How Actual Smart People Talk About Themselves

[Roland99]

Hint: not by discussing IQ
http://theatln.tc/2EdXu1z

I’ve never met or interviewed Donald Trump, though like most of the world I feel amply exposed to his outlooks and styles of expression. So I can’t say whether, in person, he somehow conveys the edge, the sparkle, the ability to connect, the layers of meaning that we usually associate with both emotional and analytical intelligence.

But I have had the chance over the years to meet and interview a large sampling of people whom the world views the way Trump views himself. That is, according to this morning’s dispatches, as “like, really smart,” and “genius.”
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Here are three traits I would report from a long trail of meeting and interviewing people who by any reckoning are very intelligent.

They all know it. A lifetime of quietly comparing their ease in handling intellectual challenges—at the chess board, in the classroom, in the debating or writing arena—with the efforts of other people gave them the message.
   
Virtually none of them (need to) say it. There are a few prominent exceptions, of talented people who annoyingly go out of their way to announce that fact. Muhammed Ali is the charming extreme exception illustrating the rule: he said he was The Greatest, and was. Most greats don’t need to say so. It would be like Roger Federer introducing himself with, “You know, I’m quite graceful and gifted.” Or Meryl Streep asking, “Have you seen my awards?”
   
They know what they don’t know. This to me is the most consistent marker of real intelligence. The more acute someone’s ability to perceive and assess, the more likely that person is to recognize his or her limits. These include the unevenness of any one person’s talents; the specific areas of weakness—social awkwardness, musical tin ear, being stronger with numbers than with words, or vice versa; and the incomparable vastness of what any individual person can never know. To read books seriously is to be staggered by the knowledge of how many more books will remain beyond your ken. It’s like looking up at the star-filled sky.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. My own experience

I didn't know I was smart until well into my twenties.

Yeah, I got good grades like B-pluses and B's, but I also got some C's. My SAT's went from 390 to 510 between two tests. I had a good memory. I got into a good college and graduated with a 3.3 average. I never compared myself to the grades of others.

But I believed my scoring was because I worked for those grades. I read, I wrote notes, I studied, I prepared. When I still got those grades when I wasn't trying, I blamed it on the teachers for drafting lame-ass tests that anyone could pass well.

When I was enrolled in my masters program, I slowly began to realize that I was more intelligent than many of my student teacher compatriots. I used an enhanced vocabulary. I knew the answers via logic faster than they could have if they had been given more time.

While I wasn't a young Sheldon, I also believed I was no more smarter than the next person.

Now that I am aware that I have an advantage, I don't throw it in anyone's face or feel too much differently than when I was younger. Yeah, maybe a bit more appreciative of my intelligence, but no hubris at all.

[jberryhill]

3. Thats the Reverse Dunning Kruger...

...the error among people with particular strengths to assume that everyone else is just as competent.

Incompetents make the error of overestimating their own. The skilled tend to overestimate the aptitude of others.

[tblue37]

2. K&R for visibility. nt

[ProudMNDemocrat]

4. Trump has NONE of these traits.....

It was Abraham Lincoln who once said about humility and personal growth..

"You are the person you become because of the people you meet and the books that you read."

[Bernardo de La Paz]

19. Trump has met Howard Stern and read Sean Hannity. It's who he has become. . . . nt

[dhill926]

5. I knew I was smart as hell when I was young...

now, not so much.....

[Boxerfan]

6. Bragging...Or the sin of Pride.

Telltale sign of somebody not to be trusted.

If someone tells me how smart they are-I know from experience they are idiots at best.

[onethatcares]

7. as a gentleman said yesterday on the greatest little

radio station in the world. "Donald Trump has the ability as potus to have all the knowlege he needs laid out at his feet and explained to him in so many ways by so many people. But he doesn't. He isn't interested in knowing about the world, economics, political effects, diplomacy, or statesmanship. He doesn't read". This is paraphrased but the gist is true.

As the commercial once said. "If you don't read, the world is a closed book".

[iluvtennis]

15. Well said statement. You piqued my interest, What is the greatest little radio station?

[onethatcares]

17. that would be

88.5 WMNF in Tampa Florida. It's also on the web. Community radio, listener sponsored and it rocks. Both musically and politically.

