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I R STOOPID

Started by hooplala, May 01, 2013, 07:46:10 PM

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hooplala

The following lines will come as absolutely no surprise to anyone on this board who is familiar with either me, or my "antics"...  but here it is anyway, naked and ugly:



You know how people say "stupid people never realize they're stupid"?

(People do say that, don't they?  I didn't just make that up, did I?)

Well, I realized today that I am stupid.  Perhaps not stupider than everyone, I like to think I've got one up on George W Bush, perhaps... but then he was the President of a large major country, while I spend my time creating pithy tweets, occasionally creating idiotic humor reviews of bad movies, and arguing with people through a computer monitor then becoming huffy over the results and eating an entire box of Ritz crackers. 

I know things, but don't put them together well; I hear people speak and take a completely different meaning than most other people do; My opinions are either embarrassingly homogenous or flagrantly inappropriate; I quite possibly use semicolons incorrectly.

Ladies and gentleman, my name is Hoopla and I am dumb.

But, is realizing this a step in the right direction?







"Soon all of us will have special names" — Professor Brian O'Blivion

"Now's not the time to get silly, so wear your big boots and jump on the garbage clowns." — Bob Dylan?

"Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)"
— Walt Whitman

The Good Reverend Roger

My name is The Good Reverend Roger, and I'm dumber than a sack of anvils.  As the Buddhists have "no mind", I have "no brain".  I have found that I function better this way.

Also, "no brain" means "no where to store bad signal", so when I am corrected on something it is a little easier to absorb the correct information and dispose of the Rogerism1.

"No brain" means "less preconceived notions".  It means that I fly by the seat of my pants and react to what's actually happening, not what I wish was happening.

Being the RIGHT KIND OF DUMBASS is a good thing.


1  Sort of like a truism, only spoken with more conviction.  Because head's all empty.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

hooplala

Hmmm, that's an optimistic way to look at it.  At the moment I feel like I am drowning in realization upon realization over the sheer depth of my idiocy... but you make a very valid point.  And I do happen to think I am good at changing my mind... almost frighteningly so.  Perhaps there is a bright side.

Is that why people drink booze and smoke pot? To give themselves an excuse?
"Soon all of us will have special names" — Professor Brian O'Blivion

"Now's not the time to get silly, so wear your big boots and jump on the garbage clowns." — Bob Dylan?

"Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)"
— Walt Whitman

The Good Reverend Roger

Quote from: Hoopla on May 01, 2013, 07:54:11 PM
Hmmm, that's an optimistic way to look at it.  At the moment I feel like I am drowning in realization upon realization over the sheer depth of my idiocy... but you make a very valid point.  And I do happen to think I am good at changing my mind... almost frighteningly so.  Perhaps there is a bright side.

Is that why people drink booze and smoke pot? To give themselves an excuse?

Look, I just shove my head in and see what happens.  It's often painful, but I'm ALIVE.  Planning ahead only causes problems, and caution is for people who don't understand rock n roll.

Yes, I am a dumbass.  But I am a dumbass that PAYS ATTENTION, and slowly LEARNS.  When I'm 95, I might even have a Goddamn grip.  But right now, I'm and IDIOT, and it WORKS.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

hooplala

People always scoff when I tell them my guru lives in Tucson.
"Soon all of us will have special names" — Professor Brian O'Blivion

"Now's not the time to get silly, so wear your big boots and jump on the garbage clowns." — Bob Dylan?

"Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)"
— Walt Whitman

The Good Reverend Roger

Quote from: Hoopla on May 01, 2013, 08:06:06 PM
People always scoff when I tell them my guru lives in Tucson.

All the best gurus live in deserts, on mountains.  It's sort of a prerequisite.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

Mesozoic Mister Nigel

In my opinion, NOT thinking you're smarter than everyone else is a gigantic sign of intelligence.

You can have an IQ in the 99.7th percentile and still be a fucking moron if you're unable to listen to other people or participate in society like a functional human being.
"I'm guessing it was January 2007, a meeting in Bethesda, we got a bag of bees and just started smashing them on the desk," Charles Wick said. "It was very complicated."


The Johnny


Self-perception of intelligence =/= actual intelligence.

But christ, presenting oneself as "smart, intelligent" is one of the most obnoxious acts of hubris i have come to observe in my experience. To sum up:

Self-perception of intelligence = narcissism

Thinking that oneself is "intelligent" is in most cases a statement that isnt backed up by anything concrete, and is just a delusion to make oneself feel better, now, on the contrary, summing up:

self-perception of stupidity = humility (or bad self-esteem, ofc  :wink:)

I consider myself smart/intelligent, but that comes from years of people telling me I am, it's not a self-imposed declaration, and I don't call myself that unless it's relevant (which rarely is).

Interestingly enough, maybe part of what makes me smart is that i don't act like I am, when i approach any type of problem, I assume I'm stupid and unprepared for this new situation (which one could argue, every situation is a new situation).

Its far more useful to assume one's own stupidity (or lack of capability) so that we "stay on our toes" and prepare accordingly, lest we become a sample in a Dunning-Krueger experiment or get struck down by our arrogance.
<<My image in some places, is of a monster of some kind who wants to pull a string and manipulate people. Nothing could be further from the truth. People are manipulated; I just want them to be manipulated more effectively.>>

-B.F. Skinner

AFK

But then there is the conundrum where everyone is telling you that you are really smart, intelligent, etc., AND they are expecting you to fix shit and get shit done.  You certainly can have humility and acknowledge that you have limits and are of course fallible.  But when you have people depending on you, at some level you do have to take the mantle and run with it, that's just leadership.  If you don't, then you have a bunch of directionless, fearful people on your hands with sads. 
Cynicism is a blank check for failure.

