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I’ll apologize up front for labeling some people as stupid. Normally that’s not a word I deploy in my every day vocabulary. But it fits for this conversation.
The main difference between smart people and stupid people that I see boils down to temperament and curiosity. I’ve noticed the people in my life who know the least are the ones who do and learn the bare minimum to get by. They hate asking questions, they get flustered and upset easily when something goes wrong or doesn’t work, and they’re fairly stubborn and stuck in their ways. Generally the most open-minded and open-hearted people I know tend to be the smartest and wisest.
I think that might be generally true, but it’s not a hard and fast rule. Part of the problem is that there are lots of ways of being “smart” and I don’t just mean book smart vs people smart or IQ vs. EQ.
I know someone who is very curious, spontaneous, loves asking questions, loves learning about things. And I think she is really smart in some ways and not so smart in other ways. She has this amazing verbal fluidity and is one of the few people who can beat me at Boggle and other word games. She can also fill in as a speaker at the last moment, because she is just so good on her feet and knows a little bit about a lot of stuff. However, one thing she is really, really bad at is seeing the big picture and organizing her knowledge in such a way that new knowledge results. She is one of these people who doesn’t put ideas together in a complex way, but would just list a bunch of heterogeneous items in one bullet point list on a PowerPoint without realizing that she is mixing up details and general concepts and it is all just a mush.
Also, sometimes people who are stressed about new stuff and are reluctant to ask questions are that way, not because they are stupid, but because just so much going on in their lives than they cannot handle anything else on their plate. They might be really smart, but they are also so overwhelmed (say with multiple health and financial issues) that they don’t really have the bandwidth to engage in idle curiosity.
well you have "street smarts" (common sense) and book smarts. oftentimes, its the common sense that is most valuable. Especially for safety and just living daily life.
a person is really stupid when they think they are so smart. When they make a mistake and make excuses and dont learn from it. they can get hurt in the future but their ego is stronger. that is what makes them stupid because making bad decisions can be a threat on their life/living.
someone who doesn't take time to learn how to take care of themselves is stupid. like when they grow up, and expect a substitute mommy who will do for them (they often justify it too).. then they grow up and dont know how to cook or clean for themselves or even use a budget. they spend money now without realizing how it will affect their future. They get into trouble and blame everyone but themselves and/or they get a victim mentality and blame everyone and say they just cant do such and such because ____ is to blame.
Worse, these people go into crime or con artists to get what they want. they justify it. All the people who were looters for fun stuff during the riots are STUPID. they justified their crime. these are the roving bands of people that mob stores and steal and justify it.
i will stop before i make myself aggrivated. I think there might be more stupid people than smart people come to think of it.
IQ. DNA. Culture. Parenting. Nutrition as relates to brain development when young. Childhood disease that affects the brain. Oxygen deprivation during the process of birth. Concussion and head trauma at various ages. Drug use. Alcohol use. Depression. Mental illness.
I wouldn't want to even try to boil the factors that influence human intelligence into just one or two parameters.
Memory. I have had no chance in life on being smart because my memory just sucks. I know people who have great memories and I envy them, they can become brain surgeons. I barely remember what I had for breakfast. I can read the same book every year and it is new to me Thank you, dear thyroid immune disease that keeps me stupid
What I have found is really stupid people usually think they are smart. Smart people realize how little in the scheme of life they really know.
Also the number of children is usually a big indicator on how smart someone is. Dumb people usually have several dumb kids. Smart people have zero kids or two at the most. Yes there are exceptions to this but overall it is very accurate.
When is the last time you seen a doctor, lawyer, or other professional with several kids. Now take a trip to the trailer park/slums and see how many kids those people have.
This is about recent times not 50 years ago when times were different.
I’ll apologize up front for labeling some people as stupid. Normally that’s not a word I deploy in my every day vocabulary. But it fits for this conversation.
The main difference between smart people and stupid people that I see boils down to temperament and curiosity. I’ve noticed the people in my life who know the least are the ones who do and learn the bare minimum to get by. They hate asking questions, they get flustered and upset easily when something goes wrong or doesn’t work, and they’re fairly stubborn and stuck in their ways. Generally the most open-minded and open-hearted people I know tend to be the smartest and wisest.
Anybody else feel this way?
I think curiosity is the big one here. They aren't curious and not even interested in being curious.
They know what they've been told and are quite happy to just stick with that and never question it.
I've only run across 2 like that in my lifetime. Most others are just lazy and don't bother; they aren't really "stupid"
Maybe it was something in their cognitive development ? I don't think they are that way by choice and actually I had sympathy for those 2 and let them be within conversations.
The main difference is the ability to reason - to understand and fuse information from several sources into a cohesive idea or plan. Regurgitating data can be done by a computer or a notepad.
I doubt less intelligent people realize they are in fact, less intelligent. This does NOT mean that less intelligent people are unable. Far from it. They may learn differently...
I'd need to know the definition of "smart" and "stupid" before coming to any conclusions.
Some stupid people have other attributes that make them successful which makes them seem not that stupid.
Some smart people don't use their intelligence well and can act dumb.
The harder I worked the smarter I looked.
"Smart" is a situational description in my opinion.
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Thank you, dear thyroid immune disease that keeps me stupid 
