Are adults as smart as kids?
What does it mean to be smart, and why might kids beat you?
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No, my kids did not do something particularly clever to make me think that they might be smarter than me; however, I am constantly surprised by their other world perspectives on things.
I have heard intelligence described as the ability to make the best decision with the information you currently have. So if you have limited information but can make a good decision and can do so on repeat, you are probably pretty intelligent; however, if you have a lot of information yet fail to come up with a good or reasonable decision, especially if this is repeated, you may not have the highest IQ. I probably fall into the latter category.
My decision-making paradigm consists of shrugging my shoulders and saying, “It’ll be alright.” Much to my wife’s chagrin.
So no, I do not think kids are inherently smarter than adults, but I do believe they can outmaneuver us sometimes. Hmm, what do I mean?
What’s faster, a go-kart or a semi-truck? Answer? it depends!
Kids are go-karts; they can turn on a dime, refuel quickly, run dry quickly, take off super fast, and most importantly, they only carry one person.
Semi-trucks, on the other hand, have considerably more horsepower and could probably overtake a go-kart straight away; they are more resilient than a go-kart, and most importantly, they can carry a lot more.
Sometimes, as adults, we don’t have to carry as much as we think. Yes, there are burdens in life that can slow us down, but many of them are self-induced complications. We have some baggage, so we opt for a big rig to carry it all and lose out on the child’s ability to adapt, learn quickly, and think divergently.
We must only take on what is essential and understand that bigger and more is not always better. The goal is not to be durable but rather anti-fragile, which is not only to stand stress but to grow stronger from it, just as well-adapted kids do, to be a Formula 1 car that excels at speed around corners to increase downforce rather than a poorly loaded semi that will tip if it builds too much momentum.
So be wary of becoming a semi-truck adult: overburdened, slow to start, high maintenance, low mobility. Stay adaptable and reserve your horsepower to take you further into the future.
If you would like to read more on this kind of topic, you should check out, Essentialism by Greg McKeown.
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Originally published at https://korublog.substack.com.
