On 1/24/2012 3:33 AM, John B. wrote:
On Mon, 23 Jan 2012 17:51:16 -0800, Hawke
wrote:

On 1/22/2012 9:04 AM, David R. Birch wrote:

You're the one with the high IQ here, or so you say. So why are you
asking me how to do something other than you think I know more about it
than you do, which I do. But I'd rather you use that mighty brain of
yours and figure out a way to prove you have 20 Mensa "friends".
Personally, I don't believe you have 20 real friends of any kind.

So you know how to do what you requested? OK, if you can enlighten me, I
will acknowledge that. Otherwise, you're just blowing your usual smoke.

So you're not very practical either, huh? How about you get your friends
together for a party and video it. Have them all take out their Mensa
cards and show them and have them tell on camera how what a great friend
you are. Not so hard really. That is if you have all kinds of brainy
friends.

Not so much a machinist any more, now mainly a CNC programmer of Mazak
and Mitsubishi LASERs. The title on my business card says Manager of
Information Systems, since I also maintain the company network.

Oh, so you're just a regular working person. So how come you think
you're so spectacular in the brains dept. The way you talk about
yourself I'd have thought you would be teaching IT at MIT. Don't even
have a PhD either? What happened?

What is inconsistent in being a working person with lots of brains? It
beats having a meaningless poli sci BA and no brains.

Noting more than a world class athlete that doesn't choose to
participate in his sport or a professional level musician choosing not
to play music. You don't find people with exceptional abilities often
choosing not to use them and simply working at a regular job. People
with great abilities like to use them. You portray yourself as
exceptionally smart and me as being dumb. But you haven't really shown
in any way that either of those characterizations is near to being true.
You make assertions but that's all.


Your analogy is flawed.

Could be.


I hate to rain on your parade but neither a world class athlete nor a
professional level musician got to be at their levels without
extensive practice and in addition considerable experience in their
art.

Nobody comes out of the bushes and suddenly wins a major athletic
contest or walks on stage at the Metropolitan Opera and becomes an
overnight success.

I beg to differ. Ever see the movie the Rookie with Dennis Quaid or the
one with Mark Wahlberg where he played a bartender that played pro
football for the Philadelphia Eagles? Or how about that English woman
who was on American Idol and is now a big musical star? It happens.

But my point wasn't about exceptional people like them. It was about
people with really high IQs or other skills and talents who decide that
they aren't going to use them and instead take a run of the mill job.
I'm saying I just don't see that happening. If someone has great skill
or talent they want to use it while they can. Imagine if Tiger Woods
quit golf and got a job as a salesman. Can you see that happening? I can't.

People who can do exceptional things rarely keep it to themselves. When
you are born with a real gift I don't see those people keeping it under
wraps and not using it. Maybe you know of some examples that show
otherwise but I've never met a really smart person who instead of
choosing to be a scientist decided he'd rather be a mechanic. I'm sure
that kind of thing exists somewhere but it would be extremely rare.

Hawke