I got this idea recently that what people call 'smart' is entirely subjective and can mean basically anything.
In practice people simply using this word to describe someone who agrees with them. However most of them are completely unaware of the fallacy they commit in doing so.
Say for example a guy who believes that earth is flat will think that everyone who thinks it is spherical is stupid and will call fellow flat earthers smart. Due tot heir own stupidity they will not be able to understand the opposing point of view.
However people with less absurd ideas behave the same way. They too just call people who agree with them are smart and those who do not are stupid.
They honestly believe that this is what smart is, however in reality it is hardly so.
So in practice what people call smart is merely understanding and compliance to their values system.
Here I could add that really smart means agreeing with anything I believe right. From my subjective point of view it is. Also when I say I want a smart girl I mean this.
However I am self-aware enough to call it subjective.
I would aslo add that because of the above principle, people end up befriending only people of the same values system as their own. Thus crating a sort of an echo chamber that just repeats their own thoughts to them.
Because of the above people will have a hard time understanding someone who has different values system. Most will not bother and will just dismiss them as stupid.
In fact for most people understanding someone with different values system is completely impossible. Thus making relationship between them very difficult to impossible.
However it is more convenient to deal with people who share your values system. Things like Astrology and Myer-Briggs 16 personalities do help you to understand different types of people better. You can use it to better understand how to deal with people.
I guess it will be more useful if more people will take these tests and let people know who they are.
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