While sitting on the chairlift today, I found myself thinking about a two-week-old post by Ben Casnocha. But instead of musing on the point he was making — that very intelligent people still rationalize their irrational actions and history to fit with their self-identication because it’s easier than confronting their self-delusion — I was fascinated by the much broader notion that “intelligent people rationalize the irrational.”
I’m not going to delve too deep into this — I tried it already, and it made me come off as verbose and pretentious (that description probably does, too, but I digress…). Instead, I’m going to make two adjustments to the paraphrased quotation in question:
- “Intelligent people rationalize the relevant and irrational.” There’s plenty of irrational information out there. To be intelligent, you not only need to be able to explain away the irrational, but you need to be able to figure out what matters within the abundance of (irrational) information available.
- “Intelligent people rationalize recognize and apply patterns in the relevant and irrational.” While there are smart people all around us, who understand the world they live in and can (and do) rationalize irrational actions/information, this turns intelligence into a whole other quality: the ability to recognize and accept patterns of irrational information, and to figure out these patterns’ implications on their — and others’ — lives.
The world has plenty of “smart” people. In fact, you’re probably pretty smart; I like to think I am, too. But this notion of intelligence — as being able to recognize and apply patterns in the relevant and irrational — is something we should all be aspiring to:
A smart person can react to his environment. An intelligent person can understand — and probably even shape — hers.
This reworking of mine expands on Casnocha’s original point: he says that there are very few among us who are so consistent that they virtually never have to reconcile irrational actions with their self-concept; I say that there are very few among us who can recognize the irrational for what it is — irrational — and only allow it to affect their world if it’s pervasive enough.
If you can understand, accept, and use what’s just out of others’ mental reach — the irrational — you’ve got a huge advantage over your competition…
The one thing I ask is that you use it wisely.
