I understand the point of the post but what is “intellectual potential” really? Even if we’re discussing helping humanity as a whole, what does “helping” mean?

I understand the point of the post but what is “intellectual potential” really? Even if we’re discussing helping humanity as a whole, what does “helping” mean? Maybe we want to make society better, say by helping everyone involved to live the best lives they could possibly live, but this is also a quite vague and subjective concept. What I’m trying to say is that a fulfilling life is something that changes per individual. Perhaps a less-scientific and more art-driven society is preferable and would result in a much more enjoyable life for specific individuals. Others might prefer the complete opposite. For instance I want to go to the stars and conquer different worlds because I feel that a life worth living means exploring the unknown. But I also understand that using our resources to reach for the stars might also exploit some other parts of society in a negative way. So who’s to say that playing a video game that fulfils your needs is less valuable than doing anything else? Life is beautiful because it’s diverse. Let the billions of variables coalesce and generate an existence that fulfils the needs of the people that live it. Sure you can push the needle in a specific direction (like scientific research) but the variables are so many and the individuals so diverse that it’s hard to contemplate a formula that would work at scale for everyone. Instead of concentrating on the intellectual potential I would argue that “diversity” is a much more important variable. Life thrives in diverse conditions - we see this in how important biodiversity is for ecosystems (like plants). I think the same concept also applies for intellect.