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> Things that you think are "perplexingly obvious", to the point that you can't conceive of not thinking about it, just aren't to them. And it can take almost

> Things that you think are "perplexingly obvious", to the point that you can't conceive of not thinking about it, just aren't to them. And it can take almost half a lifetime to realize this That other people can have so vastly different brains.

DangitBobby 6y ago
Which is pretty strange given that you see can see clearly a vast spectrum of different mental capabilities (from handicap to genius) your entire life. I guess it flies in the face of cultural virtues about how hard work will set you free.
- vorpalhex 6y ago
  There are plenty of people who aren't very bright or capable and yet have very "free" (in the financial sense) lives and live comfortably. Of course there are plenty of people, both bright and dull, who could live comfortably and yet stay mired in debt and distress.
- souprock 6y ago
  People are kept separate. In first grade, I was in the "green" reading group, with just 4 or 5 out of about 30 kids. Nothing was ever said about abilities. I just assumed that the groups were random. I was the best in the green group by far, so it seemed that I was experiencing the other extreme of mental abilities. Late in the year, something inadvertently revealed to me that "green" was the best. To this day, I have no idea how bad the other groups could have been. I remember being the best in AP Chemistry too. I set the 15-year record for the final exam score, permanently changing the grade scaling for the class by 3 points out of 100. (old scaling would have given me a 103 but that became a 100, and even years later all the grades would be lower by 3 points) That class was about 15 out of 350 students who started as freshmen. There were other students, about 50 out of the 350, who dropped out. I don't have much of an idea of what their science classes might have been like.
  - thaumasiotes 6y ago
    > I don't have much of an idea of what their science classes might have been like. Class "adjustment" is usually simpler than you might think. Expect the following differences as the class gets dumber: - Less material is covered by the instructor. - There is less of an expectation that any given material will be remembered more than a week after it was covered. - Hints for questions asked of students in class will be more direct. - More time is spent on watching movies with themes notionally related to the class, and on playing games (think "chemistry bingo") during class. Note that all of these are pretty smooth continuous scales; there's lots of room for tuning.
  - cutemonster 6y ago
    > People are kept separate Good point. And they "self segregate" themselves too? If there're two kids, and one is a lot brighter than the other, i think both of them will tend to get frustrated when playing together or deciding what to do -- so they'll find others to play with. Maybe this a bit applies to emotional intelligence too. One's whole life, one a bit chooses people with similar "capabilities", without thinking about it? And then, from time to time, one sees in the newspapers what the vastly different people do, and get surprised: can there really be such people, where are all those people

DangitBobby 6y ago

Which is pretty strange given that you see can see clearly a vast spectrum of different mental capabilities (from handicap to genius) your entire life. I guess it flies in the face of cultural virtues about how hard work will set you free.

vorpalhex 6y ago
There are plenty of people who aren't very bright or capable and yet have very "free" (in the financial sense) lives and live comfortably. Of course there are plenty of people, both bright and dull, who could live comfortably and yet stay mired in debt and distress.
souprock 6y ago
People are kept separate. In first grade, I was in the "green" reading group, with just 4 or 5 out of about 30 kids. Nothing was ever said about abilities. I just assumed that the groups were random. I was the best in the green group by far, so it seemed that I was experiencing the other extreme of mental abilities. Late in the year, something inadvertently revealed to me that "green" was the best. To this day, I have no idea how bad the other groups could have been. I remember being the best in AP Chemistry too. I set the 15-year record for the final exam score, permanently changing the grade scaling for the class by 3 points out of 100. (old scaling would have given me a 103 but that became a 100, and even years later all the grades would be lower by 3 points) That class was about 15 out of 350 students who started as freshmen. There were other students, about 50 out of the 350, who dropped out. I don't have much of an idea of what their science classes might have been like.
- thaumasiotes 6y ago
  > I don't have much of an idea of what their science classes might have been like. Class "adjustment" is usually simpler than you might think. Expect the following differences as the class gets dumber: - Less material is covered by the instructor. - There is less of an expectation that any given material will be remembered more than a week after it was covered. - Hints for questions asked of students in class will be more direct. - More time is spent on watching movies with themes notionally related to the class, and on playing games (think "chemistry bingo") during class. Note that all of these are pretty smooth continuous scales; there's lots of room for tuning.
- cutemonster 6y ago
  > People are kept separate Good point. And they "self segregate" themselves too? If there're two kids, and one is a lot brighter than the other, i think both of them will tend to get frustrated when playing together or deciding what to do -- so they'll find others to play with. Maybe this a bit applies to emotional intelligence too. One's whole life, one a bit chooses people with similar "capabilities", without thinking about it? And then, from time to time, one sees in the newspapers what the vastly different people do, and get surprised: can there really be such people, where are all those people