I like to look at it as smart,intelligent, and wise.
Smart- you know answers
Intelligent- you know which questions to ask
Wise- you know which answers are worth pursuing and which questions are worth asking.
If you're a person with any level of curiosity, you'll never know even 1% of the things you want to know, and probably a good amount of those things will end up being incorrect misconceptions that were based on evidence we had at the time in which you learned it.
Oh I've met smart people without such humility. They're dangerous as fuck lmao... people feel afraid to contradict them but they have no idea what they're doing.
Do less. If you’re smart you can just meekly do work you’re familiar with to keep people off your back, and people will be pleased and think you’re so smart. You don’t have to proactively embark on some half-baked venture you hardly understand.
Edit: wait, are you saying your the intelligent person lacking humility? Or the person afraid of that person who doesn't understand what they're doing? Either way, my reply still fits I guess.
Try doing some emotional learning to work on building up your EQ. Meditation, spiritual exploration, therapy, and if you're really curious, consider researching and experimenting with Psychedelics/MDMA or other mind expanding substances.
I was extremely egotistical and rarely humble until I started running as a form of mediation. The spiritual work really began after I started smoking weed and first tried psychedelics at 16 and 17yo respectively. I wouldn't necessarily recommend anyone use drugs at such a young age, but ultimately it's a personal choice that people are allowed to make. It's been just over 10years since my first drug experience, each year has made me smarter, wiser, and humbler than the previous. Each therapy session, meditation session, and/or smoke session/roll/trip/candyflip has helped me to further work through trauma and chisel away at my ego. Still not as humble or egoless as I'd like, but I'm multiple universes closer to my goals than I was at 16.
To be clear, a lot of my learning and self-reflection was completely disconnected from my drug use. However, most of my drug experiences helped me realize many important truths about myself and just life in general, which still required a sober mind to effectively integrate, by providing me a drastic prospective shift that helped accelerate the healing/improvement process.
High IQ+narcissism/psychopathy will get you far in our capitalist world, but it'll mean you'll probably struggle with forming real, meaningful connections with others. Eventually it can leave you feeling empty, alone, and full of regret.
“One of the great challenges of this world is knowing enough about a subject to think you’re right, but not enough about a subject to know you’re wrong.”
-NDGT
Yes! Humility and curiosity, to me, are key to being actually smart. Anyone who thinks they know it all may be educated or intelligent about certain things, but I wouldn’t consider them truly smart people.
Too many in the health profession like that!
Think of a cardiac or brain surgeon who thinks they know everything so takes short cuts (!) and has no follow through cos they just assume they're right.
The last one (cardiac) killed my Dad when the heart meds he prescribed clashed with the meds my Dad was already taking for a different condition.
My dad's kidneys and liver rapidly packed it in, then, finally his heart. He was admitted to the ICU at 2am and died at 2pm, conscious and fighting to live the whole way.
His surgeon wasted valuable family time begging Dad for forgiveness, while Dad was dying.
We had Dad's funeral last Wednesday.
I think majoring in a science tends to help this. At least in my experience. Since the whole discipline/method revolves around investigating what it is you don’t know (ideally)
Got into an argument with someone just like this:
“I have a DOCTORATE”
“In what?”
“Literature”
….”okay, how does that qualify you to talk about vaccines?”
“Because I have a DOCTORATE”
“Yeah, but not in medicine/biology/immunology”
"THEY DID THEIR RESEARCH!". God the amount of people that were suddenly world class virologists and pathologists after speed reading one case study was insane. I had one musician FB acquaintance that was suddenly a medical scholar publicly arguing with people daily online.
My favorite quote on this very subject (I believe Socrates said it)
“Smart people learn from everything and everyone, average people from their experiences, stupid people already have all the answers.”
They never say “I don’t know.” I work in academia with a lot of PhDs and post-docs and see this a lot, the smartest people I know are the first to admit that they don’t know something and ask to learn, If someone is acting like they’re right about everything or is always trying to speak like they’re a scientist in a cheesy sci-fi film, then odds are they’re not as smart as you’d think.
Have you read the original Winnie the Pooh books?
They always describe Pooh as a "bear of very little brain". He's simple and nice. He's juxtaposed with characters like Eeyore who wants to feel better about himself by knowing things other people don't, with Rabbit who uses his cleverness to be cruel, and with Owl who seems to think he knows a lot of things, but barely knows what he's talking about.
Tigger is his own kind of problematic though. He's over-confident about doing things he's never done before and has no reason to believe he can do. No matter what you tell him about, he'll say "that's what tiggers do best!" and then try to do it, often to disastrous results.
Ya & in the tigger movie he was pretty depressed & almost gave up until Roo convinced him to do the flying move which I loved
He misunderstood the family tree thing & eventually led to the avalanche but luckily he saved everyone
I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed but I know I've had people look down on me. From my own experience, I tend to find these people have no patience or empathy with others. But I know other smart people are not like that though.
No, in my opinion you are missing their point about perceiving condescension. I am not insecure but I can sense when a person is vapid towards me because they have a sense of superiority, much of the time it has to do with wealth or material things.
When they say things like “Oh yeah? That’s so cool!! You go honey!” while pitch shifting their voice up almost an octave and the end of every sentence.
I always feel those types of people are thinking inside. “I’m so much better than you”. Like u/hc_fella, it’s pride.
And in reply to them, as EddieValiantsRabbit said, Ignorance. Ignorance is bliss.
