Intelligence (or cognitive ability) can be defined in multiple ways and is hard to measure, but I’d argue that in general, those who ‘more intelligent’ are more likely to have positive outcomes in work and social areas.
Cognitive ability is thought to be influenced by your genome and environmental factors, especially during childhood. Adequate nutrition is negatively correlated with household wealth and socioeconomic class, which can have a material impact on intellectual performance.
With this in mind, you could argue that through no fault of their own, people have far worse opportunities due to a roll of the dice from a genetic standpoint, and their environment as a child.
I really don’t know where I stand on the topic. I feel like it’s ok, because a certain level of cognitive ability is required for certain jobs, but is it fair? There’s a lot of attention given to inequality across other factors (many of which share common roots, e.g. growing up in poverty) but this isn’t really something I have seen discussed. I’m interested in the point of view of others on this, and fully expect a lot of challenge on it.
Finally, it’s not like we have zero agency in our self development – really important to state that as a counter.