Brendan Kane uses Stephen Hawking's definition of intelligence as the ability to adapt to change to separate real smarts from fake. Truly intelligent people update their beliefs with new evidence. Fake-smart people argue to defend their ego and ignore information that contradicts them.
Here's an easy way to tell if someone is faking their intelligence. There's a really great quote from Stephen Hawking. He says, "Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change." Basically what that means is smart people change their mind when they're wrong. Fake smart people try to prove they were right all along. Real intelligence updates. Fake intelligence defends. You'll notice it immediately. They argue instead of adjusting. They ignore anything that contradicts them. They drag conversations on and on just to win. They'd rather look correct than actually be right. Intelligent people change when the facts change. Fake intelligent people change the story to protect their ego. Real intelligence evolves. Fake intelligence performs.
