Albert Einstein said "the measure of intelligence is the ability to change." And if change as in growth is nobody's monopoly just as retardation is no one's entitlement, it is safe to say that yes, not everyone can be born a genius, but anyone can become intelligent.
According to Wikipedia, the word "intelligence" is derived from the Latin verb "intelligere," meaning: to comprehend or perceive. Me? I don't know how it got coined but the way I see it, intelligence is probably a portmanteau of "intellect" plus "diligence."
By that I mean a combination of carefulness and long-term effort to optimise the capacity of mind, to acquire knowledge, understand and apply it to practice, or in short, to enhance the ability to learn and to do better. Sometimes all the "effort" we need put in is to stop pretending that we know and ask much longer.
However, intelligence without willingness to affect or influence others in a good way is as good as a handbrake on a canoe. Like our material possessions, the human mind is wealth, hence "wealth of knowledge." The more it is used, the wiser the user. But ndeysaan, many of us prefer using material possessions to gain acceptance, and sometimes foolish enough to think we can buy intelligence, while seldom using the mind, and even when we do, we are so economical with it that the effect is mostly tragic.
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