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Sometimes when I deal with people I think are less intelligent than myself I wonder what it would be like to be in that rare stratosphere of intelligence never

by geggam 7y ago

Sometimes when I deal with people I think are less intelligent than myself I wonder what it would be like to be in that rare stratosphere of intelligence never running into someone who you thought wasnt an idiot. Then I wonder if I would become a jerk simply due to fatigue. Good thing I dont have to worry about it too much :)

BurningFrog 7y ago
If you're actually a genius, you understand that people dumber than you aren't idiots. They're normal.
- candiodari 7y ago
  And that's supposed to make you feel better ? Go to city hall or DMV, try get something done, and you will understand how dealing with inflexible idiots feels. (note that you're not dumb because you work at city hall/DMV, but if you're not dumb you have better options and go somewhere else. So over time, these places collect idiots). When you're smarter, there's a lot of DMVs. It's not like dealing with people a little less smart or smarter than you feels (in fact they will regularly outsmart you, you'll just outsmart them just a tad more than the other way). That's just fine, interesting, and doesn't stand in anyone's way. It's dealing with people much dumber than you that's the problem. Here's a repeating conversation that's frustrating. The problem is smart people play chess, whereas normal people just play a move. "I want to X" "But that's (insane|difficult|not what I'd like to do|not what I see|...), why not Y ?" "Because Y leads to Z, to A, and likely to B, which is a negative for me" "But why not C ?" "Because C leads to D, E and then again to B, which is not what I want" "But ..." (continue for another 10 minutes) Or people that hate you because you "make them feel dumb" (which is exactly what they do to you when you have to explain everything of course, but never mind that). And you might say "why not make them feel smart". And sure, I do that. That's easy. But it takes time and energy, and I'm just not going to do that 100x every day. 10x, sure. No problem. But there's a limit. Or people who feel like they're entitled to your intelligence. Every last problem they encounter. "Hey <drop everything and> come look at this", and then the first time you don't they immediately escalate. Or just playing chess, then looking at "idiots" moving on the playing field. And seeing them placing themselves into impossible positions and ... Also worse is that you see people's motivations. How, say, social workers are going to discuss a new policy to do X, and this sounds really positive and you're the only one in the room that's "but, no it isn't positive at all. Because the motivations of these guys that are involved are to ... and that will lead to ..., which is going to destroy these peoples' lives, and you KNOW this but you're suggesting the policy because your organization will once again have to expand". For example, "early detection of child abuse" by people who are paid for finding child abuse will lead to ... false accusations. And of course, once again they will find much more than their worst fear. Or helping the homeless by "providing accomodations", and you want to scream that no, they want them off the street because they think it'll increase their house's value and their ego while effectively arresting and locking up these people. Or worse: you actually go look at the accommodations they were talking about, because you're interested. Either for those abused kids, or for those homeless. And then you know: there is no act as despicable, counterproductive and outright evil as "professionals" "helping" people.

by geggam 7y ago

BurningFrog 7y ago

If you're actually a genius, you understand that people dumber than you aren't idiots. They're normal.

candiodari 7y ago
And that's supposed to make you feel better ? Go to city hall or DMV, try get something done, and you will understand how dealing with inflexible idiots feels. (note that you're not dumb because you work at city hall/DMV, but if you're not dumb you have better options and go somewhere else. So over time, these places collect idiots). When you're smarter, there's a lot of DMVs. It's not like dealing with people a little less smart or smarter than you feels (in fact they will regularly outsmart you, you'll just outsmart them just a tad more than the other way). That's just fine, interesting, and doesn't stand in anyone's way. It's dealing with people much dumber than you that's the problem. Here's a repeating conversation that's frustrating. The problem is smart people play chess, whereas normal people just play a move. "I want to X" "But that's (insane|difficult|not what I'd like to do|not what I see|...), why not Y ?" "Because Y leads to Z, to A, and likely to B, which is a negative for me" "But why not C ?" "Because C leads to D, E and then again to B, which is not what I want" "But ..." (continue for another 10 minutes) Or people that hate you because you "make them feel dumb" (which is exactly what they do to you when you have to explain everything of course, but never mind that). And you might say "why not make them feel smart". And sure, I do that. That's easy. But it takes time and energy, and I'm just not going to do that 100x every day. 10x, sure. No problem. But there's a limit. Or people who feel like they're entitled to your intelligence. Every last problem they encounter. "Hey <drop everything and> come look at this", and then the first time you don't they immediately escalate. Or just playing chess, then looking at "idiots" moving on the playing field. And seeing them placing themselves into impossible positions and ... Also worse is that you see people's motivations. How, say, social workers are going to discuss a new policy to do X, and this sounds really positive and you're the only one in the room that's "but, no it isn't positive at all. Because the motivations of these guys that are involved are to ... and that will lead to ..., which is going to destroy these peoples' lives, and you KNOW this but you're suggesting the policy because your organization will once again have to expand". For example, "early detection of child abuse" by people who are paid for finding child abuse will lead to ... false accusations. And of course, once again they will find much more than their worst fear. Or helping the homeless by "providing accomodations", and you want to scream that no, they want them off the street because they think it'll increase their house's value and their ego while effectively arresting and locking up these people. Or worse: you actually go look at the accommodations they were talking about, because you're interested. Either for those abused kids, or for those homeless. And then you know: there is no act as despicable, counterproductive and outright evil as "professionals" "helping" people.