Quote: (01-31-2016 12:29 PM)RoastBeefCurtains4Me Wrote:
On the other hand, I think there is a kind of ability to interact with the real world, to see how things work, to control yourself and get work done. Real smartness that is recognized by other people comes when you can harness your brainpower to accomplish real tasks, that are too complex or conceptually difficult for other people to do.
Raw brainpower alone doesn't enable this. A lot of people with high brainpower are dysfunctional, and are probably not widely recognized as smart. Smart people are the ones who can deliver solutions to hard problems.
For me, a large chunk of being "smart" comes to down to
the ability to get what you want out of life.
I know plenty of people with higher IQs, who went to better schools, got more degrees, and excel at skills (like programming or engineering) that make my head spin.
But I can count on one hand the number of people I know who live the life of their dreams. I just so happen to be one of those people.
I run my own business. I have a sizable pile of fuck-you money in the bank, and a number of investments that should enable me to stop working entirely by ~40 (I'm in my mid-twenties). I wake up every day and do whatever the hell I feel like doing. I'm in the best shape of my life, I have a number of genuine friends from high-quality social circles, and the only time I'm without female companionship is when I choose to be. I fucking
love my life, and the problems I
do have are "good" problems, like trying to get rid of a stage-5 clinger after taking her virginity.
I could go on, but you get my point. Most of the "smart" people I know are up to their ears in debt, working jobs they hate, married to fat pigs they can't stand, living without any sense of purpose or
joie de vivre.
Your average Mensa member might point to my degree from State U, or my SAT score, and claim they're smarter than me. And sure, by objective standards they may be more intelligent. But if you're not living the kind of life you yourself genuinely want to live, how smart can you really be?