The Cellar - View Single Post - Here's how it is, and this goes back to Socrates

Undertoad · 01-11-2010, 01:14 PM

You can take the Socrates out of it, Sky, if you like.

I think he was one of the first people to notice: that one of the smartest things he ever realized, was how much he didn't know.

I think of it when I read UG or Radar arguing like this:

I am right, because I am smarter than you.

The first thing I notice is that this incorrect on its face; it is not a logical argument; it's an Appeal to Authority.

There is a very rich irony in the "smartest" people constantly indulging in this logical fallacy.

But moreover, over time, I personally find intelligence to be kind of overrated. It's a personal thing. When I was a youngster, they gave me the long psych-supervised IQ tests, and they found that I was "gifted" and at the high end of the bell curve.

Now, in my middle ages, I see that this is a nice thing to have; like being good looking, or being coordinated, or getting good genes, or having rich parents. It's a little advantage you get, right out of the box. But A) it entitles you to exactly jack shit; like all the other advantages, it only matters what you do with it. And B) you wind up terribly wrong and utterly confused about a shitload of things, just like everybody else.

So, as I get older, I find that I pay more attention to people with a certain humility. (And not Rk's fake humility, as Clod pointed out, where at the end of the day he's still utterly self-absorbed and it's still all about him.)

01-11-2010, 01:14 PM	#12
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	You can take the Socrates out of it, Sky, if you like. I think he was one of the first people to notice: that one of the smartest things he ever realized, was how much he didn't know. I think of it when I read UG or Radar arguing like this: I am right, because I am smarter than you. The first thing I notice is that this incorrect on its face; it is not a logical argument; it's an Appeal to Authority. There is a very rich irony in the "smartest" people constantly indulging in this logical fallacy. But moreover, over time, I personally find intelligence to be kind of overrated. It's a personal thing. When I was a youngster, they gave me the long psych-supervised IQ tests, and they found that I was "gifted" and at the high end of the bell curve. Now, in my middle ages, I see that this is a nice thing to have; like being good looking, or being coordinated, or getting good genes, or having rich parents. It's a little advantage you get, right out of the box. But A) it entitles you to exactly jack shit; like all the other advantages, it only matters what you do with it. And B) you wind up terribly wrong and utterly confused about a shitload of things, just like everybody else. So, as I get older, I find that I pay more attention to people with a certain humility. (And not Rk's fake humility, as Clod pointed out, where at the end of the day he's still utterly self-absorbed and it's still all about him.)