Does is bother you that other people are much smarter than yourself?

[luckyme]

[ QUOTE ]
But, as I said, I'm just happy I'm not any more stupid.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm grateful the bulk of 20 million or so born smarter than me were born in 3rd world countries, or snorted their way to a similar level.
I personally know somebody who is better at everything I do except one thing ... I'm 2nd best ( 2nd tier) at a wide variety of endeavors.
There is some consolation in the fact that there are a lot of people who think they are in the 20M AND play poker.

luckyme

[Phil153]

[ QUOTE ]
Eg Jeff Yass or Mason Malmuth.

[/ QUOTE ]
This is why we love you.

[tame_deuces]

No, I get very fascinated by people who seem very intelligent and knowledgable, I very rarely reflect on if people are more or less intelligent than myself. Skilled people can teach you alot if you ask them, and I don't really care if its a mechanic or an astrophysicist (I swear skilled car mechanics are amongst the coolest people to talk to in the world).

Then again, with the danger of sounding very arrogant, one of my talents is understanding base systems so if someone knows something new to me, I very easily 'fit it'.

[bluesbassman]

I'm at the lower end of the intelligence spectrum. It doesn't bother me at all that most people are smarter than me, since I think I've made the most of what I have in that regard.

However, I'm a moderately talented musician, and it used to bother me when, during a gig set break, I'd walk down the street to go see other bands who had a bass player that I perceived to be much more accomplished than I (which isn't difficult to find) . On numerous occasions I had vowed to quit playing altogether.

For some reason I got over that, and now I'm just happy that I can play well enough at all to be in band which plays in public.

[DblBarrelJ]

I personally believe that measures of intelligence are, by their very nature, relative.

In my experience, the truth is, you can learn something from everyone, if you'll only pay close enough attention. I used to feel that I was more intelligent than some, while others were more intelligent than I. Now I've realized that no matter who I meet, I am more knowledgeable about something than they are, and they are more knowledgeable than I about something as well.

Take, for example, auto repair. Generally, auto mechanics are not thought of in the same vein of intelligence as biologists. However, wouldn't it be a fair assumption to assume that the average auto mechanic is more intelligent in some areas than the biologist?

Judging intelligence by IQ or another standardized measure is a rather shallow practice, in my opinion.

I once read an article in which Howard Lederer stated:

[ QUOTE ]
assume, hypothetically, that there are 1000 skills that make the perfect poker player. Now, assume you've mastered 800 of those skills. Also, assume that you have an opponent whom you beat consistently, who, lets assume, has mastered only 700 of the 1000 skills that are in the make-up of a perfect poker player. Can you learn anything from this player? Of course you can. It would be folly to assume that the 700 skills he's mastered match perfectly with the 800 you've mastered. I would estimate he probably does at least 50 things better than you.

[/ QUOTE ]

When you begin looking at intelligence from this measure, you stop thinking of people in terms of being "smarter" or "dumber" than you.

[bigpooch]

No. Many of the greatest geniuses had unique ideas and we
are fortunate to still have some of their written works.
Anyone already smart enough can do himself/herself a favor
by reading works by (or about) any of them, especially:

Wittgenstein
Leibniz
Goethe
Pascal

(Many works are translated into English, so you don't have
to know German, French or Latin.)

BTW, you'll run into some very smart people on SMP because
many geniuses can't help but have strong interest in at
least one of (if not all of) mathematics, philosophy or
physics.

[xxThe_Lebowskixx]

It doesn't bother me that other people are smarter than I am. Actually, I think I actually like this fact. It feels cool knowing that there are guys out there searching for a cure to AIDS and alternative fuel sources.

What bothers me more is that so many people are less intelligent than I am.

[Borodog]

It only bothers me when I see them doing evil things. Otherwise I just try to freeride as much as possible off of their intelligence.

[Alex-db]

[ QUOTE ]
Take, for example, auto repair. Generally, auto mechanics are not thought of in the same vein of intelligence as biologists. However, wouldn't it be a fair assumption to assume that the average auto mechanic is more intelligent in some areas than the biologist?

[/ QUOTE ]

This is not a fair assumption using any standard language definition of "intelligence".

The difference is that given a few months the biologist could easily learn auto-repair, whereas the same cannot be said in reverse.

You are describing some sort of measure of snap-shot usefulness, but not intelligence.

[DblBarrelJ]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Take, for example, auto repair. Generally, auto mechanics are not thought of in the same vein of intelligence as biologists. However, wouldn't it be a fair assumption to assume that the average auto mechanic is more intelligent in some areas than the biologist?

[/ QUOTE ]

This is not a fair assumption using any standard language definition of "intelligence".

The difference is that given a few months the biologist could easily learn auto-repair, whereas the same cannot be said in reverse.

You are describing some sort of measure of snap-shot usefulness, but not intelligence.

[/ QUOTE ]

In a few months? I think I'd need some clarification as to what level of mastery we're discussing here?

If you're saying that in a few months, the biologist could have the same level of mastery as a seasoned auto mechanic, I believe you're wrong.

True intelligence, in my opinion, if it can be measured uniformly at all, must be measured in the ability one has to master a new skill they have zero knowledge of.

I'm not so sure that an auto mechanic, given the same time frame and education as the biologist, could not learn biology, anymore than I am convinced that the biologist, given the same time frame and educational opportunities as the mechanic, could not master auto-repair.