I do not know what are your definitions of “intelligent” and “stupid”, but I have found the following quote to be insightful and generally true so far :
The difference between stupid and intelligent people—and this is true whether or not they are well-educated—is that intelligent people can handle subtlety. - Neal Stephenson, The Diamond Age
If we take this to be our definitions, then the question is whether a person that cannot handle subtlety (sees things in black and white) be able to do so.
I feel that this is mostly dependent on the plasticity of mind and stickiness of mental habits. I think that the ability to be aware of our mental models, and judge when they are useful and when they are not, can be taught to most people. However, whether or not they are able and willing to adopt this mindset of constantly looking for subtlety and contradiction is another matter.
If you think about it, “intelligent” and “stupid” have subtleties to them as well. Let’s assume that intelligence is distributed across the population on a bell curve—What percentile do you think you fall into?
I do not know what are your definitions of “intelligent” and “stupid”, but I have found the following quote to be insightful and generally true so far :
The difference between stupid and intelligent people—and this is true whether or not they are well-educated—is that intelligent people can handle subtlety. - Neal Stephenson, The Diamond Age
If we take this to be our definitions, then the question is whether a person that cannot handle subtlety (sees things in black and white) be able to do so.
I feel that this is mostly dependent on the plasticity of mind and stickiness of mental habits. I think that the ability to be aware of our mental models, and judge when they are useful and when they are not, can be taught to most people. However, whether or not they are able and willing to adopt this mindset of constantly looking for subtlety and contradiction is another matter.
If you think about it, “intelligent” and “stupid” have subtleties to them as well. Let’s assume that intelligence is distributed across the population on a bell curve—What percentile do you think you fall into?