for instance, i had an auto repairman once, who, on these intelligence tests, could not possibly have scored more than 80,by my estimate. i always took it for granted that i was far more intelligent than he was. yet, when anything went wrong with my car, i hastened to him with it, watched him anxiously as explored its vitals, and listened to his pronouncements as though they were divine oracles - and he always fixed my car.

well then, suppose my auto repairman devised questions for an intelligence test. or suppose a carpenter did, or a farmer, or indeed, almost anyone but an academician. by every one of those tests, i'd prove my self a moron, and i'd be a moron,too. in a world there i could not use my academic training and my verbal talents but had to do something intricate or hard , working with myb hands, i would do poorly. my intelligence, then, is not absolute but is a function of the society i live in and of the fact that a small subsection of that society has managed to foist itself on the rest as an arbiter of such matters.