I think this is a really excellent analysis and I agree with just about all of it.
I suspect that the difference in our initial reactions had to do with your premise that intelligent people are easier to communicate with. This hasn’t been true in my experience, but I’d bet that the difference is the topics of conversation. If you want to talk to people about AI, someone with more education and intellect is going to suit you better than someone with less, even if they’re also really nice.
I’ve definitely also had conversations where the guy in the room who was the most confused and having the least fun was the one with the most book smarts. I’m trying to remember what they were about … off the top of my head, I think it tended to be social situations or issues which he had not encountered. Empathy would have done him more good than education in that instance (given that his education was not in the social sciences).
Your suspicion rings true. Having more intelligence won’t make you more enjoyable to talk to on a subject you don’t care about! It also may not make a difference if the topic is simple to understand, but still feels worth talking about (personal conversations on all sorts of things).
Education isn’t the same as intelligence of course. Intelligence will help you gain and retain an education faster, through books or conversation, in anything that interests you.
Most of my high school friends were extremely intelligent, and mostly applied themselves to art and writing. A few mostly applied themselves to programming and tesla coils. I think a common characteristic that they held was genuine curiosity in exploring new domains, and could enjoy conversations with people of many different interests. The same was true for most of my college friends. I would say I selected for good intelligent people with unusually broad interests.
I still care a great deal for my specialist friends, and friends of varying intelligence. It’s easy for me to enjoy a conversation with almost anyone genuinely interested in communicating, because I’ll probably share the person’s interest to some degree.
Roughly, curiosity overlap lays the ground for topical conversation, education determines the launching point on a topic, and intelligence determines the speed.
I’ve definitely also had conversations where the guy in the room who was the most confused and having the least fun was the one with the most book smarts.
Isn’t that what you would expect for most conversations, when all else is equal? This is an effect I expect to in general and I attribute it both due to self selection and causation.
I’ve definitely also had conversations where the guy in the room who was the most confused and having the least fun was the one with the most book smarts.
Isn’t that what you would expect for most conversations, when all else is equal?
… well, it isn’t what I do expect, so I guess I wouldn’t. The thought never crossed my mind, so I don’t really have anything more insightful to say about it yet. Let me chew on it.
I suspect that I mostly socialize with people I consider equals.
I think this is a really excellent analysis and I agree with just about all of it.
I suspect that the difference in our initial reactions had to do with your premise that intelligent people are easier to communicate with. This hasn’t been true in my experience, but I’d bet that the difference is the topics of conversation. If you want to talk to people about AI, someone with more education and intellect is going to suit you better than someone with less, even if they’re also really nice.
I’ve definitely also had conversations where the guy in the room who was the most confused and having the least fun was the one with the most book smarts. I’m trying to remember what they were about … off the top of my head, I think it tended to be social situations or issues which he had not encountered. Empathy would have done him more good than education in that instance (given that his education was not in the social sciences).
Your suspicion rings true. Having more intelligence won’t make you more enjoyable to talk to on a subject you don’t care about! It also may not make a difference if the topic is simple to understand, but still feels worth talking about (personal conversations on all sorts of things).
Education isn’t the same as intelligence of course. Intelligence will help you gain and retain an education faster, through books or conversation, in anything that interests you.
Most of my high school friends were extremely intelligent, and mostly applied themselves to art and writing. A few mostly applied themselves to programming and tesla coils. I think a common characteristic that they held was genuine curiosity in exploring new domains, and could enjoy conversations with people of many different interests. The same was true for most of my college friends. I would say I selected for good intelligent people with unusually broad interests.
I still care a great deal for my specialist friends, and friends of varying intelligence. It’s easy for me to enjoy a conversation with almost anyone genuinely interested in communicating, because I’ll probably share the person’s interest to some degree.
Roughly, curiosity overlap lays the ground for topical conversation, education determines the launching point on a topic, and intelligence determines the speed.
Isn’t that what you would expect for most conversations, when all else is equal? This is an effect I expect to in general and I attribute it both due to self selection and causation.
… well, it isn’t what I do expect, so I guess I wouldn’t. The thought never crossed my mind, so I don’t really have anything more insightful to say about it yet. Let me chew on it.
I suspect that I mostly socialize with people I consider equals.