Check it out.

And

Thanks for asking.

[iluvtennis]

20. I'm in California, so I'll check out the web streaming. Thanks.

[ornotna]

24. Yes it is

Two thumbs up from a long time listener and supporter.

[Roland99]

28. Wish I could get it on my car radio.

Are they on TuneIn?

Orlando radio is for shit. I rely on SiriusXM for any kind of music

[ornotna]

48. They have a phone app

If you want to go that route.

[notdarkyet]

30. Agree.

[Different Drummer]

8. One of my all-time favorite quotes is from Socrates, who was much smarter than Dotard.

"I know that I do not know anything."

[Bob Loblaw]

29. "Outside of a dog

a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." -- Groucho Marx

Trump doesn't read, and doesn't like dogs.

[ProudLib72]

33. Name a dog tRump could fit into...

Go ahead, I'll wait.

[Bob Loblaw]

40. Clifford

He's big and he's red.

[ProudLib72]

42. Poor Clifford!

I remember him. Yep, tRump might be able to fit, but Clifford is going to have a serious tummy ache!

[Bob Loblaw]

43. If you think Trump is steaming now,

just wait 'til he's "evacuated" by Clifford in this weather.

[ProudLib72]

44. Oh God! The image!

And yet I can't stop myself from picturing it for some reason.

Hey, that could be a new phrase for dog owners: "Fluffy just took a trump dump! I needed three baggies".

[Bob Loblaw]

45. You win

[Orrex]

9. I figure that I am, in general, not much dumber than the average person

Beyond that, all bets are off.

[misanthrope]

10. Dunning-Kruger effect

Even before they formulated their findings in 1999, the effect has been described by observers throughout history. Philosophers back to Confucius and Socrates have noted its precepts.

[Stuart G]

11. I know a brilliant doctor.

I have known him for close to 60 years. When he was in grammar school he and I were friends. We went to high school together too. He was the valedictorian of our high school class. I still see him once in a while..every few years at some kind of reunion. Another friend, who likes to brag a lot, said that "Bob" was world renown in his field. I had no clue. I once told Bob, I went to Japan for a vacation, and he said yes, he had been there for some kind of lecture. He left it at that. I never, never got the feeling that he was bragging about anything, anytime. I didn't know he was known beyond the hospital he worked at. I remember his parents, I am sure that they taught him the meaning of modesty, and not bragging, whatever that means. His parents were kind and giving people. He also gives his time to helping others, but that goes along with the meaning of "kind." I am grateful for knowing people like this.

Trump may say he is smart, but he isn't smart enough to keep his mouth shut

[Roland99]

12. It is not possible for him to not stop talking. Esp to self-aggrandize

[Irish_Dem]

13. Obama is a genius. And he tries to hide and downplay that fact. nt

[PatrickforO]

14. Indeed. To have some inkling of how very much you do NOT know is

the beginning of wisdom.

[Botany]

16. my sis in law works for NASA and I have been in a room w/her co-workers and 3 things

1) The were very smart.

b) I am nowhere near close to those guys and girls in the brain dept.

iii) Not one them ever said they were smart.

[Roland99]

27. I have felt the same in my career

I've done some pretty cool stuff and come up with inventive solutions but I've met people who were involved in writing the ODBC standard way back, people who design intricate automation, dancers and performers whose talent just oozes so gracefully

And I have felt humbled in their presence.

[Botany]

31. What is ODBC?

Old dinosaurs become coal.

Oh Donald bites cacca.

Ohio's Dayton Baby connection.

[Roland99]

35. LOL. Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) interface

Common interface to various database back-ends

[Botany]

36. I knew it all along I was just testing you.

Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) interface my guess is it has something to do w/IT,
files, and data.

[Roland99]

37. Allows programmers to write the same code to talk to different types of databases

Same code could update Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, Sybase, etc

Did a fair bit of that type programming in the day. Not so much anymore but love love love my new job. Won't ever get boring.

