> The initial reason why we have Leetcode today is that Google originally determined through their interview research that the smartest candidates were the ones who were best at algorithms.

How did they measure "smartness"? The Leetcode algorithms are mostly solved problems and I know people who can "solve" any leetcode you throw at them, but they are very poor at actual real world problem solving.

It's quite a bit like saying people who memorised Wikipedia are smart, because they know things.

To me being smart is to know where to look.