After reading the book “Animal Farm” by George Orwell, I am wondering if intelligence is the main factor to achieve power?
There beyond what other factors are necessary to create the same conditions as on the farm? And easy is to apply the construct to real world situations? Like could one say that any group of individuals, if the conditions were met, have a very likely chance to achieve the farm construct.
@johnabs although it seems most people align intelligence with the logical fashion like the IQ score, there are lots of flavors of intelligence. Thus the ability to successfully manipulate individuals is a form of intelligence.
And at that point one could question if intelligence is more a science or an art form.
@barefootstache Oh, P.S. congrats on becoming a Qoto mod! 😄
@barefootstache I’ll argue intelligence, in combination with any of the dark triad personality traits, are likely good starting points for power, but not always necessary. Money is also a great starting point, lol.
As an example: agreeable people are less likely to ask for raises, demand things of their employers, or to demand things of others. They are more of a “serve the needs of those around me at my own expense” (i.e. high empathy behavior).
Dark triad individuals are more likely to manipulate and seek their own best interest first and even at the expense of others (i.e. low-empathy behavior).
Hence, intelligence while likely useful for achieving power (though even this is questionable…look at Mao’s decisions during the “Great leap backwards”, among other examples), is not sufficient. I suspect the ability to manipulate people and align them with a cause is much more important, and this doesn’t necessarily align with intellect.