Comments on: Smart-people traps

By: Larry

Larry — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:15:06 +0000

This is a variation on #4.

Idle hands
Smart people are most comfortable up in their heads. So they often neglect learning how to do actual things - fix a bike, code a web page, kern type, build a desk, grow a tomato - for themselves. They see it as something some trade school type can do. And they wake up one day and realize they don’t know how to do anything.

By: Ben Chun

Ben Chun — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 20:48:41 +0000

Here’s great article from a former teacher English at Yale on this topic:

http://www.theamericanscholar.org/su08/elite-deresiewicz.html

The Disadvantages of an Elite Education
“Our best universities have forgotten that the reason they exist is to make minds, not careers”

By: Name (required)

Name (required) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 18:55:45 +0000

I like this background effect when you scrollwheel.

By: Ibod Catooga

Ibod Catooga — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 21:49:49 +0000

A good smart people trap would be a BMW on the edge of a cliff!

When the Yuppie got into it, it’d fall down the cliff as his/her weight unbalanced it!

Oh oh oh also another good smart people trap would be to put a copy of Godel, Escher, Bach in a pit filled with crocodiles!

Smart people can’t resist that book, and when they fell into the pit….CHOMP!

This is all the smart people traps I can think of for now.

By: DrSmartyPants

DrSmartyPants — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 22:17:47 +0000

Blogging. Smart people often think that they need to prove to rest of the world hoe smart they are by wasting ours on their hobby. They try to rationalize it anyway they can but in the end they are doing it just to get some attention.

By: Tamer Salama

Tamer Salama — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 22:54:20 +0000

OK, now after knowing I’m trapped; How do I get out?

By: Peter

Peter — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 00:50:34 +0000

Good stuff. Here’s another trap. Hubris.
Excessive confidence in your own abilities. I’m thinking specifically of people’s excessive belief in their ability to make decisions independently of external influences (e.g. doctors and their relationships with drug companies).

By: Tim Harris

Tim Harris — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 08:29:35 +0000

Another variant on #4:
Debate
Smart people often like to debate ideas/details for long past what is a useful discussion. Being able to “Get Things Done” is half the mantra: “Smart and Gets Things Done”.

I actually think the other traps boil down to this one above. A lack of focus on the end goal is what causes #1, #2 and #3 to be traps…

By: Albert

Albert — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 13:28:33 +0000

Tamer Salama: you are smart by definition (read first paragraph). Redefine your context and just be smart.

By: Alrenous

Alrenous — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 15:37:41 +0000

On the other hand, the whole getting attention things works.

By: Tina

Tina — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 08:41:59 +0000

Your description of critical thinking is not quite right. It’s about figuring out the less obvious, subtle meanings and implications in something, NOT “thinking like a critic/focusing onthe negative.” That’s what critical thinking is to arrogant lazy people who want to show off, not think.

By: amy.leblanc

amy.leblanc — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 15:17:02 +0000

i’ve definitely been trapped by all of these, and the more i think about it, the dumber i feel.

By: Axel Albin

Axel Albin — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 16:38:53 +0000

@ Tina

I agree with your point. And I don’t mean to give Critical Thinking short shrift. As you describe it, it’s an amazing tool.

What I was trying to get at in this section of the post is that smart people are often rewarded for showing off, for being arrogantly critical. I’ve seen people make whole careers in this way. But they are not happy, and nobody likes them, and they don’t put their smarts to good use.

By: smartypants

smartypants — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 23:13:29 +0000

I remember as a kid saying to my Dad, “I want to get paid for what I know, not what I do.” I didn’t know anything then. Now I think I do, and all I do is question it…

By: aaronb

aaronb — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 04:00:43 +0000

Maybe I’m taking #2 too personally but isn’t the whole concept of smart people traps an example of #4? ; )

What is a not-trap for smart people to fall into? Some other common smart-pursuits not named are the career arts, serial entrepreneurship, constant traveling… I’m sure we could come up with sour-sounding descriptions of the traps inherent in each of these.

Maybe the real generating idea behind this trap idea is conducting oneself too cautiously or taking oneself too seriously. You can do pretty much anything - even banking! - with passion or at least a feisty irreverence, and if you’re of that mindset then it’s hard to do it any other way, let alone fall into a ‘trap.’ To me, it’d feel more constructive to focus on ways to achieve that, if it is even the sort of thing you can teach.

By: Tony

Tony — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 05:21:53 +0000

A big trap I see smart people fall into is believing that thinking is the same as doing.