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> There have also been several instances in the past where particle physicists called senior people at my workplace to complain about me, probably in the hope t

> There have also been several instances in the past where particle physicists called senior people at my workplace to complain about me, probably in the hope to intimidate me or to get me fired You would think people as smart as particle physicists most probably are wouldn't go that low, but here we are.

Cthulhu_ 4y ago
Are they smart, or do they get to boast about being smart because they work in a niche field? It doesn't excuse dickish, childish or petty behavour. Like, grow up, deal with criticism in a professional fashion, and if you feel like it was an underhanded attack, be the bigger person and all.
- mellavora 4y ago
  I think you are equivalating oh, let's call it mathematical ability, with, again for lack of a better term, social skills. There is no a priori reason why high innate talent at abstract reasoning would correlate with high innate talent at reading subtle social signals.
bowsamic 4y ago
Are we still proliferating the myth that you have to be exceedingly smart to be a physicist? The only thing that makes a physicist a physicist is that they didn't give up. Sure there are amazing geniuses out there, but a majority of physicists (including myself) are just average people who did not drop out when it got tough. And, the only reason I didn't drop out is because I was scared to. I did not know what I would do otherwise.
- bena 4y ago
  I forget where I read this, so bear with me. 125ish is the minimum IQ range to be mentally capable of understanding anything. It's not _that_ far off the norm. It's an exceptionally bright person. It's like 90th-95th percentile. You're 1 in 10 or 20. And that's to do anything. The absolute limit of our understanding can be comprehended if you are "pretty smart". It's why Feynman and Hawking didn't really give a shit about IQ. It doesn't unlock any more doors. It might get you to them faster, but at the end of the day, you gotta put in the work. And that's where we do fail our brightest. The most important lesson to learn is that hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard.
RHSman2 4y ago
It is funny that people still equate smart with nice and well balanced humans.
- aqme28 4y ago
  Or that if you're smart at one thing (math and physics), you're smart at completely unrelated things (social skills and PR).
krelian 4y ago
Intelligence that excels in rationalizing natural cause and effect often fails when confronted with the irrational human mind, even its own.
misnome 4y ago
I mean, to give a different guess - it could be to ask her to e.g. stop bullying other members of their department; no differently than the politics of dealing with an employee from a different department stirring up trouble. This doesn't mean that it's intimidation or "trying to get her fired" (although I am sure that does happen). IMO she does generally tend to suffer a bit of a victim complex.
mbrodersen 4y ago
Being good at abstract thinking doesn’t make you smart. High IQ people make bad decisions all the time.

Cthulhu_ 4y ago

Are they smart, or do they get to boast about being smart because they work in a niche field? It doesn't excuse dickish, childish or petty behavour. Like, grow up, deal with criticism in a professional fashion, and if you feel like it was an underhanded attack, be the bigger person and all.

mellavora 4y ago
I think you are equivalating oh, let's call it mathematical ability, with, again for lack of a better term, social skills. There is no a priori reason why high innate talent at abstract reasoning would correlate with high innate talent at reading subtle social signals.

bowsamic 4y ago

Are we still proliferating the myth that you have to be exceedingly smart to be a physicist? The only thing that makes a physicist a physicist is that they didn't give up. Sure there are amazing geniuses out there, but a majority of physicists (including myself) are just average people who did not drop out when it got tough. And, the only reason I didn't drop out is because I was scared to. I did not know what I would do otherwise.

bena 4y ago
I forget where I read this, so bear with me. 125ish is the minimum IQ range to be mentally capable of understanding anything. It's not _that_ far off the norm. It's an exceptionally bright person. It's like 90th-95th percentile. You're 1 in 10 or 20. And that's to do anything. The absolute limit of our understanding can be comprehended if you are "pretty smart". It's why Feynman and Hawking didn't really give a shit about IQ. It doesn't unlock any more doors. It might get you to them faster, but at the end of the day, you gotta put in the work. And that's where we do fail our brightest. The most important lesson to learn is that hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard.

RHSman2 4y ago

It is funny that people still equate smart with nice and well balanced humans.

aqme28 4y ago
Or that if you're smart at one thing (math and physics), you're smart at completely unrelated things (social skills and PR).

krelian 4y ago

Intelligence that excels in rationalizing natural cause and effect often fails when confronted with the irrational human mind, even its own.

misnome 4y ago

I mean, to give a different guess - it could be to ask her to e.g. stop bullying other members of their department; no differently than the politics of dealing with an employee from a different department stirring up trouble. This doesn't mean that it's intimidation or "trying to get her fired" (although I am sure that does happen). IMO she does generally tend to suffer a bit of a victim complex.

mbrodersen 4y ago

Being good at abstract thinking doesn’t make you smart. High IQ people make bad decisions all the time.