Many people from my family. They’re successful, highly educated, and listening to them talking about their jobs makes me think that they’re good at management too. But when it comes to politics, religion, and social issues…
I went to grad school. Honestly I credit my success there to my time in restaurants. Lots of those kids clearly had no life experience but went straight from high school to college to grad school.
My best friend is a college graduate and a F 35 fighter pilot in the US Air Force. His parents have a cabin in Colorado. He got into an argument with me because he thought it was pronounced and spelled “Codarado”. My government gave him a $100 million jet and this mofo can’t spell his own state!
“Dumb” is not the term I’d use for these people. Intelligence as one would measure with, say, an IQ test just doesn’t measure things like creativity and social and emotional awareness, nor does it account for personal trauma and personality disorders. Describing deficiencies outside of academic achievement as “dumb” doesn’t really provide anyone with information about what’s wrong with them, which both prevents them from progressing and worse, kind of lets some people off the hook for their behavior who really shouldn’t be let off the hook.
At times, my boyfriend. God I love the man to the end of the earth and back but dear god, he occasionally runs an idea by me where I’m just like… you’re the only person other than my dad I’ve ever met who is actually smarter than I am, like just how and why?
It’s never big things but like, little things… for example, he was biking more and losing weight and there was a sale on his favorite pair of pants. He bought 5 of them a size up from his current size. He couldn’t return them. I asked him why and he said they’d probably fit ok. I’m thinking, if the size below them is getting a little loose on you, WHY would you go UP a size???
My boyfriend is generally really smart at all things but there are these small facepalm moments that kill me 😭
Unfortunately my cousin. Definitely a genius academically. Perfect ACT score, top of class, countless awards, all the scholarships you can imagine, and he never even had to try that hard.. he could’ve done anything. But his common sense and social skills are so bad that he still lives at home in his mid 30s and despite having a masters degree the only job he’s ever had was bartending. I feel bad for him because some of it isn’t really his fault but he’s absolutely dumb when it comes to other areas.
Ya my friend for 50 years. Did well in high school. Got kicked out of college for poor marks. Struggled with jobs. Became a cop but quit with PTSD. Says some of the dumbest shit I’ve heard. Socially is funny but strange.
More credentials doesn’t automatically make someone smarter. They just hyper focused on a specialized field. I would say for most STEM disciplines you need an underlying level of intelligence and aptitude, however. You know what makes someone intelligent? Being able to understand and empathize with others emotionally
When you work in STEM, you’ll commonly find the Peter Principle in action. Really intelligent, highly-educated people promoted to positions for which they are wholly unqualified and completely unprepared given the new responsibilities. Sometimes really smart scientists should stay in the lab rather than be promoted to management positions, or, heaven forbid, ones where they interface with customers.
An ex of mine was super smart. He had a PhD and everything, but he was so stupid about the real world. His car got broken into once, in NYC, and he was so shocked by the crime.
Me, can complete work to the highest grades and can fix very complicated LTO tape drives just at home in a normal dusty bedroom without a clean room but can’t figure normal shit out
Yes of course. There’s loads of otherwise intelligent people who may be incredibly smart in some ways, but total doorknobs in others.
I usually describe the folks as “smart, but not sophisticated thinkers.” What they lack is usually real-world experience, nuance, have low emotional intelligence, and don’t have the ability to see things from other peoples perspectives. They may be able to understand a complex process that involves math, engineering, or some other area in which they have expertise, but they tend to have black and white thought processes when it comes to interpersonal relationships or social issues–in which case they can be extremely dumb.
My friend from uni, super smart student, best grades, today he is a professor at that same university, but on the other hand he was unable to understand any kind of humor and/or sarcasm. Kinda like Sheldon from Big bang theory.
Yep. I’m an industry scientist, had a roommate who was one as well. They were also the type who could memorize an entire textbook and recite it to you from memory, but good luck getting them to routinely lock the front door or flush their poop in the toilet.
This just reminds me of a House episode I think about a lot. There’s a genius who has been taking some substance to dumb down/slow down his mind. He gets a dumb girlfriend and acts dumb. Then he ends up in the hospital and House sees him eye to eye for wanting to paralyze his brain for a minute. It’s a real interesting plot line! The girlfriend all of a sudden sees him drawing some complicated engineering things, realizing he’s leaps and bounds more intelligent than he let on. It’s a trip.