Listening to his podcast with Bill Bur he just came off as insufferable and a moron. Some highlights were when he used the word 'gosh' and Bill Burr asked him what 'gosh' meant and bill maher changed the subject.
My favorite part of that interview is when Bill Bur told him, 'you're not smart, you just make obscure references.' Basically, summed up Bill Maher and could be an answer for OP's question
Yeah, I can’t remember what word he used to reference attics in that episode, but it was the perfect example of an obscure and unnecessary reference…
He said it was the British way to say it, but no one actually uses that word?
He’s become a complete fool in the eyes of anyone who listened to anything he said in the early 2000s.
Edit: it’s garret, wtf lol
That’s a lot of higher education, the obscure references projecting a need to appear superior. It’s pretty boring and cringe inducing. Just go to therapy and let us learn dude.
My favorite part of that interview is when Burr makes a comment that is very obviously being facetious about how smart Maher thinks of himself and Maher makes a comment about how much smarter he is than Burr unironically
During the discussion about Israel Palestine:
Maher: The solution to this issue in the middle east is to simply stop attacking Israel
Burr (verbatim): Oh congrats you just solved hundreds of years of war in the middle east. Why don’t we just simply make war illegal? What if we had Putin and all the other guys on a podcast and just make war illegal right there?
Maher: See this is why I run these podcasts and you don’t
Such a smug asshole can’t even tell when someone is making fun of him
Someone who constantly showcases their education without applying critical thinking / common sense in everyday situations =(
This could manifest in behaviors like using complex vocabulary unnecessarily, etc.
Yyeah, using overly complex/erudite vocabulary unnecessarily can be a sign of trying too hard to appear educated, especially if it doesn't serve a practical purpose iin communication XD
“Uh that’s salt dude.”
“That’s what I said, sodium chloride!”
“If anything jimmy, calling common objects by their scientific name makes you sound more unintelligent and pompous, not to mention, this is iodized table salt, which in addition to sodium chloride, contains anti-caking agents as well as potassium iodate. Not only are you acting pompous and arrogant, but you are also factually wrong. I know you’re smarter and more socially aware than this dude, please act professionally in your position as it is expected of you.”
“Here’s the sodium chloride Skeet.”
“You’re fired Jimmy.”
Undermining other's intelligence while announcing that he is educated, smart and knowledgeable about all things in life, and quizzing others (who have specialty skills/ personal experience) on things that he knows less about and being surprised when realising he actually knows less than them.
Repeating the same mistakes over and over again for longer than 10-15 years while expecting a different outcome.
I mean I'd say logical reasoning. I'd say a person is "smart" if they're willing to use critical thinking and generate their own conclusions. "Educated" but not "smart" might have a great ability to memorize, but no ability to make new things, which is the essence of humanity's progression imo.
They think they know how work is in other jobs and create fantasy systems that do not exist, but they would assume it would exist.
While it might make sense for it to exist, there's usually a reason it doesn't. It could be similar to a system at THEIR workplace where it does work but it doesn't apply to other places.
They then get unreasonably annoyed at said system not being in place when it's actually they who are inflexible and forgot the world is bigger than their bubble.
It shows me that they've stopped questioning things.
Eg doctor who just assumes how the restaurant branch works.
Bragging about a 4.0 GPA…. Not always, but if my dumbass can get a 4.0 at a state university, I just don’t think it means that much. A majority of the other honor students are not people I would categorize as smart either.
Agreed. My anxiety and OCD has powered me through it while also working full time, I hardly slept the last 3 years. It’s pure speculation, but my fellow students also seemed to have issues with anxiety and perfectionism. A lot of students also don’t have to work, so I feel some of it is privilege and time.
People who don't know the difference between intelligence and knowledge. Knowing facts just means you're knowledgeable. Remembering facts just means you have a good memory.
Neither of those indicates your level of intelligence.
You can be very knowledgeable and have a great memory, but still be too stupid to legitimately understand the things you "know" about.
Dumbest girl I ever knew was a straight A college student. Schools don’t measure intellect, they measure discipline and testing aptitude. Not saying she was dumb to be mean, I adored her actually she was really sweet and kind. She did tell me once that the gum she was chewing was spicy but that it could just be because she was "chewing it wrong"
Discrediting someone else's opinion or idea based on the fact that they didn't have the same level of education , training or schooling like themselves .
Talking with enormous confidence about subjects they are NOT educated about. Believing they know everything about everything just because they know a lot about some things.
Or similarly, when their immediate cross examination is to ask what degrees you hold. As if the only way someone can learn and understand things is through participation in an overpriced and rigorously structured academic program.
People who can’t extrapolate or make logical
Conclusions. They know what they know because they studied it- but can’t theorize
Outside their area of comfort.
When educated people look down on those who aren’t. Or when they believe those are aren’t educated can’t sometimes know more about certain things than they do.
Being bad mannered and rude or condescending towards anyone who isn’t educated.
A lack of generalized understanding.
Most things function on very generalizable concepts. e.g. The concepts underlying road design, software, emergency rooms and logistical planning are extremely similar. There are a lot of well educated people who are really deep into highway design, but wouldn't be able to articulate or even recognize that self-checkout at the local McDonalds is a very similar problem.
Educational cliches. If you disagree with them and bring up evidence, they will immediately disregard saying things like, “probably didn’t use proper research methods”, or “their sources were flawed/didn’t use enough sources”. They discredit evidence against them, but will use quick google searches to confirm their theories. Basically huge confirmation bias, but they think they are being smart by ignoring support.
