Some Answers

I have been asking people for whom I have a great deal of respect what their definition of intelligence is.

It has taught me that I know some silly people.

But, they also had some neat answers. Here are a few:

"Intelligence is being able to tell the difference between a "squatty
potty" and a bath for babies."

"...very sexy".

"Intelligence is not to be confused with an overabundance of wit".

"Intelligence is not as important as health".

"Generally subdivided into two groups by modern psychologists, EQ and IQ".

'Intelligence is held in great quantity by Jon Stewart who, in combining it with wit, insight, and understanding, manages to convert it to "funny". One could say he is an intelligence alchemist. Only a modern alchemist, however, and one who can't turn lead into gold. Well, actually, Al Gore was pretty leaden and Jon Stewart turned that into comedic gold. So maybe he's both an old-school alchemist and a modern-day alchemist. Huh."

This last one was my favorite, and the most curious:

"A poor and overused measure of the ability of employees'.

I asked my friend to explain. He did.

"A lot of people (employers) look at raw IQ, or intelligence, as a measure of how good an employee will be. But that's not the case at all. You need to look at work ethic, EQ ("common sense"), experience, dedication, whether or not they are able to work as a team toward a common goal, etc. In fact, in many cases I think EQ and experience vastly outweigh intelligence...intelligence is just one component that makes up overall ability or capability".

Interesting.