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mizarchivistA dear friend of mine expressed anxiety about being around Very Intelligent People because sie felt inadequate because the other person is just so... SMART! And one, that bothered me because sie was more than implying that SIE wasn't that smaht (enough), which is entirely not true. However, I had a revelatory moment that address this concept. Intelligent people are not superior to those who may not score as high on an IQ test. They. Just. Aren't. So many of us worship at the alter of intelligence and value that above other very valuable traits. John Green just touched on this on his video yesterday about Perspective, with a quote from Harvey: ' "In this world, Elwood, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant." Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. ' The whole video is wonderful, but that really seemed to fit in with my thinky-thinky this morning.
Further, relatedly, I whole-heartedly love ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tamidon' s observation that so many of the Smart People may be all that in a lab, but sometimes they're missing the "middle 30" of intelligence that sort of keep you alive. So, you might be able to talk economics or molecular structure, or code all the things that are ever seen on the internet, but what good is that if you lack empathy? Caution? The ability to collaborate? Problem solve under pressure? Remain serene in the face of unmitigated stress and frustration? Can't manage to follow Wheaton's Law? Or if you ask my beloved spouse: what good is it if you can't also BUILD stuff? This is usually when he starts spouting about where will people be when the zombie apocalypse comes.
What I'm trying to convey is that EVERYONE has value. Not just they incredibly intelligent.
tamidon' s observation that so many of the Smart People may be all that in a lab, but sometimes they're missing the "middle 30" of intelligence that sort of keep you alive. So, you might be able to talk economics or molecular structure, or code all the things that are ever seen on the internet, but what good is that if you lack empathy? Caution? The ability to collaborate? Problem solve under pressure? Remain serene in the face of unmitigated stress and frustration? Can't manage to follow Wheaton's Law? Or if you ask my beloved spouse: what good is it if you can't also BUILD stuff? This is usually when he starts spouting about where will people be when the zombie apocalypse comes. What I'm trying to convey is that EVERYONE has value. Not just they incredibly intelligent.
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At work they keep telling me that I'm the smartest person they know. Then when surrounded by my friends, I find myself feeling as though I come up short.
I do not come up short. I know different things. I have different strengths from many of our community. I am working on retraining my brain to see that as something good to offer rather than something where I don't measure up.
Thanks.
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I think this is not unique to intelligence
I generally agree with your framing, though. Intelligence is a complex and multi-variate thing; sadly this scientific truth has not penetrated very far into either popular culture or traditional learning. I do see some (slow) signs of change, at least, watching what my kids are taught in grade school versus what I was taught. I suspect that their peer cohort will grow up with different norms than my cohort, which is itself more... crude? primitive? than yours.
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My one sentence take: Smart people aren't the only people worth hanging out with.
Sadly, some of the crowds I hang out with implicitly think they are.
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Second...nah, screw it. Wrote this in the 3rd person originally, but eff it.
There's occasionally another thing going on: the ability to express and engage with one's intelligence in social settings. Folks with mental or physical quirks/traits/issues that interfere with their ability to use their SMAHT in real-time contexts. We're smart, we know we are, but there are processing issues, verbal ticks, memory quirks that don't work well in the highly-verbal, high-speed context of a conversation. That can undermine confidence and contribute to that feeling of not-as-good-as, even when we know we're appreciated for our smart.
Yes, I am going to finally write that damned post about this, but wanted to add to the convo here, first.
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