How though?

Isaac Newton loved to brag. Was he not smart?

 

I don't know as much about Tesla as some of you probably do, but the impression that I have gathered over the years is that, while he might not have come outright and said "I'm smarter than anyone else on the planet," he did do a lot of exhibitionist stunts to mesmerize people with his infinite brilliance. Boasting with actions instead of words. I think he was a pretty smart guy anyway.

 

Too much of a Newbie to comment here.....so far so good

All the best,
tvtech

 

I don't know as much about Tesla as some of you probably do, but the impression that I have gathered over the years is that, while he might not have come outright and said "I'm smarter than anyone else on the planet," he did do a lot of exhibitionist stunts to mesmerize people with his infinite brilliance. Boasting with actions instead of words. I think he was a pretty smart guy anyway.

Yes and no. He was a bit of a showman, but he always had a purpose--to show AC's superiority over Edison's DC systems. He could always back up his claims, and he was "showing off" for the good of mankind, which is why he died broke and alone. I think he fits my description of acceptable boasting that I laid out in my first post, but that's just my opinion.

Regards,
Matt

 

There are a few things about boasting in my opinion:

1) You have to be able to back it up with facts. If you brag that you can lift 973 lbs and you actually can, then fine
2) You have to make sure you aren't trying to put others down while lifting yourself up. Bragging such as "I can lift 973 lbs but you can only lift 150, na-na-na-na-boo-boo" is rude and uncalled for, if you ask me.
3) If you're only doing it to get attention, don't bother. Your skills are useless if you don't know how to put them to good use.

Those are the three that pop out at me whenever I see someone boasting and bragging.

Regards,
Matt

Here's a well written article along these lines. Basically, it says IQ tests are valuable in predicting future potential for achievement in children, but once one reaches adulthood and has zero notable achievements, the number doesn't really mean much anymore. Like being voted "most likely to succeed," and then you didn't. So adults should be judged by their achievements and not IQ test scores. Makes sense to me, and I think that's what you meant by "back it up with facts."

Being very smart but swimming with the flow of people with average intelligence and never doing anything spectacular with your gift; merely boasting about how smart you are without achievements is like being exceptionally huge and apparently muscular, but never stepping up to the mat to lift the weights and see if you can claim the title of World's Strongest Man.



This brings me to another thing that I ponder occasionally; the polar opposite of the "overintelligent underachiever." Are there any real world examples of Forrest Gump-like people? I've always comforted myself with the assumption that there are, but I can't think of any. The "overintelligent underachiever" type person seems tragic to me; I have a couple of those in my family. When I see their beautiful minds languish in front of a console game or fantasy novel, never put to any constructive task, it is depressing. I think "for every one person of exceptional intelligence and weak drive, there is someone with exceptional drive and weak intelligence, that is making exceptional things happen by virtue of hard work." But I do not know if that is true. Can you think of a Forrest Gump?

 

It must be allowed to be proud and show off a little. If say you have caught a nice fish. Or perhaps more adequate for this forum done a nice electronic project. The thumb rule may be that it is ok to show off a little then the intention is to not make other people feel bad or inferior

 

It must be allowed to be proud and show off a little. If say you have caught a nice fish. Or perhaps more adequate for this forum done a nice electronic project. The thumb rule may be that it is ok to show off a little then the intention is to not make other people feel bad or inferior

Good point, and I notice your examples contain action words. If you have done something.

 

I think "for every one person of exceptional intelligence and weak drive, there is someone with exceptional drive and weak intelligence, that is making exceptional things happen by virtue of hard work." But I do not know if that is true. Can you think of a Forrest Gump?

Unfortunately I have had far too many of my former bosses and managers fall into that sort of range except they didn't do much good for their efforts.

Way overdriven to compete at any cost and far too willing to take the dumb man's path to getting there like lying and stabbing co workers or those below them in the back and denying it while everyone stood there watching them do it.

As with many here I am not the smartest person ever but I have more than proven my ability to say that I am seen as being considerably above average by those who are willing to actually look and weigh the knowledge and skills it takes to do what I can do and in the diversity of areas I can do it in.

If someone wants to prove they are better than me at something I am always happy to stand back and watch and learn.

Now that said if you challenge me and fall flat on your face before you reach the point I would have considered step one well in a way you have still proven your true knowledge and skill sets to me just the same.

A wise man can play the part of a fool and do it with perfect convincibility to those who watch. However a fool can not pay the part of a wise man and convince anyone who is not a bigger fool than himself.

I for one have met a lot of very convincing fools that try to pass themselves off as wise men.

 

It must be allowed to be proud and show off a little. If say you have caught a nice fish. Or perhaps more adequate for this forum done a nice electronic project. The thumb rule may be that it is ok to show off a little then the intention is to not make other people feel bad or inferior

That's an excellent embodiment of one of the signs of acceptable boasting that I mentioned before.

