• yeahiknow3@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    Terrance Tao is smarter than I am but he is not better in some absolute sense, so you don’t need to deny that he’s smarter on my behalf. Instead, here are some unquantifiable things that do make people meaningfully “better:” kindness, passion, empathy, courage, honesty, wisdom.

    Honesty bids me to acknowledge that Tao is smart, and wisdom that it doesn’t matter (re, the meaning of life). Lastly, standardized tests don’t measure EQ because it’s hard to quantify and irrelevant for college placement.