[C Elegans]

I had this discussion a couple of days ago, with a friend who is a clinical shrink...and we both agreed that "intelligence" in the general sense in Western society (ie being smart, bright, exceptional learning capacity and processing speek, being good at logical-analytical stuff and other things that Western culture ususally associates with the concept "intelligence"), is highly overrated in usefulness.

Most people like to think of themselves as "intelligent". Very few people like to think of themselves as average or below average in intelligence. But has high intelligence become something of a "status symbol", like high consumption, lacking in real usefulness and real contribution to quality of life?

As I mentioned in another post, there are population studies showing that high g-factor (the current consensus measurement of "intelligence" in cogntive science, IQ is totally outdated) has protective properties against depression and post-traumatic stress disorder...but this is a relatively new finding and I doubt whether these results are the cause of Western culture's fixation with "intelligence".

Intelligence does not generally make people happier, does not make people successful, healthy or rich...does not make people better in any respect, really. So why is it viewed as so important when in reality other factors have much more impact on the life quality of an individual? Thoughts?