

Not being stupid - sanj

I read this quote at http://robotics.caltech.edu/~mason/quotes.html<p>'"I used to have a boss named Rock. Rock had earned a degree in astrophysics from Cal Tech [sic] and had never had a job where he used his knowledge of the heavens. Once I asked him if he regretted getting his degree. "My absurd degree in astrophysics has proved to be very valuable," he said, "Some things in this world are just hard. When I am struggling with something, I sometimes think 'Damn, this is hard. I wonder if I am stupid,' and then I remember that I have a degree in astrophysics from Cal Tech; I must not be stupid."'<p>I wish I'd heard that 10 years back!
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Hates_
When I am struggling with something, I sometimes think 'Damn, this is hard. I
wonder if I am stupid,' and then I remember that I don't have a degree in
astrophysics from Cal Tech; I must be stupid.

~~~
stcredzero
When I am struggling with something, I sometimes think 'Damn, this is hard. I
wonder if I am stupid,' and then I remember that I have a counterfeit degree
in astrophysics from Cal Tech; I might be stupid, but I can still fool others.

~~~
hugh
When I am struggling with something, I sometimes think "Damn, this is hard. I
wonder if I am stupid". And then I remember I have a PhD in solid-state
theoretical physics, and I think "Man, I used to be smart -- how did I manage
to become so stupid since then?"

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alaskamiller
When I am struggling with something, I just give up.

~~~
compay
"If something's hard to do then it's not worth doing." - H. Simpson

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paraschopra
"And if something is not hard to do, why try at all." - Paras Chopra

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hhm
From the same page (unrelated comment): "Not long ago, we came up with an
interesting set of facts: A billion hours ago, human life appeared on Earth. A
billion minutes ago, Christianity emerged. A billion seconds ago, the Beatles
changed music forever. A billion Coca-Colas ago was yesterday morning."
Goizueta knew his marketing stuff (wasn't he one of the biggest Coca-Cola's
presidents?).

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rw
Coca-Cola is also one of the finest examples of the "Be Evil, Don't Care"
philosophy. And it could work for you, too, if you're willing to sell your
conscience.

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antiismist
Can you explain why Coca Cola is evil? They make things that people want (I
know I do) at a very reasonable price.

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rw
Anti-union violence in Latin America.

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antiismist
Is it fair to say that you think coca cola is evil because they do business
with corrupt latin america bottlers?

That's cool if that is your belief, but where do you draw the line? Coca Cola
is evil because they do business with evil people. Yahoo is evil because they
accept advertising from Coca Cola. Companies that get acquired by Yahoo are
evil because a part of the $$ they get is blood money?

~~~
DaniFong
You don't have to rebel, but you gotta resist.

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boucher
The quote comes from Aaron Hillegass's book, "Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X",
which is a great read for anyone wanting to learn Cocoa.

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webandnet
I won a statewide competition in chemistry in high school, went to Caltech as
an undergraduate, and it was hard. Transferred to another top-rated school,
which wasn't nearly as hard.

To get a Caltech degree does require being smart, and being dedicated.

~~~
webandnet
Additional-- even the worst Caltech undergrads were reasonably smart and
dedicated. My recollection is Caltech had a 33% non-matriculation rate--
extremely high for a top-select school

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apstuff
It's stupid not to work on hard problems. Worse, it's lazy.

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wallflower
In certain aspects of life, intelligence can be a liability. Smart people can
tend to focus on analyzing a problem and what can go wrong/what went wrong
while less smart people have virtual blinders and just act rather than think
about acting.

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mhartl
Man, I hear that. I also have a Ph.D. in astrophysics from Caltech (proof:
<http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechETD:etd-05222003-161626>). I feel stupid
all the time, but then, like Rock, I think "How stupid can I really be?"

N.B. I meet retreaded physicists all the time in tech. Case in point: last
week I met the CTO of Aptana, who wrote a particle physics thesis at Harvard
with Shelly Glashow.

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whacked_new
Has anyone ever seen a truly smart person struggle? I for one have never. They
must either hide it very well, or never really hit those roadblocks that make
people think themselves, and not the roadblocks, are the problem. What is it?

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menloparkbum
_Has anyone ever seen a truly smart person struggle?_

Yes. When I was getting a math degree, people who were really good in one
area, like analysis, often struggled in another area, like abstract algebra.

Likewise, when I lived in Boston I worked with PhDs in microbiology and
biochemistry who had a hard time with computer programming.

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whacked_new
I can understand the PhD part: the programming involves a different mindset
than bio and chem: "It's more of a craft, than an art" -- a neurobio PhD. To
paraphrase, it is more dependent on wisdom than cleverness.

The math tidbit is interesting though. What other examples have you seen of
good mathematicians being lopsidedly talented in one area? What kinds of areas
were these? I can somehow see real analysis involving a different ability than
that of discrete math.

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antiform
Most mathematicians are "lopsidedly talented" in one area, typically that of
their Ph.D. You rarely see modern mathematicians who are able to understand--
much less make significant contributions to--current research in many
different fields.

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weegee
people who have degrees aren't stupid or smart, they are people who have
degrees. a degree is a piece of paper. it means you did stuff and someone
thought you did it well enough for them so they handed you the piece of paper.
in the grand scheme of things, it's just a piece of paper. get over it, you're
not smart or stupid because of the piece of paper, it's just a piece of paper!
and so on.

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helveticaman
Slow down. Caltech has a lot of intellectual self-respect. Getting into
Caltech is hard. Getting out of Caltech is also hard. You need brains. Lots of
cc of brains.

"It's just a piece of paper."? Uh-uh. Not from Caltech. It's as much a piece
of paper as a cat-scan result that says your brain is big, or a check for a
million dollars. In this case, the words on the piece of paper mean something.

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qqq
It's pretty stupid to think the accuracy rate of the degree is 100%. Or that
the _only_ way to get that degree is by being smart.

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abcde
Um, spending a couple of years just to get self-confidence is a pretty stupid
deal.

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iron_ball
A lot of people never get any their entire lives. Sure, there are other ways
of doing it, maybe cheaper or easier ones -- but nearly any price is worth
paying.

~~~
stcredzero
How about Tequila?

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0rMkt3uB9c>

