well, welcome to 2022. It's hard to find really smart people: don't be fooled by credentials and a superficial love of learning...Even those who seem to have a certain amount of erudition are not really smart--there's a clue to find out those but I won't reveal it. It's a lonely world for the smart person, but we have books and this helps.

The thing about people is that at first we are all good and nice to each other until the surface-niceness wears off and true characters emerge, the real face, and much as one can be optimistic and say a person in his true character is both good and bad--hopefully more good than bad--it is the small amount of bad that can lead to a variety of problems.

In the modern world, it is becoming increasingly hard to find psychologically healthy people, and hence, I never seek other people to befriend and am content with my books and pets.