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On Special Snowflake-ism, part III: The Smartest Guy In The Room

Started by The Good Reverend Roger, August 27, 2013, 06:51:11 PM

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The Good Reverend Roger

August 27, 2013, 06:51:11 PM
Note:  Tip of the hat to Nigel, who coined this term, and for introducing me to Dunning-Krueger.

By virtue of being able to read this, you are intelligent.  There's no arguing that.  You may in fact be above average when it comes to intelligence, and your parents may have done you a grave disservice by telling you that, instead of letting you figure it out for yourself.

But are you the smartest person you know?  More to the point, is it IMPORTANT that you be the smartest person you know?  Is it critical to your happiness that you let everyone else know just how smart you are, and just how perfect your life is in every detail?

You frequently, though not always see this in engineers.  A Special Snowflake kind of engineer.  They know all, inside their field and out, and it is important to them that they be the ONLY person who knows ANYTHING about ANYTHING.  In short, they're DUMBASSES.

It's not just engineers, of course...It's just that engineering has an occupational hazard of the engineer in question becoming The Expert.  The Smartest Guy in the Room.  Almost all other fields of expertise carry the same risk, of course.  Doctors are kind of famous for this, for example.

The easiest way to tell if you are The Smartest Guy in the Room is to examine your impulses during any conversation.  If you find yourself COMPELLED to offer your opinion or advice, you may be The Smartest Guy in the Room.  If you find yourself specifically listening for something to correct, you may also be That Guy.  If you think sourcing your arguments is a sign of weakness, you're in the zone.  And if you CANNOT bring yourself to say "I don't know" or even "I was wrong", then you ARE That Guy.  Because whatever it is you're talking about, you aren't really talking about.  You're saying "LOOK AT ME, LOOK HOW SMART I AM".

You've probably by now noticed a common thread between the mental illness thing, The Cause thing, and the Smartest Guy in the Room.  It's given away by the title of this essay, "Special Snowflake".  The common theme, of course, is narcissism.  It is the turning inward of the intellect, in an attempt to deny the idea that you might not actually be the main character.  The worst part about it is how offensive and then boring it makes a person.  This leads to being ostracized, which in turn leads to more screaming and hollering for the world to LOOK AT ME.  The person in question - no matter which of the three types of Snowflake they are - will interpret being ostracized as some weird form of validation, "I'M TOO MUCH FOR THE LITTLE PEOPLE TO HANDLE" or "I KNEW THEY WERE TOO SMALL MINDED TO JOIN THE CAUSE", or "MY CRAZY MAKES ME TOO SPECIAL FOR NORMAL PEOPLE".

The end result is, of course, the same.  You're a Special Snowflake.  All by yourself.

Or Kill Me.

" 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.

Nephew Twiddleton

#1
August 27, 2013, 07:03:40 PM
Hell yes.
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LMNO

#2
August 27, 2013, 07:12:40 PM
Bingo.

And if you do find that you actually are the smartest guy in the room, you might want to reconsider the company you keep.

The Good Reverend Roger

#3
August 27, 2013, 07:19:24 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on August 27, 2013, 07:12:40 PM
Bingo.

And if you do find that you actually are the smartest guy in the room, you might want to reconsider the company you keep.

Excellent point.  The alternative is being a guru, and that's a sort of hell all by itself.
" 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.

EK WAFFLR

#4
August 27, 2013, 07:30:24 PM
Preach it!
"At first I lifted weights.  But then I asked myself, 'why not people?'  Now everyone runs for the fjord when they see me."


Horribly Oscillating Assbasket of Deliciousness
[/b]

Mesozoic Mister Nigel

#5
August 27, 2013, 07:35:50 PM
"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."

Kai

#6
August 27, 2013, 10:42:58 PM
Right on target with all three of these essays. Especially with ending in narcissism.
If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water. --Loren Eisley, The Immense Journey

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#7
August 27, 2013, 11:21:16 PM
Guilty as charged. All three, I think, although 1 and 2 I grew out of years ago. Now and again I'll fight the urge to be the smartest guy in the room. On the odd embarrassing occasion, I'll lose  :oops:

I'm up to my arse in Brexit Numpties, but I want more.  Target-rich environments are the new sexy.
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walking the fine line line between genius and batshit fucking crazy

"computation is a pattern in the spacetime arrangement of particles, and it's not the particles but the pattern that really matters! Matter doesn't matter." -- Max Tegmark

Ixxie

#8
August 28, 2013, 12:03:05 AM
I also used to suffer from this issue heavily, and it still occasionally drives me into shitty modes. The syndrome seems to be helped by a dose of Naive Rationalism and cured by some healthy Skepticism and an appreciation of the stupendous diversity in those multifarious skills and behaviors we group into one strange word called 'intelligence'. Those who think a concept so highly multi-dimensional can be captured and measured on a simple linear scale are idiots.

