Does being smart mean that you know everything?

A lot of people, even smart people, are confused about what being smart really means.  Many people don’t really understand what it means to have a high IQ.  A lot of confusion is out there, and many people think that if a person is smart, they know everything, or at least they know a lot.  There is also the misconception that if a person holds little knowledge, they are not smart.  Both of these thoughts would be misconceptions, though.

In truth, you can be smart, yet also be ignorant.  Smart only entails the ability to learn, not that you actually have learned many things.  Having a high IQ would mean that you are able to learn, not that you have actually accomplished the task of learning.

Albert Einstein was smart and also well learned

The truth is, though, that on average, people who are smart have also gone to the trouble of learning many things.  Still, though, smart people are very likely ignorant on some subjects, even many subjects.  For example. a person may be very intelligent, yet they may also have a total lack of interest in history, and have avoided the subject, thus they might be quite ignorant on the topic.

Does your brain have the capacity to learn?

Other people may have a great capacity to gain knowledge, but have lived a sheltered life that did not afford them the opportunity to learn very much in the way of a formal education.  Not having knowledge does not mean that a person is unable to learn, only that to this point they have not learned, even if they can easily do it.

So, a couple of things come to mind.  Firstly, if you are an intelligent person, it is not a good habit to get into to consider yourself a “know it all” or to think that you are overly informed on any topic under the sun.  If you give off this sort of aura, you may find it difficult to find friends, or people who even want to spend time with you.  Secondly, if you are smart, and come across another person who seems to have little knowledge, you should not assume that the person is stupid, only that they have not had the opportunity to learn the things that you know.

On the other hand, if you are only of average intelligence, or below, you should not assume that smart people know a lot more than you do, because in fact, they may not.  They only have the ability to learn more information than you do.  Being able to learn and actually doing so are not the same thing.