Paul Graham's Wisdom on Intelligence

Snippets from another wonderful essay by Paul Graham: Is It Worth Being Wise?

But I think it's important to understand the relationship between intelligence and wisdom, and particularly what seems to be the growing gap between them.

The wise are all much alike in their wisdom, but very smart people tend to be smart in distinctive ways.

Another sign we may have to choose between intelligence and wisdom is how different their recipes are. Wisdom seems to come largely from curing childish qualities, and intelligence largely from cultivating them.

The path to wisdom is through discipline, and the path to intelligence through carefully selected self-indulgence.

But the really striking change, as intelligence and wisdom drift apart, is that we may have to decide which we prefer. We may not be able to optimize for both simultaneously.

This essay has elicited a great conversation on Reddit.

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