"Smart" is a really vague concept that's nearly impossible to define. PG touches on this when he asks "Is it worth being wise?" [1]. In reality, the people I k

"Smart" is a really vague concept that's nearly impossible to define. PG touches on this when he asks "Is it worth being wise?" [1]. In reality, the people I know who are truly wisest in a truly meaningful way are very down-to-earth. Until you get to know them, you can't really tell they're "smart" in the traditional "perceived IQ" sense. I also try to say smart things and speak as an expert on a wide range of things. This sounds like you're intellectually confident, which, I think, is very different from being "smart". I'm going through the exact same transformation as you, I think, one triggered by some very rudimentary study of epistemology. Most people, after meeting me, have a very high opinion of my intelligence, much higher than (I think) is deserved. So the realization I'm going through is how little I really know, in the epistemological sense. For the most basic example, I can certainly talk intelligently about computers and programming, and do excellent at interviews and even at getting work done, but in reality, I know very little about the details of a computer's architecture, and much less about the details of networking. I know the high-leve abstractions, but I have no idea what's actually going on. 1. http://www.paulgraham.com/wisdom.html http://www.paulgraham.com/wisdom.html