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How to Tell If Someone Is Truly Smart or Just Average

17 points by gk1 9y ago

alexandercrohde 9y ago
This is all-over-the-place. Firstly it argues you can tell if somebody is "truly smart" based on if they answer interview questions with an overly-technical explanation... Then it plays heavily on our fame-bias (and confuses correlation and causation) to argue "Look what all these well-known geniuses do, if you that too you'll be a genius like them!" It then proceeds to offer a self-reported anecdote about the author becoming smarter (with no external validation like some objective test, nor even a definition of smart). Then tries to sell us a course...
rscnt 9y ago
This should be labeled as "Advertisement". Has this been "fake voted"?
mlazos 9y ago
This article reads more like a self help book. And it acts as if the Zuckerbergs and musks of the world have a mystical power to see the world more deeply than everyone else when truly a tremendous amount of luck goes into forming companies like they have.
XR0CSWV3h3kZWg 9y ago
> I was learning a deeper and fundamentally different way of understanding reality — like I’ve accessed a hidden, secret level in the game of life. It’s thrilling to uncover deeper layers of understanding that I didn’t even know existed. > Reality somehow feels different on an aesthetic level Is the author hypomanic?
woodandsteel 9y ago
This is a good article. The author explains how genius entrepreneurs are able to accomplish great things because they use a whole collection of superior mental models. That fits what I have read about particular business geniuses like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. However, there are also other types of geniuses, such as artistic and academic ones. My guess is they also have superior sets of mental models. It would be interesting of someone did some mental model studies of these groups.
nodesocket 9y ago
The title rubs me the wrong way, it comes off elistist and arrogent. Average? Just because you are "smart" doesn't mean that you are going to be effective and excel at your job. There are other intangibles such as instincts, communication, customer interaction, business intuition.

17 points by gk1 9y ago

This is all-over-the-place. Firstly it argues you can tell if somebody is "truly smart" based on if they answer interview questions with an overly-technical explanation... Then it plays heavily on our fame-bias (and confuses correlation and causation) to argue "Look what all these well-known geniuses do, if you that too you'll be a genius like them!" It then proceeds to offer a self-reported anecdote about the author becoming smarter (with no external validation like some objective test, nor even a definition of smart). Then tries to sell us a course...

rscnt 9y ago

This should be labeled as "Advertisement". Has this been "fake voted"?

mlazos 9y ago

This article reads more like a self help book. And it acts as if the Zuckerbergs and musks of the world have a mystical power to see the world more deeply than everyone else when truly a tremendous amount of luck goes into forming companies like they have.

XR0CSWV3h3kZWg 9y ago

> I was learning a deeper and fundamentally different way of understanding reality — like I’ve accessed a hidden, secret level in the game of life. It’s thrilling to uncover deeper layers of understanding that I didn’t even know existed. > Reality somehow feels different on an aesthetic level Is the author hypomanic?

woodandsteel 9y ago

This is a good article. The author explains how genius entrepreneurs are able to accomplish great things because they use a whole collection of superior mental models. That fits what I have read about particular business geniuses like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. However, there are also other types of geniuses, such as artistic and academic ones. My guess is they also have superior sets of mental models. It would be interesting of someone did some mental model studies of these groups.

nodesocket 9y ago

The title rubs me the wrong way, it comes off elistist and arrogent. Average? Just because you are "smart" doesn't mean that you are going to be effective and excel at your job. There are other intangibles such as instincts, communication, customer interaction, business intuition.