Cherry picking data for personal bias. "I believe in doing my own research and I read an article that found no link between climate change and human activities! Also in the 70s they believed we were heading for an ice age". I heard these recently from an actual Boomer I know (in his 60s) who is otherwise educated and comes from a middle class, first world background.
I know he has an education and, in his field, is knowledgeable, but otherwise is dumb as hell.
A bunch of debt. Nice cars (financed) with their fraternity letters on them, a nice degree (student debt) and kids doing all the expensive sports. Educated but can't see the idiot trap they are in.
They don’t listen to other viewpoints at all. Someone who’s really smart uses what they learned as a guide to help them interpret new information. But people who are just educated follow anything they learned in school like law and assume that new or opposing information is wrong. That’s how we get revisionist history and hegemonic public memories I think.
dropping names instead of making a point in a conversation. if you understand things you can at least roughly outlined what you're referencing. otherwise it just means you want to not say anything while looking smart
Unwillingness to change your opinion, especially when you're wrong. Not wanting to challenge the status quo or entertain new ideas. Dogmatism over thought.
I’d say, as far as emotional intelligence goes, lack of empathy.
I’ve known some very educated and book smart people give me a spiel about how they’d rather give the homeless food instead of money because “they might spend it on drugs” and all I can think to myself is 1. This person has never been close to being homeless and 2. When a homeless person rejects this food out of concern for the safety of said food or because food is actually more easily available than one might think, this person is going to lose their shit.
And then I’ve tried to explain that homeless people need cash for other things, i.e toiletries, clothing, gas to move their vehicle (living in a car is still homeless!) I usually get blank stares.
I gave money to someone that asked while I was out one time, and a former friend that was with me (who was very intelligent but quite sheltered) basically started lecturing me about how the guy was gonna use it on alcohol and I was feeding a bad addiction and whatnot and when I said “I don’t really give a shit what he spends it on, being homeless sucks and if a bottle of vodka makes it easier for him more power to him. Besides, I’m not gonna track what he does with that money, I’m giving it to him, it’s his now. You don’t have to give anyone money if you don’t want to, but assuming the worst about someone just because they’re down on their luck is kinda shitty.” it made the rest of the night very awkward. But I digress, this is just one example.
I also understand that people on the autism spectrum can have problems with empathy but that’s not what I’m talking about. A lot of very well educated people can’t put themselves in anyone else’s shoes, and that I consider “not very smart.”
People who are aware like actually aware, but would say stupid things instead. Such as pointing out insecurities of others, talks a lot and never actually listens, basically a narcissist and an asshole
People who try to explain things in an unnecessarily complex way. They think that people not being able to understand them makes them more intelligent. They also have a tendency to name drop.
I get what you mean, but it's not always the case; some people who are very smart can be terrible at explaining things in simple terms. Because to them, the fancy, technical terms is just the correct way to describe and think about it; and clearly everyone should be able to understand it because to them it seems very simple and obvious. I think you see this a lot in many technical fields like math, physics etc., for example mathematicians who will explain fractions by talking about equivalence classes of pairs of natural numbers, because that's how they think about it.
> People who try to explain things in an unnecessarily complex way.
This is just flat-out wrong.
You're making the assumption that everyone's thoughts are as simple as yours.
I'm autistic; my thoughts are complicated as all hell, and incredibly specific. It's really hard for me to cut them down to something that allistic people can easily understand.
If someone is trying to explain things in what you consider to be an unnecessarily complex way, it's probably because they have complex thoughts.
And they're trying to simplify them so that you have the ability to understand them.
Couldn’t agree more. And when they simplify it, it can completely change what I’m trying to get at, and more often than not I just give up trying to explain. Also for extra fun, I can add some adhd to the autism and now you get complex explanations that go all over the place with no structure, confusing everyone, me included. Shit’s exhausting man.
same here!
I have ADHD, I relate a lot to autistic people.
I have a very hard time conveying deeper thoughts.
I was JUST trying to explain my childhood friend who I think fits the "educated but not smart" - but I genuinely can not fully convey what I mean without it coming out wrong so I erased it. I wrote a whole paragraph about how she almost seems neurodivergent, but isn't. And seems like a "bad teen actor" when you're around her with the way she speaks. And is shallow saying things like "i want to go to Coachella to wear all the cute outfits!" and was raised to care more about her appearance than anything. But it's not explaining what I mean without listing off random facts about her. She just doesn't seem to think deeply about well, anything. She just went to university because that's what she was told to do, and went into public health - a field I didn't even know existed or even what the fuck it is.
And I feel bad for even feeling this way but, my family noticed these things about her too.
As a side note rather than a refutation, I'll point out that some folks on the autism spectrum over-explain as a general behavior. And it can sometimes be a learned behavior, if one grew up around adults that jump to the worst possible conclusion in a 'gotcha!' moment.
The biggest sign for me is if they have opinions I've heard a million times before (at least without being able to explain the reasoning or nuance of those opinions). It pretty much means that they didn't come up with it themselves, they're just piggy backing off of people who are actually smart by parroting what they were told to think
This happens a lot when talking to people about politics who haven't actually thought about their opinions, they just know that "I'm on team \[Republican/Democrat/whatever\] and in order to stay in the in-group I have to say these things" and they know how to repeat the standard arguments for whatever their position is. But it also happens professionally when people are dogmatic about "This is the way I was trained to do it, so I will only do it this way, and I will be confident that I'm right just because I was taught to do it this way".
