> But I'd rather be a well paid and connected idiot than a poorly paid smart person.
As an aside, this is always an interesting thought experiment.
I read an example in John Carreyrou's Bad Blood (Theranos expose) recently:
"Several members of the Frat Pack joined Greg and two of his colleagues from the engineering department for lunch on the big terrace overlooking the parking lot one day. A discussion about the low IQs of some of the world’s top soccer players led them to debate the question, Would you rather be smart and poor or dumb and rich? The three engineers all chose smart and poor, while the Frat Pack voted unanimously for dumb and rich. Greg was struck by how clearly the line was drawn between the two groups. They were all in their mid-to late twenties with good educations, but they valued different things."