Intelligence is self-awareness of πιστη (faith, belief, trust).

It is is the ability to understand that belief/trust is the inescapable default position of the mind, and mimicking (those we trust) is the default mode of learning in the animal kingdom.

Self-awareness on belief/faith/trust, creates the most intelligent self-reflection: who/why/what should I trust?
That’s why idiots are so confident. They don’t exercise faith independently & actively (cautiously), but passively (blindly).

I’ve never met a religious idiot researching independently the original meaning of the Bible. They parrot a church leader, a cult, a conspiracy-theory website.
Jesus had (and still has) only a few disciples. The majority, typically, parrot the Pharisees.

Notice that idiots not only blindly follow ideas & beliefs from various masters, they also borrow their vocabulary.
Totally unaware that this vocabulary may be vague, ill-defined & doesn’t even exist as such beyond the narrow world they live in.

Since idiocy is everywhere (political, religious, scientific) wisdom comes w/ age after reflecting on the younger self. For many, this never happens. Why?
Self-criticism is painful. Going against the majority (anti-conformism) without the safety of a cult, even more painful.

The two strongest traps for intelligence:
1. Ego-tripping
2. Social pressure (culture & subculture)

This speaks volumes on why science & math was built upon the Graeco-Christian literature with tons of texts, concepts & vocabulary dealing with those two issues.

When an English or French-speaking scientist created a new term based on Greek or Latin, they didn’t do it just for the aesthetics. Sometimes, it was a way to say “f***k you” to all the rest.

That’s why Cicero introduced the world moralis (morality) by translating Aristotle.