Alternately, perhaps it is possible to be much smarter, but it&#x27;s not as effective as we expect?<p>If we think of intelligence as skill at solving problems, it might be that there are not many problems that are easily solved with increased intelligence alone, because the solutions we have are nearly optimal, or because other inputs are needed as well.<p>This seems most likely to happen with mathematical proofs and scientific laws. Increased intelligence doesn&#x27;t let you prove something that&#x27;s false, and it doesn&#x27;t let you violate scientific laws.<p>But I don&#x27;t find this particularly plausible. Consider computer security: hackers are finding new exploits all the time. We&#x27;re far from fixing all the loopholes that could possibly be found.