Being an expert in one field doesn’t ensure cogency in other areas—Socrates proved that already. And history since then has shown time and again that even high intelligence is no safeguard against error. David Robson opens The Intelligence Trap by critiquing the IQ test, a product whose origins are steeped in Social Darwinism and eugenics, the persistence of which as an inadequate measure of intellectual caliber encourages one kind of thinking at the expense of all others. Robson gives “emotional intelligence” its due, but also hones in on creative and critical thinking as checks against hubris. The human brain is a fallible instrument and, as Robson concludes, “no one is immune” from its capacity to be wrong.