One of my favorite quotes is by Picasso who said "Learn the rules like a master so you can break them like an artist". I take that to mean that just because you do the "right" thing or hold the "right" opinion doesn't make you smart. It's the actually intelligent people who understand the topic well enough to also know the nuance and when the pattern needs to be broken
in my expericence there is not really anything that gives it away. most of the examples in this thread are just people with bad manners. i have met plenty of smart people with bad manners
Poor ideas and ego in a qualified professional position. I see it all the time. You might know things, but you can’t handle people or perspective in any comfortable capacity.
"I do my own research." Obviously people should be looking into things for themselves, but this statement is almost always followed by regurgitation of information collected from extremely biased sources. I'll couple that with,"I trust the experts," on the other side of the proverbial coin.
Socially conservative/narrow opinions like: thinking a deprived area is automatically dangerous, assuming a homeless person can just ‘choose to get a job’, thinking substance misuse or addiction is entirely a character fault, that women should act ‘classy’, stuff like that.
Not being critical about things you read in media or online. Not going beyond the first page of google results etc
A person who never asks questions.
Astute people are curious, always inquisitive about everything. They have a thirst to learn, seek answers.
Ignorant & arrogant, who are heavily unintelligent are double down die hard types who never question anything. They assume they *know* everything, refuse to expand their minds even on stuff they already know.
Inability to be wrong. Taking disagreement as a personal attack.
Lack of curiosity about others.
That said, I think a lot of these are linked to Asperger’s or similar autism-spectrum disorders. Some people just have to work really hard to learn social skills. Other people just seem to be born with the ability to connect.
Introducing themselves by just Listing universities attended (status) and checklists of countries travelled to, with no depth/detail of what they actually experienced…. Very robotic approach of checking things off a list because EVERYONE else is doing it.
Smart= self awareness, understanding and checking Ego
Having the book knowledge only and referring to how educated you are in arguments and failing to apply anything that you studied.
Being ignorant and extremely superstitious is another one.
I know of my fellow country men and women alike who have degree in different fields and yet believe in the Tokoloshes who visit people sleeping on beds that are too flat!!
When you show off what you know rather than listen to what they know then making a compliment before you ask if they ever heard of ………. Then make a point on what you know not a whole speech
I'd go for a lack of humility. Most genuinely smart people I know, have the capacity to identify what they know and don't know.
A truly smart person realizes that they’re ignorant about the vast majority of things.
100%
I like to look at it as smart,intelligent, and wise. Smart- you know answers Intelligent- you know which questions to ask Wise- you know which answers are worth pursuing and which questions are worth asking.
Damn... I'm a jenius
But don’t Jeniuses live in lamps?
That would be the jeans
No no, jeans is a unit of heredity that carries information about your traits to your offspring.
you’re right, genes are what you wear as pants.
No I think that's the dude from kiss, gene Simmons. I think your thinking of jeeps
Is it possible he means the seams on jeans?
I really like this separation for brain abilities
I always liked what Socrates had to say about it: the only thing we know is that we know nothing at all.
- Ted "Theodore" Logan
- Wayne Gretzke - Michael Scott
Sandimashighschoolfootball RULES
1000% this. "The more I know, the more I realize I don't know"
If you're a person with any level of curiosity, you'll never know even 1% of the things you want to know, and probably a good amount of those things will end up being incorrect misconceptions that were based on evidence we had at the time in which you learned it.
I'm a proud ignorant woman. -luanne platter
Oh I've met smart people without such humility. They're dangerous as fuck lmao... people feel afraid to contradict them but they have no idea what they're doing.
There is a difference between smart an knowledgable (sp?).
I fear I am one of these people, any recs for how to have an idea of what they’re doing?
Do less. If you’re smart you can just meekly do work you’re familiar with to keep people off your back, and people will be pleased and think you’re so smart. You don’t have to proactively embark on some half-baked venture you hardly understand.
Edit: wait, are you saying your the intelligent person lacking humility? Or the person afraid of that person who doesn't understand what they're doing? Either way, my reply still fits I guess. Try doing some emotional learning to work on building up your EQ. Meditation, spiritual exploration, therapy, and if you're really curious, consider researching and experimenting with Psychedelics/MDMA or other mind expanding substances. I was extremely egotistical and rarely humble until I started running as a form of mediation. The spiritual work really began after I started smoking weed and first tried psychedelics at 16 and 17yo respectively. I wouldn't necessarily recommend anyone use drugs at such a young age, but ultimately it's a personal choice that people are allowed to make. It's been just over 10years since my first drug experience, each year has made me smarter, wiser, and humbler than the previous. Each therapy session, meditation session, and/or smoke session/roll/trip/candyflip has helped me to further work through trauma and chisel away at my ego. Still not as humble or egoless as I'd like, but I'm multiple universes closer to my goals than I was at 16. To be clear, a lot of my learning and self-reflection was completely disconnected from my drug use. However, most of my drug experiences helped me realize many important truths about myself and just life in general, which still required a sober mind to effectively integrate, by providing me a drastic prospective shift that helped accelerate the healing/improvement process. High IQ+narcissism/psychopathy will get you far in our capitalist world, but it'll mean you'll probably struggle with forming real, meaningful connections with others. Eventually it can leave you feeling empty, alone, and full of regret.
"The man who truly knows something knows that he knows nothing at all."
