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Have you ever met someone cleverer than yourself?

Reply 40

Aria Enoshima

16

Its only natural to say yes to this question.

Reply 41

moggis

18

Wow.I can't believe someone has asked this question on here!

Because I suffer from a very rare condition indeed - so rare that it still doesn't have a technical name I believe-the fear of meeting someone cleverer than myself!!

Now if I was very clever it might not be much of a problem but of course I'm not so it is.

However over the years I've learned how to cope with it.

I worked as a tube driver ( having left school at 17 as soon as I first realised something was amiss) before quitting to DJ ( sadly only briefly) and the DJs I encountered were obviously as thick as you'd expect.And as for the promoters.......

Anyway nowadays I always only ever frequent Aussie bars on a night out,never go to the theatre,only holiday in Spain ( not the North obviously )and shopped at Tescos before wonder of wonders home deliveries began! Yaaaay

From then on its been mostly plain sailing.

All my shopping is now delivered- all of it.

As for my friends,they never say anything smart in my presence ever! I'm not kidding. I consider myself very lucky to have such thoughtful friends.

Of course the real problem is visiting doctors . Im surprisingly ok with GPs - or glorified receptionists as I call them- but I have a terrible fear of seeing a specialist of course.

It happened to me once but I survived to tell the tale as it were.

This year I might risk a trip to America - not the East Coast.

Cheers

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 42

math42

20

Intelligence is not well-defined. But however you look at it, obviously I have met people more intelligent than myself.

Reply 43

TheonlyMrsHolmes

19

Yes, it's depressing as **** but we all have our strengths and weaknesses, then again you meet those perfect people occasionally....

Reply 44

versari

7

Original post by CoolCavy

there is always someone better than yourself (i don't mean 'you' in particualr just people in general) so there is no point worrying about it, just be happy for them and tell them how clever they are :h:

Yes, but this fellow was cleverer than me at what he does, but I was cleverer than him at what I do-so it kinda evens out. The last guy as good as me at what I do died before I was born but I still learnt a lot from him in other ways. I find its a real privilege to meet someone really good, because they usually turn out to be the best teacher you could ask for. The last guy "in my field" who I thought was better than me because he knew all this stuff that was new to me I started to learn from really fast until, to his annoyance I had gotten better than him.

Reply 45

kkboyk

21

Every single day (it's cool seeing things from their perspective), and it isn't hard to accept it.There will always be someone much smarter than yourself in this world (everyone is replaceable).

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 46

PetitBourgeois

6

Original post by TheonlyMrsHolmes

Yes, it's depressing as **** but we all have our strengths and weaknesses, then again you meet those perfect people occasionally....

Why's it depressing? if that person is not arrogant or mean to you, it's really cool to meet highly intelligent people.

Reply 47

dreamlover

2

Ha, very interesting question!! I know what you mean! It's rare to come across someone who just kind of really 'gets' things and has something impressive to say. I came across many people who were 'sharp' at Oxford Uni, but in terms of being insightful, which is what I really value, there's only ever been one person who repeatedly made remarks I'd readily admit were at guru level. I never met the guy in fact- it was someone on a different, now closed down, internet forum- 'personal development for smart people'. It seemed like half the things this guy said were like paradigm shifts in my world view.

Reply 48

Dropout_06

8

Many of my own relatives are more intelligent than me, it doesn't bother me at all tbh. :dunce:

Reply 49

hellodave5

19

narr i da smartast in da vilage

Reply 50

hellodave5

19

Original post by dreamlover

Ha, very interesting question!! I know what you mean! It's rare to come across someone who just kind of really 'gets' things and has something impressive to say. I came across many people who were 'sharp' at Oxford Uni, but in terms of being insightful, which is what I really value, there's only ever been one person who repeatedly made remarks I'd readily admit were at guru level. I never met the guy in fact- it was someone on a different, now closed down, internet forum- 'personal development for smart people'. It seemed like half the things this guy said were like paradigm shifts in my world view.

Sounds slightly hyperbolic lol. Is he your 'dream lover'? ^^

Reply 51

pbw

13

Original post by serebro

I've met loads of people who are cleverer than I am. Then again, I suppose being clever is subjective.

I'd probably place myself in the middle, perhaps slightly below average in some things. I don't mind though, since I've got a fairly sharp emotional intelligence and can read people like books.

My biggest observation is that "the cleverest" tend to suffer with a terrible ego, have perfectionist tendencies and love to "one-up" you all the time. I once had a friend who was the best at English whereas I struggled through, but when I got a higher result in my coursework, she demanded that mine should be remarked! Sadly, it's very rare to meet a very clever person who can be considered a genuine friend in my experience.

you've hit the nail on the head. this holds true for a lot of people i know who consider themselves cleverer than me. they hate it if I happen to outperform them at something and they don't know how to handle. its like they will openly say to my face "how did you get 90% on that paper, I thought you were proper dumb". these friends, they are good friends as long as you don't outshine them!

I think everyone has an ego but it is the mature ones that recognise that they will not be better than everyone and as has been said earlier, its more important to be the best version of yourself!

Reply 52

math42

20

Original post by serebro

My biggest observation is that "the cleverest" tend to suffer with a terrible ego, have perfectionist tendencies and love to "one-up" you all the time. I once had a friend who was the best at English whereas I struggled through, but when I got a higher result in my coursework, she demanded that mine should be remarked! Sadly, it's very rare to meet a very clever person who can be considered a genuine friend in my experience.

As a disclaimer I would not refer to myself as "the cleverest" on any subject or in any manner, but I generally got the best results in A Level English Lit in my class; then a friend did better in A2 coursework and I was more pleased for him than anything. When I was younger (<12) I had those tendencies you describe but now it's only selective perfectionism really. Well, I think to some extent most people have ego problems and impulses to one-up others, they just don't act on them as it creates unnecessary conflict and is often disrespectful. Your friend was just staggeringly immature.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 53

dreamlover

2

Original post by hellodave5

Sounds slightly hyperbolic lol. Is he your 'dream lover'? ^^

You'd think so but he genuinely was just like 'slap across the face' insightful. And the weird thing was he was able to accomplish that with minimal words, like he'd only ever write one or two sentences.
Dreamlover is more a reference to the Tim/ Jeff Buckley saga. Tim wrote 'dream letter', Jeff replied with 'dream brother'. I do miss that forum though, and his writings in particular.

Reply 54

dreamlover

2

Original post by pbw

someone of equal intelligence to you, but doesn't put any work in and gets a 2.2. are you cleverer than him? simply because he is lazier than you and prefers sleeping in?

The point is to get a 1st at Oxford, irrespective of how much work you put in, you have to be intelligent, most likely highly intelligent. That's as close to a tautology as you can get when it comes to classifying intelligence, it's that hard. And btw, everyone who gets a 1st at Oxford puts hours and hours of work in. By and large, everyone who gets a 2:2 at oxford puts in hours and hours of work. It's just one of those places.

Reply 55

joey11223

20

Lol hard to accept? No not really, I've met plenty of people more academically intelligent and plenty of dunces. Would I say I have above average intelligence? Meh I'd like to think so, but I'm no genius.

Reply 56

stochasticking

14

All the Chinese students. I will beat them one day. One day, I tell you. :albertein:

Reply 57

hektik

6

Original post by Awesome Genius

It's hard to accept that someone else can be more intelligent than you, isn't it?

It's happened twice to me. An Oxford neurosciences professor and one of my friends from school that I still keep in touch with - he became an academic.

Both were males. Haven't found any females I'd say were as smart as me, yet.