Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?
This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.
Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
I know many smart people, but in my life I think I've met two truly exceptionally intelligent people that I knew when dealing with them that they were somehow just different, set apart. Both men, as it happens.
One currently teaches at a very prestigious West coast university after getting his Masters in an ivy league university in the 90s. The other was from a poor white family in Nowhere, Alabama, and ended up 1) being imprisoned for about a year, 2) driving a truck for another few years, and 3) owning a bar in a coastal city The last one may have turned him into a functional alcoholic though last I heard he had sold the place (which is still thriving) and I am not sure what he's doing now.
They were/are different in terms of social class and all the various baggage that entails. I could go into details but it would be fairly easy to work out their identities by anyone who wanted to take the time so I won't.
I also know a family of extremely smart women (all daughters) one of whom is fairly high up in the mainstream press of the US, and the other sister puts me to shame in language learning and can talk circles around me in Japanese (and is even more fluent in Chinese) despite having spent a fraction of the time I've spent in Asia. She's married to some tech genius and their daughter is probably just as brilliant and is stunningly beautiful.
Of the two men, they are both missing something emotionally. I can't put my finger on it, but they don't have a certain set of responses that most people have. The women I don't know as well and therefore I have little insight into their private selves.
What made you think that the guy you knew from Alabama was really exceptionally intelligent?
The fact that he was. A brilliant chess player. When we both worked at a hotel he could do the night audit practically in his head. Widely read in esoteric literature. He once diagnosed accurately the cause of an electrical problem at my house by looking at a couple of wires. Fluent in Russian. Also a really good poker player. A talented writer. Many varied high level skills, a kind of generalized aptitude of subjects that didn't seem to go together in one person.
I notice you don't ask about the ivy league guy. I suppose that's reasonable, but I really do think class issues kept the other guy from thriving in certain areas.
What is the second guy doing now?
We lost touch, though he was married and had a son, so maybe he's just raising his family but I don't know doing what. Emails go unreturned but that might be because he's changed it.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link