When does one count as smart?

[noname223]

Some people called me smart. But I will never be as smart as I want me to be. And I am exaggerating my intelligence by using sophisticated language at least in my native language. I try to learn new technical terms every single day. And I try to educate myself. But I have the feeling it is a rat race. Someone with a much higher IQ could read/consume way more than me in a way shorter time period. I am pretty deep, eloquent and thoughtful. My humor can be witty. But the one thing I really would like to be exceptionally smart I am simply not. And I am a fraud for faking it.

I met this quantum scientists and he crashed any metric I could ever imagine. He even started a start-up (in a different field) besides of his university career. He saw through my charade after 5 minutes. Lmao. I impressed him with my introspection though. It does hurt my ego that he did not consider me smart. But I try to calm me down with the following reasoning:
He is like a world cup player, champions league final niveau. If you like playing soccer in your free time and you enjoy it and you want that other people are impressed by your skills don't compare yourself with Ronaldo all the time. Such comparisons are not good for one's self-esteem.

I pretty much impressed him by my introspection and thoughtfulness when I opened up about my mind. I think he considered me quite smart elaborating on that. Other psychiatrists were also very impressed by that. It is ironic my autistic quirk politics obsession is probably not my best field. But I would not have wanted to become a psychiatrist or psychologist. I lack the necessary real life compassion and empathy. It would have been the wrong job. I think my societal analyses are not really the best/ a little bit superficial. But I think I am pretty good at reading myself and at explaining why I turned out like that. After impressing the quantum scientist he worried about me because my conclusion was that I gonna commit suicide eventually. I played stupid and acted like I was not aware of inter-subjectivity and negative biases caused by depression. In fact therapists have come to the same conclusions as me (rational suicde in my case) but I never told him that. I did not want that he worries about me. It was noble of me but I would have been so curious about his reply if I openly said that to him. He would have looked pretty stupid because his replies would have been quite cynical. He treated me like I was stupid not to listen to my therapists. So on the one said he was annoyed by me making predictions. And on the other side he considers me stupid because I don't listen to my therapists who considered me a hopeless case/made these predictions themselves.

I know I am WAY too obsessed by him. He lives in my head without paying any rent. I know that is so weird. And sort of scary.

 

[derpyderpins]

I guess I could go copy-paste my answer from the last of these threads, but I'll add some. I'd say they don't care about IQ or whether other people consider them to be smart. They are able to learn from those they disagree with and understand other positions - because they try to understand from the ground up, rather than in a results-driven manner.

A few other things I don't remember mentioning in past threads: they don't repeat mantras on end because they can see nuance in issues, they've been humbled and can tell you when they've been humbled, they've moved past the phase where they overuse the word "objectively" or similar as an "I win" word. On that note, someone capable of having discussions without seeing them as debates is "smarter" in my view.

I think someone demonstrates an understanding of a controversial topic when they can explain both sides and identify which information causes the divergence in opinion.

Thinking about the smartest people I've met - in university, professional life, personal life - they never needed to tell you they were smart or self-compliment. They never would bring up the topic of how smart they were.

 

[Dr Iron Arc]

Smart is almost everyone except for me.

 

[noname223]

I guess I could go copy-paste my answer from the last of these threads, but I'll add some. I'd say they don't care about IQ or whether other people consider them to be smart. They are able to learn from those they disagree with and understand other positions - because they try to understand from the ground up, rather than in a results-driven manner.

A few other things I don't remember mentioning in past threads: they don't repeat mantras on end because they can see nuance in issues, they've been humbled and can tell you when they've been humbled, they've moved past the phase where they overuse the word "objectively" or similar as an "I win" word. On that note, someone capable of having discussions without seeing them as debates is "smarter" in my view.

I think someone demonstrates an understanding of a controversial topic when they can explain both sides and identify which information causes the divergence in opinion.

Thinking about the smartest people I've met - in university, professional life, personal life - they never needed to tell you they were smart or self-compliment. They never would bring up the topic of how smart they were.

