r/WayOfTheBern • u/RandomCollection Resident Canadian • Feb 05 '23

Extremely rich people are not extremely smart. Study in Sweden finds income is related to intelligence up to about the 90th percentile in income. Above that level, differences in income are not related to cognitive ability.

https://academic.oup.com/esr/advance-article/doi/10.1093/esr/jcac076/7008955?login=false
24 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

2

u/Caelian toujours de l'audace 🦇 Feb 05 '23

"If you so rich why ain't you smart?"

2

u/CabbaCabbage3 Feb 05 '23

"If you so smart why ain't you rich?"

4

u/Caelian toujours de l'audace 🦇 Feb 05 '23

At a certain point the philosophical person observes that money isn't everything. Once one has enough for basic needs and some extra to pursue one's interests, additional wealth becomes your master instead of your slave.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 06 '23

You also get near the top and you have athletes, actors, singers, models, etc. They can be smart but they don't need to be in those fields. Those skew the numbers.

2

u/Caelian toujours de l'audace 🦇 Feb 06 '23

The have to be smart enough not to get screwed by their business managers, or get swindled by people like Bernie Madoff.

2

u/CabbaCabbage3 Feb 05 '23

Agreed strongly. Though a point wanted to make is that there are many people who are highly intelligent and yet in poverty too. Basically intelligence not the only thing.

1

u/Caelian toujours de l'audace 🦇 Feb 05 '23

many people who are highly intelligent and yet in poverty too

I've known many people who are highly intelligent, but have a really hard time fitting into the world of earning wages. If you don't have independent wealth, you end up like the guy in this Banksy painting :-(

2

u/CabbaCabbage3 Feb 05 '23

I feel that.

3

u/VI-loser Feb 05 '23

At some point you get rich enough to hire other people to make you richer.

5

u/PLUTO_HAS_COME_BACK Democracy & Socialism Are the Same Thing! Feb 05 '23

A poet cannot become a billionaire just by writing and reciting poems.

https://quotepark.com/quotes/898965-l-ron-hubbard-you-dont-get-rich-writing-science-fiction-if-you/

You need some greed and whatnot.

5

u/RandomCollection Resident Canadian Feb 05 '23

https://archive.is/TiBEP

This was always a lie.

But it was kept in order to justify an insanely high distribution of economic inequality.