Scribble
Archmage
A good analogy is problem solving.
People of average intelligence tend to go at things in a linear fashion. We do this, then that, then that, and hopefully we get to a solution. This is a linear approach. Go out and count them all, one by one.
People of high intelligence also have at their disposal, lateral reasoning. They make connections and leaps that are not immediately visible to others. They see patterns other people do not readily see. Find some underlying pattern or principle that you can leverage to make a leap. Think of Sherlock Holmes.
Some of the pitfalls of being highly intelligent:
They see solutions that others don't see, and can become frustrated that they don't see them as plain as they do.
They may explain things very poorly to the average person. They are leaping all over the place from the perspective of the listener. They may be unable to perceive how the other person does not immediately "see" what they mean.
They may dismiss solutions that come from "simple" sources. If a solution is presented in a muddled way, it may be discarded as having the patterns of a bad solution. Intelligent people come to rely on patterns to rapidly sort good solutions from bad, and this may be a downfall. There may be some brass under the muck.
They may dismiss solutions that are tangled up with solutions that are known to be wrong/useless. The example that comes to mind are alternative healing practices. Putting a candle on your toes won't cure anything, but the experience of having a healer tend to you actually brings healing benefits from psychological changes. Western clinical medicine is effective, but lacking that personal element. There is a very good idea of personal attention in alternative medicines, but often dismissed with the entire package because the candle on the toes doesn't actually do anything. We lose the good idea of personal attention in healing.
The highly intelligent person may feel isolated because of their intelligence. Others around them may enjoy what they see as "simple pleasures" and feel excluded, because they are always operating at a level that is above others. While regular people are just being themselves, they may be analyzing the psychological interactions of the group, experimenting socially. That kind of thinking can make one feel quite alone.
They may have overactive pattern-seeking. This leads people into seeing conspiracies where there are none. They are putting things together that don't actually go together. Having an intelligent mind is not a substitute for critical thinking. If you think that A causes B, then you can make all kinds of links between A's and B's in the world. The result is an elaborate illusion constructed upon a root causal error. In time the construction can become very complex as the intelligent mind tries to plug all the holes with reasoning.
People of average intelligence tend to go at things in a linear fashion. We do this, then that, then that, and hopefully we get to a solution. This is a linear approach. Go out and count them all, one by one.
People of high intelligence also have at their disposal, lateral reasoning. They make connections and leaps that are not immediately visible to others. They see patterns other people do not readily see. Find some underlying pattern or principle that you can leverage to make a leap. Think of Sherlock Holmes.
Some of the pitfalls of being highly intelligent:
They see solutions that others don't see, and can become frustrated that they don't see them as plain as they do.
They may explain things very poorly to the average person. They are leaping all over the place from the perspective of the listener. They may be unable to perceive how the other person does not immediately "see" what they mean.
They may dismiss solutions that come from "simple" sources. If a solution is presented in a muddled way, it may be discarded as having the patterns of a bad solution. Intelligent people come to rely on patterns to rapidly sort good solutions from bad, and this may be a downfall. There may be some brass under the muck.
They may dismiss solutions that are tangled up with solutions that are known to be wrong/useless. The example that comes to mind are alternative healing practices. Putting a candle on your toes won't cure anything, but the experience of having a healer tend to you actually brings healing benefits from psychological changes. Western clinical medicine is effective, but lacking that personal element. There is a very good idea of personal attention in alternative medicines, but often dismissed with the entire package because the candle on the toes doesn't actually do anything. We lose the good idea of personal attention in healing.
The highly intelligent person may feel isolated because of their intelligence. Others around them may enjoy what they see as "simple pleasures" and feel excluded, because they are always operating at a level that is above others. While regular people are just being themselves, they may be analyzing the psychological interactions of the group, experimenting socially. That kind of thinking can make one feel quite alone.
They may have overactive pattern-seeking. This leads people into seeing conspiracies where there are none. They are putting things together that don't actually go together. Having an intelligent mind is not a substitute for critical thinking. If you think that A causes B, then you can make all kinds of links between A's and B's in the world. The result is an elaborate illusion constructed upon a root causal error. In time the construction can become very complex as the intelligent mind tries to plug all the holes with reasoning.
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