Smart is almost everyone except for me.

It all repeats. Lol. My head is F-U-C-K-E-D.

 

[derpyderpins]

It all repeats. Lol. My head is F-U-C-K-E-D.

It's okay haha. Still looking for the answer so sometimes asking a different way is better than a bump.

 

[i dont feel real.]

IDK, I'm not. Maybe when someone realizes the sense of life or does something for the humanity or so. Don't really get annoyed for being smarter or the smartest. I passed that phase, and I can tell you it has no purpose.

 

[sos]

everyone is smart in their own way

we've all had our big brain moves at some point in life

no one can change my mind sorry

i hereby declare all of u smart

have fun with your smartness

but yea, smart has a different meaning for pretty much everyone

and who cares if you're labeled as smart, or not. you are you & there's nothing more important nor special than that

 

[Pluto]

I'm a stable genius.

Spoiler: A very stable genius

 

[CTB Dream]

Smrt subjcv ppl diff, still smrt simil ai trn trn imprv

 

[DarkRange55]

Smart is almost everyone except for me.

Why do you always say that? I know that all tone is lost over text but it just comes off to me as self deprecating rather than humble

I guess I could go copy-paste my answer from the last of these threads, but I'll add some. I'd say they don't care about IQ or whether other people consider them to be smart. They are able to learn from those they disagree with and understand other positions - because they try to understand from the ground up, rather than in a results-driven manner.

A few other things I don't remember mentioning in past threads: they don't repeat mantras on end because they can see nuance in issues, they've been humbled and can tell you when they've been humbled, they've moved past the phase where they overuse the word "objectively" or similar as an "I win" word. On that note, someone capable of having discussions without seeing them as debates is "smarter" in my view.

I think someone demonstrates an understanding of a controversial topic when they can explain both sides and identify which information causes the divergence in opinion.

Thinking about the smartest people I've met - in university, professional life, personal life - they never needed to tell you they were smart or self-compliment. They never would bring up the topic of how smart they were.

I think someone demonstrates an understanding of a controversial topic when they can explain both sides and identify which information causes the divergence in opinion.
Thats like what the billionaire Charlie Munger said, be able to argue both sides better than the other person but I like what you added at the end. Definitely agree overall


@noname223
What do you consider smart?
Why is it such an important quality to you?
What would make you feel like you have achieved your goal?
Why is this guy your metric?
Do you feel that you suffer from imposter syndrome? My best friend who is at minimum a near-genius, possibly genius has that very badly.

Where is that @lamargue fellow?

Some people called me smart. But I will never be as smart as I want me to be. And I am exaggerating my intelligence by using sophisticated language at least in my native language. I try to learn new technical terms every single day. And I try to educate myself. But I have the feeling it is a rat race. Someone with a much higher IQ could read/consume way more than me in a way shorter time period. I am pretty deep, eloquent and thoughtful. My humor can be witty. But the one thing I really would like to be exceptionally smart I am simply not. And I am a fraud for faking it.

I met this quantum scientists and he crashed any metric I could ever imagine. He even started a start-up (in a different field) besides of his university career. He saw through my charade after 5 minutes. Lmao. I impressed him with my introspection though. It does hurt my ego that he did not consider me smart. But I try to calm me down with the following reasoning:
He is like a world cup player, champions league final niveau. If you like playing soccer in your free time and you enjoy it and you want that other people are impressed by your skills don't compare yourself with Ronaldo all the time. Such comparisons are not good for one's self-esteem.

