I recently told my mother that I'm probably the most intelligent person she will ever meet

and so humble, too! seriously though, this is a major red flag. I rarely find smart people to brag about how smart they are.

also, telling someone that their beliefs are wrong because they're dumb, and that your beliefs are right because you're smarter than them, has literally never worked. it will just make them resent you, your beliefs, and anyone they meet in the future who believes what you do. this kind of smugness has been the Achilles heel of Dems for years.

Objectively speaking, intelligence is considered to be the ability to reason. Following that line, high intelligence would be the ability to reason well.

However, we humans do well because we specialize. It was discovered early on that we can't do everything. One could say it's our individuality which drives us towards having different proficiencies and the entire chain of schooling would better serve to explore and encourage pursuing such specializations.

Where the means to cultivate proficiency are lacking, the end result will often be incomplete. That shouldn't mean there is a lack of intelligence, but that it hasn't been developed to its potential. I would say.. the base intelligence remains the same while expectations rise in concert with each own's path of development.

Life is neither easy nor fair. And opportunities aren't equal. So i often try to remind myself that perspective changes with experience and as such any standard we set ourselves and others to tend to be laced with personal bias.