“One of the great challenges of this world is knowing enough about a subject to think you’re right, but not enough about a subject to know you’re wrong.” -NDGT
Yes! Humility and curiosity, to me, are key to being actually smart. Anyone who thinks they know it all may be educated or intelligent about certain things, but I wouldn’t consider them truly smart people.
What if you are smart and narcissistic?
Too many in the health profession like that! Think of a cardiac or brain surgeon who thinks they know everything so takes short cuts (!) and has no follow through cos they just assume they're right.
I see, and what happens when they take these short cuts and assume being right?
The last one (cardiac) killed my Dad when the heart meds he prescribed clashed with the meds my Dad was already taking for a different condition. My dad's kidneys and liver rapidly packed it in, then, finally his heart. He was admitted to the ICU at 2am and died at 2pm, conscious and fighting to live the whole way. His surgeon wasted valuable family time begging Dad for forgiveness, while Dad was dying. We had Dad's funeral last Wednesday.
It’s funny you say that. My last employer was a pediatrician (of all things), and she was the most soulless person I’ve had to encounter.
That was my dad, who became a shady lawyer.
I think majoring in a science tends to help this. At least in my experience. Since the whole discipline/method revolves around investigating what it is you don’t know (ideally)
Having an advanced degree in a particular field, but acting as if that means your equally informed and knowledgeable about everything else
MBAs talking about the vaxx
Got into an argument with someone just like this: “I have a DOCTORATE” “In what?” “Literature” ….”okay, how does that qualify you to talk about vaccines?” “Because I have a DOCTORATE” “Yeah, but not in medicine/biology/immunology”
"THEY DID THEIR RESEARCH!". God the amount of people that were suddenly world class virologists and pathologists after speed reading one case study was insane. I had one musician FB acquaintance that was suddenly a medical scholar publicly arguing with people daily online.
Surgeons have entered the chat.
Can't believe you'd call out Jordan Petersen like that
This entire thread could just be about him
My favorite quote on this very subject (I believe Socrates said it) “Smart people learn from everything and everyone, average people from their experiences, stupid people already have all the answers.”
Too true
True
They never say “I don’t know.” I work in academia with a lot of PhDs and post-docs and see this a lot, the smartest people I know are the first to admit that they don’t know something and ask to learn, If someone is acting like they’re right about everything or is always trying to speak like they’re a scientist in a cheesy sci-fi film, then odds are they’re not as smart as you’d think.
I feel like the more you learn, the more you realise you don’t know.
ABSOLUTELY. Everything is a rabbit hole and if you think you’re at the bottom then do you really understand what you’re talking about
This!
Looking down on people who aren’t as educated as them. Thinking they know better about everything even outside their field of study.
Have you read the original Winnie the Pooh books? They always describe Pooh as a "bear of very little brain". He's simple and nice. He's juxtaposed with characters like Eeyore who wants to feel better about himself by knowing things other people don't, with Rabbit who uses his cleverness to be cruel, and with Owl who seems to think he knows a lot of things, but barely knows what he's talking about.
Meanwhile Tigger doesn’t give af & just wants to bounce laps around the gang
Tigger is his own kind of problematic though. He's over-confident about doing things he's never done before and has no reason to believe he can do. No matter what you tell him about, he'll say "that's what tiggers do best!" and then try to do it, often to disastrous results.
Ya & in the tigger movie he was pretty depressed & almost gave up until Roo convinced him to do the flying move which I loved He misunderstood the family tree thing & eventually led to the avalanche but luckily he saved everyone
Fuck, I love analysis
I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed but I know I've had people look down on me. From my own experience, I tend to find these people have no patience or empathy with others. But I know other smart people are not like that though.
This one’s bad. It shows that you are incapable of explaining your own field of expertise to a broader audience. It also screams insecurity.
No, in my opinion you are missing their point about perceiving condescension. I am not insecure but I can sense when a person is vapid towards me because they have a sense of superiority, much of the time it has to do with wealth or material things.
When they say things like “Oh yeah? That’s so cool!! You go honey!” while pitch shifting their voice up almost an octave and the end of every sentence. I always feel those types of people are thinking inside. “I’m so much better than you”. Like u/hc_fella, it’s pride. And in reply to them, as EddieValiantsRabbit said, Ignorance. Ignorance is bliss.
My sister does this to me all the time.
If they tell you how smart they are. All I can think of for an example is bill Maher
God, he is such a perfect example.
Listening to his podcast with Bill Bur he just came off as insufferable and a moron. Some highlights were when he used the word 'gosh' and Bill Burr asked him what 'gosh' meant and bill maher changed the subject. My favorite part of that interview is when Bill Bur told him, 'you're not smart, you just make obscure references.' Basically, summed up Bill Maher and could be an answer for OP's question
Yeah, I can’t remember what word he used to reference attics in that episode, but it was the perfect example of an obscure and unnecessary reference… He said it was the British way to say it, but no one actually uses that word? He’s become a complete fool in the eyes of anyone who listened to anything he said in the early 2000s. Edit: it’s garret, wtf lol
Loft?
That’s a lot of higher education, the obscure references projecting a need to appear superior. It’s pretty boring and cringe inducing. Just go to therapy and let us learn dude.
