I think that social isolation of the intellectually gifted is a harsh problem and I have encountered it several times before coming to LW. There are two different talks I’ve had to have with very intelligent people that I’ve met in the past.
The first is the “You aren’t very good at social interactions so lets find some ways to improve that” talk which is often triggered by failures in communication that significantly upset people and require a mediator to explain the perspectives and motivations back to both parties. Social interaction is complex and full of pitfalls for those who simply aren’t in the know. The explanation of controversial ideas to those who are reluctant to change their minds on an issue requires social nuance and great care.
The second talk is the “I haven’t ever had an intelligent conversation like this before” talk which other intelligent people occasionally bring up to me in the middle of a different conversation. The worry and concern I feel in this case is not because the individual is incapable or has difficulty interacting with intelligent conversation but because they are capable of it and have either abstained or not been exposed to it for a long time.
Social interaction is important to anyone who is intelligent to increase the exposure of their ideas, improve their ideas by testing and growing them around others, and for their basic everyday rationality. One of the primary methods of determining whether your sensory inputs are working properly is by creating reference points through other people. “Does it feel cold in here to you?” “Does anyone else smell that?” Or one that happened to me this weekend while searching for a LW meetup location: “Does this coffee taste sour to you or is there something wrong with me?” (This was the second time I had tasted inappropriately sour coffee in the same day and I was starting to become concerned about the proper functioning of my taste buds/personal health.)
I think that social isolation of the intellectually gifted is a harsh problem and I have encountered it several times before coming to LW. There are two different talks I’ve had to have with very intelligent people that I’ve met in the past.
The first is the “You aren’t very good at social interactions so lets find some ways to improve that” talk which is often triggered by failures in communication that significantly upset people and require a mediator to explain the perspectives and motivations back to both parties. Social interaction is complex and full of pitfalls for those who simply aren’t in the know. The explanation of controversial ideas to those who are reluctant to change their minds on an issue requires social nuance and great care.
The second talk is the “I haven’t ever had an intelligent conversation like this before” talk which other intelligent people occasionally bring up to me in the middle of a different conversation. The worry and concern I feel in this case is not because the individual is incapable or has difficulty interacting with intelligent conversation but because they are capable of it and have either abstained or not been exposed to it for a long time.
Social interaction is important to anyone who is intelligent to increase the exposure of their ideas, improve their ideas by testing and growing them around others, and for their basic everyday rationality. One of the primary methods of determining whether your sensory inputs are working properly is by creating reference points through other people. “Does it feel cold in here to you?” “Does anyone else smell that?” Or one that happened to me this weekend while searching for a LW meetup location: “Does this coffee taste sour to you or is there something wrong with me?” (This was the second time I had tasted inappropriately sour coffee in the same day and I was starting to become concerned about the proper functioning of my taste buds/personal health.)