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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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