I would add to the Engineer, the Physicist. Generally my experience is that the more exact the field - the more it seems to fool you into epistemic arrogance.
"In Shadow - we find the Light - Safely Sealed in Darkest Night, so make Sure Ya'll Keep it Tight. Wizards Only - Fools!"

AFK

#9
August 28, 2013, 12:17:37 AM
The thing is, in many, if not most, group endeavours, organizations, fields, or projects...

The overall group WANTS to identify the smartest guy in the room.  They will be hapless and scared without one.  And one WILL be identified and crowned, willingly or not.
Cynicism is a blank check for failure.

The Good Reverend Roger

#10
August 28, 2013, 01:00:35 AM
Quote from: NEVER FEAR LOVE! on August 28, 2013, 12:17:37 AM
The thing is, in many, if not most, group endeavours, organizations, fields, or projects...

The overall group WANTS to identify the smartest guy in the room.  They will be hapless and scared without one.  And one WILL be identified and crowned, willingly or not.

The evidence for my POV has been provided.  Thanks, RWHN!   :lulz:
" 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.

The Good Reverend Roger

#11
August 28, 2013, 01:01:17 AM
Quote from: Ixxie on August 28, 2013, 12:03:05 AM
I also used to suffer from this issue heavily, and it still occasionally drives me into shitty modes. The syndrome seems to be helped by a dose of Naive Rationalism and cured by some healthy Skepticism and an appreciation of the stupendous diversity in those multifarious skills and behaviors we group into one strange word called 'intelligence'. Those who think a concept so highly multi-dimensional can be captured and measured on a simple linear scale are idiots.

I would add to the Engineer, the Physicist. Generally my experience is that the more exact the field - the more it seems to fool you into epistemic arrogance.

Yes, we're complete bastards.   :lulz:

And we hate biologists.  Messy engineering, that's all it is.
" 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

#12
August 28, 2013, 01:28:05 AM
Quote from: NEVER FEAR LOVE! on August 28, 2013, 12:17:37 AM
The thing is, in many, if not most, group endeavours, organizations, fields, or projects...

The overall group WANTS to identify the smartest guy in the room.  They will be hapless and scared without one.  And one WILL be identified and crowned, willingly or not.

http://psychcentral.com/quizzes/narcissistic.htm
"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 Good Reverend Roger

#13
August 28, 2013, 01:30:48 AM
Quote from: Surprise Happy Endings Whether You Want Them Or Not on August 28, 2013, 01:28:05 AM
Quote from: NEVER FEAR LOVE! on August 28, 2013, 12:17:37 AM
The thing is, in many, if not most, group endeavours, organizations, fields, or projects...

The overall group WANTS to identify the smartest guy in the room.  They will be hapless and scared without one.  And one WILL be identified and crowned, willingly or not.

http://psychcentral.com/quizzes/narcissistic.htm

WHO'S THE SPECIALEST SPECIAL LITTLE SNOWFLAKE EVER?  OO IS IT?  IS IT RHWN?  SUCH A SPECIAL SNOWFLAKE!

How adorable.

:lulz:
" 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.

The Good Reverend Roger

#14
August 28, 2013, 01:34:47 AM
Quote from: Surprise Happy Endings Whether You Want Them Or Not on August 28, 2013, 01:28:05 AM
Quote from: NEVER FEAR LOVE! on August 28, 2013, 12:17:37 AM
The thing is, in many, if not most, group endeavours, organizations, fields, or projects...

The overall group WANTS to identify the smartest guy in the room.  They will be hapless and scared without one.  And one WILL be identified and crowned, willingly or not.

http://psychcentral.com/quizzes/narcissistic.htm

I scored a 14, being as honest as I could.
" 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.
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