| I think you misunderstand what "smart" means. More likely what you think by "smart" is actually "smart, knowledgeable and wise". Smart is only capacity for noticing and understanding new things. It does not mean the person has presently a lot of understanding of things (knowledge) or that it has good judgment to not say untrue things in area they have no idea about (wisdom). A person that is smart but has little knowledge will not be able to keep up in discussion with you in your area of expertise even if they are actually more intelligent than you. Give them some time and see if they can pick up things fast or are slow to understand new concepts. This is better way to judge if somebody is or is not smart. ** Imagine following situation: you are talking about something you know a lot about with a person that has no knowledge in your field of expertise. That person decides to learn your field. Let's say, in 2 years they know more in your field than you will ever know and they even are able to get a lot of original insight that leads to some astounding accomplishments. Ask yourself, was that person "not smart" when you first talked to him/her? Or maybe they were always smart but they still needed to invest at least some time and effort to learn the field? |