h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

>>(no ID tag attached to them)<<
Shouldn't this read: no IQ tag attached to them?!?

3

It's not that I'm a snob, it's just that the rest of the world is beneith me!

Ok, I understand what you're saying about mean people being popular, but the thing about people that are popular is that they have some sort of trait that others admire or covet. Good looking people tend to be pretty popular; If someone is nasty, but particularly witty, they may be popular; Physically strong people are popular....it's that whole osmosis thing. It has less to do with being nice, inteligent or actually possessing usefull skills, and more to do with the fact that the rest of the world would like to have big pecs through osmosis. (Well, ok, maybe not EVERYBODY) It's not fair, but unfortunatly I think you'll find it's true.

For those who didn't see it, the medal project was a disaster....NO MEDAL! PEZ!

Yeah, what Spartus said, suddenly this gets interesting again!

Hm, but I fear I share so little of this. I rarely achieved as a straight-A student, but I couldn't ever shake the perception that surrounded doing well in school. The socially ineptitude going along with intelligence didn't really hold true in my experience. Most of the somewhat more intelligent people I knew were still much more socially skilled than I was. To some degree this is still true.

I didn't then and don't now have very many friends. In fact, I am no longer in contact with anyone from school days. Not one. The only real constants have been a few people at work, since I've worked there for the past 8 years. The advent of this internet thing has been interesting. Suddenly my lack of social skills doesn't seem to matter. That is, as long as I don't try to meet them face to face. So far, that has not seemed to work, well, a couple times it did, a few years ago, but the situations were slightly different. Imagine already knowing someone fairly well and still not being able to talk when finally meeting in person. That's the sort of thing I mean.

So I've never been popular. I don't possess any of those things that others really covet. Occasionally I run across people who seem to want to talk to someone who will listen, and I make a friend of sorts. It seems there are only so many people out there who value someone who is pleasant, intelligent, supportive and who listens and actually cares. It's what people insist they want, but when it comes right down to it, they really don't. They say it's more important than looks, etc., but they're lying to cover the fact that they're really just interested in the superficial stuff first and only hoping that they can get the rest of it.

Sigh.

Hmmm...Crazy makes an interesting point: "Most of the somewhat more intelligent people I knew were still much more socially skilled..." When I deal with my intelligent friends, they are certainly not socially inept. Maybe we're looking at this from the wrong angle. Maybe we intellectuals are far better skilled at social things than the sheep, so much so that we find the sheep barbaric and clumsy and folish. Maybe we don't have legions of friends simply because we hate all the other people, and we're very selective. I know for fact it's why I don't date more, so why can't it apply to everyone?

Krissy: I'll accept a Pez dispenser, but only if it features Bill Clinton's actual head!

No, Hypoman, it *shouldn't* be.

It's not intelligence really so much as intellectualism. See.

And it's not nice.

Good point.

I'm not saying that *I'm* very smart. I'm still scared to death that I'm not bright enough for the real world.
This is normal.

I'm not a straight-A student, not have I ever been. I'm neither an overachiever nor a perfectionist. I don't take my homework home. The homework I do is rarely, rarely double-checked. I don't take any particularly strong interest in schoolwork in general; therefore I fail to fall into the Smart Kids category, by universal standards.

What I am saying is that everyone around me at the moment is completely braindead, so all it takes to be tossed aside as dull and brainy is...

...er, literacy.

But then why aren't smart people popular?

I'm not a straight-A student either, nor am I very concerned with schoolwork...but that certainly doesn't mean I'm not smarter than most of the people I've met, as most of the people I've met will tell you. Being smart has nothing to do with getting good grades in school.

Smart people (not to be confused with smart-@$$es or arrogant b@st@rd) become more popular the older the audience.

This is a sad, sad sounding post crazyone, and one which I cannot entirely agree with. Anyone who is looking to meet people who are "pleasant, intelligent, supportive and who listens and actually cares" are the type who know what social integration is all about. Yes, looks count to a certain degree, but most of the people I know would not be classed as stunners, and these are the people who I can actually interact with.

The few people I do know who are obsessed with appearance, become incredibly boring after 15 - 20 minutes.

Bear in mind that a lot of ignorant people use their period of 'listening' simply to formulate their next sentences, but only by listening can you hope to develop a conversation.

I did at one time believe in the same way that your post implies, but it helped me to follow a tenet that 'you create your own reality', and your perception of others attitudes towards you is determined only by your own thoughts/ideas call it what you will.

