It’s not merely that some are smarter than others
And it’s not merely that some get more lucky than others
There’s also the possibility to DO SMART THINGS by chance
So some people are born more fit
Let’s just say more smart, not merely in theory but in practice
That in and of itself is a matter of good fortune, but that’s not what we’re talking about
Then, some get more lucky than others later down the life
They can be as smart, or dumber — yet get “better” outcomes
This is what we customarily call “luck”
They just have good fortune happen to them
But then
What if someone neither had better things happen to them,
nor was born with greater capacity, fitness,
but instead, was LUCKY with WHERE he ended up APPLYING his intelligence, and effort
for the final product of being THE SMARTER ACTOR
despite not being born smarter, nor having merely gotten lucky, gotten something for free,
Instead he was lucky to — by chance — HAVE BECOME SMARTER
And then use those smarts to do better
Why does it matter?
Because it explain how less smart people can be wiser, or do the smarter things
It especially explain the edge case — of someone extremely smart — holding extremely misguided beliefs
Not because he’s too stupid in this particular case
But maybe just because he wasn’t “lucky” enough to stumble upon optimal view here, that “normal” people take for granted
Quite likely he thought he could figure it out himself — and was unlucky for that one case to have been the one which you’re better off just aping the rest of the society
And the rest of the society got it right — simply because of massive trial and error
INDEED
Trial and error is merely trying different option — until that lucky one, one which works
The more tries — the higher chance of finding it
High intelligence gives you little edge in terms of TRYING more things,
This includes trying more ideas
Yes, if you think 100 times faster, and enjoy it — you’ll try thousands more ideas than an average fool
And yes, ideas you’ll entertain will be understood on a deeper level, and more coherently, to far greater benefit
But million people, exercising simple trial-and-error of simple ideas — will notwithstanding outperform you
Again — they will never outperform you in “deep” ideas — since you very well may be 1 in a million intellect capable of grasping an idea of such complexity
But for simple problems that anyone can grasp — those million people will have explored far more of different paths and possibilities
And will have gotten lucky, and stumbled upon the more optimal solution
Finally this ties into the problem of COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE vs INDIVIDUAL, as well as TRADITION vs REVOLUTION,
There are cases when the hive-mind is just delusion, hysteria, bandwagon, massive perpetuation of nonsense
And there are cases when the hive-mind are the institutions, traditions, discoveries, ideas, culture, legacy — without which there would be nothing today, only sticks and rocks
The original is blessed with ability to explore different options
But he is also cursed with anxiety to reject the useful systems which are already there, to his detriment
Cursed with misguided scepticism
It is vital that you know when to rely on your intelligence — and when to rely on collective intelligence
When to rely on your observations — and when to rely on the vastness of existing knowledge and expertise
When to reinvent the wheel — and when to get one from the fucking walmart
And finally, the idea hinted in this text,
When to run your OWN COMPUTATION, to figure out precise answer…
…vs TRY TO BE SMART BY CHANCE
Knowing when you won’t get a precise answer no matter how hard you think about it
And the optional course, optimal strategy, optimal mindset — shall only be revealed after many attempts
Yours, or perhaps someone else’s