The Johnny

Quote from: Six Feet of Sole on May 02, 2013, 05:11:07 AM
But then there is the conundrum where everyone is telling you that you are really smart, intelligent, etc., AND they are expecting you to fix shit and get shit done.  You certainly can have humility and acknowledge that you have limits and are of course fallible.  But when you have people depending on you, at some level you do have to take the mantle and run with it, that's just leadership.  If you don't, then you have a bunch of directionless, fearful people on your hands with sads.

Well, now that you speak of leadership, there was this article on the Less Wrong Wiki about how "leaders" or people in positions of power get so detached from reality and their own power makes underlings fear to make any criticism... The point i think im trying to make is that people that believe they are smart, usually focus on it a little bit too much "I'm so smart that i can improvise a solution to this problem with little effort and very close to the deadline with an undecent number of risks, why? because im smart and my nebulous calculations and intuition will most probably get me thru it."
<<My image in some places, is of a monster of some kind who wants to pull a string and manipulate people. Nothing could be further from the truth. People are manipulated; I just want them to be manipulated more effectively.>>

-B.F. Skinner

East Coast Hustle

Quote from: Six Feet of Sole on May 02, 2013, 05:11:07 AM
But then there is the conundrum where everyone is telling you that you are really smart, intelligent, etc., AND they are expecting you to fix shit and get shit done.  You certainly can have humility and acknowledge that you have limits and are of course fallible.  But when you have people depending on you, at some level you do have to take the mantle and run with it, that's just leadership.  If you don't, then you have a bunch of directionless, fearful people on your hands with sads. 

Oh, how noble it is of you to suffer for the little people. :lulz:
Rabid Colostomy Hole Jammer of the Coming Apocalypse™

The Devil is in the details; God is in the nuance.


Some yahoo yelled at me, saying 'GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH', and I thought, "I'm feeling generous today.  Why not BOTH?"

Bebek Sincap Ratatosk

According to the Fish head documentary I linked to elsewhere, people with psychopathic tendencies tend to rise to positions of leadership and then make decisions without the ability to have empathy for those that their decision affects adversely. They point to examples in both business and politics... they also draw some interesting conclusions about the effects of SSRI's and how they create symptoms that are similar to psychopathy, then parallels between the increased use of SSRI's among leaders and the increase in bad/poor/self-interested decisions due to the fact that their emotions are muted by the drugs.

Interesting stuff, though of course, its all theory/supposition/belief/agenda etc.

- I don't see race. I just see cars going around in a circle.

"Back in my day, crazy meant something. Now everyone is crazy" - Charlie Manson

The Johnny

Quote from: Bebek Sincap Ratatosk on May 02, 2013, 09:56:55 AM
According to the Fish head documentary I linked to elsewhere, people with psychopathic tendencies tend to rise to positions of leadership and then make decisions without the ability to have empathy for those that their decision affects adversely. They point to examples in both business and politics... they also draw some interesting conclusions about the effects of SSRI's and how they create symptoms that are similar to psychopathy, then parallels between the increased use of SSRI's among leaders and the increase in bad/poor/self-interested decisions due to the fact that their emotions are muted by the drugs.

Interesting stuff, though of course, its all theory/supposition/belief/agenda etc.

Sounds similar, but not quite the same, im pretty sure it was on the Less Wrong Wiki.
<<My image in some places, is of a monster of some kind who wants to pull a string and manipulate people. Nothing could be further from the truth. People are manipulated; I just want them to be manipulated more effectively.>>

-B.F. Skinner

Bebek Sincap Ratatosk

Quote from: The Johnny on May 02, 2013, 10:07:57 AM
Quote from: Bebek Sincap Ratatosk on May 02, 2013, 09:56:55 AM
According to the Fish head documentary I linked to elsewhere, people with psychopathic tendencies tend to rise to positions of leadership and then make decisions without the ability to have empathy for those that their decision affects adversely. They point to examples in both business and politics... they also draw some interesting conclusions about the effects of SSRI's and how they create symptoms that are similar to psychopathy, then parallels between the increased use of SSRI's among leaders and the increase in bad/poor/self-interested decisions due to the fact that their emotions are muted by the drugs.

Interesting stuff, though of course, its all theory/supposition/belief/agenda etc.

Sounds similar, but not quite the same, im pretty sure it was on the Less Wrong Wiki.

Yeah, I've read a couple different articles about leadership becoming detached and underlings being in fear of contradicting the leader ("communication occurs only between equals". - RAW)  The "I am Fishead" movie takes the same concept to the next level... that is not only do some leaders become detached, but some leaders become leaders because they are already completely detached emotionally and without conscience (i.e. psychopathic at some level, or too whacked on SSRI's to feel the emotional impact of their decisions and the risks they choose).

I would imagine that there's probably truth in both of those ideas and taken together it results in the madness we see in leadership. Some leaders become detached, some leaders start out detached (which makes it easier for them to rise to the position of leader).

Either way, they end up lacking the ability to realize that they're Cosmic Schmucks ;-)
- I don't see race. I just see cars going around in a circle.

"Back in my day, crazy meant something. Now everyone is crazy" - Charlie Manson

The Johnny

Goddamnit i cant find it, i just remember it riffed based on Dunning-Krueger, positions of authority, and only receiving positive feedback from underlings despite the real burning-down of the place/project that would be happening.

Im not sure how coherent my arguments are coming thru, its just that i find it very important to express that assuming oneself is incapable/unprepared can lead to elaborating a plan and doing useful work, while assuming that one is fully prepared and with outstanding abilities leads to a falling short of their own expectations.
<<My image in some places, is of a monster of some kind who wants to pull a string and manipulate people. Nothing could be further from the truth. People are manipulated; I just want them to be manipulated more effectively.>>

-B.F. Skinner