There's also different types of "smarts". I think ability to memorise or generally know a lot is very different from noticing patterns or understanding of how things work and relate to each other.

Especially nowadays, there's Google, you don't need to memorise a lot as you can just check everything.

I think even Einstein said that "don't memorise what you can quickly check up" or had a similar sentiment.

Very often trivia kings and queens don't know how to apply that knowledge practically and a lot of knowledge has benefits just to appear intelligent to other people.

Also not to mention street smarts, emotional intelligence, leadership int and many other aspects.

What made Einstein special to me is his ability to imagine how things work together and then he and or his mind kept endlessly obsessing over it to reach further and further conclusions. Essentially trying to create a model of the world and or trying to simulate in mind whatever is happening and which can lead to greater insights of what is causing what.

I think true understanding is being able to imagine and predict how something works as opposed to memorising a lot of information about the thing.