# Do smart people experience the world differently from the rest of us?



## bender477 (Aug 23, 2010)

Do smart experience the world significantly differently from the rest of us? If so, how?

Society is so well self-segregated it seems that a person can get pretty disoriented moving from group to group. I mean this in terms of jobs, classrooms, even internet communities. Some places, I get irritated because the level of exchange seems so asinine, but now and again I'll interact with someone who I won't realize until later experiences the world more vividly and with more detail than I ever have.

Also, I wonder how much of this is a factor of general intelligence and how much is a factor of education. eg can you have good thoughts if you're not able to express them well and thereby analyze them?

I'm hoping to hear from some smart people who have hung out with dumber people and wondered if they were living on the same planet. And then hopefully some really smart people, who in turn have hung out with some average-smart people and thought to themselves 'this just isn't the same'.


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## jbking (Jun 4, 2010)

bender477 said:


> Do smart experience the world significantly differently from the rest of us? If so, how?


Are you claiming that you and the people of this site aren't smart? What is smart? Be careful of your terminology here as that really determines the basis of the rest of this post, IMO.



bender477 said:


> Also, I wonder how much of this is a factor of general intelligence and how much is a factor of education. eg can you have good thoughts if you're not able to express them well and thereby analyze them?


There is general intelligence and emotional intelligence. The idea of book smarts versus street smarts, though if you want to go into Enneagram theory there are 3 intelligences there, the doing, feeling and thinking intelligences. There are even more if you go to My Personality and look at the Multiple Intelligences test.



bender477 said:


> I'm hoping to hear from some smart people who have hung out with dumber people and wondered if they were living on the same planet. And then hopefully some really smart people, who in turn have hung out with some average-smart people and thought to themselves 'this just isn't the same'.


Different people will have different communication standards and protocols. I somewhat question the point of this post as there can be various differences among cultures, economic class, and other factors. If someone spent most of their life in a hospital, they may have far more intimate knowledge than someone that doesn't even know what a hospital is.


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## conscius (Apr 20, 2010)

bender477 said:


> Do smart experience the world significantly differently from the rest of us? If so, how?
> 
> Society is so well self-segregated it seems that a person can get pretty disoriented moving from group to group. I mean this in terms of jobs, classrooms, even internet communities. Some places, I get irritated because the level of exchange seems so asinine, but now and again I'll interact with someone who I won't realize until later experiences the world more vividly and with more detail than I ever have.
> 
> ...


I'm a person who is smart compared to some and dumb compared to others. Intelligence is both multifaceted (there are different kinds of intelligence, like musical or artistic or social or IQ etc) and also on a continuum (99% of the time you can experience both being smart and dumb cause you're not on extreme end).

And of course, it's not just intelligence, and like you say it can also be education. Society can be segregated (and people can "self segregate) along many different lines, be it gender, social class, intelligence, nationality, etc. 

You seem to be more aware of these differences and more perceptive, but everybody experiences these and some adapt while others constantly struggle. Some find a place, a group, where they feel right at home and don't move to or interact with other groups. But I personally find it challenging and of course stressful yet I do like the occasional interaction with other groups (more so if they're not too different) and I think I can learn things and get perspective, from interacting with them, even if I happen to be smarter (or at least feel that way on the inside) than the majority in that group.


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## MinShady (Mar 11, 2013)

One of the many differences of smart and dumb people is that dumb people wouldn`t question anything. They follow what they are being told. They never like to change or experience revolution because of this fear that the society around wouldn`t agree much with them. In other words, they limit themselves. Smart people think in an independent way. They never give up their thoughts or opinions just to follow 'normality'.


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## Dark Romantic (Dec 27, 2011)

Everyone experiences the world differently. What determine how you experience the world are your preconceptions, values, and the capabilities you've become aware of and developed.


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## Iustinus (Jun 13, 2012)

You speak as if intelligence divides humanity into two and only two groups: the gifted and the dumb. That assumption is ungrounded. Intelligence is not duotone; it is a spectrum.

Just as we are all uniquely intelligent, we _all _experience the world differently. We're shaped by our individual experiences with parents, teachers, friends, and current events. These experiences grant us a plethora of perspectives on our worlds.

From my own experience, I do find the most brilliant among us are burdened by a sort of weltschmerz. I think they are keenly aware of the gravity of the world. In Ayn Rand's terms, they are the Atlases.


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## MinShady (Mar 11, 2013)

How you see yourself as and how you define your surroundings also affects how you see the world, and that determines your actions.


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## Fear Itself (Feb 20, 2013)

Everyone experiences the world differently... No two people live the same life.


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## Fear Itself (Feb 20, 2013)

Dark Romantic said:


> Everyone experiences the world differently. What determine how you experience the world are your preconceptions, values, and the capabilities you've become aware of and developed.


Oh man, my bad. I accidentally just said practically the same thing... Oops.


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## bluekitdon (Dec 19, 2012)

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

― Albert Einstein

Everyone just has different gifts. Trick is finding your gift and making the most of it.


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## astriom (Mar 22, 2013)

Does a fish know what it's like to be all wet?
Answer: No, because it has never experienced being dry.