I know that “evil” isn’t the same thing as “dumb” but this applies to my entire family. My mother and sister are both medical doctors and my father has a PhD in computer science. I’m a graduate student and I’m considered the family fuckup because I’m ONLY doing grad school.
My sister once randomly attacked me for fun and then called 911 and lied that I was the violent one. i don’t know if “dumb” is the right word for this but she’s genuinely delusional and thinks she’s the victim of that situation and can’t understand my feelings, which does show a very severe lack of emotional intelligence.
Until age 25, the only doctors I was allowed to see for my literal fucking healthcare were doctors who were friends with my parents, including for psychiatry. When I tried to start seeing competent unbiased doctors instead, my father went on a conspiracy rant about how doctors scam all their patients to get them out of the door fast and purposely give them more problems to create repeat customers and the only doctors who would care about me were ones who were personally close to my parents. He also believes in an alarming amount of right wing conspiracy theories.
My mother once accused me of cooking a dish with 14 sticks of butter in it and her reasoning was that I was the only person in the world who was fat enough to eat that much butter in a day. She also forced me to sleep in front of her at age 14 and thought I would get raped and flunk out of school if I ever left her sight.
tons of indians!! cuz they basically study to attain scores on tests and then qualify for jobs!
otherwise, they lack basic social skills, have an ultra competitive mindset and are always looking to one up others. also, they have a zero sum thinking where they can only win if others lose- a hallmark of the education system which breeds classism based on what scores and ranks people get in various tests be it to get into a school or to get clerical jobs!!
Multiple people. IMHO, it comes down to book smart vs. street smart. I’ve met a ton a book smart people who could get straight A’s across the board but, ask them a simple question that has nothing to do with academics and they fold like a lawn chair.
I worked with a guy like this. He was working on his masters in a psychology-related field, and when it came to academics, I’ve never seen someone learn new things with such ease. The man could fully absorb some highly technical writing on the first run.
But he had absolutely no sense. This dude was the type to leave all of the cabinets opened (and in our kitchen, that was a fucking hazard), make tea but forget how much sugar to use (for the fifth time in a week), and wore jeans to job interviews. In other words, dude struggled with norms. Somehow, he’s been successful in life.
Academic Asperger’s: People that are extremely informed about one niche topic, at the expense of social skills and other topics. Usually an understandable byproduct of rigorous study, but when combined with arrogance and a lack of self awareness, it can led to over confident idiocy. Phds programs are rife with it.
I’ve a sister who’s a consultant microbiologist, academically extremely gifted always was. I once asked her how she studied and she said, ‘I read and remember’ before literally scrunching up her face in puzzlement. She makes a phenomenal amount of money but is always broke, has zero social skills so is always falling out with people, does silly things like get drunk and walks through the ghetto only to get mugged. It’s so frustrating but we actually treat her like she’s special needs yet she is a medical expert. It’s like all of her focus and energy are used up in one specific area.
Many times. I used to work with lots of engineers and scientists in research. Some were just flat out brilliant but had trouble with simple tasks and relating to people. Most were on the spectrum. These are the people in high school who got As and picked on so I like to remind people that these picked on people make more money than the football hero who will always have an entry level job. Nerd Revenge FTW
Yeah, I’ve met a few. They can ace a test but somehow can’t figure out basic social cues or common sense. It’s like they’re missing that practical side of things.
When my childhood friend introduced me to his new girlfriend he said, “this is Ravioliguy, he’s one of the smartest guys I know and has done some of the stupidest things I’ve ever heard of”
You obviously haven’t spent much time around doctors. As someone that practiced anesthesia for 20 years, I stopped being amazed at people with amazing ability to remember content, and have no idea how to apply that knowledge in any meaningful way.
My aunt. Is the CFO of a huge pension fund. Studied actuary sciences and minored in astrophysics just for fun. Things she does:
Has a bunch of turtle statues because they bring in money (not the fact that, you know, she’s a fucking CFO)
Banned sand from her house because it brings negativity and weighs down the house.
Kept her alcoholic and thieving exhusband in the house, because he was a cheaper babysitter. Until the cops caught him with a crack pipe when he totalled her car.
