Some individuals believe that intelligence is best measured by success, whilst others hold the opinion that intellect might be measured in other ways. I agree with the latter point, due to the fact that not all successful people are considered intelligent and truly wise people may not always look for success.
There is a significant number of individuals who, despite demonstrating significant success, may not possess high intellectual capacity. For instance, numerous social media influencers obtained wealth and fame due to their charisma, marketing skills, or social networking practices rather than high cognitive abilities. These people produce their content based on what is trending on the Internet at the moment, although it does not always reflect their higher-order thinking capabilities. Therefore, success is not always equal to high intelligence, and there could be alternative measures of intellect to consider.
Smart people could prioritize other aspects of life over success. Many of them may search for personal fulfillment or strive for social change and impact that they can contribute to global society. If intelligent people were solely measured by success, most of them would be ignored by community, regardless of their contribution to overall advancement of knowledge. Thus, it is important to take into consideration a wider range of qualities such as creativity, emotional intelligence, and the pursuit of meaningful goals in measuring cognition of a person.
In conclusion, I believe that intellect should not be measured by success, as there are much more important things as people’s impact and contribution to society that can be considered to measure intelligence of people.