Week 11: Scenarios to Test Your Definitions Against

1)  A person has Baccalaureate degree, but they weren't content with their field of study, so they only half heartedly worked toward their degree. Also, they cheated on the final exam that they took right before getting the degree. Can they still be considered intelligent?
- The person can still be considered intelligent. They obviously stayed in college long enough to get that degree and they must have taken hard courses. Besides, if they were in a field of study that they were not content with, but still did well enough to make it to the final exam, then they are pretty intelligent. I find it hard to focus on something that I am not interested in. If I did not like what I was majoring in, I do not think I would even make it far enough to cheat on the final exam. So yes, despite their wrong doings and bad choices, they can still be considered intelligent.


2)  Bill Gates was a college drop out.  Do we consider him intelligent?  Why or why not?  How might this affect your criteria for your definition of intelligence?
- We do not know the exact reasons he dropped out of college. It could very well be because of finances. However, we still consider him intelligent, because he invented something that was useful and used all around the world. Though he is still an intelligent man, it puts a twist on my definition of intelligence. Instead of me saying that intelligence has something to do with academics in college, I should probably just stick to the power of the mind no matter what the surroundings are. College or just work.

3)  A man with a BA goes into politics and proposes going to war with another country.  He knows the war will drag out, and he knows many people will be killed during the duration of it.  Was this an intelligent decision?  Are people we admit are intelligent allowed to make unintelligent decisions from time to time?  Why or why not?  How might this affect your criteria for your definition of intelligence?
- I do not believe this was an intelligent decision, however I do not know all of the background information that could have started his thought of battling another country. Yes, intelligent people are allowed to make unintelligent decisions, but this was a decision that should not be allowed as an "oopsie". War is a very delicate subject and no matter how smart he was, politcally, intelligence also needs a bit of common sense. You must think outside of the black and white and give room for that grey area. This just helped my definition of intelligence even more, giving the example of common smarts for intelligent people.