-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Aimee and Jim wrote:
> Faustine isn't coy, she's humble. >>And you're easily fooled. Huh? Where's the con? It really depends on what you mean by "humble". Let's see: I have an IQ of 166 (Cattell); which puts me in the 99.7 percentile of the population. However, the Triple Nine Society--representing those testing at or above the 99.9 th percentile--accepts a GRE Analytical score of 760. I scored a 780. So in that respect? Not humble, never pretended to be. On the other hand, when you happen to be working with a true mathematical genius who hands you several pages of analytic work, then calls you back ten minutes later with an impatient "Why aren't you done yet?" because he does all the calculations instantly and entirely in his head and you're not comfortable in your accuracy without a calculator...now that's humbling. Or: humility is relative. I don't care who you are or what you do, there's always someone 1) smarter who 2) knows more and 3) has done more than you. The trick is to find them and learn from them. Why bristle up and get a chip on your shoulder when you could be improving your own understanding and ability instead? If you actually want to DO something in this world (as opposed to sitting around feeling smug), you just can't afford to be arrogant and complacent. Though it's true that for every problem, there's a dimininshing return on investing time in reading the works of others, why reinvent the wheel? I can assure you that kind of intellectual vanity is the fast track to making a grade-A ass of yourself. I saw it happen once, pretty gruesome...the ninny sure had it coming though. Without a broad and deep reserve of knowledge to draw on, you're lost. I believe in adding to mine wherever and whenever I can. Having a self-confessed big head doesn't have to keep you from being able to accept a good old-fashioned no-rose-glasses view of your place in reality. And as far as I'm concerned, nobody ever did anything worthwhile taking it easy and patting himself on the back. Which is one of the reasons why I think high IQ societies are a pointless waste of time. Ugh, boring! As I've said, if you have a superior intelligence and aren't doing anything with it--that is, if you're content to spend all your time on the kinds of pursuits it only takes a person of average intelligence to do or appreciate-- you're not really that much better off than if you actually were average. Which is fine, as far as it goes: after all, there's no shortage of average people to pal around with. I just can't see any reason in this world why I shouldn't hold myself and the people I respect to a higher standard. Big head and all. ;) ~Faustine. *** He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself. - --Thomas Paine -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGPsdk version 1.7.1 (C) 1997-1999 Network Associates, Inc. and its affiliated companies. (Diffie-Helman/DSS-only version) iQA/AwUBPHiXQPg5Tuca7bfvEQKPzACg4HUvFGc7+0fzMaj50rdz3mR93REAoLbU IlHakwqrH/Ps/dwEiMFhSAMY =DxTU -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
