On reflection, I think it’s highly likely that in the past I’ve gone out of my way to signal high intelligence (by learning memory tricks, “deep” quotations, display intellectual reading prominently, etc) because on some level I suspected that I’m not actually very smart and yet I hugely value massive brainpower (alas, my parents praised me for “being smart”).
Interestingly (to me, anyway), I think that this has greatly diminished since I got involved with LessWrong. My belief is that interacting with actual extremely smart people made the whole thing seem silly, so I was able to get on with just trying to level up and not making such a big show about it.
Of course, it makes sense that signalling exceptional intelligence stops seeming like a worthwhile strategy when everyone in the community is perceived as equally or more intelligent, but it’s noteworthy and admirable that what replaced it was giving up on signaling altogether and concentrating on actual self-improvement, rather than the far more common (though less useful) tactic of signalling something else that was more reliably high-status in that community.
You may have knowledge about this particular case I don’t, but unless we know XFrequentist is telling the truth rather than self-decieving (or we know that there is a high probability of such) we shouldn’t give him positive reinforcement.
Agreed (although still appreciated, TOD)! I could easily be wrong.
The evidence I would call on to support my belief are that:
I spend more time actually working on stuff than I used to,
I get less flustered in situations where others’ perception of my intellect could suffer a hit (presentations, meetings, group conversations),
in discussion/argument, I feel less concerned whether or not I come off as intelligent,
I’ve observed fewer people telling me that I’m smart.
I can think of alternate explanations for all these observations though. I’ll ask folk at our next meetup whether they think this is accurate, and I’ll also ask a few people that have known me well for the past few years. The outside view is clearly more reliable here.
because on some level I suspected that I’m not actually very smart
Every smart person has this tendency, really. From the inside, being smart doesn’t feel like there’s anything different about you. It just feels like intellectual tasks are easier. There’s easy way to feel how hard it is for a not-smart person to learn or do something.
On reflection, I think it’s highly likely that in the past I’ve gone out of my way to signal high intelligence (by learning memory tricks, “deep” quotations, display intellectual reading prominently, etc) because on some level I suspected that I’m not actually very smart and yet I hugely value massive brainpower (alas, my parents praised me for “being smart”).
Interestingly (to me, anyway), I think that this has greatly diminished since I got involved with LessWrong. My belief is that interacting with actual extremely smart people made the whole thing seem silly, so I was able to get on with just trying to level up and not making such a big show about it.
That’s interesting.
Of course, it makes sense that signalling exceptional intelligence stops seeming like a worthwhile strategy when everyone in the community is perceived as equally or more intelligent, but it’s noteworthy and admirable that what replaced it was giving up on signaling altogether and concentrating on actual self-improvement, rather than the far more common (though less useful) tactic of signalling something else that was more reliably high-status in that community.
That’s pretty cool. Good for you!
You may have knowledge about this particular case I don’t, but unless we know XFrequentist is telling the truth rather than self-decieving (or we know that there is a high probability of such) we shouldn’t give him positive reinforcement.
Agreed (although still appreciated, TOD)! I could easily be wrong.
The evidence I would call on to support my belief are that:
I spend more time actually working on stuff than I used to,
I get less flustered in situations where others’ perception of my intellect could suffer a hit (presentations, meetings, group conversations),
in discussion/argument, I feel less concerned whether or not I come off as intelligent,
I’ve observed fewer people telling me that I’m smart.
I can think of alternate explanations for all these observations though. I’ll ask folk at our next meetup whether they think this is accurate, and I’ll also ask a few people that have known me well for the past few years. The outside view is clearly more reliable here.
Every smart person has this tendency, really. From the inside, being smart doesn’t feel like there’s anything different about you. It just feels like intellectual tasks are easier. There’s easy way to feel how hard it is for a not-smart person to learn or do something.