Move your footnote to the first paragraph, please. It’s VERY confusing to talk about three traits after asking “is it better to be kind and dumb or be intelligent, yet callous?” I’d also prefer to refer to the positive sides, rather than the negative (or at least make clear that these are three dimensions you think of: kind-callous, intelligent-stupid, and knowledgeable-misguided). I’m not sure they’re independent, nor universal—many people are kind to some and callous to others, for instance, and lots are knowledgeable on some topics and surprisingly misguided on others.
And finally, I don’t think you can generalize very deeply here. People have more dimensions and variation than this, and you’re not limited to only being nearly-inseparable or not-friends-at-all. There are many (MANY!) people I’d call “friends” who I wouldn’t leave in my house unattended, but who I enjoy a conversation with.
Move your footnote to the first paragraph, please. It’s VERY confusing to talk about three traits after asking “is it better to be kind and dumb or be intelligent, yet callous?” I’d also prefer to refer to the positive sides, rather than the negative (or at least make clear that these are three dimensions you think of: kind-callous, intelligent-stupid, and knowledgeable-misguided). I’m not sure they’re independent, nor universal—many people are kind to some and callous to others, for instance, and lots are knowledgeable on some topics and surprisingly misguided on others.
And finally, I don’t think you can generalize very deeply here. People have more dimensions and variation than this, and you’re not limited to only being nearly-inseparable or not-friends-at-all. There are many (MANY!) people I’d call “friends” who I wouldn’t leave in my house unattended, but who I enjoy a conversation with.