Ate a mysterious fruit in a park in the Dominican Republic, which caused her to projectile vomit for a few hours. She went back and got some more so she can use them to diet.
She had braids for a while and insisted on washing them with boiling hot water. Of course she had burns.
My uncle was the head of the physics department at a local university. Smart as hell when it came to math and science. But he had the emotional intelligence of a flea. When my dad (his brother) died, at the funeral he poked my belly and told me I was fat. He’s not wrong but still. Wtf?!
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Absolutely! I couldn’t, at the time, decide if they were the world’s smartest idiot or the world’s dumbest genius. Thinking back, I still can’t.
Many people from my family. They’re successful, highly educated, and listening to them talking about their jobs makes me think that they’re good at management too. But when it comes to politics, religion, and social issues…
Ben Shapiro springs to mind.
Then we have done our job well, or not well… Not sure yet
ya, every day and I think it might be me
you referring to book smart vs licking a blender paddle w/o turning it off 1st? Sure, I know a few folks like that
I’ve met a few engineers like that.
i know a 78 year old bio chemist who is maga
I’ve seen that idiot in the mirror
A wonderful relative of mine whose mental issues make her unable to use common sense.
She’s blessed that people help her.
I went to grad school. Honestly I credit my success there to my time in restaurants. Lots of those kids clearly had no life experience but went straight from high school to college to grad school.
My best friend is a college graduate and a F 35 fighter pilot in the US Air Force. His parents have a cabin in Colorado. He got into an argument with me because he thought it was pronounced and spelled “Codarado”. My government gave him a $100 million jet and this mofo can’t spell his own state!
“Dumb” is not the term I’d use for these people. Intelligence as one would measure with, say, an IQ test just doesn’t measure things like creativity and social and emotional awareness, nor does it account for personal trauma and personality disorders. Describing deficiencies outside of academic achievement as “dumb” doesn’t really provide anyone with information about what’s wrong with them, which both prevents them from progressing and worse, kind of lets some people off the hook for their behavior who really shouldn’t be let off the hook.
Most of Reddit.
At times, my boyfriend. God I love the man to the end of the earth and back but dear god, he occasionally runs an idea by me where I’m just like… you’re the only person other than my dad I’ve ever met who is actually smarter than I am, like just how and why?
It’s never big things but like, little things… for example, he was biking more and losing weight and there was a sale on his favorite pair of pants. He bought 5 of them a size up from his current size. He couldn’t return them. I asked him why and he said they’d probably fit ok. I’m thinking, if the size below them is getting a little loose on you, WHY would you go UP a size???
My boyfriend is generally really smart at all things but there are these small facepalm moments that kill me 😭
I have met a lot of true believers who fit this description – the specific faith isn’t important be it LDS, Islam, Christian etc.
The commonality is that given an intersection of science versus an interpretation of their faith, science always takes the backseat.
Edit: Happy Easter!
I work with him everyday.
He could build you a watch, and not be able to tell you the time.
In grad school I met a math stat major who was super smart but totally unable to explain a statistics concept to a mere mortal like me!
Yes. Every time I brush my teeth I make eye contact with that stupid bag of fuck
Yes. Can’t say who.
It me.
Most of my professors. Brilliant in their respective fields but clueless about anything else.
I worked with a young girl at the time that left her car running all day during her work shift…2x. She’s a doctor now.
A respected scientist I worked with was earning six figures, but refused to get a COVID vaccine and lost his job over it.
Unfortunately my cousin. Definitely a genius academically. Perfect ACT score, top of class, countless awards, all the scholarships you can imagine, and he never even had to try that hard.. he could’ve done anything. But his common sense and social skills are so bad that he still lives at home in his mid 30s and despite having a masters degree the only job he’s ever had was bartending. I feel bad for him because some of it isn’t really his fault but he’s absolutely dumb when it comes to other areas.
I call them Dolphins – super smart but can’t communicate with humans
Of course I know him, he’s me.
My Ex was book smart. Straight A’s in college.
Zero on the street smarts. Or so I thought. She played dumb instead of lying. Claimed to always forget things. Don’t know how to do this or that.
I caught on a after a few weeks, and we split up.
She was furious I told her she was smarter than she acted.
Anyone who’s spent significant time in academia will have met such people. They exist in all fields.