[Botany]

39. This has to do w/computers right? and the cloud 2?

btw how come my printer does not work?

my iMac tells me it can't find the printer ..... it is sitting right next to it.
I think it is just lazy.

[Roland99]

41. You stopped at Step 4, didn't you?

https://www.geeksaresexy.net/2017/01/09/5-stages-troubleshooting-printer-connection-comic/

[notdarkyet]

32. My daughter has worked for nasa over twenty years..she has patented things on the

Space shuttle. She worked in partnership with Italy to build the pod Harmony which is now a part of the space station. She knows most of the astronauts and engineers. None of them would say they were smart. But they are.

[Botany]

34. And some people are not rocket scientists

So what is some oils and friction points on something that is gonna go a billion
miles per second?

[onethatcares]

18. my 16 year old grand daughter

Is applying to several universitys to pursue a career in Aeronautical Engineering. She's already bypassed two high school grades.
She was explaining physics to this old man, and I realized just how damn dumb I am.

[Aristus]

21. "Know your limits." The best piece of advice I ever got from a mentor.

The Physician Assistant who mentored and trained me is a brilliant clinician. Absolutely brilliant. I was honored to be able to learn from him. I knew I was getting the best kind of training for a career in clinical medicine.

He was my preceptor for my Family Medicine rotation during my clinical year. I was reporting to him about a patient visit I had just completed. He asked me a question the answer for which I found myself fumbling for. I was trying to recall the correct answer for someone I admired and wanted to emulate.

After about ten seconds of wracking my brain for an answer that wouldn't come, he said: "Refer to your medical software. That's what it's there for."

I consulted my PDA and gave him the correct answer from it.

He then took me aside and said: "You're never going to know everything about medicine. It's impossible. If you don't know the answer, look it up. I do that all the time. Don't do your patient the disservice of trying to wing it through a situation beyond your skill. Look it up."

Rather than diminish his standing in my eyes with the revelation that he still looks up the answers, it increased my respect for him. He wasn't trying to impress anybody; he was trying to be a good medical provider.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

22. If I'm the smartest person in a room then I'm in the wrong room

... unless I'm teaching. And, no, I do not subscribe to the theory that students need a teacher to make them smart.

[Igel]

23. I've known some really, really smart people.

I've known some really, really arrogant people.

I find that there's no correlation between them, positive or negative.

Some of the really, really smart people have been humble and self-effacing. 'Yes, I'm not really that brilliant, I only published three books and 18 papers in 1983.'

Some have been real jackasses that made sure you knew exactly how much more brilliant they were than you.

I don't trust self-reporting.

[DFW]

25. Thomas Jefferson knew:

"The wise know their weakness too well to assume infallibility; and he who knows most, knows best how little he knows." - Thomas Jefferson.


That doesn't make for a lot of wise Republicans, not that Republicans tend to be big Jefferson fans in the first place.

[SergeStorms]

26. The more you know....

the more you know how much you don't know.

[ProudLib72]

38. Way back in HS one hundred years ago

There was a kid who was in a couple of my classes (Calculus and Pascal programming). He was a total redneck, and I think he was somewhat proud of that fact. But he was well above me in intelligence. He never seemed to really have to work at understanding anything; he just got it. I remember that he had weight lifting before Calculus class. One day he came in and told me his thighs really hurt because he had lifted too much. Class began. Midway through class, the kid stood up and started stretching and rubbing his thighs. The teacher was shocked (he was a real martinet). The kid told him his legs hurt because of lifting weights. The teacher couldn't tell him off because the kid was the smartest student in the class. Oh how I loved that! I also remember that, before a football game, he and his buddies would drive over to the opponents' school and deface it. I always wondered what happened to that guy.

[Ferrets are Cool]

46. I never ever remember our REAL PRESIDENT Obama discussing

his "smarts" but we ALL knew he was.

[Pacifist Patriot]

47. I have been complimented as intelligent...

And each time, all I can think is "boy have I got them fooled!" I am painfully aware of my cognitive shortcomings. I wish I were smarter and possessed more knowledge than I do. And my memory is nowhere near as sharp as I would like. Trump bragging about his intellect and memory has always seemed weird and pathetic to me.