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"I have come to find out what it's like to be dumb."

waldo.jaquith.org

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Re: "I have come to find out what it's like to be dumb."

#31

Post by quark83 »

Sagat wrote: post #29
quark83 wrote: post #17

I created a throwaway account so it's not associated with my normal handle on here. This post brings up something I've been wondering about, and it's something that's really been bothering me the last few years. I feel like I've become significantly less intelligent over time, and I can't figure out if that's really the case, or if it's a different issue that simply makes me feel less intelligent. When I was in high…

I have a similar story to yours although I doubt I was as smart. In high school I could get the best grades in my class without much effort and got a near perfect score in the baccalaureate. Nothing to brag about though, since I then proceeded to drop out of law school in my second year. I completely lost the will to work and ended up with humiliatingly low grades before finally breaking down and starting afresh. Lik…

Thanks! I appreciate the detailed post you've written. The more I think about it, the more my case sounds like yours. I'm now thinking it's less "something happened to my brain" and more "my habits caused this problem". I'll attempt the same thing you've done to see how it goes.

You just quit procrastinating cold-turkey though? How did you force yourself to read? Every time I pull out a textbook at a time that isn't the night before a test or HW assignment I fall asleep reading it or end up staring at the wall instead.

Meditation is an interesting idea... I've never given that a try before.

Re: "I have come to find out what it's like to be dumb."

#32

Post by kybernetyk »

quark83 wrote: post #17

I created a throwaway account so it's not associated with my normal handle on here. This post brings up something I've been wondering about, and it's something that's really been bothering me the last few years. I feel like I've become significantly less intelligent over time, and I can't figure out if that's really the case, or if it's a different issue that simply makes me feel less intelligent. When I was in high…

We're you checked for thyroid dysfunction? I had similar symptoms in high school. I became tired easily, 12 hours sleep were not enough (thus I overslept regularly) and my grades became bad. I also couldn't grasp new concept as easily.

After I was diagnosed (which was a lucky coincidence) and started to take medicine it all reversed.

Ask your doctor. The test is a simple blood test.

Re: "I have come to find out what it's like to be dumb."

#33

Post by wisty »

quark83 wrote: post #17

I created a throwaway account so it's not associated with my normal handle on here. This post brings up something I've been wondering about, and it's something that's really been bothering me the last few years. I feel like I've become significantly less intelligent over time, and I can't figure out if that's really the case, or if it's a different issue that simply makes me feel less intelligent. When I was in high…

> Suddenly, new subjects became incomprehensible. The ease at which I previously absorbed new material was gone. Nothing "clicked" anymore. I'm in graduate school now and still nothing "clicks". I attend department seminars where visiting professors present their research, and it may as well be alien gibberish. I feel like I'm just faking my way through grad school at this point. I can still manage A's and B's in classes without ever understanding the content only because of the way the grading system's designed. Luckily, I seemed to have retained my programming capabilities.

Once you've gotten past basic calculus, you can't learn as much because all the resources are poor. Sure, you can read research papers (which are written for people who already understand 90% of them), or a PhD thesis (maybe a better option, as PhD students pad them with lots of exposition to make up the page count); but they suck compared to a well-designed undergrad text. Did you learn calculus by reading a single proof, or did you do a lot of example questions? How much are you practicing the basic techniques, or are you just saying "yeah, in principle that bit's already been done ... nothing to do there".

You also sound like you are losing motivation, and suffering a bit from "impostor syndrome", both of which are very common in grad school. You need to learn when to relax, when to push yourself, and when to just keep plugging. I find that forcing myself to relax when I'm getting distracted can "reset" my ability to focus. If you find yourself reading something that's just crap (this sentence?), look away from the monitor for as long as you can.

Re: "I have come to find out what it's like to be dumb."

#34

Post by PeterisP »

If you state that you feel dumb(er), can this be measured quantitatively in any way? Can you re-take some tests where you know previous results to see if there are significant differences?