Ya my friend for 50 years. Did well in high school. Got kicked out of college for poor marks. Struggled with jobs. Became a cop but quit with PTSD. Says some of the dumbest shit I’ve heard. Socially is funny but strange.
More credentials doesn’t automatically make someone smarter. They just hyper focused on a specialized field. I would say for most STEM disciplines you need an underlying level of intelligence and aptitude, however. You know what makes someone intelligent? Being able to understand and empathize with others emotionally
When you work in STEM, you’ll commonly find the Peter Principle in action. Really intelligent, highly-educated people promoted to positions for which they are wholly unqualified and completely unprepared given the new responsibilities. Sometimes really smart scientists should stay in the lab rather than be promoted to management positions, or, heaven forbid, ones where they interface with customers.
An ex of mine was super smart. He had a PhD and everything, but he was so stupid about the real world. His car got broken into once, in NYC, and he was so shocked by the crime.
I’ve seen met people who are really smart in 1 thing and think they are experts in every single field or topic.
It’s OK not to know, even if your smart. Being willing to learn makes you intelligent.
Me, can complete work to the highest grades and can fix very complicated LTO tape drives just at home in a normal dusty bedroom without a clean room but can’t figure normal shit out
Yes of course. There’s loads of otherwise intelligent people who may be incredibly smart in some ways, but total doorknobs in others.
I usually describe the folks as “smart, but not sophisticated thinkers.” What they lack is usually real-world experience, nuance, have low emotional intelligence, and don’t have the ability to see things from other peoples perspectives. They may be able to understand a complex process that involves math, engineering, or some other area in which they have expertise, but they tend to have black and white thought processes when it comes to interpersonal relationships or social issues–in which case they can be extremely dumb.
My friend from uni, super smart student, best grades, today he is a professor at that same university, but on the other hand he was unable to understand any kind of humor and/or sarcasm. Kinda like Sheldon from Big bang theory.
Yep. I’m an industry scientist, had a roommate who was one as well. They were also the type who could memorize an entire textbook and recite it to you from memory, but good luck getting them to routinely lock the front door or flush their poop in the toilet.
Classmate who was top of the class in high school in math, but also thought babies came out of the mom’s butt.
This just reminds me of a House episode I think about a lot. There’s a genius who has been taking some substance to dumb down/slow down his mind. He gets a dumb girlfriend and acts dumb. Then he ends up in the hospital and House sees him eye to eye for wanting to paralyze his brain for a minute. It’s a real interesting plot line! The girlfriend all of a sudden sees him drawing some complicated engineering things, realizing he’s leaps and bounds more intelligent than he let on. It’s a trip.
Not as often as people believe. Hot take: Intelligent people are normally intelligent.
I see him in the mirror daily.
I like to say I have a spiky skill set.
All of the U of T graduates I’ve dated.
Typically the top few in any graduating class
I know that “evil” isn’t the same thing as “dumb” but this applies to my entire family. My mother and sister are both medical doctors and my father has a PhD in computer science. I’m a graduate student and I’m considered the family fuckup because I’m ONLY doing grad school.
My sister once randomly attacked me for fun and then called 911 and lied that I was the violent one. i don’t know if “dumb” is the right word for this but she’s genuinely delusional and thinks she’s the victim of that situation and can’t understand my feelings, which does show a very severe lack of emotional intelligence.
Until age 25, the only doctors I was allowed to see for my literal fucking healthcare were doctors who were friends with my parents, including for psychiatry. When I tried to start seeing competent unbiased doctors instead, my father went on a conspiracy rant about how doctors scam all their patients to get them out of the door fast and purposely give them more problems to create repeat customers and the only doctors who would care about me were ones who were personally close to my parents. He also believes in an alarming amount of right wing conspiracy theories.
My mother once accused me of cooking a dish with 14 sticks of butter in it and her reasoning was that I was the only person in the world who was fat enough to eat that much butter in a day. She also forced me to sleep in front of her at age 14 and thought I would get raped and flunk out of school if I ever left her sight.
Frequently. Academic intelligence can often be achieved with little more than rote memorization, and that doesn’t make a person “smart”.
That could be easily me.
Of course I know him, he’s me.
Absolutely. MBAs are a joke.
