[mortify]

>some people truly are stupid.

This is a difficult fact to accept. We have all been told that people are generally equal, especially in intelligence, if given the same opportunities, but it becomes more clear in time that some problems are intractable to some people and no amount of training or exposure can change that. However, it's a better answer to the problem of why some people like Cleese's example do not absorb information. The alternative is to apply malice and laziness to them when it just isn't so.

We all have these intelligence holes that gives some insight into the mechanism. Eg. I'm bad at remembering names. As in the example, if you tell me someone's name, I'm likely to forget it 5 minutes later. I just spent 3 years reading Douglas Hofstadter's book and had to look up his name to type it here. This seems to happen because I don't see an application to remembering the name. I'm never going to meet Doug and rarely will anyone need to be told about the book, so why remember it? There's definitely a parallel to state capitals in that example.

[kreeben]

Well said about not realizing it's important therefore names get down prioritized. Here's a counter point. I'm a movie geek. Yet when I reach for a name of someone from the cast I almost always end up describing, y'know, that guy who played together with that other guy in that movie, y'know, the one with the weird story line? Him! Yes, him. Love him.