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You need both, but smartness (whatever that is exactly) is overrated. A smart person can over-analyze every parameter of a job to the point where they waste ti
by ravenstine 5y ago
You need both, but smartness (whatever that is exactly) is overrated. A smart person can over-analyze every parameter of a job to the point where they waste time, or if they are lazy will rationalize their way out of actually doing anything, but ask Forrest Gump to dig a ditch and he'll just go ahead and do it. Forrest Gump in effect got curious enough to get a boat and start fishing for shrimp and with help from Lt. Dan created a shrimp empire, all while countless masters degrees were serving coffee somewhere.
- jl2718 5y agoI love that movie. And I think there is a lot to that point. But, it’s fiction. And if I may indulge my own biographical fiction thinking, I think his secret is that nobody believes that he is lying to them. Everybody believes anything he says. Nobody trusts a genius. And there is the paradox, a genius can never convince anybody of anything, but a simpleton can convince everybody of everything (e.g. The Usual Suspects).
- dredmorbius 5y agoForest Gump isn't even anecdata. It's fiction.
- ravenstine 5y agoYou're demonstrating my point.
- snek_case 5y agoIntelligence is a lot of different things. If you can't focus, or focus very intensely on the wrong things, that reduces you general problem solving ability. I would argue that being able to focus on the right things is part of "intelligence". We tend to be overly focused on things like mathematical skills, but there's way more to it.
- carrolldunham 5y agoI too have found myself basing my beliefs on example lives only to later reflect later with a forehead slap that it was fiction. Be careful.
- ravenstine 5y agoWhen did I say I was basing my beliefs on Forrest Gump? Tell me. It's a name I just picked out of a hat (no not literally) that everyone recognizes.