My sister. She’s an amazing doctor, but sometimes…
tons of indians!! cuz they basically study to attain scores on tests and then qualify for jobs!
otherwise, they lack basic social skills, have an ultra competitive mindset and are always looking to one up others. also, they have a zero sum thinking where they can only win if others lose- a hallmark of the education system which breeds classism based on what scores and ranks people get in various tests be it to get into a school or to get clerical jobs!!
Like every second academic.
Multiple people. IMHO, it comes down to book smart vs. street smart. I’ve met a ton a book smart people who could get straight A’s across the board but, ask them a simple question that has nothing to do with academics and they fold like a lawn chair.
I worked with a guy like this. He was working on his masters in a psychology-related field, and when it came to academics, I’ve never seen someone learn new things with such ease. The man could fully absorb some highly technical writing on the first run.
But he had absolutely no sense. This dude was the type to leave all of the cabinets opened (and in our kitchen, that was a fucking hazard), make tea but forget how much sugar to use (for the fifth time in a week), and wore jeans to job interviews. In other words, dude struggled with norms. Somehow, he’s been successful in life.
Well, my personal credo in life is to underpromise but over-deliver. Is that me being undercover smart or undercover dumb?
Most academics are the most stoopid. An education in how to be a good, little slave.
Academic Asperger’s: People that are extremely informed about one niche topic, at the expense of social skills and other topics. Usually an understandable byproduct of rigorous study, but when combined with arrogance and a lack of self awareness, it can led to over confident idiocy. Phds programs are rife with it.
I have a wife like that. She has 2 masters and multiple post grads, but the things that come out lf her mouth sometimes baffle me.
I’ve a sister who’s a consultant microbiologist, academically extremely gifted always was. I once asked her how she studied and she said, ‘I read and remember’ before literally scrunching up her face in puzzlement. She makes a phenomenal amount of money but is always broke, has zero social skills so is always falling out with people, does silly things like get drunk and walks through the ghetto only to get mugged. It’s so frustrating but we actually treat her like she’s special needs yet she is a medical expert. It’s like all of her focus and energy are used up in one specific area.
Many times. I used to work with lots of engineers and scientists in research. Some were just flat out brilliant but had trouble with simple tasks and relating to people. Most were on the spectrum. These are the people in high school who got As and picked on so I like to remind people that these picked on people make more money than the football hero who will always have an entry level job. Nerd Revenge FTW
Yeah, I’ve met a few. They can ace a test but somehow can’t figure out basic social cues or common sense. It’s like they’re missing that practical side of things.
Academics is more memorization than anything
All the time. I’m a professor and hang out and work almost exclusively people with graduate degrees, mostly PhDs
Architects.
I use to work for a firm. A lot of them had their masters and yada yada yada.
They will call me for any office issue.
Stacity, the phone is not working. Oh! It’s because it’s not plugged in.
Stacity, the printer is not printing. It’s out of paper.
When my childhood friend introduced me to his new girlfriend he said, “this is Ravioliguy, he’s one of the smartest guys I know and has done some of the stupidest things I’ve ever heard of”
Obi Wan Kenobi voice: “Well of course I have, he’s me!”
Just think about it candidly and you’ll recognize this as being everyone’s experience at some point or other.
Most people excel in at least one thing, and there is a lot of room for blind spots.
You obviously haven’t spent much time around doctors. As someone that practiced anesthesia for 20 years, I stopped being amazed at people with amazing ability to remember content, and have no idea how to apply that knowledge in any meaningful way.
One of my former bosses was like this. Scary smart. High level mathematical genius. But day to day life? Barely functional.
My dad always says that they are like a lighthouse in the desert, bright but not much use.
And I have met many.
A lot of people have met me, yes.
My aunt. Is the CFO of a huge pension fund. Studied actuary sciences and minored in astrophysics just for fun. Things she does:
As a medical professional. I can say without a doubt that expertise does not equal intelligence
Multiple PhDs and literally could not boil water or microwave food.
My uncle was the head of the physics department at a local university. Smart as hell when it came to math and science. But he had the emotional intelligence of a flea. When my dad (his brother) died, at the funeral he poked my belly and told me I was fat. He’s not wrong but still. Wtf?!
my coworker has a phd in math and once asked me if dolphins lay eggs… like bro be serious
Very often
I spent my career working as a tech at a university and saw that every day.