> It does not define intelligence. The author acknowledges that of course intelligence is not everything but does not define it. I think a better take would be

> It does not define intelligence. The author acknowledges that of course intelligence is not everything but does not define it. I think a better take would be to define intelligence (as the article implicitly does but explicit is better than implicit) From the article: >> Or, in some tellings, no one knows what smart is, it’s some sort of ineffable quality we can’t pin down, or the very idea of “smart” is a racist Western imperialist hegemonic heteronormative con. So the author clearly rejects the idea that smart can't be defined, but you're absolutely right, they never actually define it. Instead, they sneak around it with stuff like: >> And in fact we are very good indeed at creating instruments that measure whether you can read or write or do algebra. It’s just that their results are socially inconvenient. While I don't doubt the author that there are people out there who think the idea of differing mathematical ability, that certainly isn't a common position, and the author here isn't standing heroically for a correct but unpopular opinion by saying "some people are better at math than others". But... being good at reading or writing or doing algebra, is that really how the author wants to define "smart"? Especially when they also say: >> I’m not naturally talented at math. I don't like it but it's true. And easily quantifiable. If the author considers themselves smart without being talented at math, then who cares if we're good at creating instruments that measure whether you can do algebra? What does being good at algebra mean beyond that? I agree with you, if the author wants to say "duh, of course being smart is a real thing", then at least tell us what they mean by "smart". Is it really nothing more than "good at school", which they seem to conflate it with. Anyway, a more interesting question is, "is there only one kind of smart"? This site is full of people who are really smart in one way, but remarkably dumb in others. (As is every forum). Just like the author is smart, but still bad at math and programming.