Intelligence Fetish - How an Overvalued Concept Shapes Our Lives

Why are so many children today considered gifted? Why are tech managers and right-wing influencers obsessed with intelligence? What makes the concept of intelligence so appealing?

Gisela Schmalz and Mario de la Piedra Walter discuss how "IQ" is used as an instrument of power and how "intelligence" is appropriated by the left, libertarians, and the right to advance educational, social, economic, and immigration policy goals. Moderated by Christian Dunker, the conversation reveals how IQ tests, ideologies, and artificial intelligence discourse narrow our perspective and exclude fundamental dimensions of human intelligence.

Intelligence today serves as a measure of value for both humans and machines - in schools, politics, and the hype around artificial intelligence, comparability is paramount. IQ is used to sort and eliminate people. In a world driven by efficiency, the concept of intelligence shrinks into a political tool, a technological promise, and ultimately a fetish that shapes individual life paths and entire social structures. The debate also addresses how a humanistic understanding of intelligence might look - one that encompasses the holistic potential of each individual.

Gisela Schmalz is a professor of economic and digital ethics, studied philosophy and economics, and leads the "Artificial Intelligence Focus Group" at the German Society for Philosophy. Her books include "Cliquenwirtschaft" and "Mein fremder Wille". Mario de la Piedra Walter, born in Mexico City, is an author and neurologist in Berlin; he writes for the Mexican journals "Nexos" and "Mercurio Volante" on culture and natural sciences. His book "Unser kreatives Gehirn" was published in 2026 by Diogenes.