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beercanman
Joined: 16 May 2009
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 Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 4:38 am Post subject: Are some people too smart? |
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I come from a very smart family, not bragging, it's a fact. My best friends are extremely intelligent guys, yet they are not happy or well off, nor am I. I sometimes wonder, does having a good brain interrupt happiness, just a bit? It is easy to see through all the crap that people, politics, life entails. Too easy really for any of us who are not dead on brains...poor expression.
Odd question I guess. Maybe I shouldn't drink so much. |
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warren pease
Joined: 12 May 2008
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| Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 5:00 am Post subject: |
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Hemingway once said, "happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know."
He also drank too much.
However, by your age he was an established, successful writer. |
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shapeshifter
Joined: 29 Nov 2005
Location: Paris
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| Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 5:40 am Post subject: Re: Are some people too smart? |
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| beercanman wrote: |
I come from a very smart family, not bragging, it's a fact. My best friends are extremely intelligent guys, yet they are not happy or well off, nor am I. I sometimes wonder, does having a good brain interrupt happiness, just a bit? It is easy to see through all the crap that people, politics, life entails. Too easy really for any of us who are not dead on brains...poor expression.
Odd question I guess. Maybe I shouldn't drink so much. |
People who claim, or in your case imply, that they are too clever for this world are tiresome. People who do so while using phrases like "Too easy really for any of us who are not dead on brains" are embarassing.
If you want an explanation for problems and those of your friends and family, I'd widen my search to include factors other than excessive intelligence. |
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Chet Wautlands
Joined: 11 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 5:50 am Post subject: Re: Are some people too smart? |
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| shapeshifter wrote: |
If you want an explanation for problems and those of your friends and family, I'd widen my search to include factors other than excessive intelligence. |
I like this quote.
OP, when I was younger I felt I was likely one of the smartest people alive. I overcame this delusion when I figured out there were plenty of things I couldn't do. I can't write poetry that others will want to read, I can't always beat my younger sisters at checkers, etc... if you're really smart, go out and prove it to the world. Do something! |
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VanIslander
Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
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| Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 6:28 am Post subject: Re: Are some people too smart? |
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| Chet Wautlands wrote: |
| ...when I was younger I felt I was likely one of the smartest people alive. I overcame this delusion when I figured out there were plenty of things I couldn't do... if you're really smart, go out and prove it to the world. Do something! |
absolutely, it keeps one humble and grounded and aware of the genius of others, that even if one is above average at some mental tasks, just look at the wealth of others
too smart to be an architect? engineer? scientist? mathematician? computer programmer? doctor, literary novelist? chess champion? quiz master?
one of the defining characteristics of intelligence is the need to use brain power, use it or lose it, and the truly intelligent work the muscle constantly
the LAST thing an intelligent person is is lazy 
teaching english in korea and getting drunk a lot, and what? what do you do at least 2-3 hours a day to stimulate that oh so intelligent brain of yours? nothing? then it's all vanity and resting on past laurels
it's amazing how many people think they are so smart, yet so very few aced tests and got straight 'A's without breaking a sweat, so few learn new things with a snap of their fingers |
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flakfizer
Joined: 12 Nov 2004
Location: scaling the Cliffs of Insanity with a frayed rope.
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| Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 6:44 am Post subject: |
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| It's impossible to be too smart. However, it is very possible for people to pretend to be too smart. Simple people may be happy because they just don't see the problem. Moderately intelligent people might be unhappy because they do see the problem. More intelligent people are happy because they can fix the problem or adjust accordingly. Moderately intelligent people often assume happy people to be simple. Seeing happy simpletons doesn't bother them because they take solace in the "fact" that while they are less happy, they are smarter. But the idea that there are people out there who are smarter than they and happier is not one they can accept. |
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AmericanExile
Joined: 04 May 2009
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| Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 7:04 am Post subject: |
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| Voltaire's "Story Of The Good Brahmin" is about this exactly. |
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beercanman
Joined: 16 May 2009
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| Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 7:10 am Post subject: Re: Are some people too smart? |
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| VanIslander wrote: |
the LAST thing an intelligent person is is lazy
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A fact, is it? I get your thought. Many a smart person has come and gone, lazy or not. |
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beercanman
Joined: 16 May 2009
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| Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 7:19 am Post subject: Re: Are some people too smart? |
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[quote="shapeshifter"]
| beercanman wrote: |
I come from a very smart family, not bragging, it's a fact. My best friends are extremely intelligent guys, yet they are not happy or well off, nor am I. I sometimes wonder, does having a good brain interrupt happiness, just a bit? It is easy to see through all the crap that people, politics, life entails. Too easy really for any of us who are not dead on brains...poor expression.
Odd question I guess. Maybe I shouldn't drink so much. |
People who claim, or in your case imply, that they are too clever for this world are tiresome. People who do so while using phrases like "Too easy really for any of us who are not dead on brains" are embarrassing.
OK. Really, it was a serious question. Not so clever, just curious. Was it not a worthwhile question? Now you must reply, as you know, haha. |
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blurgalurgalurga
Joined: 18 Oct 2007
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| Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 7:27 am Post subject: |
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| I think it's pretty much a truism that some people are too smart for their own good. Also, as far as teaching goes, I've had lots of kids who are pretty lazy, and do well enough, but don't put in the effort to really excel. They figure they don't need to. Maybe they're right, I dunno. |
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MollyBloom
Joined: 21 Jul 2006
Location: James Joyce's pants
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| Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 8:30 am Post subject: |
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