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you're very smart. Your comparison with Berlusconi is accurate and entertaining. But here's the problem. Smart isn't enough. You need generosity. The main prob
by vegabook 10y ago
you're very smart. Your comparison with Berlusconi is accurate and entertaining. But here's the problem.
Smart isn't enough. You need generosity. The main problem with the past 70-years Hayek/Randian "every man for himself" dogma is that it leaves large parts of your fellow, less intellectually talented, human beings, behind. But believe it or not, those "lesser" human beings are often the very source of your happiness, because they are the ones who are not striving for financial gain. They are the ones who soothe your soul. They have non-monetary skills which you will never have. They are the ones who glue a society together. You're clever, and you owe them for the healthy society which they, unlike you, are intrinsic to. Trump, obliquely, has tapped into that disjoint.
Let me put this more simply. Imagine a world exclusively populated with disdainful high-iq people such as you. I call that a smart but heartless place. Hell.
- badsock 10y agoI agree with your point that we terribly undervalue non-financial contributions, but I think you're wrong to put intelligence and kindness at opposite ends of a scale. I've never seen anything to suggest that they're not orthogonal.
- vegabook 10y agoI think I may adjust my point to suggest that financial gain is orthogonal to kindness. Thank you for your insightful comment.