(no subject)

[wispfox]

aelisdeliria lent me a book, called _Welcome to the Ark_, by Stephanie S. Tolan. It's... captivating. I _must_ own this book.

The reason I'm writing right now is a quote which I had to share...

"How smart do you feel?"
"Comparatively?"
"No. Just you yourself. How smart do you really feel?"
"Truth?"
"Of course, truth!"
"I've spent my whole life trying not to know how scary it was to have people call me the smartest kid in the world. Because I don't know anything."


*shiver* Yeah. Not to that degree, but yeah.

Comments

Re: *shiver*

[wolfieboy.livejournal.com]

I've found that as I've learned more that one of the principle things that I learn is how little I know.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Yes. Ditto.

[nex0s.livejournal.com]

t-shirt.

(well, that and then additionally being annoyed when people were surprised when i do/say something smart.)

n,

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

being annoyed when people were surprised when i do/say something smart.

Wow. Yeah, I can see that. I'm more tired of the awe/fear reactions, myself. I don't think I tend to interact much with people who are surprised...

this gets a bit ranty.... :/

[nex0s.livejournal.com]

yes, it's a combination of race sh*t, and "you're pretty" sh*t, and "you're creative" sh*t.

it's as though if you hit the genetic potluck, that means you must be a bimbo. because "pretty girls are dumb" -- additionally, "pretty girls have blonde hair" which meant that in my school i wasn't considered pretty. but i was considered black, and everyone knew that the only reason i got into Yale and Harvard was because i'm black. right? except for the black kids who didn't get into Yale, but that just meant that i got in because i was lighter than them, hnot because i was smart or talented or anything like that. (that was sarcastic) and creative people aren't *smart*, science and math geeks are *smart*. artists are not *smart*. they are *artsy* and supposed to hate science.

i'm not good at math though.

even though i really, really, really like quantum mechanics. i am terrible at newtownian physics though. which is weird, to say the least.

n.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

*blinks* Wow. I strongly dislike the people who have said or implied any or all of that to you!

I think, actually, it's not that 'pretty girls are dumb', but that a fair number of guys who are drooling over pretty girls want them to not be smarter than them. And they are the vocal and societally accepted guys.

The rest, I have no direct experience with, so don't really know. (and, I _wish_ I were more artsy than I have been thus far... my childhood was more strongly oriented toward scholatic achievement than aritstic. There was _some_, but...)

[australian-joe.livejournal.com]

I have a slightly odd take on this.

I think that I'm actually not very smart at all - I feel dumber than "average" - yet somehow most other people are even dumber.

(My worst nightmare was where I was *significantly* more intelligent than I am while awake, in ways that I now find difficult to describe but subjectively remember. I could, for example, acquire fluency in a new language by staying up all night, and in the dream, I could tell you how I was doing this and what it felt like at every intermediate stage. I thought more quickly, more effectively, more *interestingly*, more **beautifully**. Then I woke up and was stupid again. I cried for hours. I'm still haunted by it.)

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

I still think that your 'average' is actually 'what you think _should_ be average'. :) But, yes. I knew this.

[australian-joe.livejournal.com]

There's probably something to that.

Re: not very smart?

[wolfieboy.livejournal.com]

From the one time that I chatted with you in person, I'd say that you are doing well in the smarts dept and I have high standards.

Re: not very smart?

[australian-joe.livejournal.com]

[startled]

It didn't occur to me that anyone could read that as me saying "I'm don't have an exceptionally well developed sense of my own intelligence relative to everyone else". 8->

I *do* think I'm smarter than most. Where I was going with my first comment is not that I think I'm amazingly intelligent (well, I suppose I do), but that I'm a little bit dumb in a world of staggeringly stupid people. 8->

Still : thank you.

Re: not very smart?

[wolfieboy.livejournal.com]

In that fashion, I think we're all a little dumb. My officemates are used to me cussing myself out as I program...

What I got from your first comment was that while you feel smarter than most people, you feel a bit dumb around many of the people that you hang out with. Thanks for the clarification.

Re: not very smart?

[bridgetester.livejournal.com]

a little bit dumb in a world of staggeringly stupid people

Now this reminds me exactly of a passage in Socrates' Apology... specifically

"I am better off than he is - for he knows nothing, and thinks that he knows. I neither know nor think that I know."

and

"they thought that they also knew all sorts of high matters, and this defect in them overshadowed their wisdom - therefore I asked myself on behalf of the oracle, whether I would like to be as I was, neither having their knowledge nor their ignorance, or like them in both; and I made answer to myself and the oracle that I was better off as I was."

The full passage, which is way too long to post in a comment
begins with
"Chaerephon, as you know, was very impetuous in all his doings, and he went to Delphi and boldly asked the oracle to tell him whether - as I was saying, I must beg you not to interrupt - he asked the oracle to tell him whether there was anyone wiser than I was, and the Pythian prophetess answered that there was no man wiser. Chaerephon is dead himself, but his brother, who is in court, will confirm the truth of this story."

and ends with
"And yet I know that this plainness of speech makes them hate me, and what is their hatred but a proof that I am speaking the truth? - this is the occasion and reason of their slander of me, as you will find out either in this or in any future inquiry."


But I highly recommend the rest of the Apology (http://www.saliu.com/socrates.html), as well. Most edifying reading.

Re: not very smart?

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

*eats your brains*

Re: not very smart?

[bridgetester.livejournal.com]

Oh n *cuts off suddenly*

(Oh nos! Now where will you get/share your same ideas?)

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

...

*looks around in a shifty-eyed manner*

*puts the brains back in a very quick movement, hoping no one noticed*

[bridgetester.livejournal.com]

os! *blinks* What did you just do? That was weird...

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

*licks lips*

Nuuuuffin...

[bridgetester.livejournal.com]

Oh.

So as I was saying... Socrates' view of knowledge (knowing that you are ignorant) relates strongly to the earlier quote of "I don't know anything".

Re: not very smart?

[bridgetester.livejournal.com]

*blinkblink* Welcome to the Ark! I've read that book! And I have a copy, albeit not in-state... She wrote another good book too... *digs up title*

Oh! And her newest book, "Flight of the Raven", sortakinda continues the story of "Welcome to the Ark".

Anyhow, the other book I was thinking of is "A Good Courage".

Re: not very smart?

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Oooh. Book recommendations!

Tasty! *she says, as she slowly drowns in book recommendations*

Re: not very smart?

[bridgetester.livejournal.com]

You want mores? I gots. ^_^

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Um. Yes! Always! Booookses!

[bridgetester.livejournal.com]

Needs must be more specific, as I am lazy, and there are many bookses.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Not feeling specific at the moment (or usually), but you seem to give out enough random book suggestions that it probably doesn't matter. ;)

[bridgetester.livejournal.com]

They're not random! *mock-insulted* They always relate to the topic at hand. Even if only by weird tangential connections known only to me. But of course, since I'm the one who's read them, they wouldn't make tangential connection for anyone else who hasn't read them. And speaking of not reading, let me know if you come with a specific type of book you'd like to read more of. Particular Fantasy and Science Fiction, as that's most of what's stocked in my head library. Some Poetry too. And Philosophy. And History. Well, you know what I mean.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

*chuckle* By random, in this instance, I meant that they had not been prompted for by me. :)

I don't tend to _have_ book 'types' that I look for, at least not that I can describe. Kinda like my musical tastes...