Comment · Thu, September 27, 2012 · Ceretropic
How do smart people really think?
Original post in this thread
Sherlockian_Holmes · 476 points
I have always wondered about this, maybe because I've always been behind in school, and felt quite inadequate in general knowledge or something else like that. But how do really smart people think about stuff? I've been [un]fortunate enough to spend a lot of time around a lot of smart people, and I have always been quite inspired by their ability to come up with novel solutions, solve really hard problems easily, and come up with tangential answers and see random connections between disparate pieces of knowledge (e.g. free association).
I am pretty sure I have been brainwashed by TV-series such as House MD, Lie To Me and Prison Break to think that when highly intelligent people think about stuff, sparks are flying, so to speak. When I am reading a book for instance, I have this idea that I should be coming up with lots of associations to what I am reading, and also be seeing the scenes that are depicted extremely vividly. So when I am reading and everything is going extremely slow, and I don't sense any sparks flying, I just kind of lose interest or get fed up, and go look at the computer instead. At least there, I get to "see" stuff, so I don't have to use my (in my perception)…
What they were answering
Sherlockian_Holmes · 4 points
Could you give some examples of these "complex ideas" that you have that people can't follow? I'm genuinely interested.
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb · Ceretropic
To be honest, all the answers on here are fucking retarded. They are not helping you to realize the intrinsic ability of your brain to learn on it's own. Everyone over-complicates their reality to provide themselves some meaning and purpose. The people you are talking about in your initial question, the ones you consider intelligent, do not. The best way I can explain how a truly intelligent person thinks, is that they see everything in it's simplest form. Once you boil each stimuli of your conscious experience to it's simplest form, you can then build and create connections that would not be apparent during higher levels of thought. It's not about seeing the complexities in the world around you, it's about seeing the simplicity. Realize the simplicities of the complex systems around you and then build up to your level of ability. It's that simple. Anyone telling you otherwise is letting their conscious need for meaning cloud their objective view of their own experience.