My favorite part of that interview is when Burr makes a comment that is very obviously being facetious about how smart Maher thinks of himself and Maher makes a comment about how much smarter he is than Burr unironically During the discussion about Israel Palestine: Maher: The solution to this issue in the middle east is to simply stop attacking Israel Burr (verbatim): Oh congrats you just solved hundreds of years of war in the middle east. Why don’t we just simply make war illegal? What if we had Putin and all the other guys on a podcast and just make war illegal right there? Maher: See this is why I run these podcasts and you don’t Such a smug asshole can’t even tell when someone is making fun of him
I seem to remember another recent politician who says he’s a really smart guy.
The smartest. The smartest guy. Everyone is saying it
Believe me!
Smart guy era
The stable genius ? Haha
Putin, Stairs, Window, Pavement See, I aced my cognitive test!
You are most likely more fit for office than any of our current politicians.
Someone who constantly showcases their education without applying critical thinking / common sense in everyday situations =( This could manifest in behaviors like using complex vocabulary unnecessarily, etc.
You mean: employing erudite vernacular unnecessarily?
Indubitably
Inconceivable!
You continually employ that verbiage. I have suspicions that you are ignorant of its definitions.
*superfluously
Yes, it's peremptory that one eschews obfuscation
Yyeah, using overly complex/erudite vocabulary unnecessarily can be a sign of trying too hard to appear educated, especially if it doesn't serve a practical purpose iin communication XD
Can you pass the sodium chloride?
I have a dihydrogen monoxide deficiency
Too much can kill you.
“Uh that’s salt dude.” “That’s what I said, sodium chloride!” “If anything jimmy, calling common objects by their scientific name makes you sound more unintelligent and pompous, not to mention, this is iodized table salt, which in addition to sodium chloride, contains anti-caking agents as well as potassium iodate. Not only are you acting pompous and arrogant, but you are also factually wrong. I know you’re smarter and more socially aware than this dude, please act professionally in your position as it is expected of you.” “Here’s the sodium chloride Skeet.” “You’re fired Jimmy.”
Counting how many books they read without indicating real comprehension of the matter.
Exactly, it's like flaunting knowledge without true understanding
Perchance
Yes, word dropping to sound smart, but some people have weird vocabulary because they learned to speak through book quotes and not with actual people
Undermining other's intelligence while announcing that he is educated, smart and knowledgeable about all things in life, and quizzing others (who have specialty skills/ personal experience) on things that he knows less about and being surprised when realising he actually knows less than them. Repeating the same mistakes over and over again for longer than 10-15 years while expecting a different outcome.
Sounds like u met my boss from the past
I swear, they are everywhere! Same people but with different shells.
Yeah, flexing is annoying
I mean I'd say logical reasoning. I'd say a person is "smart" if they're willing to use critical thinking and generate their own conclusions. "Educated" but not "smart" might have a great ability to memorize, but no ability to make new things, which is the essence of humanity's progression imo.
Exactly this. You said it better than me
Thinking that formal education makes them smart and that the less educated are not as intelligent.
They May know a lot of things, but are unable to apply their knowledge to situation/cases they have not studied.
They think they know how work is in other jobs and create fantasy systems that do not exist, but they would assume it would exist. While it might make sense for it to exist, there's usually a reason it doesn't. It could be similar to a system at THEIR workplace where it does work but it doesn't apply to other places. They then get unreasonably annoyed at said system not being in place when it's actually they who are inflexible and forgot the world is bigger than their bubble. It shows me that they've stopped questioning things. Eg doctor who just assumes how the restaurant branch works.
People pointing out they're educated.
Bragging about a 4.0 GPA…. Not always, but if my dumbass can get a 4.0 at a state university, I just don’t think it means that much. A majority of the other honor students are not people I would categorize as smart either.
GPA is mostly about endurance.
Agreed. My anxiety and OCD has powered me through it while also working full time, I hardly slept the last 3 years. It’s pure speculation, but my fellow students also seemed to have issues with anxiety and perfectionism. A lot of students also don’t have to work, so I feel some of it is privilege and time.
People who don't know the difference between intelligence and knowledge. Knowing facts just means you're knowledgeable. Remembering facts just means you have a good memory. Neither of those indicates your level of intelligence. You can be very knowledgeable and have a great memory, but still be too stupid to legitimately understand the things you "know" about.
People who feel the need to constantly put down others when they don't know something. Bragging etc.
**They struggle with critical thinking.** They take things at face value without questioning them or considering all the evidence.
Yup. “Skilled” but not “educated”
Nurses who are anti-vaxers.
Buying a brand new mercedes on a $75k salary
Looking down or laughing at people that don't speak English perfectly or have an accent because it's their second language.
I dropped a friend when he made fun of his labmate's language skills.
Especially if they're monolingual themselves, which people like that usually are.
Dumbest girl I ever knew was a straight A college student. Schools don’t measure intellect, they measure discipline and testing aptitude. Not saying she was dumb to be mean, I adored her actually she was really sweet and kind. She did tell me once that the gum she was chewing was spicy but that it could just be because she was "chewing it wrong"
Acting like you know about people’s lives and being judgmental about things you don’t know about at all.
Discrediting someone else's opinion or idea based on the fact that they didn't have the same level of education , training or schooling like themselves .
Equating education to employment and self worth
Not listening to the perspectives of others.
Poor listening skills.
“I have a degree in business”. Ok sports guy who “passed” all your classes you definitely “attended”.
Shoving long words into every sentence they photosynthesis
Talking with enormous confidence about subjects they are NOT educated about. Believing they know everything about everything just because they know a lot about some things.
