Sometimes rich and powerful people are just dumb as shit, but they’re in that position because of heredity or accident. Also, being willing to hurt others, break laws, and ignore boundaries doesn’t require much intelligence.
Comments
Log in with your Bluesky account to leave a comment
Also, a lot of being competent is not about intelligence. There are skills and your personality traits. Discipline, reacting well under pressure, being easily provoked, needing approval,... E.g. Napoleon fighting aggressive was not a calculate choice, it was his personality.
Intelligence can also be a problem bc it makes it easier to come up with complex justifications to do stuff you shouldn't do. Bc 99% of the time people's actual priorities are determined by emotions and the rationalizations come later.
right -- like even the classic "great man" view of history didn't necessarily posit that they were "high IQ" -- just that they had a lot of power, and therefore were the only people that really mattered. the "cHeCk Ur PrIoRs" rationalist / eugenicist thing really is a vibe huh.
The weirdest constant I've noticed among rich edgy "genius" types is lack of regard for fire safety. One dude told me he thought the legally mandated fire exit signs ruined the aesthetic of the experience he was trying to create. Death traps are apparently a perfect way to disrupt the status quo.
I think it’s especially the case here: Elon Musk (like Trump, oddly enough) has a certain animal cleverness when it comes to self promotion, and taking credit for other people’s accomplishments, that some people mistake for intelligence.
people like nate and noah cling to the myth of meritocracy religiously because it's a tentpole holding up their self esteem. They must be smart and good and right and virtuous for being where they are, when they are, or else how would they ever feel good about anything?
That, and it lets them project order onto a chaotic world.
If all people can be measured for skill, and that skill indicates who will do the best job, then we can solve problems of how to organize society with math. If that's not the case, then maybe society is unsolvable, mathematically... 1/2
the older i get the more obvious it becomes that, in many if not most fields, it's more important to be confident, outgoing, and driven than it is to be smart.
i love their construction as well: if a dogshit dumb Hapsburg mutant destroys the planet, by the fact that things have changed due to their actions, they are a great man of history! and how do you decide who is smart? they are a great man of history!
Bush Junior was no great intellect, but he also lacked the combination of stupidity, ego, and stubbornness that keeps Donald from listening to other people. He didn't always listen to the right people, but option was there.
for a statistics guy, nate bronze really doesn’t seem to get that given a large enough population there will be at least one person at the far far end of the gaussian
Comments
If all people can be measured for skill, and that skill indicates who will do the best job, then we can solve problems of how to organize society with math. If that's not the case, then maybe society is unsolvable, mathematically... 1/2
Who gets to be called “a genius?”
Nate: Wow so smart!