Comments by "Holger P." (@holger_p) on "Thoughty2" channel.

That's a noticable difference ! To learn, you need curiosity, this starts with the idea "there is something I don't know or I don't understand ... let's find out".
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@ruukinen Well, to start a research on something, you have to be optimistic "it's possible to find it". If you call this "overestimating". People were optimistic to create a nuclear fusion power station. They overestimated themselves. That's part of the game. Unavoidable and necessary. The other thing is just, smart people are aware of their smartness sometimes. That's gives them the attitude of "I'm better than you", but that's not to mix up with "I know everything/I can do everything". It's only the relation "I'm better than you".
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In the easy way: You have to be intelligent, to know what you not know. If you don't know what you not know, you think you know everything and consider yourself smart.
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Well, there is always the hope, you can teach them and make them smarter. You try to be helpful ... sometimes it's wasting time. But don't give up.
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@ruukinen You sound, like overestimating is something negative. It is only negative, when it results in "I known already everything, I don't need to learn anything". That is what keeps dumb people dumb. What negative outcome does it have on smart people ? There is also this "middle class level", people who activly pretend to be or know something. It's often the people who make career. Those are self-confident people, not smart people.The smart people stay in their room and write books ;-)
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@ruukinen Well, taking risk is necessary. It needs people to take them in first place. Now you discuss unnecessary vs. necessary risks ? Risky sport is unneccessary. It's considered as thrill or chellange. Why climb a mountain. Of course you can ask such questions. To find out your abilities you have to try, it's often called pushing borders or testing limits. What every little child does versus the parents .. how far can I go. Maybe they overestimate, but how should they know before ? The know after. I agree with your optimum, but this is a theory and not achievable. Finding an optimum most often is finding an equilibrium, you go forth and back and forth and back until you know what your are able to do. Dumb people are anxious people. They avoid risks. "we do things like we always did it". (there is a correlation to conservatives). BTW it's also a reason why people in the age of 15-35 are the most creative. They love risks, or are not aware of risks. It changes later in live, people become more careful, more anxious. You need every type of people to get ahead in science or in civilisation or whatever.
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@ruukinen The effect is on all, it's part of our self-confidence. The difference is the dumb ones are wrong with the assumption "There is nobody better than me", the smart ones are right with the assumption "There is nobody better than me". If we compare us to the absolute truth or the secrets of universe we are all dumb. But comparing to each other, we can say we are better then somebody else. It's easier to measure in sport in the olympics, who runs the fastest marathon. The slower one help themselves with saying "I'm the fastest at my school", the fast one say "I'M world champion". People always say they are the best in their group. If they are not good, the make their group smaller. A dumb person does feel well, as long as sorrounded by dumber people. They even feel smart. It's correct in their group, but not in the world. Negative outcome is only, if the wisest of the group of dummies is going to define how the world should be. If they are not aware, this group is not the world.
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@ruukinen Arrogance is the keyword I was waiting for. Because then you talk social behaviour. Then you don't talk how to be innovative, how to find new scientific results, how to make the world better. And here you have the difference of people beeing smart, or behaving, imposing to be smart. Then we just talk about different people. But as a reverse effect. If a dumb person gets demonstrated how dumb he is, he will react with saying "the other one is arrogant". Cause it's inpolite to show people how dumb they are .... although it's the truth. So that's a dilemma between beeing polite and honest. Unsolvable. "social competence" is little different from scientific competence or knowledge. It doesn't always come together in the same person. That's why teams are a value. Women in teams can make a difference, etc. Every person is good in something, No person is good in everything.
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That's either the way he smuggled himself through college. Or in rare cases - he's a hidden genious and knows everything better ;-)
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@chuckchan4127 Do you do this also with your kids ? If you don't like them dump them and get a new one ? It sounds very inhuman what you say.
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