Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Smart people don't think others are stupid

sivers.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 130 posts

Re: Smart people don't think others are stupid

#121

Post by mgkimsal »

Inufu wrote: post #85
mgkimsal wrote: post #19

Perhaps OT because of the age involved, but... as a kid, I was 'gifted' (not sure if that label is still used today or not). I would get people (adults or other kids) saying "you're so smart", and I would naturally try to deflect/downplay that - was never really told how to react to statements like that as a 7 year old. "Thanks" just sounds so bland, but, I didn't even think that far ahead. Instead, I would usually p…

This, except I'm in college now and it works that way. At times, I still have to consciously remind myself that X is not completely obvious to everybody.

It will probably go away in time. As I get older, it's more apparent to me how much I don't know any more, and my expectations for others knowing things I consider obvious has tempered some.

Re: Smart people don't think others are stupid

#122

Post by wissler »

natep wrote: post #120
wissler wrote: post #38

So according to him, if you think others are stupid, then you are stupid. What irony.

No, try reading it again. "So if you decide someone is stupid, it means you’re not thinking, which is not being smart." "Not being smart" != "is stupid" is exactly the distinction he is making.

I'm well aware of the words he chose. I am referring to his actual meaning.

The fact is that there are stupid people on this planet. The fact is that we can know there are stupid people. The fact is that we can identify a stupid person. And it is utterly stupid to pretend otherwise. He's made a very stupid generalization based on the behavior of the masses -- yes, most people who call others stupid are themselves stupid. But that doesn't mean we can't know who is stupid nor does it mean that it's wrong to call someone stupid.

Re: Smart people don't think others are stupid

#123

Post by bryze »

Mz wrote: post #47
bryze wrote: post #46

Can we find better things to write about than this? It is getting really boring reading about how other people think we should all behave.

Um, what kinds of things do you want to read about? (Completely serious question. Honest.)

I like to read about new ideas, advances in science and technology, and political developments, especially where the Internet is concerned. I accept that people have different lifestyles and viewpoints, and if variations on those sorts of things are presented as "hey, here's a different way to live", then that's alright. On the other hand, if the message is "hey, do it this way because I'm right" then I'm inclined to stop reading.

Re: Smart people don't think others are stupid

#124

Post by evilbit »

Pedantic nonsense. What exactly is the difference between "he's stupid" and "he's acting stupid"? The only one I can spot is the latter avoids labeling the person while still condemning them for the act. PC nonsense without substance, IMNSHO.

However, he does touch on something Dan Kahneman in his 'Thinking, Fast and Slow' talks about: most people stop thinking at first intuitive answer (aka System 1) and don't bother engaging in the tiring deep thought (aka System 2).

Re: Smart people don't think others are stupid

#125

Post by Mz »

bryze wrote: post #123
Mz wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Um, what kinds of things do you want to read about? (Completely serious question. Honest.)

I like to read about new ideas, advances in science and technology, and political developments, especially where the Internet is concerned. I accept that people have different lifestyles and viewpoints, and if variations on those sorts of things are presented as "hey, here's a different way to live", then that's alright. On the other hand, if the message is "hey, do it this way because I'm right" then I'm inclined to…

Thanks. I like to write about personal hacks -- debugging the wetware, fixing health issues at their roots that doctors claim cannot be fixed, effective parenting for challenging children. So you are probably not my target audience. Trying to think such things through for myself, I guess. I agree with your distaste for what amounts to lecturing. I have a half formed thought for a piece about that which might get written, or at leasted started, today.

Thank you for the feedback.

Re: Smart people don't think others are stupid

#126

Post by Travis »

SatvikBeri wrote: post #116
bostonvaulter2 wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That reminds me of one of my favorite quotes: judge others by their intentions and yourself by your actions.

The problem with this is that humans are actually really bad at reading others' intentions-not to mention the fact that several people who commit atrocious acts see themselves as good, e.g. Al Capone. My aim is to judge others by their repeated actions and track record. This is hard, but I've definitely found it worth doing.

An even more extreme example than Capone is Pablo Escobar. He fashioned himself as an honored man of the people in Columbia, even as he was ordering the (often brutal) executions hundreds of police officers, judges, public officials, and personal enemies.

Yet when he died, the people of Columbia wept in the streets.

Re: Smart people don't think others are stupid

#128

Post by qohen »

kitsune_ wrote: post #81
Jach wrote: post #77

Indeed, for only a smart person can come up with a twisted and convoluted rationalization that a person with an IQ of 75 is not stupid and a person with an IQ of 125 is not smart. You'll find some of the most passionate arguments about the problems of IQ testing from people with IQs over 115. If you really think it doesn't matter, well, I'm sure there are some interesting ways to knock down your IQ quite a bit that y…

I heard that learning to "game" IQ tests is a common exercise in psychology classes. According to my friend it's fairly easy to get very high scores with the appropriate preparation. A very good old friend of mine is a professionally trained waiter and never had "advanced" math classes. His knowledge of math was limited to the rule of three. One day I tried to teach him functions, quadratic equations, basic analysis…

Related: http://xkcd.com/1053/

Re: Smart people don't think others are stupid

#130

Post by jseliger »

hsshah wrote: post #75
jseliger wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even when they hold essentially the same views as I do, it's often for bad reasons I noticed this too, and for a long time it bothered me. But I recently read Jonathan Haidt's book The Righteous Mind , and in it he points out that a lot of people appear to hold believes about a wide array of issues (politics, religion, consumer products, and so forth) that they don't really hold based on logic and evidence, but to si…

To your first point, some scientist believe it is hard wired in our DNA to associate with any form of group (as this played a role in evolution). Here's a related interesting talk on TED that I recently saw: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/jonathan_haidt_on_the_moral...

. . . that scientist is Jonathan Haidt, who wrote The Righteous Mind.
Post reply on HN