and ultimately irrelevant. Ishamael was the foremost philosopher of his age. Does that make him the "smartest"?, not necessarily. The last I checked the highest scoring "IQ" score was achieved by a Construction worker in the Vancouver area. Does that make him the "smartest"? again not necessarily. IQ after all is simply a ratio of the scored age and the actual age of the individual. A score of 100 simple means the test subject is on par or 100/100 or 100% or learning at the mean rate. I've taken IQ test which aren't very accurate in an overall sense, and my scores have varied over the years. IQ tests are designed to evaluate a child's academic level as it pertains to the school curriculum. ie: Math, English and Science. They are not in any way going to find the "smartest" person, whatever that means. Lews Therin isn't really smarter than Barid Bel Medar, but his personality is definitely more amiable to his fellow man and therefore probably aided him in being more acknowledged then his, "almost colleague."