You're absolutely right from a narrative sense. I meant that writing a believable normal person is hard. Most people are normal. But writing a smart person is

You're absolutely right from a narrative sense. I meant that writing a believable normal person is hard. Most people are normal. But writing a smart person is hard, because you often just have to have them solve problems faster/remember more/have information that the reader doesn't. Project Hail Mary did a wonderful job of showing that a smart person doesn't necessarily think "The same, but faster", but that they think differently and deliberately