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What I've Learned About Smart People.

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Re: What I've Learned About Smart People.

#141

Post by disgruntledphd2 »

dhimes wrote: post #128
vacri wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Niche experts often seem smarter. I've known a number of PhD students who are fascinating in their narrow chosen field, but weren't much good once you took the big fish out of the little pond. None of those folks were passionate generalists, though.

Perhaps it's useful (for what? I don't know, but at maybe for discussion) to distinguish between smart: how much you know intelligent: how quickly you can learn wisdom: the perspective you have about everything you have learned This works well with hat I've observed: intelligent people who are not smart, smart people who seem rather "slow," and that surprisingly wise person you always seem to come across who seems to…

Psychologists would probably refer to these as fluid (intelligent) intelligence, and crystalised (knowledge) intelligence.

Re: What I've Learned About Smart People.

#142

Post by disgruntledphd2 »

Drbble wrote: post #13
ryanwhitney wrote: post #3

Reminded my of this, from Gladwell's Outliers : "The way you were raised, namely with wealthy or less fortunate parents, also plays a role. Gladwell explains that when wealthy parents drive their children to the doctor, they tell their children things like, “Johnny, now if you have any questions, be sure to ask the doctor. This is your opportunity to talk to him about any health problems you’re having….” And so on. I…

Gladwell's story is completely made up though. Rich kids are more obedient due to their high class structured environment, whereas as poor kids live in a dog eat dog world where they learn fast to fight for survival. Sociology is fun, any just-so story becomes social science. even.

Please don't confuse Gladwell with a social scientist. Its somewhat like confusing Bob the Java book writer with James Gosling. I agree that a lot of social science is garbage, but there are many smart people studying it, and its a much harder area to keep your everyday opinions from affecting.

Re: What I've Learned About Smart People.

#143

Post by itmag »

kmfrk wrote: post #71

Don't get caught writing "very unique" at Harvard. Being unique is binary. :) I don't like words like "smart" - and "stupid" - but I can recognize some of the qualities associated with them. One of the biggest is to know what you don't know, to not be complacent and arrogant. The people I respect the most are humble people, and I think it comes down to this. I don't know what the definition of "smart" is, but I think…

Yeah, it's better to write "remarkable", which is an analog property.

Re: What I've Learned About Smart People.

#144

Post by wisty »

I think it's a hasty generalization to say "smart people ask questions". It's more general to say "smart people get to the bottom of things, unless it's obviously an intellectual tarpit (hello postmodernists)."

That's why they ask questions. Even if they hate doing it, they have to find out, at just about any cost.

Re: What I've Learned About Smart People.

#145

Post by Natsu »

jamesli wrote: post #131
dhimes wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps it's useful (for what? I don't know, but at maybe for discussion) to distinguish between smart: how much you know intelligent: how quickly you can learn wisdom: the perspective you have about everything you have learned This works well with hat I've observed: intelligent people who are not smart, smart people who seem rather "slow," and that surprisingly wise person you always seem to come across who seems to…

Excellent observation. Other than the three types you mentioned, I come across another type. They don't learn new stuffs that quickly. They might look dumb when they are introduced to new things. However, given more time, they are able to think and dig really deep. Then it occurred to me that they were already thinking wider and deeper from the beginning. Because the knowledges conveyed in an introductory scenario is…

If they're the type of people who have to sort through the connections to all the other things they know, that can really take a lot of time. Actually, I don't think that you ever finish connecting the dots, but there are a lot of simple connections to make right when you get introduced to something new.

Also, confusion is a sign of learning. If there's no confusion at all, they think they already know it. Whether they're correct about that is another matter entirely.

Re: What I've Learned About Smart People.

#146

Post by Natsu »

agumonkey wrote: post #97
mark_h wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is also why "the best way to learn something is to have to teach it", or at least that's what I've found. When you start imagining what questions you might get asked, you begin uncovering all sorts of holes in your understanding, even if it's something you thought you understood but suddenly realise you couldn't explain.

Keen to 'you dont know something til you have to program it'

Taking something apart can also work for this. But it might require that you're the sort of person who is able to put it back together again afterwards.

Re: What I've Learned About Smart People.

#148

Post by robertskmiles »

agumonkey wrote: post #97
mark_h wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is also why "the best way to learn something is to have to teach it", or at least that's what I've found. When you start imagining what questions you might get asked, you begin uncovering all sorts of holes in your understanding, even if it's something you thought you understood but suddenly realise you couldn't explain.

Keen to 'you dont know something til you have to program it'

Two halves of the same coin. Programming something is 'teaching' a computer to do it. Except a computer is in many ways the dumbest student possible; you have to spell everything out for it.

Re: What I've Learned About Smart People.

#149

Post by VMG »

j45 wrote: post #23

Truly smart people have always come across to me as not needing to prove how smart they are Smart people don't care to convert me to their way of seeing the world. Be it using Ruby, Apple, or not, they are able to see a bigger, wider picture where everything is possible with the right amount of understanding and well placed effort. Smart people see the patterns and similarities in everything that unite, instead of th…

> Smart people see the patterns and similarities in everything that unite, instead of the differences and exceptions that divide.

Smart people know that their brain recognizes patterns where there aren't any. They know that they should not fool themselves.

> Smart people I've met live in a mindset of possibility, not doubt or skepticism. One fuels creativity, and the other douses.

Then they are the opposite of what the article is describing. Smart people I know constantly question their own beliefs.

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