Intelligence Becomes Prison

Intelligence doesn't protect you from delusion.

It builds the prison walls around you, brick by brick.

Research from Taber & Lodge shows higher IQ actually correlates with stronger ideological bias. Not weaker. Stronger. West, Meserve, and Stanovich found the same pattern.

Smart people are better at rationalization, not truth-seeking.

Your brain isn't a judge seeking truth; it's a lawyer defending your ego.

(Yes, really.)

Saul Bellow nailed it: "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."

The problem isn't lack of logic. It's the goal intelligence serves. When your goal is status, belonging, or self-image, your brilliant brain becomes a brilliant spin doctor.

Gone.

The fix isn't more IQ points or logic drills.

It's better motives.

Curiosity orients intellect toward truth. Humility makes being wrong emotionally safe. Without these, intelligence just builds prettier prisons.

If your goal is winning, your brain will make losing ideas unbeatable.