101–110 of 182 posts
There is an innate ability to do this integration and some people do it more easily.
But those who use their abilities most often and without fear build their brains faster.
Going to Harvard means I have the very unique opportunity to be around a lot of smart people. Good for you. Even better for you is the fact that you recognize your opportunity. How sad that so many people in your situation never do until it's too late. Now, when I say “smart people,” I don’t mean that guy who always wins trivia night. I mean, blazingly intelligent individuals who are regarded as the pre-eminent schol…
> "The smarter you get the less amazing that will feel" This is something that I'm continually trying to come to terms with. The intelligence distribution is tighter on the high end than most people realize. By that I mean, the smartest people aren't really amazingly smart. This reply, from Clay Christensen (Business School Prof at Harvard, Rhodes Scholar...must be bright!) when asked how it felt to be the top of his…
Humility is the key to understanding, but hubris often prevents people from growing because they believe their understanding is right from the beginning. For a while I have understood that people see the world in fundamentally different ways, but about two years ago I had an epiphany that really crystallized it for me. Now I see people existing in either one of two camps: 1. Those who believe the world is the way the…
One of the problems that atheism faces as a movement is that it considers answers to some traditional questions as 'there is no answer to that (and that's okay)', which doesn't sit well with a lot of people. The 'god of the gaps' argument exploits these areas.
So do they ask questions because they're smart, or are they smart because they ask questions?
I don't think the author implied anything other than correlation, but interesting question none the less.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> What the article doesn't mention is that the smartest of people perpetually ask themselves questions regarding what they believe they understand. It is remarkably easy to convince yourself you understand something... when you're really just going through the motions This reminds reminds me of a good quote from Charlie Munger: "Above all, never fool yourself, and remember that you are the easiest person to fool."
Hey, did he take that from Richard Feynman, or was Feynman first with the quote: "The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool."
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool. —Richard Feynman
What the article doesn't mention is that the smartest of people perpetually ask themselves questions regarding what they believe they understand. It is remarkably easy to convince yourself you understand something - a mathematical proof, the Halting Problem, advantages of some programming framework/style/language, when you're really just going through the motions and remembering what others have said, kind of memoriz…
Going to Harvard means I have the very unique opportunity to be around a lot of smart people. Good for you. Even better for you is the fact that you recognize your opportunity. How sad that so many people in your situation never do until it's too late. Now, when I say “smart people,” I don’t mean that guy who always wins trivia night. I mean, blazingly intelligent individuals who are regarded as the pre-eminent schol…
"please don't overlook all that you can learn from people that may not seem so smart." I love that you said this. One of the things that smart people do is learn something from anyone they can about anything they can. I met a bellhop once in Florida. He had moved his entire family to Orlando. I think he came from some less desirable place up north. But he had enough smarts to realize that if he was going to cart bags…
Going to Harvard means I have the very unique opportunity to be around a lot of smart people. Good for you. Even better for you is the fact that you recognize your opportunity. How sad that so many people in your situation never do until it's too late. Now, when I say “smart people,” I don’t mean that guy who always wins trivia night. I mean, blazingly intelligent individuals who are regarded as the pre-eminent schol…
I've long noticed something in the same vein: people who are uninterested or who don't think they're smart aren't just uncomfortable asking questions, they're uncomfortable seeing other people asking questions, too. It's probably related.
"Don't make us look stupid! Stop! Just go along with it! Stop caring whether you understand everything!"