[Loughla]

I would argue that, today, the definition of great intellectual involves ability to make money for investors and shareholders.

This is not meant to be flippant, judgmental, or snide. Greatness and intellectualism is tied to net worth in society today.

[Sevrene]

While I can agree that people do tend to think that good equates to rich, I don't think being able to make money makes you somehow intellectual or great. Sure, people conflate these things in general but that doesn't make it the fact of the matter because people think it.

This is similar to how some people view the law as being a moral compass for right or wrong. While a lot of people do tend to view doing something illegal as doing something wrong, it's not actually true that just because you're doing something illegal you are doing something wrong.

So what you said is true in that people see it that way, not in that it actually is that way, or ought to be that way. I think your comment sort of conflates this disinction whether intentionally or unintentionally, hence the downvotes.

[Loughla]

It's 100% unintentional.

I meant that is the perception, not the reality. I should've worded that better, apparently.

The perception in pop culture is that wealth equates intellectual greatness.