[hellyeasa]

Good god. What is this pretentious bullshit? This tone of this post was so incredibly ridiculous I had to create an account to ask why it was posted here or taken seriously.

This self proclaimed smart person, with heavy emphasis on the self proclaimed part (check out the incredibly smug About page) apparently needs Lyme disease to feel the plight of the oh so pitiful stupid people. News flash, half the population is dumber than average, stop acting like Lyme disease is a cute self reflection on intelligence.

I am not attacking your smartness, and please get well soon, but don't be a pretentious asshole. God. South Park's "Smug Alert!" episode perfectly encapsulates the culture of this place sometimes.

Over and out.

[toretore]

I don't see anything pretentious about it. He's not bragging about being smart, just stating that he is what most people would call intelligent.

Intelligence can mean many things, but I like to think of it in terms of "brain power"; the amount of abstract thought you can hold and process, your brain's RAM and CPU power so to speak.

The term depression is very broad and probably encompasses numerous as-yet-undefined sub-categories, but his description is very much like my own experience: A dulling of the mind. It's like downclocking the brain's CPU and emotional coprocessor from 2Ghz to 200Mhz. Thinking became slow and required more effort, analytical capabilities pretty much went away and I didn't have the spare capacity to really enjoy anything. A song or a movie I knew I liked just didn't register because my brain wasn't capable of processing it the way it used to. Learning became uninteresting and a chore and problem solving became near impossible. In short, I felt really dumb. I knew I wasn't, but I couldn't "smarten up" however much I tried. Knowing this, not being able to enjoy learning, problem solving or experiencing something was the worst terror of depression.

The experience left me wondering about the immutability or genetic predeterminism of "intelligence". If we broadly define intelligence as "brain power", I know now that it can vary a great deal. I wonder how much of this brain power is predetermined through genetics and how much is affected by the environment. We know that diet plays a large role and that certain diseases affect the brain in this way. How much of a person's "dumbness" can be removed by changing the external factors? In addition, I think broader aspects of intelligence such as analytical abilities, memory and "abstract capacity" can be taught or improved through training. I know my own "intelligence" certainly has required lots of training through the years, not to mention the knowledge that plays a large part of it that had to be acquired.

[fragsworth]

You aren't alone, I felt very much the same about this post. It's pretty cringe-worthy...

[pgsandstrom]

Cut him some slack, he did write it while having Lyme disease...

[Cakez0r]

This has got to be a new record for me. I made it as far as "I’m a smart guy." and closed the tab. I understand people are deliberately controversial to attract readership, but seriously...

[dwaltrip]

Don't forget, he also now understands what it really means to be depressed...

[eshvk]

> News flash, half the population is dumber than average

Probably not true. What if the mean is skewed by outliers like incredibly smart people or incredibly dumb people; we could very well be living in the world where most of the people are stupid and the average is what it is because of a very few incredibly smart people.

Humorous tangent apart; I can't even imagine thinking like this so-called smart person. If I feel the problem is too easy, I am always trying to figure out harder problems to solve. So much so that I am comfortable with the feeling of being stupid and being befuddled. It merely means I am pushing myself to the edge.

[andreasvc]

Average is an informal term. If you read it as 'median' it works.

[maxmcd]

For what it's worth, I enjoyed the about page. Didn't seem smug to me at all.

[the_cat_kittles]

I have to agree- though maybe some of it can be attributed to naiveté. A couple red flags include his characterization of intelligence (it aint that simple!) and how he mixes up depression and apathy with being dumb.

[lotsofcows]

I can see where you're coming from but don't really agree. I suppose stating how intelligent he considers himself is largely irrelevant. A less intelligent person would still feel a loss of intelligence.

[Daniel_Newby]

I see no pretention. It is no more smug than a born strong-man talking about the facts of his muscle wasting disease.

P.S. Loss of intelligence is devastating. If you do not believe me, shut up and try it for yourself: tell a doctor you have frequent migraines and ask to be prescribed a drug called topiramate—stupid in a pill. Just don't come whining to me when it destroys your career and alienated your friends.

[k__]

Being born smart is utter bullshit. Same as being born strong.

You have to work for it. Some people got help from their parents when they were young, and some didn't. Some had one day of their life the idea to learn something or train, and some didn't.

The "predetermined talents" thinking is one of the biggest myths alive.

[Peaker]

Well, part of being smart is genetic. For example, a cat or gorilla's genetic makeup do not allow them to work hard and become as smart as most humans.