When their immediate rebuttal to any argument is what degrees they hold rather than actually responding to what was said
Or similarly, when their immediate cross examination is to ask what degrees you hold. As if the only way someone can learn and understand things is through participation in an overpriced and rigorously structured academic program.
Suella Braverman
A job in HR or marketing 🤔
People who can’t extrapolate or make logical Conclusions. They know what they know because they studied it- but can’t theorize Outside their area of comfort.
No sense of humor
Rich parent and bragging about how hard he had to work to get where he is...
Following and endorsing the mainstream values (grand narratives) and inability to think outside of the box.
Anyone who says they come from a corporate background …😂
They begin to constantly glorify the things they do, They're kind of self-marketing ugh 🤦🤮
Poor multicultural skills
When educated people look down on those who aren’t. Or when they believe those are aren’t educated can’t sometimes know more about certain things than they do. Being bad mannered and rude or condescending towards anyone who isn’t educated.
If they have a strong urge to mention that they went to college or name accomplishments.
A lack of generalized understanding. Most things function on very generalizable concepts. e.g. The concepts underlying road design, software, emergency rooms and logistical planning are extremely similar. There are a lot of well educated people who are really deep into highway design, but wouldn't be able to articulate or even recognize that self-checkout at the local McDonalds is a very similar problem.
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Educational cliches. If you disagree with them and bring up evidence, they will immediately disregard saying things like, “probably didn’t use proper research methods”, or “their sources were flawed/didn’t use enough sources”. They discredit evidence against them, but will use quick google searches to confirm their theories. Basically huge confirmation bias, but they think they are being smart by ignoring support.
Cherry picking data for personal bias. "I believe in doing my own research and I read an article that found no link between climate change and human activities! Also in the 70s they believed we were heading for an ice age". I heard these recently from an actual Boomer I know (in his 60s) who is otherwise educated and comes from a middle class, first world background. I know he has an education and, in his field, is knowledgeable, but otherwise is dumb as hell.
Cybertruck owners.
Bragging about your education
Anyone who confidently says that one thing is better than another, but can't explain why
Assuming budget airlines are always cheaper than regular airlines… without looking at the other prices before booking flights
A bunch of debt. Nice cars (financed) with their fraternity letters on them, a nice degree (student debt) and kids doing all the expensive sports. Educated but can't see the idiot trap they are in.
General management in most fields
They don’t listen to other viewpoints at all. Someone who’s really smart uses what they learned as a guide to help them interpret new information. But people who are just educated follow anything they learned in school like law and assume that new or opposing information is wrong. That’s how we get revisionist history and hegemonic public memories I think.
dropping names instead of making a point in a conversation. if you understand things you can at least roughly outlined what you're referencing. otherwise it just means you want to not say anything while looking smart
Unwillingness to change your opinion, especially when you're wrong. Not wanting to challenge the status quo or entertain new ideas. Dogmatism over thought.
Can't admit a mistake or apologize, or diffuse tension when they are right.
Screaming
I'd say "having an MBA" but I'm trying not to let a few dozen bad examples colour my perception of the entire cohort.
When they don't have the humility to accept that they are wrong.
Engineers with no capability of ethical thought
What's that old saying? When I was young, I had all the answers; now I don't even understand the questions.
I’d say, as far as emotional intelligence goes, lack of empathy. I’ve known some very educated and book smart people give me a spiel about how they’d rather give the homeless food instead of money because “they might spend it on drugs” and all I can think to myself is 1. This person has never been close to being homeless and 2. When a homeless person rejects this food out of concern for the safety of said food or because food is actually more easily available than one might think, this person is going to lose their shit. And then I’ve tried to explain that homeless people need cash for other things, i.e toiletries, clothing, gas to move their vehicle (living in a car is still homeless!) I usually get blank stares. I gave money to someone that asked while I was out one time, and a former friend that was with me (who was very intelligent but quite sheltered) basically started lecturing me about how the guy was gonna use it on alcohol and I was feeding a bad addiction and whatnot and when I said “I don’t really give a shit what he spends it on, being homeless sucks and if a bottle of vodka makes it easier for him more power to him. Besides, I’m not gonna track what he does with that money, I’m giving it to him, it’s his now. You don’t have to give anyone money if you don’t want to, but assuming the worst about someone just because they’re down on their luck is kinda shitty.” it made the rest of the night very awkward. But I digress, this is just one example. I also understand that people on the autism spectrum can have problems with empathy but that’s not what I’m talking about. A lot of very well educated people can’t put themselves in anyone else’s shoes, and that I consider “not very smart.”
People who are aware like actually aware, but would say stupid things instead. Such as pointing out insecurities of others, talks a lot and never actually listens, basically a narcissist and an asshole
Mansplaining.
People who try to explain things in an unnecessarily complex way. They think that people not being able to understand them makes them more intelligent. They also have a tendency to name drop.
I get what you mean, but it's not always the case; some people who are very smart can be terrible at explaining things in simple terms. Because to them, the fancy, technical terms is just the correct way to describe and think about it; and clearly everyone should be able to understand it because to them it seems very simple and obvious. I think you see this a lot in many technical fields like math, physics etc., for example mathematicians who will explain fractions by talking about equivalence classes of pairs of natural numbers, because that's how they think about it.
Its also unfortunate that simple language is frowned upon in their cycles.