In our present society, we value analytical intelligence above all else. The problem here is that this suggests that practical or social intelligence isn't worth mentioning. Reality is that a socially intelligent person might not be able to score high marks on a test, but they can win over a crowd with barely any effort. A practically intelligent person might not be the star performer in school, but they know how the real world works and apply knowledge and concepts in a practical way. An analytically intelligent person can probably do really well in academics, but have difficulty applying what they learn in a practical way or might be socially awkward.

Also, like your personality, being strong in one area doesn't necessarily mean you are deficient in the others, just that you're stronger in that one area. So to ask if a smart person experiences the world differently, I would argue that you are a highly intelligent person yourself, perhaps in a way that differs from myself but intelligent nonetheless. As to the question do people experience the world differently, I think everyone does and it is not tied to intelligence in any significant way.


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## drmiller100 (Dec 3, 2011)

bender477 said:


> Do smart experience the world significantly differently from the rest of us? If so, how?
> 
> '.


Yes.
We see more of what is happening behind the scenes, we wonder why anyone would go to work everyday at a job they hate, or even dislike. 

We wonder where we left our keys.


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## bender477 (Aug 23, 2010)

astriom said:


> In our present society, we value analytical intelligence above all else. The problem here is that this suggests that practical or social intelligence isn't worth mentioning.


Fascinating, but isn't this a little bit beside the point?

I guess you have to make this disclaimer for all threads which discuss intelligence, but intelligence /= IQ. I guess we'll just have to define 'smart people' as people who seem smart, whether or not they make high marks in class or whatever.

Of course intelligence isn't the only factor which can lead people to experience the world in different ways. Creativity is another, and so is schizophrenia. However, I bring up intelligence because it is especially relevant to me; that is, in order to succeed in my classes I must be intelligent, and so I think about it a lot. I've also had the opportunity to meet a few geniuses here and there, and I often wonder what the world is like from their perspective. It must be an entirely different experience.



conscius said:


> You seem to be more aware of these differences and more perceptive, but everybody experiences these and some adapt while others constantly struggle. Some find a place, a group, where they feel right at home and don't move to or interact with other groups. But I personally find it challenging and of course stressful yet I do like the occasional interaction with other groups (more so if they're not too different) and I think I can learn things and get perspective, from interacting with them, even if I happen to be smarter (or at least feel that way on the inside) than the majority in that group.


Thanks, this is the sort of response I was looking for. I'm really just interested in everyone's experiences. I realize that there's an inclination to be politically correct, but repeating a few phrases from some pop psychology book doesn't really add to the discussion.


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## tanstaafl28 (Sep 10, 2012)

Depends upon how one defines "smart" as opposed to "dumb."


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## astriom (Mar 22, 2013)

Perhaps I didn't understand your question the way you intended, but I'm glad you found an answer from someone that did understand what you were asking for. :happy:


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## drmiller100 (Dec 3, 2011)

why do you people keep talking about this?

i already answered it.

(Snickers!!!!!!!!!!!!)


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## astriom (Mar 22, 2013)

drmiller100 said:


> why do you people keep talking about this?
> 
> i already answered it.
> 
> (Snickers!!!!!!!!!!!!)


 To stroke your ego?


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## tanstaafl28 (Sep 10, 2012)

astriom said:


> Perhaps I didn't understand your question the way you intended, but I'm glad you found an answer from someone that did understand what you were asking for. :happy:


A sincere and well-crafted turn of words. :wink:


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## ENTPreneur (Dec 13, 2009)

Yes I do. But I cannot explain greens and reds to the colorblind...

;-)


OK, to be serious: I believe that I am among the people that my surroundings would call "most gifted/talented"... Not necessarily intelligent.

I have great artistic ability for artwork and writing, a musical ear, easily learn languages, get high (but not super-duper high) scores on the IQ-tests, have high EQ and a silver tongue. I easily read people and can see their deepest thoughts. I can befriend people/strangers in a minute. I have a lightning fast analytical mindset that seldom falters. I hardly sleep. I am allegedly perhaps THE most innovative and creative person my friends have met. Top it off with good looks and youthful appearance... And I am humble. Almost too humble, to be honest... 

And I am lonely. Very, very lonely. Have been all my life. So very few interesting people and who can understand -or are interested in - what I am talking about or how I see the world and the happenings in it. Being a 100% extrovert can be a true curse sometimes...

(I did exaggerate slightly, but there is a core to it). I actually am quite humble.


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## JungyesMBTIno (Jul 22, 2011)

Of course. That's a pretty obvious question. Jung acknowledged awareness of mental processes in relation to the outside world and conditioning as a sign of high intelligence. I refuse to give the PC answer of "everyone's equal" in terms of mentality (sure, you get plenty of gifts on the side, but it gets to a point where it's clear enough who has mental depth and who lacks it when you can consider the person's general "level" of analytical depth - it doesn't always have to appear consistently a certain way, but when you see the highs, it's clear enough what kind of mindset you're dealing with). I'm definitely NOT one of those people who believes that great grades = high intelligence necessarily (I know plenty of people I would guess have an IQ around 115 or so who were more-or-less at the top of their class). I don't view intelligence as a black-and-white construct either, except for in obvious extremes (I mean, sometimes, it's undeniable who lacks brain power - as a brilliant teacher of mine said once, "Some people just won't learn, no matter how hard you try to teach them." If you show the capacity and willingness to track your learning, then you're probably no dummy.


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