Read something interesting today about "attention". It held that if one had a good intellect, had a wide history.....

[FadedMullet]

......of both experience and exposure to ideas, information, thoughts, history, and on and on, that one's thoughts and opinions were only as good as your ability to pay attention to the world around you. Paying 'attention" was the defining characteristic that made your thoughts meaningful and of value. I liked this in kind of a self-serving way because I see myself as one who always bases my opinions on a large repository of information, yet always with an eye to the reality of the world.