My favourite definition of an intellectual: 'Someone who has been educated beyond his/her intelligence. [Sources and Acknowledgements: Chapter 19]

Clarke’s quip satirizes the social prestige attached to being labeled an “intellectual.” By defining an intellectual as someone “educated beyond his/her intelligence,” he suggests that formal schooling and cultural credentials can outstrip genuine understanding, judgment, or practical wisdom. The line targets pretension: people who accumulate academic language, theories, or fashionable opinions without the mental discipline to evaluate them. It also reflects a recurring Clarke theme—skepticism toward authority and received expertise, paired with admiration for clear thinking and empirical competence. The joke works by reversing expectations: education is assumed to refine intelligence, but here it becomes a veneer that can conceal its absence.