 

So is making it into the olympics in general even if you didn't get a medal while there.

If you have an athletic skill set that got you on an olympic team you get to brag a bit more than the rest of the weekend warriors at the gym.

 

So is making it into the olympics in general even if you didn't get a medal while there.

If you have an athletic skill set that got you on an olympic team you get to brag a bit more than the rest of the weekend warriors at the gym.

yeah, I think so. There's always going to be a bigger fish. You don't have to be the biggest fish in the sea in order to be big enough to brag about it. Even if you do find yourself to be the biggest fish, one day you won't be. If you're the biggest fish that you know, maybe you should stop swimming with minnows.

 

Is boasting bad? I think conservative values would say so, but I also think most people, conservative or not, indulge in their own way to some extent.

It depends. Other people resent it, so it tends to make them want to see the boastful person fail. They will often do whatever they can to accelerate that.

On the other hand: the only people at National Semiconductor who "moved up" the food chain spent the majority of their time bragging about what they had done and campaigning for themselves. In reality, they were the people who did virtually nothing. But, the good soldiers who kept their head down and plowed forward were usually unappreciated and underpaid.

 

Perhaps those who did not 'move up' did so out of choice? We tend to assume success = bigger salary/higher up 'the food chain', but there are those who find success in doing what they want to.

It sounds like they could've spent some time 'bragging' but chose not to.

 

"...the only people at National Semiconductor who "moved up" the food chain spent the majority of their time bragging about what they had done and campaigning for themselves."



The music business is about the same.

If you don't prostitute yourself, you won't go very far.

The Machining Trade, not as bad.

 

Perhaps those who did not 'move up' did so out of choice? We tend to assume success = bigger salary/higher up 'the food chain', but there are those who find success in doing what they want to.

It sounds like they could've spent some time 'bragging' but chose not to.

Depends. many people are simply not comfortable tooting their own horn. many fools (like me) believed their manager would keep track of what they did and give credit where due at the end of the year.

It's an eye opener to find out that you really are the only person who knows what you did for the overall success and you had better keep it documented and also play it up.

The really unfair thing is that managers assess each person based on how much they need to give them (raise) to keep them in place and adjust accordingly. Our managers would get a block of money each year (like 5% of the total salary for their department) and they would give as little as possible. A loud mouth who was constantly bragging and had the manager snowed might get 7% and the team player who didn't push might get 2%. It always astonished me when I found out who was making what at that place: the guys who just worked hard ended up miles behind after a while.

The reality was (in this valley) if you wanted to be paid what you are worth, you had to play that game. Keep telling everybody how great you are, brag about anything you did, and always kep them wondering if you were headed out the door.... and every few years, take one of the offers and get the big salary bump.

 

Is boasting bad?

Yes, if you boast about things that you received and do not deserve any credit for.

Intelligence, no matter what definition you have for, was given to you, by Nature, the One Up THere or whoever. Not only you have no rights to brag about that; it is ridiculous.

Different is what you did with that intelligence after living a life, maybe in vain maybe not. Who knows...

I tend to:

feel fortunate / happy of those things that were given to me, call it, country, family, physical beauty, intelligence, money, bah whatever.

feel proud of those things I did right.

For me, simple as that.

 

Intelligence, no matter what definition you have for, was given to you, by Nature, the One Up THere or whoever. Not only you have no rights to brag about that; it is ridiculous.

I agree that raw intelligence is mud, molding it into something useful takes work and talent. Boasting and bragging are not quite the same thing. I associate pride with tasteful boasting about the results of hard work, bragging however IMO is associated with being 'full of yourself'. Most definitions of the words seem make them synonyms but bragging usually has the negative vibe.

 

Sorry, didn't read the whole thread. That said, boasting is bad. Deadlifting 900 and something pounds is action. Boasting is something else. And rarely backed-up by actions.

If you are indeed the smartest person, then create something of value. No need to boast about it.

 

A smart person does not brag.

Totally ridiculous. For one; there is no evidence. Bragging as a personality trait is not IQ dependent, any more than shyness is.

And two; bragging is 90% inferred (ie in the eye of the beholder).

If a person with a 50 million in assets tells people he meets he is a "millionaire" he is actually being modest.

But the people, being much less gifted in that department, automatically infer he is "bragging" even though he has modestly portrayed himself as much less than he really is.

Exactly the same thing happens with IQ. Constantly.

 

Sorry, didn't read the whole thread. That said, boasting is bad. Deadlifting 900 and something pounds is action. Boasting is something else. And rarely backed-up by actions.

We have to be careful not to confuse narcissism with healthy self-esteem. Not everyone is modest about their (real) achievements and the evolutionary process of natural selection seems to have put self-promotion traits in mating and leadership deeply embedded in most species. The views on this vary greatly with local culture, having been born/raised in the narcissistic Paradise of Texas and having spent my young adult life in the military where accomplishments are worn on your chest for all to see maybe I have a high tolerance.