In Reply to: Re: Critical intelligence posted by Perry on September 24, 2004 at 16:23:14:
I totally agree. I know of a couple of kids bearely over 20. One is on the way to finishe a PhD and the other, though highly keen on learning, does nothing to study. The motivation factor, I guess. I am not sure that being "critical" is part of intelligence but more a learned skill but I know little about it.
What I do know is that mistrust is more of an instinct and somewhat related/similar or necessary to practice the skill. If this is not true, at least we could suspect that there is some relationship between these two.
I am not saying you are wrong about your potential at 16 but by trusting somebody else we put on hold our decision-making processes and simply accept somebody else's. This can happen to anybody. Don't blame yourself for being conned by con artists. I am not sure it is a matter of intelligence but a matter of idealism and trust.