelligence to do great on tests given to them by academicians are the ones that others think

are “smart” or have the most intelligence. But in actuality the only reason they can make those

high scores is because they are taking a test written by someone who has a similar thought

process as them so it's easier to do better on something the person can relate to. Asimov states

this in paragraph 2 when saying, “Actually though, don’t such scores simply mean that I am very

good at answering the type of academic questions that are considered worthy of answers by

people who makeup intelligence tests-- people with intelligence bents similar to mine?” Asimov

is pointing out that the reason he is considered to be smarter than others is because of the field

he is working in. It is easy for him to get a good score because he is familiar with that field of

study, and is much like the creator of the test. In paragraph 4 Asimov also says that “My

intelligence, then, is not absolute but is a function of the society I live in and of the fact that a

small subsection of that society has managed to foist itself on the rest as an arbiter of such

matters.” With this Asimov is saying that intelligence is imperfect but is still a societal role. He
points out that people who think they have more intelligence than others, automatically become

an arbiter. This is because some people who aren't as intelligent in certain fields rely on others

who are.

Asimov also implies that you don't just have to be a good test taker in order to be

intelligent, people can be intelligent in all sorts of fields. He gives an example of an instance he

had with his an auto-repairman. Asimov states that “I always took it for granted that I was far

more intelligent than he was. Yet, when anything went wrong with my car I hastened to him with

it.”(2) This just proves that even the smartest test takers don't have the intelligence for

everything. Asimov needed to rely on someone else who had a different type of intelligence in

order to fix his car. He also quotes that “In a world where I could not use my academic training

and my verbal talents but had to do something intricate or hard, working with my hands, I would

do poorly.”(3) Asimov wants people to know that people should not only have one sided

knowledge. It is hard for everyone to have complex understandings of a lot of different fields, but

thats why it is good for people to be greatly intelligent in one field.

Asimov wrote this article in order to prove that intelligence is versatile. Whether you are

getting the highest score possible on tests, or just simply doing what you love while fixing a car,

everyone has intelligence in their own ways.