As those who know me well are aware, the fastest and easiest way to get me to like you and want to be your friend is to display a polymath's thirst for knowledge and be able to hold a conversation on any topic under the sun. I'm the type of person who learns stuff for fun (and my Wiki Walks are legendary, even following sources in other tabs!)
On the other end of the spectrum, there's people like my ex-wife, who when presented with new or unfamiliar knowledge, act disinterested, roll their eyes, and make fun of people like me for having such a wide knowledge base (and before you ask: "because she had nice tits.") I've also noticed that most people tend to fall in between somewhere, either totally geeked on one subject and thus unable to bring to bear their resources on another, or capable enough to learn what they have to know but disinterested in learning for its own sake.
So where on the spectrum do you all fall, and tell some stories about spectacular acts of idiocy in those around you (or admire the genius of people you've met who clearly run circles around you! I recently joked with my friend Elinor that we're getting close to celebrating 30 years of her being my intellectual superior going back to when we met in kindergarten in 1982!)
On the other end of the spectrum, there's people like my ex-wife, who when presented with new or unfamiliar knowledge, act disinterested, roll their eyes, and make fun of people like me for having such a wide knowledge base (and before you ask: "because she had nice tits.") I've also noticed that most people tend to fall in between somewhere, either totally geeked on one subject and thus unable to bring to bear their resources on another, or capable enough to learn what they have to know but disinterested in learning for its own sake.
So where on the spectrum do you all fall, and tell some stories about spectacular acts of idiocy in those around you (or admire the genius of people you've met who clearly run circles around you! I recently joked with my friend Elinor that we're getting close to celebrating 30 years of her being my intellectual superior going back to when we met in kindergarten in 1982!)