Columbo And The Case Of Intelligence, Talent And Genius

The above video is from the Columbo episode "The Bye Bye Sky High IQ Murder Case", which actually made me think about this question of intelligence, talent and genius. In fact, there is some difference between these terms, tho they overlap, as people often seem to freely exchange them. There is this notion of intelligent people as being the great puzzle solvers or others that can tell you the square root of a 40 digit number up to 10 decimal places... Intelligence has to do something with the ability to give some proper reaction to situations. If we look at it like that, puzzle solving may indeed have something to do with it, and yet I don't think it is just that simple. Not everything can be included in a puzzle, and I would even venture that some very intelligent people would have hard time with them. We are different... Also being able to deal with large numbers, is what I would rather call a gift, a talent, it does not necessarily mean intelligent behaviour otherwise. And if they asked me which is a genius, who can deal with large numbers or who, while not being able to do so, invents the pocket calculator, I would tend to pick the latter. Tho, "genius" is perhaps the hardest of all. Talent is perhaps the easiest to realise. Intelligence may take a while to see and could come in many forms... But genius... is more like being able to do something unique with either or both of these. The genius must create to make himself known, otherwise he has buried his talent. He may not be successful tho. Success depends on politics at least as much as on whether you are genial or not. I do think that there are quite some intelligent and talented people who cannot get along well, whom we know nothing about, because they cannot handle people. And then there are those who adapt in some way... And this is the story and method of Columbo, a disguised intelligence, who anticipates people looking down on him, even annoys them with it... The video below is from the very first Columbo, "Prescription: Murder" in which he is analysed by a wife murdering psychiatrist.