My late 2nd wife pegged the IQ tests somewhere north of 140, but that was because the test measured a narrow aspect of intelligence -- IQ tests ignore emotional intelligence for example and don't test for how rationally you apply what your know, they don't measure the sophistication or well-roundedness of your artistic tastes, and on and on.

I loved her to death but she was very conventional and provincial and unsophisticated in many ways. For her, the proof that there must be an afterlife was that so many people believed there was. This was literally her entire take on the matter and she never saw a reason to look further than that. Case closed. This was not an intelligent aspect of her. Nor was her obsession with Thomas Kinkaide paintings a reflection of a wide-ranging curiosity about art. Yes she could read a hexadecimal core dump like it was a Stephen King novel and yes she got straight As in high school and college and yes she was considered the leading expert in software development at a large multinational corporation. But those things aren't the whole picture of what intelligence is.

Everyone's intelligence is selective -- some more than others. Truly remarkable intelliegence is well-rounded and indiscriminately curious. My current wife and I could not best my prior wife on an IQ test (though we're no slouches either) but I think we are more well rounded and have breadth as well as depth. This is no knock against the dead; its just an honest assessment. I wasn't and am not "better" than her or "smarter" or "dumber", but I am more broadly curious and I think that this is the best marker of intelligence. A lot of what passes as intelligence is an excess of raw processing power, like a computer with a very fast clock speed, but without much software to actually run on it.

They must be if I like them. Just thought this was a funny answer. As you state there are so many levels tha go into measuring intelligence and all that you mention are good. I include kindness,respect,tolerance, a knowledge of many areas,well read, able to speak well and explain their position on matters logically.

I'm not smart enough to figure that out.

I've always viewed it as having the ability to adapt.

AI (artifical intelligence ) has struggled with this same question. Must we add humanism like empathy and sympathy. When is a word better not spoken. When is it the right time to speak. To know the diffrence between good and evil. Sometimes it is better to listen.Some won't your advice, some do not. Is intuition intelligence or Something some humans are more aware of. There is a lot to consider when we design AI. And just maybe this will help us to understand intellence in humans.

The ability to process data. That's it in a nut shell, but it unpackages into many different sub categories. Generally, it's not what you know, but how you know it.

stupid people !

Results

1 Comprehension of the Universe and all the physical laws that apply
2 An understanding of mans history
3 The ability to listen, analize, and separate opinion from fact

For me it is the ability to learn and retain knowledge.

appropriateness, utility, lucidity, critical thinking and condemning magical thinking all lead me to recognize intelligence from others

IQ ,common sense and self awareness are a big part of it as well as awareness of others around you too.

if a person is capable & willing to discuss a topic controversially without losing the thread & getting personal, especially personally insulting - that's already a good indicator for intelligence in my eyes. distinguishing facts from opinion, rationale from emotions, personal preference from the big picture & .... humility before everything else.

The ability to question and to not hold to confirmational bias with availability of updated facts is my key indicator of intelligence. A dogmatic belief system loses a large chunk of points if grading on a point scale.

Well what you listed are special skills and talents really. Intelligence is more like wisdom, street and book smarts, common sense and the like. Thing like cunning and creativity sort of straddle the line I think, though...hm. Ah yes, self-awareness is definitely big, and ability to discuss things reasonably even when your opinions may differ greatly. Though things can and do get in the way of that (I am guilty of this too often), such as various mental illnesses and anger issues, and often young age.
Your second to last sentence is...phew! Absolutely, people do that. And they also tend to think they're smart when it's far more likely they're just average, or sometimes even below.

The wise use of knowledge in comparison to ones peers. Believing in as many true things as possible, while diligently trying to reaffirm truths and eliminate falsehoods. When faced with insufficient evidence simple says I" don't know" or "I have reasonable doubt" and continues to seek answers if it is personally warranted. Also the ability to reason through problems, extrapolate and arrive at solutions that are more accurate than random chance

I think there are different types of intelligence. I think being able to read, comprehend, study, and retain information on multiple topics makes one intelligent but I also feel inherent intelligence comes more from learning from all situations and retaining that knowledge.

I rarely find both types in the same person. When I do, I'm delighted. I'm not a well read person because I don't learn that way. I'd rather meet a person that read something and can explain it through their filter for me to absorb. Seeing their passion for a thing helps me not only retain but enjoy learning about a thing.