site banner

Small-Scale Question Sunday for November 24, 2024

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.

1
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

I'm gonna pull an idea out of my ass, and you tell me if you agree: People at the extremes of intelligence are more honest.

Dumb people are of course candid, but it's actually hard to think of a brilliant person who didn't generally speak their mind, or who paid much heed to the rules of social convention. And you see lots of bright people with pronounced moral standards they're unwilling to compromise on. Really, what drives me insane about the 'net nowadays is (among many things) people are no longer very honest. Because this used to be a land of extremes, whereas now all the normies! from real life have made it their nest and imported the superficiality of IRL socializing. So you can no longer trust that someone means what they say.

If you don’t set the high bar at prodigy level, we have counterexamples in Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon.