To me it is chess. I know how the piece move but that is it.
Believing that you are smart, is the first sign of not being it. Even the smartest people will admit that they are mostly good at maybe a few areas, and at best average at everything else.
Any position I hold is toppled over with the slightest argument unless I have very recently done a ton of research on the topic. I have zero ability to recall whatever evidence I used to come to a conclusion. It’s incredibly frustrating because I do try to be informed about things but I just can’t defend anything at the pace of a normal conversation.
Being confused often by people and not being able to apply yourself to simple intellectual tasks would be good hints but they could also indicate other underlying disorders and atypicalities different from intellect.
This is further exasperated by the fact that most people specialize in one or more brainy tasks such as mechanical visualization, language comprehension (spoken and/or written), rhythm, mathematics, etc.
There are also behavioral differences that are judged as more or less smart depending on the person. For example, is selfish self serving actions smart or stupid? Do we prioritize long term satisfaction or short term? Does a smart person care about betraying trust of others?
TLDR: Idk man, its real hard to tell, dude
I’m smart enough to know that everyone is both smart and stupid.
I’m stupid enough to believe that doesn’t apply to me.
Last week I moved the cheesegrater so I could look behind it… for the cheesegrater.
If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it’ll spend its life believing it’s a failure.
Yeah but I can’t even figure out how to breathe water
Being bad at chess doesn’t mean you aren’t smart.
Admitting you don’t know everything is smart.
Continuing to still think you do know everything when you don’t is when you’re dumb by default.
I’m visiting my elderly father this weekend and he told me last night that he remembers when he and my mom took me to the doctor when I was like 2 or 3 and I tested positive for high amounts of lead (not lead poisoning, just a high amount), and now I’m like damn, maybe that explains why I suck at a few things…
I would say I’m legit dumb though. I maintained a 4.0 GPA in college and I get by just fine, but now I’m like “do I suck at math because I was exposed to lead as a child?”
If you had a 4.0 gpa in college you’re probably not dumb
People smart enough to realize how much they don’t know are most likely to think that they aren’t smart… and it takes a certain level of intelligence to do that.
Something something Dunning-Kruger Effect. Dumb people who know very little about a topic will tend to overestimate their knowledge about said topic. As you gain more knowledge about the topic, the more you realize you don’t know, and the less confident you are about it.
In extreme cases, it ends with the person having Imposter Syndrome. When a person is very knowledgeable and experienced in a certain topic, but believes they aren’t qualified enough to be considered an expert. They feel like an imposter who will inevitably get outed by someone more knowledgeable than they are. So they have a lot of anxiety about speaking on the topic, because they’re afraid it will result in them being outed as an imposter.
I know somebody who is great at chess, but thinks covid was a hoax, vaccines are fake, Musk is a genius and Russia has a right to Ukraine.
We’re all capable of being a dumb-ass while having something else we’re good at.
I know I’m not smart because I often need to do the same mistakes several times before i get it
You’ve gotta make the same mistake two or three times, just to make sure 😉
It’s the scientific method! Trial by repetition!
My brain insists on telling me so several times a day so nowadays I just roll with it.
Doesn’t mean you’re not smart. People’s brains work differently. Some people enjoy thinking five moves ahead, or memorizing standard plays and reactions. Other people are good at math or chemistry. Talents aren’t an “all or nothing” thing.
I have been always terrible in maths, and this deficit represent imho a major obstacle in getting a decent job these days.
