Everyone's an idiot some of the time (Scott Adams anecdote)

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19 points·bguthrie··5 comments

The same rule - it's temporary - applies just as well to Genius for most of us. There are complete idiots and there are complete geniuses, but most of us will bounce into both categories from time to time.

There's an excellent TED talk from Elizabeth Gilbert [1] on the history of 'genius', which originated as a term to describe someone being supported by a genius, not that they were intrinsically a genius themselves and at all times.

Worth considering next time you completely stuff up; and probably even more valuable to consider next time you nail something perfectly, and believe it will continue.

[1] http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

This is egalitarian nonsense. Most people are not geniuses ever.

Idiocy is also not synonymous with ignorance or foolishness.

"An idiot differs from a fool (who is unwise) and an ignoramus (who is uneducated/an ignorant), neither of which refer to someone with low intelligence."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiot

Very well then - apply the terminology that is more correct; rinse and repeat. I think the key point is recognising that there is inherent capability and there is behaviour, and we are each capable ot greater or more foolish behaviour at various times.

Using the correct terminology makes the point uninteresting. People want to believe that we are all capable of genius, but we are not.

You might want to learn about "fundamental attribution error " as the truth is somewhere in between the op position and yours imo.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamental_attribution_error

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