Fifteen years ago, I would have told you they secretly understood that and thought you were a sucker for bothering. I always suspected that people used the concept of "intelligence" and their supposed lack of it to excuse themselves from responsibilities such as reading a god damned book once in a while.

How could either of us be disproved? Ability and sustained effort go together so consistently that the exceptions are too rare to mean anything. Whether success enables effort or effort enables success, there's no denying they're found together. I did many things "effortlessly" in school because I started learning them years before. I read (and studied and reread) an Isaac Asimov book on basic physics ("Understanding Physics") in junior high, so is it any wonder physics came "effortlessly" to me in high school? I started learning high school chemistry from a "Chemistry the Easy Way" study guide a year and a half before I took the class; is it any wonder I got As despite being a lazy student who never paid attention in class?

Of course, part of the draw of learning physics and chemistry was that I was acting out a role I enjoyed, that of the "smart kid." So I was "smart" because I did the work because I liked being "smart"... who can find the beginning of that? I remember that in first grade we decorated coat hangers with little construction paper cards for each book we read, and I wanted mine to have more cards than anybody else's. There's no telling how it started.

I might really enjoy slam-dunking basketballs if I just did it more, but there is a really good chance that its never gonna happen, no matter how much I try.

You should admit that you really don't care enough to find out how your body would respond to six months of an hour of daily training aimed at dunking a basketball, and you should consider whether your attitude towards dunking a basketball is any different from a "stupid" person's attitude toward acquiring "intelligence." A twinge of regret, yet security in yourself as you are, and fear that commitment to change would be futile, and worse, appear foolish.

That would hint that many "stupid" people around us are not stupid, just insecure. Having the OP belief that "there is no Intel.", perhaps this is why I always try to convince people around me that they can understand math/science/programming etc. :-\

This is why natural ability is such a hard thing for me to accept - I really believe that I can be good at anything, and I believe that is true of other people as well, but if they don't believe it, how will it happen?

It's kind of a chicken and egg problem, or maybe a qualia problem. I have an empowering imagination and I surround myself with like people. I can't imagine someone else lacking that - but maybe some people do? I don't know, its a little frustrating.

To me, what you can do in life all comes down to a Henry Ford quote:

"Whether you believe you can, or you believe you can't, you're right."

It's also strong belief that most people are pretty smart at something, and those of us who normally get labeled as being conventionally smart are just lucky enough to have easily identified aptitudes which are picked up in school/university.

Some of the stupidest things I've ever seen people do were actually done by people who were exceptional in a narrowly defined area.

I've also always been one of the "smart kids", but I think it's a load of horseshit.

Ask me daily. I'll confirm once a week.

I wonder if anybody would pay for that, and, at the same time, whether that would be a sign of narcissism.