I think every human is looking for social interaction, everyone has the same fears/insecurities no matter what their outward mask may be, and by accepting this, and relaxing with it, you'll probably find your social circle improving no end. Who says this circle has to extend any further than it already is? It would be all well and good knowing thousands of people, but would only be possible on a very superficial level.

Personally, I have a dedicated, small social group of people I can depend upon, which I think is a more valuable attribute, than a large group of people who are somewhat superficial.

What - I believe - other people covet, is other people they can trust, who share similar interests, and people who will listen and care about them. I wouldn't let your attitudes be changed just in order to 'fit in' with others, but retain and develop the ones you've already naturally got, and promote them. Otherwise you really will end up to be dull and socially inept. Imagine the alternative to what you've got. People who are unpleasant, stupid, non-supportive, and who don't listen or care about others. That would determine true social ineptitude.

I think you'll probably find your experiencing the 'grass is always greener' attitude with this philosophy.

Oops - got carried away again.

Very true. So it's that older people value intelligence more, while younger people are more concerned with looks and athleticism and such? Sounds like a good theory to me.

Hey, I whine about that sometimes, I don't know how much of what I wrote up there appears to be lamenting the fact that I have few friends. It's not true. I'm very happy to have a few really good friends than to have oh so many superficial acquaintances. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Ah, hell. As for the rest of it, I don't know anymore. It takes far too long for that thread to pop back up when I hit the back button, and I'm not doing it again.

Tsk tsk tsk... oh, so little patience... on the other hand, I threaten my computer upon loading threads like this too, so maybe I'm just not decisive enough. I don't know.

"Why are geniuses so freaky?"
Why not?

I'm nominally regarded as quite bright (IQ of 157 at a Mensa-invigilated test, just before leaving school... I couldn't afford the £6 admin fee to join, though!)

I find that my mind can work in two modes - Sociable or Problem-solving - but these are mutually incompatible. While I can be "all sweetness and light" in a social situation, if I come upon a problem which needs more than my peripheral attention, I metamorphosise into a rude anti-social b@st@rd who barks at anyone who has the temerity to distract me with "stupid" questions. My basic solution to this has been, if someone asks me to fix something, to say "leave it with me", even if I suspect the problem will only take seconds to solve once they have left the room...

In RL I have many 'Acquaintances' but a very select few I call 'friend'. Oddly enough, friendship is easier on the net.

Well, after a while you get thoroughly sick of the same old superficial BS and all the Peyton Place nonsense that goes with it, and *yern* for an intelligent being with whom to interact.

Anonymouse, I'm kinda curious about this. What is it about friendship in RL that you find more difficult that friendship on the net? Is it just a location thing?

People are at their ease on the 'Net due to anonymity and a relief from physical self-consciousness.

Ok on the anonymity, as to the self-consciousness, I can understand why a lot of women would suffer from this when speaking to guys as most of them appear to having a direct conversation with their breasts.

Personally, I find it easier to interact directly in RL, as you can determine peoples true attitudes/opinions from their body language/tone far more honestly than from simply reading their opinions.

I regard a true friend as someone you can trust with your most intimate opinions, and I reckon this would be harder to do on the net, as you don't really know who else could be involved in this, or in what way those opinions/beliefs could be abused by.

Emoticons help somewhat, but again, if not used in some situations, I can see how it would be very easy to offend someone without actually meaning to. I know from the way I use the net, typing while at the same time using a mental tone of voice, and find sometimes on reading back over what I've written, that boy, you've got to be careful.

However, I tend not to look back at that too often, and obviously not when at the time I'm posting.

In addition, some people - me included - can probably give the impression of being in a certain personality type from their posts, but when you meet them in real life the can seem completly different.

Confusion, there's another thing. I often find that typing leads to babbling, and to a stranger may seem like I'm completely insane or something, when in fact I might not be.

BTW, it's also so much easier to go off on a tangent on the net, as you've got no direct feedback to what you're posting, and can't tell from someone elses expression whether it's time to stop or not.

With the anonymity comes two most prominent options:

The option to develop sincere relationships based on honesty and a deep understanding of (often hidden) aspects of a person's nature undistracted by appearances or misread body language.

The potential for great deceit and risk.

When it works, it soars.

When it doesn't, it can be heartbreaking, and even dangerous.