I pretty much impressed him by my introspection and thoughtfulness when I opened up about my mind. I think he considered me quite smart elaborating on that. Other psychiatrists were also very impressed by that. It is ironic my autistic quirk politics obsession is probably not my best field. But I would not have wanted to become a psychiatrist or psychologist. I lack the necessary real life compassion and empathy. It would have been the wrong job. I think my societal analyses are not really the best/ a little bit superficial. But I think I am pretty good at reading myself and at explaining why I turned out like that. After impressing the quantum scientist he worried about me because my conclusion was that I gonna commit suicide eventually. I played stupid and acted like I was not aware of inter-subjectivity and negative biases caused by depression. In fact therapists have come to the same conclusions as me (rational suicde in my case) but I never told him that. I did not want that he worries about me. It was noble of me but I would have been so curious about his reply if I openly said that to him. He would have looked pretty stupid because his replies would have been quite cynical. He treated me like I was stupid not to listen to my therapists. So on the one said he was annoyed by me making predictions. And on the other side he considers me stupid because I don't listen to my therapists who considered me a hopeless case/made these predictions themselves.

I know I am WAY too obsessed by him. He lives in my head without paying any rent. I know that is so weird. And sort of scary.

I'm wondering if you're primary motivator out of the four M's is mastery… being recognized as an expert or the GOAT in a given field or discipline.

 

[Dr Iron Arc]

Why do you always say that? I know that all tone is lost over text but it just comes off to me as self deprecating rather than humble

Sorry. I'm not trying to be humble, just honest. I feel it's not self-deprecating if it's true.

 

[VeryShy]

"Everyone is a genius, but if you judge a fish by its ability to ride a bicycle, it will live its whole life thinking it's stupid" - Einstein

 

[N33dT0D13]

I hate that I sound smart sometimes because I'm not smart at all and people thinking I'm smart feels both great and terrible because I know I've deceived them into thinking so... Well I feel like that no matter what positive perception people have of me but it's only because I know... I'm not smart or chill or nice, I'm just fake lmao

 

[Praestat_Mori]

"Smart" as an attribute is very subjective and it depends on society and surroundings what is considered as smart and what not. I consider myself as smart bc I managed to live a good life - however, I wasn't smart enough to realize when the peak was reached and to take the chips off the table and relax after all the effort of many years - I'm not smart from this POV. I'm also not smart from the general POV of being a "Dr. Dr. Bachelor Master .... and what not"

Each human has specific qualities and is smart but in nowadays society "smartness" often isn't recognized and supported if someone isn't able to study and become "Dr. Dr. ... and what not".

In my case, I would say I did everything right in my life and I can consider myself smart but from today's POV I lacked having a mentor who guided me in the crucial moments.

 

[Jarni]

Nowadays I would consider people intelligent who study subjects in depth and do not base their opinion on clickbait newspaper headlines... Good quality information on as many subjects as possible is essential. If someone with a high IQ has read poor quality information or hasn't studied the subject in depth, they will say stupid things.

 

[banger12]

Some people called me smart. But I will never be as smart as I want me to be. And I am exaggerating my intelligence by using sophisticated language at least in my native language. I try to learn new technical terms every single day. And I try to educate myself. But I have the feeling it is a rat race. Someone with a much higher IQ could read/consume way more than me in a way shorter time period. I am pretty deep, eloquent and thoughtful. My humor can be witty. But the one thing I really would like to be exceptionally smart I am simply not. And I am a fraud for faking it.

I met this quantum scientists and he crashed any metric I could ever imagine. He even started a start-up (in a different field) besides of his university career. He saw through my charade after 5 minutes. Lmao. I impressed him with my introspection though. It does hurt my ego that he did not consider me smart. But I try to calm me down with the following reasoning:
He is like a world cup player, champions league final niveau. If you like playing soccer in your free time and you enjoy it and you want that other people are impressed by your skills don't compare yourself with Ronaldo all the time. Such comparisons are not good for one's self-esteem.

