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The Economic Times
The Economic Times
National
Piyush Shukla

Word of Wisdom by Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman: "Intelligence is not only the ability to reason; it is also the ability to..." - One of the most valuable lessons from Thinking, Fast and Slow shows why remembering the right experience can matter more than acquiring new knowledge every day

Most people think intelligence is about being quick with answers. It's about solving hard problems fast, scoring high on tests, and thinking sharply under pressure. But Daniel Kahneman — Nobel Prize winner, psychologist, and one of the most profound thinkers of the modern era — saw it differently. He said, "Intelligence is not only the ability to reason; it is also the ability to find relevant material in memory and to deploy attention when needed." That sentence, simple on the surface, carries the weight of decades of research and a lifetime of watching how humans actually think, decide, and fail.

This isn't just an academic observation. It's a practical truth that changes how you look at your own mind. Intelligence, in Kahneman's framework, isn't a fixed scoreboard. It's a living system — one that depends on what you store, what you notice, and where you choose to focus.

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