Are some people here just too smart for their own good?

Question

I've seen a lot of "science" presented here. But is it possible that people can just be too smart for their own good? Here is an example of what I mean:
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Mensa is an organization whose members have an IQ of 140 or higher. A few years ago at a Mensa Convention, several members lunched at a local cafe.

While dining, they discovered that their saltshaker contained pepper and their pepper shaker was full of salt. How could they swap the contents of the bottles without spilling, and using only the implements at hand? The group debated and presented ideas, and finally came up with a brilliant solution involving a napkin, a straw, and an empty saucer. They called the waitress over to dazzle her with their solution.

"Ma'am," they said, "we couldn't help but notice that the pepper shaker contains salt and the salt shaker..."

"Oh," the waitress interrupted. "Sorry about that." She unscrewed the caps of both bottles and switched them.

Answer 1

He he . . good one, book smart but street dumb. I would of just shook the salt longer and not bothered the waitress.

Answer 2

Cute story, but bull.
There is no such thing as being too smart.

Actually the number scale is no longer used to determine IQ. It is just a percentage factor, based on performance on the test in comparison to the general populations performance.
MENSA membership requires a score that is higher than 98% of the population -- you must be in the top 2% to join.

Based on the old number scales, my IQ would be between 136 and 148 depending on the test taken and how I felt and preformed that day. I have not taken a MENSA test because I am afraid of failing, If I fail, them i not be smart no more and i be dumb, so no test for me.

Answer 3

All you had to do was mention Rube Goldberg.

Oh, and I have run across more than one situation where an intelligent person (usually me) is making something a lot more difficult than it needs to be, but I've never heard of a time where intelligence is a bad thing.

Knowledge is power. It is freedom, independence, self-sufficient, progress, etc. Suspect any man who says differently, because he will soon have you in a harness.

Oh, and the MENSA people might very well be aware of a simple solution but devise a method of transfusing the salt and pepper using the tools at hand. I'd love to hear what their solution is.

Answer 4

Well that would then be assuming that the only location on the shaker where it was displayed as being either salt or pepper was on the cap. I've never seen a shaker with the customary S or P printed on the cap rather than on the shaker itself, so that story really makes no sense.

No, you can't be too smart.

Answer 5

But how does a more complex way of switching the salt and pepper hurt anything or anyone? Intelligent people, if also rational and in the possession of a normal amount of human empathy, rarely harm society, and so no, I don't believe one can be too smart for ones own good.

Answer 6

That isn't a matter of being "too smart"; that is a matter of thinking inefficiently.


But for the record.... yes, it is possible to be too smart for your own good. Religion exists to counter that. Afterall, the ability to reason (i.e. "free will" as folks call it) brings with it the potential to oppose the biological imperitive and willingly self-destruct.
All logical progressions on the nature of the Universe invariably lead to Nihilism and generally to self-destruction (once one takes into account that active destruction of the self is no more Nihilistic than passively waiting to end).
Hence things like religion exist to keep peoples minds in check (i.e. trap them in unquestioning ignorance) and stop them potentially destroying themselves.


I'll end up destroying myself eventually through my realisation of true will and freedom, but for now I'm still around. I'm ok with it anyhow.

Answer 7

Interesting. Their solution would be better than some people's argument:

"It tastes like salt, but it is in the pepper shaker. The stuff in the salt shaker tastes like pepper. Oh well it says this must be salt and that must be pepper, so that's what it MUST be."

Answer 8

Well, I thought of that switching the caps option before I even finished your story. I don't believe that Mensa people wouldn't come up with that.

maybe I'm too clever for my own good. Yet I know how stupid I can be too and therein lies the trick.

Answer 9

I was a studied "gifted and talented" kid in the early 1980s....

I was given a Rubic's cube and told to solve it. The teachers left the room.

The video shows me turning it once, twice, then finding the screw in the middle that held it together and unscrewing it. It took me 3 minutes to dissassemble and reassemble it with the blocks in the right place.

The "geniuses" studying me said I did it wrong.

Genius is a matter of opinion.

Answer 10

That's a cute story. And totally untrue.
There is no such thing as being "too smart". Intelligence is feared by christians because they know that the higher a person's IQ and education, the less they tolerate childish myths and fairy-tales.