I pretty much impressed him by my introspection and thoughtfulness when I opened up about my mind. I think he considered me quite smart elaborating on that. Other psychiatrists were also very impressed by that. It is ironic my autistic quirk politics obsession is probably not my best field. But I would not have wanted to become a psychiatrist or psychologist. I lack the necessary real life compassion and empathy. It would have been the wrong job. I think my societal analyses are not really the best/ a little bit superficial. But I think I am pretty good at reading myself and at explaining why I turned out like that. After impressing the quantum scientist he worried about me because my conclusion was that I gonna commit suicide eventually. I played stupid and acted like I was not aware of inter-subjectivity and negative biases caused by depression. In fact therapists have come to the same conclusions as me (rational suicde in my case) but I never told him that. I did not want that he worries about me. It was noble of me but I would have been so curious about his reply if I openly said that to him. He would have looked pretty stupid because his replies would have been quite cynical. He treated me like I was stupid not to listen to my therapists. So on the one said he was annoyed by me making predictions. And on the other side he considers me stupid because I don't listen to my therapists who considered me a hopeless case/made these predictions themselves.

I know I am WAY too obsessed by him. He lives in my head without paying any rent. I know that is so weird. And sort of scary.

I think that you're way too hard on yourself. For starters, you're comparing yourself to somebody who is possibly much older than you who has had more time to achieve what they have, and regardless they're an exceptional case anyway. The fact that you're around someone like that and they've taken the time to make some sort of judgement of you means that you're probably doing something right, and you should be happy that you impressed this individual in any capacity at all. I could also repeat the "smart is subjective" copy pasta, which is true and valid to an extent, however I suspect that you (like myself) likely aren't too receptive to that, so in case thats so I have two alternatives that may help you out. Since you mentioned IQ, heres a little bit I heard about IQ because it may translate to the social situations you described: unlike with other forms of testing (eg a trivia or personality or history quiz or test) you can't really "cheat" by manipulating the results by figuring out which answer corresponds to what score because if you've figured that out, well, thats kinda the point (tbh Idk where I heard this it was too long ago to remember) and likewise, if people have criteria for what they find impressive and you meet the criteria its not that you're faking, its that you're smart enough to find out how to meet their criteria. Further "smart", if not subjective, can definitely be relative, and comparing yourself to somebody exceptionally intelligent and coming short doesn't mean that you yourself aren't also impressive in your own right. So, and I'm not saying this to be rude, but you're insecure and you're probably just fine, but I understand that imposter syndrome can suck and can be a menace. But tbh who the hell am I to speak I deal with a lot of the same worries, but it's good to know that I'm not alone in these feelings of inadequacy and I hope some of this helps.

 

[Forever Sleep]

I expect we all have slightly different ideas on who we consider smart. I suppose at a basic level though- someone who is able to retain detailed knowledge and recall it to be able to make their own arguments. Someone who demonstrates understanding of complex ideas. Someone who can reason.

But yeah, there are all sorts of types of intelligence I believe. It's sort of strange to me that we would call someone incredibly gifted in science and maths 'smart' but, a composer or an artist, we would more likely call 'talented'. Some people seem to be very emotionally intelligent- they seem to be able to read other people brilliantly. Again though, I'm not sure we'd call that smart. I think we'd more likely say they had intuition or empathy.

'Smart' to me tends to imply someone has the intelligence to be able to understand and remember data. But- also that they've put in the work to learn all that stuff.

 

[Imagined_Euphoria]

When some random guy thats socially somehow ranked above you decides you are smart for whatever reason he chooses. Like everything else attributed to anyone.

 

[sserafim]

IQ 120+

 

[Apathy79]

Agree with Sserafim. It's pretty simple what makes someone smart. But being seen as smart is drastically overrated. It's not something to be desired. Some of the traits you've demonstrated will win you a lot more friends and respect than someone with a 150 IQ who is an arrogant dick, even though they're smart. And trying to appear smarter than you are is almost universally a bad idea. If anything you're better off doing the opposite and giving yourself the opportunity to surprise people on the upside.

Someone mentioned Charlie Munger above. He said something ages ago that stuck with me. Something to the effect of I'd rather the 120 IQ business partner that thinks he's 110 over the 140 IQ that thinks he's 160 every time. The 2nd guy will destroy us.

 

[Heavy Rain]

Except for what is already mentioned in here, one thing I've noticed is that one thing very intelligent people usually have in common, is that they don't consider themselves as intelligent.
It's usually the people who are humble and realize how much they don't know that are openminded enough to learn