Who is the smartest person you know in real life?

[88 Bronco]

Either my daughter or my wife. My wife's downfall is that she met me. She was on the path to valedictorian then we started dating. My daughter is currently rocking a 4.8 GPA taking all AP and honors classes. She will graduate highschool with college courses under her belt.

[Epistaxis]

Probably a childhood friend of my brother.

At 4 he read encyclopedias....in 5 different languages.

The snotty principal of the local elementary school scoffed when his mother requested that he get tested for gifted status. He told her "everyone thinks their child is gifted".

Wrong dude. This kid had to go to the local college to even get challenged intellectually.

Sadly his social development was not on par with his intellectual gifts.

Last I heard he got his PhD from MIT after doing stints at the University of Chicago and Cal Tech. Got a gig with Fermilab doing something I can't fathom.

[Darth Biscuit]

Probably a childhood friend of my brother.

At 4 he read encyclopedias....in 5 different languages.

The snotty principal of the local elementary school scoffed when his mother requested that he get tested for gifted status. He told her "everyone thinks their child is gifted".

Wrong dude. This kid had to go to the local college to even get challenged intellectually.

Sadly his social development was not on par with his intellectual gifts.

Last I heard he got his PhD from MIT after doing stints at the University of Chicago and Cal Tech. Got a gig with Fermilab doing something I can't fathom.

Unfortunately I think this is the case with a lot of intellectually gifted people... maybe a product of people not understanding them when they are young.

[The Saltman]

Fiz

[PanthaSan]

Pussy

Hawk is what he eats......

"Smartest Person" is a matter of perspective. It is not the most intelligent person but somebody who can see a problem and do what it takes to solve it with minimum chances for failure.

For me, it would be an old Commander I had. This guy saw a need and convinced the Army to let him accomplish what he felt was a great thing.

Chargin' Charlie Beckwith.

He was very intelligent but was also "smart". A bit of a smartass too, there were some politicians visiting our unit to watch training and Chargin' Charlie wanted to show how badass we were so he had us doing CQB at Chapel Hill with live rounds as the politicos watched in awe.

According to our First Sgt, when asked by them if it was dangerous for us to train like that, Charlie told them "Well, we ain't making no goddamn cornflakes here." That quote is eternal.

[88 Bronco]

I know Hawk is a mod, but he's not high enough on the food chain that you have to kiss his ass.

[PanthaSan]

I know Hawk is a mod, but he's not high enough on the food chain that you have to kiss his ass.

I told him only if he shaved it then maybe....

[Hawk]

bant

[PanthaSan]

Hey, don't threaten me with a good time....

[sunbunny]

My son could join mensa. He drives his teachers and us crazy, cause he does just enough in school to pass.

[natty]

It was a guy I used to work with who had just graduated NCSU with a phd in computer science. He could solve ANY problem given enough time. When in meetings talking about architecture stuff he always seemed to be 2 steps ahead of everyone else.

I don't buy that '2 kinds of smart' crap. To me it's simply dumb people justifying why they fail at things. Being able to memorize stuff isn't intelligence, it's a talent.

Smart people second-guess themselves a lot, really smart people second-guess themselves constantly. As ignorance goes down, confidence goes down as well. One of my favorite lines is from Rome(HBO series). When Caesar is in Egypt and sends Anthony back to Rome only keeping a small handful of troops, Anthony saids something like 'your confidence could start to be described as hubris'. Caesar replies, 'it's only hubris if I'm wrong'.

[PanthaSan]

My son could join mensa. He drives his teachers and us crazy, cause he does just enough in school to pass.

I was in the LA Chapter of Mensa.

That name always cracks me up. In spanish it means "dumb girl".

[thefuzz]

It was a guy I used to work with who had just graduated NCSU with a phd in computer science. He could solve ANY problem given enough time. When in meetings talking about architecture stuff he always seemed to be 2 steps ahead of everyone else.

I don't buy that '2 kinds of smart' crap. To me it's simply dumb people justifying why they fail at things. Being able to memorize stuff isn't intelligence, it's a talent.

Smart people second-guess themselves a lot, really smart people second-guess themselves constantly. As ignorance goes down, confidence goes down as well. One of my favorite lines is from Rome(HBO series). When Caesar is in Egypt and sends Anthony back to Rome only keeping a small handful of troops, Anthony saids something like 'your confidence could start to be described as hubris'. Caesar replies, 'it's only hubris if I'm wrong'.

Disagree completely.

I don't care to know about how to build a spaceship, but some people look at the engineers that do that very thing and think that they are really really smart.

I think that they are fools that will work their entire careers for a company or the government retire at 30 years in and walk around Europe with fanny packs, and cash a pension check until they die.

Me, and many of the people on this Earth that I think are smart, have much higher ambitions than being able to name every zip code in Montana, or trying to prove Newtons Third law of motion wrong.

But to each his own.

[Cat]

One of my favorite lines is from Rome(HBO series). When Caesar is in Egypt and sends Anthony back to Rome only keeping a small handful of troops, Anthony saids something like 'your confidence could start to be described as hubris'. Caesar replies, 'it's only hubris if I'm wrong'.

Just watched that :) good line.