Wal-Mart Cashier: "Why are you emptying a jar of beetles onto the floor."
Me: "Manipulating RNG so I can Wrongwarp to Ganon."
Cashier: "Might as well."
Actually, studies have shown this isn't as true as you might think
It's better to be born three standard deviations above the mean in intelligence than it is to be born into three standard deviations above the mean for wealth
At least in terms of how wealthy you are likely to become in the long term
Now, you could say that intelligence is somewhat genetic and therefore hereditary and you'd be correct
But the two single largest factors that have proven to predict long term wealth are IQ and trait conscientiousness - which is roughly how hard you work
True, but part true. Let’s agree on the data and not debate wether those studies are correct. At face value- you may be better off 3 standard deviations above- but at 2, 5, 10- things aren’t so clean. If we apply the empirical rule to global, or even local wealth in most places- we will see that distribution is not normal. But that gets exceedingly complex to discuss here. While in theory statistically significant- 3 standard deviations above the mean financially isn’t as a big a leap as intellectually. The distribution of income is so screwed as to make the data almost meaningless- To be in the top 20% of wealth in America you only need a net worth of $500,000, not a large sum for a lifetimes work. At a certain income- you only have to be smart enough to pay the right people and listen to the smarties and not spend more than your “allowance.” That’s all it takes.
This isn’t a function of IQ- it could be called “financial intelligence” but I don’t know I’d call following instructions any special intelligence as animals can do that. Like saying “Jill is great with cars- she is very car intelligent. She can’t fix it or explain it- but she has a good mechanic..”
There’s also a theoretical upper limit to deviations from the norm in intelligence whereas financially the limits are much higher there. Intelligence is abstract- “street smart” “business savvy” “emotional intelligence” a Navy Seal must be intelligent as must a nuclear physicist- but even provided the knowledge we can’t say one could do the job of the other or would have the intelligence suited for the tasks. With that said- the top “smartest” 1% of people are more likely to work for the top 1% of richest people than the other way around. There is power in intellect- but intellect is not a substitute nor synonyms with power.
But statistically speaking- we would expect 95% of humans to score within 2 deviations of mean intellect. 13 out of 10,000 people would be “profoundly gifted.” Now if we look at the wealth distribution of America... we can see that 17% of homes make 50-75k a year, next highest is 14% at 100-150k a year. Also at the top of our list is the 10% making less than 20k a year. The rest is divided to brackets between there.
These are household incomes of course- so we know that the average “household” is going to be more than one person- which makes the data ambiguous on individual earnings- and depending upon the data source the numbers change. We know there are about 150 million “households” in America and we know there are about 328 million people. So... we can at least see indications that based on expectations that percentages on income do not follow statistics in intelligence when we zoom out and take all samples in to our example.
it’s a false comparison. All or nothing- being born either smarter than average or wealthier than average. If you are just born average- then you will most likely have greater success if you’re born average and wealthier than average and poorer. If you have above average intelligence- you will still have an easier time and more opportunity to leverage your intelligence if you have a stable or ample financial background. We can see in generational poverty and numerous studies that one thing that often separates the otherwise capable from success is that they didn’t grow up with a source to instill in them the knowledge and “rules” of financial success.
Something as simple as bonds or investments and doing odd jobs and investing or saving that money as a minor: an exceptional child may do this- but a child is a child- so usually this comes from a parent or guardian. These kids are in a position when they come of age to buy a home or property young, or to not go in to debt in college or have the freedom to pursue a higher degree without burden.
This is compounded when the child who’s parents had them save, also invested towards their child’s college and or is financing or taking on the debt- vs the child who’s parent did not have them save who is also more likely to not have invested or be able to pay for their college. The result there would be of course- that the first child would graduate with a home, no loans, and prospects on a career. They’ll likely pay their home off sooner, likely but more property and invest further, with time that gap tends to widen so long as both parties act responsibly- it becomes a game of luck to make a change to that gap.
Tl:dr- if we are talking about 3 deviations above median- we are talking about a statistically small percentage of the population. For most people who fall within 2 deviations- it is more likely they will be born of average intelligence and the question is simply wether they have more or less money and resources to give them advantages. This also only accounts for wealth and not a quality of life- which is very different between one who struggles to reach up from poverty on brains and pluck, and one who is helped along and guided. If we look at the top “smartest” people, and the top richest... we can see that even outside the average- this doesn’t hold up. Or does it? The problem is wealth is easily quantified and defined where as intellect is not. If we define it as being able to reach your goals, a monkey is a genius if it can eat lots of fruit and get laid.
Me: "Manipulating RNG so I can Wrongwarp to Ganon."
Cashier: "Might as well."
It's better to be born three standard deviations above the mean in intelligence than it is to be born into three standard deviations above the mean for wealth
At least in terms of how wealthy you are likely to become in the long term
But the two single largest factors that have proven to predict long term wealth are IQ and trait conscientiousness - which is roughly how hard you work