The described experience makes it hard to distinguish between reduced intelligence as such, versus disbalances in motivational/emotional systems that affect what you[r brain] choose to do, instead of the ability of what you can do. Both can be limiting, but in very different ways.

Re: "I have come to find out what it's like to be dumb."

#35

Post by eshvk »

hellyeasa wrote: post #10

Good god. What is this pretentious bullshit? This tone of this post was so incredibly ridiculous I had to create an account to ask why it was posted here or taken seriously. This self proclaimed smart person, with heavy emphasis on the self proclaimed part (check out the incredibly smug About page) apparently needs Lyme disease to feel the plight of the oh so pitiful stupid people. News flash, half the population is…

> News flash, half the population is dumber than average

Probably not true. What if the mean is skewed by outliers like incredibly smart people or incredibly dumb people; we could very well be living in the world where most of the people are stupid and the average is what it is because of a very few incredibly smart people.

Humorous tangent apart; I can't even imagine thinking like this so-called smart person. If I feel the problem is too easy, I am always trying to figure out harder problems to solve. So much so that I am comfortable with the feeling of being stupid and being befuddled. It merely means I am pushing myself to the edge.

Re: "I have come to find out what it's like to be dumb."

#37

Post by WA »

quark83 wrote: post #17

I created a throwaway account so it's not associated with my normal handle on here. This post brings up something I've been wondering about, and it's something that's really been bothering me the last few years. I feel like I've become significantly less intelligent over time, and I can't figure out if that's really the case, or if it's a different issue that simply makes me feel less intelligent. When I was in high…

Look, university is a bit harder than high school. There's quite a step. Maybe your gifts don't apply that well to university and you have to figure out a way to learn that stuff – really learn it.

Feeling like you don't get stuff in grad school could be, because you lack the foundation you should've built earlier in college.

The solution might be as simple as: Get the foundation right, learn that stuff from the first years again and learn it in such a way that you have a good understanding. And then digest grad school material the same way.

Re: "I have come to find out what it's like to be dumb."

#38

Post by jacquesm »

ck2 wrote: post #36

I really want to make a sarcastic comment about how half of American adults must have this disease but it sounds kinda serious so not going to make fun of it.

> it sounds kinda serious

It is.

> not going to make fun of it.

Thank you for that. Lyme is a very easy to contract disease depending on where you live and the progressive symptoms are devastating.

Re: "I have come to find out what it's like to be dumb."

#39

Post by hwh »

almost wrote: post #23
quark83 wrote: post #17

I created a throwaway account so it's not associated with my normal handle on here. This post brings up something I've been wondering about, and it's something that's really been bothering me the last few years. I feel like I've become significantly less intelligent over time, and I can't figure out if that's really the case, or if it's a different issue that simply makes me feel less intelligent. When I was in high…

So in high school you were smart enough that you didn't have to work hard to understand and do well. So you never learnt good study skills or self discipline which, once things got beyond your ability to just understand, became a problem. This seems to be a common problem for smart kids.

Yep, I'm probably in that boat, too. I like to say that I have very good "understanding" skills and pretty bad "learning" skills. In school, I hated when we had to learn and recite lyrics. But a well-understood math problem - I could run a lesson on it on my own, doing better than the teacher (who learned it, but didn't very well understood it). Self-discipline is the only thing I can do to remedy that problem - I'm very much aware of that. Not overdoing this is the second. I need time to refocus, and not everything can be forced immediately.

Re: "I have come to find out what it's like to be dumb."

#40

Post by [deleted] »

hellyeasa wrote: post #10

Good god. What is this pretentious bullshit? This tone of this post was so incredibly ridiculous I had to create an account to ask why it was posted here or taken seriously. This self proclaimed smart person, with heavy emphasis on the self proclaimed part (check out the incredibly smug About page) apparently needs Lyme disease to feel the plight of the oh so pitiful stupid people. News flash, half the population is…

[deleted]
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