–There attendant goes again, said customer, claiming there is this “being smart” claiming there is this so-called “intellect”, this “intelligence,” when all a person has to do is concentrate with all their might in order to achieve understanding in even the most complicated problems — to believe they can do it and imagine, yes imagine they can do it! Intelligence is a lie!
— Look, attendant said, here is a math problem that I can solve easily and here is another I have no problem solving, but this one is taking me a little while longer, and this one I’ll never solve no matter how long I take, while another person can solve all the problems I find easy, as well as the ones I find hard, and in half the time, and isn’t that because that person is smarter? It seems to me just like it is with physical strength: here is a weight that is easy to pick up, and this one’s a little heavier and a little harder to pick up, and this one I will never lift up no matter how hard I train, and why? It’s not because I don’t “concentrate” or lack imagination — it’s because I’m not strong. And so with the difficult math problems: it’s not that I don’t concentrate, it’s that I am not smart.
.i`` * ^ / . . . . . ` `~ 