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What I've Learned About Smart People.

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Re: What I've Learned About Smart People.

#111

Post by olliesaunders »

j45 wrote: post #83
edw519 wrote: post #42

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…

It's not what your education/degree makes of you, but what you make of your education/degree. This false belief turns out so many people who feel cheated later in life. Perpetual self learning is the only required skill for the truly educated, or self-educating. IT especially, what we learn today is worthless in a short time.

> IT especially, what we learn today is worthless in a short time.

If you learn the right stuff this is not the case. Knowledge in the areas of algorithms, data structures, code and language design seems to have a certain timelessness to it.

I’ve always considered it sub-optimal to become an expert in all the idiosyncrasies of one particular language or domain at the expense of thinking about and trying to understand the larger truths and principles of software development. Idiosyncrasies can be easily referenced; a good grasp of abstract principles takes practice.

Re: What I've Learned About Smart People.

#112

Post by j45 »

olliesaunders wrote: post #111
j45 wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not what your education/degree makes of you, but what you make of your education/degree. This false belief turns out so many people who feel cheated later in life. Perpetual self learning is the only required skill for the truly educated, or self-educating. IT especially, what we learn today is worthless in a short time.

> IT especially, what we learn today is worthless in a short time. If you learn the right stuff this is not the case. Knowledge in the areas of algorithms, data structures, code and language design seems to have a certain timelessness to it. I’ve always considered it sub-optimal to become an expert in all the idiosyncrasies of one particular language or domain at the expense of thinking about and trying to understand…

Sorry, to clarify, I was referring to specific technological skills and not the general knowledge behind it.

Being someone who only understands how to use a technology but not have the base of algorithms, structures, etc, as you alluded to is the example I was speaking to.

Thanks for bringing it up :)

Re: What I've Learned About Smart People.

#113

Post by [deleted] »

olliesaunders wrote: post #111
j45 wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not what your education/degree makes of you, but what you make of your education/degree. This false belief turns out so many people who feel cheated later in life. Perpetual self learning is the only required skill for the truly educated, or self-educating. IT especially, what we learn today is worthless in a short time.

> IT especially, what we learn today is worthless in a short time. If you learn the right stuff this is not the case. Knowledge in the areas of algorithms, data structures, code and language design seems to have a certain timelessness to it. I’ve always considered it sub-optimal to become an expert in all the idiosyncrasies of one particular language or domain at the expense of thinking about and trying to understand…

[deleted]

Re: What I've Learned About Smart People.

#114

Post by rokhayakebe »

larrys wrote: post #70
edw519 wrote: post #42

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…

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 for a living it might as well be in a nice warm place instead of a cold city area.

Awesome.

Re: What I've Learned About Smart People.

#115

Post by rokhayakebe »

mhartl wrote: post #105
redschell wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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."

It's a quote from "Cargo Cult Science" (p. 313 of Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! ): The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool. —Richard Feynman

Curious. Did you remember the page of the top or did you look it up?

Re: What I've Learned About Smart People.

#116

Post by neilparikh »

tnicola wrote: post #50
neilparikh wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One big one is high school. (I'm in high school right now) If I ask one or two questions, it's fine, but if I ask more questions, all of which are serious questions that I truly want to know the answer for, the teacher usually gets annoyed. It probably is due to the fact that there isn't much time in the class to cover all the material and answer questions, but it irritates me nonetheless.

In high school (and I truly hate to be the one to tell you this), it is quite possble that your teacher doesn't know the answer, so he is annoyed at you for asking questions so that you do not expose his/her shortcomings. A lot of high school teachers know little past what they are actually teaching and even that not in a lot of depth. This is for a lot of reasons, some of them not their fault, but it is a sad fact.…

Thanks for that advice. Also, what do you mean by "office hours"? I've heard that phrase used, but never really knew what it meant.

Re: What I've Learned About Smart People.

#118

Post by olliesaunders »

vectorpush wrote: post #69
itmag wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some things that hammered home this understanding for me (in order of reputability): LessWrong.com, Myers-Briggs Type Indicators, Neuro-Linguistic Programming, PUA. These days, I mostly understand that there are always many perspectives and try to see wisdom as the art of picking between perspectives. But sometimes I get stuck in my old ways and search in vain for the "right" opinion/perspective/paradigm/whatever. Th…

But sometimes I get stuck in my old ways and search in vain for the "right" opinion/perspective/paradigm/whatever. Then again, those who are convinced their way is the "right" way are often the ones who have the biggest impact on the world (for better or worse).

One of the things I’ve noticed in Einstein’s writings is that he had a remarkable self-confidence and sense of certainty. Compare this with Darwin who, when he initially conceived of natural selection, annotated the note describing it with “I think” and proceeded to spend years gathering evidence before mentioning it to anyone. Perhaps the comparison isn’t fair because Darwin knew his idea would be highly controversial but, if it is, I think this might suggest that there is no single correct stance on confidence versus humility.

I’ve noticed in my programming that when I make errors that prevent me from reaching a solution or lead to a cumbersome design my natural tendency is to become more conservative with my ideas, thinking that it might have been arrogance that caused the error. But, if I feel like I understand the error well, I force myself to remain bold in the knowledge that my continued boldness will be manifest in a completely different way with my new knowledge and I will be successful much sooner than had I become timid. I don’t know who said this, but it is a quote I like: the solution to bad decisions is not to stop making decisions; it’s to make better decisions.

Re: What I've Learned About Smart People.

#119

Post by MrJagil »

The one quote that has led me on to _greater smartness_ is that of (i believe) Socrates:

"The only thing I know, is that I don't know anything."

Remind yourself of that whenever you feel smart, and you will soon feel your mind expanding.

Re: What I've Learned About Smart People.

#120

Post by rryan »

[deleted] wrote: post #110

[deleted]

http://web.mit.edu/sfs/financial_aid/financial_aid_backgroun...

MIT is actually pretty great with financial aid. 76% of students receive need-based aid. ALL financial aid is need-based. Merit and abilities don't even enter into the equation.

99% of students in 0-50k income bracket get a full ride. 98% of students in 50-100k bracket get mostly covered 94% of students in 100-150k get a lot of help.

The average debt upon graduation is 18k.

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