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Why People Dislike Really Smart Leaders

scientificamerican.com

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Re: Why People Dislike Really Smart Leaders

#201

Post by gbacon »

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #188
XorNot wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People who "hate politics" tend to create a lot of it. Being politically savvy/expedient is as much about knowing how to get along with people as it is getting what you want.

> People who "hate politics" tend to create a lot of it. There is a reason for that. Politics is basically the process of pasting kludges together until the net result is something that no powerful group hates enough to be willing to smash it all to smithereens with a sledgehammer. But if you objectively look at any of the kludges individually, or even the overall result after a few years, it's a horrific mess. A hor…

“Politics and crime, they are the same thing.”

All three movies are now on Netflix.

Re: Why People Dislike Really Smart Leaders

#202

Post by danharaj »

exolymph wrote: post #95
danharaj wrote: post #41

In my experience really smart people can be arbitrarily wrong, perhaps moreso than less smart people, because they can create elaborate mental models to justify bad ideas, and someone significantly smarter than me can create difficult to refute arguments that serve as a bulwark against pushback. Remember that sophistry requires sophistication but is still little more than the smart person's stupidity.

Metacontrarianism! I'm always delighted when I get a chance to link to this: http://lesswrong.com/lw/2pv/intellectual_hipsters_and_metaco...

It's a bit ironic to me that you linked lesswrong, because one example of an argument I consider sophistic is the quantum mechanics sequence. In particular because the relational formulation of quantum mechanics [0] pulls the carpet right from underneath the argument in a rather dramatic way.

[0] https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/qm-relational/

Re: Why People Dislike Really Smart Leaders

#203

Post by logfromblammo »

alexashka wrote: post #167
logfromblammo wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whenever I paused to consider my next words, someone would start talking into my silence and then accuse me of interrupting them when I tried to continue. I eventually realized that I wasn't bad at speaking; I just had a different style. Some people are more agile in conversation, because they do not think about what they want to say before activating their mouth-parts to make the noises. They jump right in, by using…

It may help to understand that conversations for most people, about most things, are a way to express and exchange emotions, not information. There's information in there, but that's purely optional. You have built-up resentment towards others because you'd like to relate to them, but it hasn't worked out so far. That's not because they 'can't even manage whole sentences' - it's because you're weird :) That's not a b…

Everything you said is true, but none of it is very helpful to me.

> ENJOY VOGON POETRY

You grit your teeth, stiffen your upper lip, and discover that it's actually not all that bad. With a bit of drum machine, electric guitar, and some backup dancers, it might even pass as catchy pop song lyrics. Ford gapes at you in bewildered agony as Jeltz continues the reading.

I can't exactly blame myself for being weird. Which leaves me to blame everything-not-myself for being insufficiently respectful of weirdness in others.

Re: Why People Dislike Really Smart Leaders

#204

Post by emmelaich »

WalterBright wrote: post #16

There could be something else at work here. My father told me that con men preferred to go after smart people, like doctors. The reason is that smart people thought they were too smart to get conned, and hence were more gullible. He was also an economist, and told me that there wasn't an economist born who could stand the idea that the economy would run better (i.e. free market) without their "help". And I've noticed…

Re doctors -- "The Family" cult de facto ran some hospitals and were able to get children into the cult from vulnerable teenage (and other) mothers.

"The group consisted of middle class professionals; it has been estimated that a quarter were nurses and other medical personnel "

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Family_(Australian_New_Age...

I've heard that EST and Scientology and similar go hard after dentists.

Re: Why People Dislike Really Smart Leaders

#205

Post by tehlike »

Raphmedia wrote: post #143
Zak wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have to ask... Why did sailors try to drive through the closed base gate and test 440V circuits with their fingers?

I don't know. Why do we push files to production on a Friday evening? Why do we snipe hot-fixes into production via FTP? Because we are all crazy & lazy bums, I would guess.

if you have the monitoring in place, and you have done proper canarying, friday evenings are not terrible

Re: Why People Dislike Really Smart Leaders

#206

Post by fallous »

WalterBright wrote: post #16

There could be something else at work here. My father told me that con men preferred to go after smart people, like doctors. The reason is that smart people thought they were too smart to get conned, and hence were more gullible. He was also an economist, and told me that there wasn't an economist born who could stand the idea that the economy would run better (i.e. free market) without their "help". And I've noticed…

Alas, I suspect there is very little correlation between "smart" and "wise."

Re: Why People Dislike Really Smart Leaders

#207

Post by gbacon »

emmelaich wrote: post #122
oblib wrote: post #5

When I was a kid my family would often chide me for using "big words" and told I was trying to "impress everyone" doing that. The truth is, I was just trying to relate something I'd learned and thought was interesting and every time that happened I was kind of shocked and left wondering how they'd missed the gist of what I was talking about. My own mother did it. I finally stopped sharing things I thought they'd atta…

I had a similar 'problem' but I really don't think I am very smart. In 4th grade I was reading at the top level of the 6th graders. Other kids would call me bookworm, 'walking dictionary' and told me to 'be human!' I did it less but certainly kept using richer words with the friends that I knew would understand. Just recently I sent mail to a work colleague with the content For your edification. He was amused when he…

I was chided at work recently for using a big word on a comment against a bug report that described a dialog admonishing the user to take some external action.

Re: Why People Dislike Really Smart Leaders

#208

Post by felipemnoa »

emacsgifs wrote: post #181
wolfgke wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't know. Why do we push files to production on a Friday evening? Because we worked for the whole week on it and now want that other people can see it on their weekend. Since we are so proud of our work and trust in its quality, we are willing to do an extra shift on the weekend, should problems occur.

Are you missing a /s?

Since this sounds very familiar I would venture that he's being serious.

Re: Why People Dislike Really Smart Leaders

#209

Post by zafka »

ModernMech wrote: post #119
zafka wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know my exact position on the curve, but I can relate. I find it ironic that many of the folks who score pretty high on general intelligence, often have an issue with social intelligence. I spend a lot of time now trying to study human nature in a game of catch-up. What most people seem to learn instinctively, I need to study.

> What most people seem to learn instinctively, I need to study. This is 100% my wife vs me. I had heard about EQ before I met her, but I never really witnessed the power of a high EQ in action until we started dating. She knew so much about me by reading my face, reactions, gestures, etc. it sometimes made me angry, like she was in my head or something. I watched as she predicted people's actions easily, or convince…

Hee, THe last line makes me think you are finally catching on also.

Re: Why People Dislike Really Smart Leaders

#210

Post by zafka »

HumanDrivenDev wrote: post #51
zafka wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know my exact position on the curve, but I can relate. I find it ironic that many of the folks who score pretty high on general intelligence, often have an issue with social intelligence. I spend a lot of time now trying to study human nature in a game of catch-up. What most people seem to learn instinctively, I need to study.

> What most people seem to learn instinctively, I need to study. I'm curious what part of being socially intelligent you had to learn. Any examples?

One of the better study guides I found was Charlie Munger's book : "Poor Charlies Almanac" One of the things i also found very enlightening was that people often believe people who talk very fast, even after they have been wrong quite a bit.
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