> Being even a little clever—and that's the best I can claim—is living life on easy mode. It's so great. Once I realized that the other people in the room weren

> Being even a little clever—and that's the best I can claim—is living life on easy mode. It's so great. Once I realized that the other people in the room weren't not-saying the obvious thing because they'd already dismissed it for some reason I couldn't see, but because it wasn't obvious to them, it was like I unlocked a superpower. The thing is - I don't agree with Paul Graham at all. Sure, there might be a genetic component to being 'smart', but I doubt it means that people are just born with a better "CPU". Maybe they are 0.1% better overall. Rather, I don't think we can properly control variables(ethically). If your parents are 'smart', they will do 'smart' things. They will give you the attention you need. They will give you a balanced diet. They will buy you books. They will teach you difficult concepts. You'll see them studying or otherwise getting invested in their careers and, as kids, we mimic what you see. Over time, you develop 'smart' habits, and you exercise your brain. You'll also accumulate all sorts of 'patterns', that let you quickly see those things that aren't 'obvious' to everyone else. They are obvious to you, probably because you have seen something similar before, even in a different context. The more 'patterns' you have, the quicker you can spot them, and you can tie things together faster if you are not focusing on learning entirely new things at the same time. Even if you had nothing of the sort growing up, by just trying to engage your brain while doing most of your tasks, you are far ahead of most people. What people tend to do is, whenever they find something that worked, even if only once, they will stick with that solution, for every situation. They don't normally ask themselves if the resolution is still appropriate for the situation in hand. Keep this as a background process, and you do have a superpower.