How It Feels To Be Stupid vs. How It Feels To Be Smart
Imagine there is a stupid person and a smart person arguing. These are vague words with many potential definitions in many different contexts, but we're going to just go with the vague definitions. Unfortunately we don't all agree on what they mean. Some people think they are defined by the specific opinions of others at a given time. Some people think they are defined by the individual's personal method for forming opinions. Regardless.
Whether you're smart or stupid, people are talking all around you and sometimes you talk too. Words are coming out of other peoples mouths and you reply to them with words of your own.
They're saying things, and you reply by saying things too. Their words form a thought, and based on your personal reaction to their thoughts, you form words to express your thoughts and you say them
If you're stupid, you often:
Misunderstand the thoughts of others without realizing it. So you respond with something that they don't think applies to what they said, because it doesn't
Focus on the emotions of your reaction rather than performing a meaning-based analysis of what they said. So you respond with anger or frustration.
Respond to their thought but incorrectly formulate the words you use to do so. So they respond to what you said instead of what you means and you feel angry
Feel incapable of responding to their thoughts because you're not understanding what they're saying. So instead you get angry
There is a major philosophical issue here though. Because these pairs of cause and effect equally apply to a smart person arguing with a stupid person:
If you're smart, you often:
Understand the thoughts of others better than they do. So you respond with something that they don't think adequately applies to their flawed statement
Realize their complete lack of ability to comprehend your intelligent points. So you get angry at the world and say fuck it, you're all retarded I'm done
Observe that they keep responding with nonsense, and point it out. And in response they get angry
Feel incapable of responding to their thoughts because they're so nonsensical and fucking retarded, disregarding logic, reason, and evidence. So instead you get angry
This is not an exhaustive or even symmetrical list. But you get the idea. The outward view and the inside experience of a smart person and a stupid person seems to me to be the same. Both sides are saying something that makes no sense and responding with anger and frustration at the lack of the other side's understanding. And from their individual point of view they both feel right, and they're both responding in the same way
How do you fix this issue? The only way is through an unbiased, objective, third party oracle. We use logic, science, evidence, and (arguably unfortunately) sometimes also group consensus.
But the same issue exists here.
If you're stupid:
You're stupid you don't know how to use logic, so when they use it it seems like bullshit.
You don't know how to use science, so when they use it it seems like bullshit.
You don't understand the different forms of evidence and what constitutes them, so when they use it it seems like bullshit.
And of course group consensus is irrelevant and fallacious for both sides.
If you're smart:
You know how to use logic but they aren't, so their personal reasoning system seems like bullshit because it is
You know how to use science but they don't, so their refutations of it seem like bullshit because it is
You understand the different forms of evidence and what constitutes them but they don't, so their personal epistemology seems like bullshit because it is
I could go on forever. This is a serious problem, I call it "The problem of symmetrical reactions". For every reaction one has to other peoples' arguments, there exists a symmetrical one in the opposite (smart or stupid) person which to them seems perfectly reasonable. But the stupid side doesn't know how to use objective third party oracles so they don't realize this is happening.
This issue is evidence that we need to focus on teaching the value of these third party objective oracles to people as one of the primary intellectual goals of education. People need to know when they don't know shit, and stupid people don't. And it looks to them like smart people sometimes react to their bullshit the same way they react to smart people's weird shit they don't understand, so they think it's a matter of opinion or something else hand-wave like that.
Thank you so much for reading!
Very well said!
I found this post on my cell phone yesterday but could not upvote it because I wasnt logged in on my phone. When I got home last night I searched for over an hour for this post and could not find it. I tried again just now to find the post using the tags that are shown on my cell phone, and still nothing.
Eventually I just typed in the full website shown on my cell phone and finally here it is!
I used Steemit Google search and used terms like "smart" "stupid" "inviter" and even "how it feels to be stupid" and I still couldnt find the post ... ???
But I had to find it because I thought it was great, if I could I would have promoted it.