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Smart: A History of Intelligence
We encounter the idea of intelligence everywhere in our modern lives. Parents are told that their children will grow up smart if they are made to listen to Mozart, play with the right toys, and eat the healthiest foods. Schools and universities plunge everyone into the ruthless world of testing and academic competition. We are told repeatedly that some of the richest and most successful people in society - the tech pioneers, CEOs or financial wizards - are rich and successful precisely because they're so smart. And we now have to worry about the impact of artificial intelligence on our jobs, our societies, and the very survival of our species.
Intelligence, then, is an idea that infuses our world, and one that we think matters. This hasn't always been the case. Like all ideas, intelligence has a history.
Smart draws on the history of science, politics, and popular culture to uncover the stories of the people and projects that built the idea of modern intelligence - the men and women who created Mensa, the priest who built a village for gifted children in the mountains of Sicily, and the plan to boost the intelligence of the Venezuelan people by teaching them lateral thinking skills. These stories also reveal the dark side of intelligence, an idea that drove the modern counter-revolution against equality.
Intelligence, then, is an idea that infuses our world, and one that we think matters. This hasn't always been the case. Like all ideas, intelligence has a history.
Smart draws on the history of science, politics, and popular culture to uncover the stories of the people and projects that built the idea of modern intelligence - the men and women who created Mensa, the priest who built a village for gifted children in the mountains of Sicily, and the plan to boost the intelligence of the Venezuelan people by teaching them lateral thinking skills. These stories also reveal the dark side of intelligence, an idea that drove the modern counter-revolution against equality.
370 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2026
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June 28, 2026
The long introduction begins with quotes on intelligence from several recent USA presidents, (including Barack Obama and Donald Trump) a couple of UK prime minister (Tony Blair and Boris Johnson) and some current newsworthy individuals like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, the new elites: wealthy, smart and powerful. Their fascinating views on intelligence are not always flattering.
Then at chapter 1 where you might expect the history to begin it starts at the end with 50 pages on how we now view intelligence, which is a long way from where it began. Also interesting, but where's the history?
Around halfway I began to realise each chapter was going over the same material from a slightly different viewpoint a little further along in history, but constantly harking back to earlier chapters. whereas in the earlier chapters, he often says there will be more of this topic in later chapters
Overall, it’s a searing indictment of how the intelligence community, which is almost exclusively the purview of phycologists (nearly all rich, white, males), have used their research into exactly what constitutes intelligence and how to measure it (IQ testing), to support inequality, effectively saying women, non-whites, and poor aren’t smart. This has supposedly improved over the last two centuries.
The original intentions of IQ testing however was to help the disadvantaged / disenfranchised but somehow those in advantaged positions, preferring to remain, always turned it around. Along the way the way intelligence becomes entangled up with eugenics. Want a smart world, breed the smart people, sterilize the less smart, create a genius sperm bank, among other bizarre ideas. (reviewer’s note: sperm bank, not egg bank, white males only?)
One main theme is that the world would be better off if run by really, really-smart people, and to make this happen they needed better education for the gifted rather than the average or less smart people. A smarter run world level the playing field, but the nature of elites is hierarchical, with them at the top, simply replacing the wealthy with smart elites.
If this sounds like a personal rant, then I’ve successfully captured what I see as the tone the book. It’s easy to read, and worth it just for the chapter on AI. I may well read it again.
Then at chapter 1 where you might expect the history to begin it starts at the end with 50 pages on how we now view intelligence, which is a long way from where it began. Also interesting, but where's the history?
Around halfway I began to realise each chapter was going over the same material from a slightly different viewpoint a little further along in history, but constantly harking back to earlier chapters. whereas in the earlier chapters, he often says there will be more of this topic in later chapters
Overall, it’s a searing indictment of how the intelligence community, which is almost exclusively the purview of phycologists (nearly all rich, white, males), have used their research into exactly what constitutes intelligence and how to measure it (IQ testing), to support inequality, effectively saying women, non-whites, and poor aren’t smart. This has supposedly improved over the last two centuries.
The original intentions of IQ testing however was to help the disadvantaged / disenfranchised but somehow those in advantaged positions, preferring to remain, always turned it around. Along the way the way intelligence becomes entangled up with eugenics. Want a smart world, breed the smart people, sterilize the less smart, create a genius sperm bank, among other bizarre ideas. (reviewer’s note: sperm bank, not egg bank, white males only?)
One main theme is that the world would be better off if run by really, really-smart people, and to make this happen they needed better education for the gifted rather than the average or less smart people. A smarter run world level the playing field, but the nature of elites is hierarchical, with them at the top, simply replacing the wealthy with smart elites.
If this sounds like a personal rant, then I’ve successfully captured what I see as the tone the book. It’s easy to read, and worth it just for the chapter on AI. I may well read it again.
Displaying 1 of 1 review