In Paul Fussell’s book on class (I think), he says that people are really worried about differentiating themselves from the class immediately below them, but largely ignorant of the customs and sometimes even existence of the classes above them. When I found SSC, and then The Motte, and stuff like TLP, I was astonished to find a tier of the internet I had had no idea even existed. The quality of discourse here is . . . usually . . . of the kind that “high brow” (by internet standards) websites THINK they are having, but when you see the best stuff here you realize that those clowns are just flattering themselves. My question is, who is rightly saying the same thing about us? Of what intellectual internet class am I ignorant now? Or does onlineness impose some kind of ceiling on things, and the real galaxy brains are at the equivalent of Davos somewhere?
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I'd argue this is due to the more intelligent understanding more complex phenomena. We can understand the mental processes of those below us, but not those above, leading to an inability to evaluate it- and a very good reason not to dismiss those we don't understand.(god I hate people who 'cringe' like beaten dogs)
I don't think this is too much of an issue since the smart can always talk down to us, just as we can train dogs or remote control bugs, and we have very little to offer the super smart with our posts. This does become concerning when we want to hire smart people but they should be able to find us if we prove they will benefit from doing so.
The strategy I suggest is to broadcast your most useful high level ideas where they are useful, and like a dogwhistle, you will summon those at your level or perhaps above. This is easier said than done of course.
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