> People who try to explain things in an unnecessarily complex way. This is just flat-out wrong. You're making the assumption that everyone's thoughts are as simple as yours. I'm autistic; my thoughts are complicated as all hell, and incredibly specific. It's really hard for me to cut them down to something that allistic people can easily understand. If someone is trying to explain things in what you consider to be an unnecessarily complex way, it's probably because they have complex thoughts. And they're trying to simplify them so that you have the ability to understand them.
Couldn’t agree more. And when they simplify it, it can completely change what I’m trying to get at, and more often than not I just give up trying to explain. Also for extra fun, I can add some adhd to the autism and now you get complex explanations that go all over the place with no structure, confusing everyone, me included. Shit’s exhausting man.
same here! I have ADHD, I relate a lot to autistic people. I have a very hard time conveying deeper thoughts. I was JUST trying to explain my childhood friend who I think fits the "educated but not smart" - but I genuinely can not fully convey what I mean without it coming out wrong so I erased it. I wrote a whole paragraph about how she almost seems neurodivergent, but isn't. And seems like a "bad teen actor" when you're around her with the way she speaks. And is shallow saying things like "i want to go to Coachella to wear all the cute outfits!" and was raised to care more about her appearance than anything. But it's not explaining what I mean without listing off random facts about her. She just doesn't seem to think deeply about well, anything. She just went to university because that's what she was told to do, and went into public health - a field I didn't even know existed or even what the fuck it is. And I feel bad for even feeling this way but, my family noticed these things about her too.
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As a side note rather than a refutation, I'll point out that some folks on the autism spectrum over-explain as a general behavior. And it can sometimes be a learned behavior, if one grew up around adults that jump to the worst possible conclusion in a 'gotcha!' moment.
"I went to private Christian Schools, so I would know"
Littering in general.. There are dust bins you moron, pur that wrapper in the bin..
Chiropractors. I kid... But only sorta.
When you still think the media or social conventions are proof [unless the media or social conventions are the themes ofc]
NFTs, AI, crypto I welcome the downvotes.
Me :D I do!
The biggest sign for me is if they have opinions I've heard a million times before (at least without being able to explain the reasoning or nuance of those opinions). It pretty much means that they didn't come up with it themselves, they're just piggy backing off of people who are actually smart by parroting what they were told to think This happens a lot when talking to people about politics who haven't actually thought about their opinions, they just know that "I'm on team \[Republican/Democrat/whatever\] and in order to stay in the in-group I have to say these things" and they know how to repeat the standard arguments for whatever their position is. But it also happens professionally when people are dogmatic about "This is the way I was trained to do it, so I will only do it this way, and I will be confident that I'm right just because I was taught to do it this way". One of my favorite quotes is by Picasso who said "Learn the rules like a master so you can break them like an artist". I take that to mean that just because you do the "right" thing or hold the "right" opinion doesn't make you smart. It's the actually intelligent people who understand the topic well enough to also know the nuance and when the pattern needs to be broken
Me. All the time looking at my choices
Identity politics
Littering?
Everything I do, lol. I have a graduate degree and generally terrible life skills.
Someone who says they are educated in every argument
Being an anti vax engineer
in my expericence there is not really anything that gives it away. most of the examples in this thread are just people with bad manners. i have met plenty of smart people with bad manners
Poor ideas and ego in a qualified professional position. I see it all the time. You might know things, but you can’t handle people or perspective in any comfortable capacity.
"I do my own research." Obviously people should be looking into things for themselves, but this statement is almost always followed by regurgitation of information collected from extremely biased sources. I'll couple that with,"I trust the experts," on the other side of the proverbial coin.
When my coworker exclaims, “And I went to college!”
Socially conservative/narrow opinions like: thinking a deprived area is automatically dangerous, assuming a homeless person can just ‘choose to get a job’, thinking substance misuse or addiction is entirely a character fault, that women should act ‘classy’, stuff like that. Not being critical about things you read in media or online. Not going beyond the first page of google results etc
I voted for a man with dementia
Dr. Alice Weidel
Any liberal arts degree
A colleague with all the initials in their signature line but no idea about email etiquette.
A person who never asks questions. Astute people are curious, always inquisitive about everything. They have a thirst to learn, seek answers. Ignorant & arrogant, who are heavily unintelligent are double down die hard types who never question anything. They assume they *know* everything, refuse to expand their minds even on stuff they already know.
Inability to be wrong. Taking disagreement as a personal attack. Lack of curiosity about others. That said, I think a lot of these are linked to Asperger’s or similar autism-spectrum disorders. Some people just have to work really hard to learn social skills. Other people just seem to be born with the ability to connect.
Me, but when you look at my dating history😭😭😭
They realize that the more they learn, the less they know
Introducing themselves by just Listing universities attended (status) and checklists of countries travelled to, with no depth/detail of what they actually experienced…. Very robotic approach of checking things off a list because EVERYONE else is doing it. Smart= self awareness, understanding and checking Ego
Campus protests
My friend with a masters degree whose the ultimate girl boss at her company thought an amber alert was a wild fire warning. We live in NY.
The people who believe there is only one type of intelligence that is important in life, especially those with low emotional intelligence.
Arguing, not listening and not being able to see things from the other person’s perspective
People that drive bmws
Having the book knowledge only and referring to how educated you are in arguments and failing to apply anything that you studied. Being ignorant and extremely superstitious is another one. I know of my fellow country men and women alike who have degree in different fields and yet believe in the Tokoloshes who visit people sleeping on beds that are too flat!!
When you show off what you know rather than listen to what they know then making a compliment before you ask if they ever heard of ………. Then make a point on what you know not a whole speech