We encounter the idea of intelligence everywhere in our modern lives. Parents are told that their children will grow up smart if they are made to listen to Mozart, play with the right toys, and eat the healthiest foods. Schools and universities plunge everyone into the ruthless world of testing and academic competition. We are told repeatedly that some of the richest and most successful people in society – the tech pioneers, CEOs or financial wizards – are rich and successful precisely because they’re so smart. And we now have to worry about the impact of artificial intelligence on our jobs, our societies, and the very survival of our species.
Dr David Brydan, Senior Lecturer in the History of Modern International Relations
11 February 2026
Using history to understand intelligence
Dr David Brydan publishes new book, Smart A history of intelligence.
Smart is a new book written by Dr David Brydan, Senior Lecturer in the History of Modern International Relations, drawing on the history of science, politics, and popular culture to uncover the stories of the people and projects that built the idea of modern intelligence.
The book delves in to the concept of intelligence as an idea that infuses our world, and explores why it matters to us now and if it has always mattered to us through history.
Dr Brydan delves in to examples of how we define and how humans have defined intelligence, from Mensa, a priest who built a village for gifted children in the mountains of Sicily, to the plan to boost the intelligence of the Venezuelan people by teaching them lateral thinking skills. These stories also reveal the dark side of intelligence, an idea that drove the modern counter-revolution against equality.
In this story
Senior Lecturer in the History of Modern International Relations