[GUEST POST] - You'll never know how smart you are

NOTE: We don't inhabit a fragmented reality. Nothing around us can be isolated from the catastrophic effects of the pandemic we're witnessing. All further posts on this blog will carry this caveat until there is some reasonable accountability established and substantial actions taken against the state's criminal abdication of responsibility.

This is a guest post by Vidushi Dembi.

Let’s just put it out there, in case someone had any doubts, humans are a pretty smart species. We have come this far based on our intellectual capabilities, and even though we are pretty young in the game, in a sense we have won the evolutionary lottery. The myriad of innovations, explorations, societal constructs and countless other concepts that we ventured on and continue doing so have enabled us to achieve whatever position of power we have, where our species quite often tends to get vain. Setting the egotistical angle aside, we can safely celebrate the power of our intellect. We are a smart species, case closed, applause.

The collective tendencies and behaviours of humans as a species could also be attributed to the individual, because what has manifested on the macro level ultimately has its roots in the micro level. Could we then say that all humans are smart?

We know that’s not the case. Each individual has varied levels of intellect, and the net result has been (mostly) positive in due course of our history. Sure, we mess up a pandemic here and there, but we declared our collective smartness long ago so that ship has sailed. Naturally we must have opinions on our own levels of intellect as well as of those around us. Talking about the more interesting case of rating ourselves (because who knows me better than myself, of course), turns out this opinion largely falls into two brackets – the one where you believe you are smartest of the bunch, and the other where you are overcome with crippling inferiority complex; there is hardly any space for a middle ground. All this evolution but we still aren’t smart enough to judge our own smartness.

Adi you’re so smart

The first category of people comprises of the ones who have concluded that they are the smartest among their circle. This might be observed in the form of a conspicuously extroverted person who isn’t actually all that smart once you go into a detailed conversation with them, but on the top layer exudes almost a compensatory overconfidence. Or there might be someone who is just your average person who aren’t as good at their job as they think they are. So, this category – where people rate themselves to be smarter than they actually are – essentially leads to two paths.

One is that you adjudged yourself to be the smartest one in the room, and that is actually the truth. If you identify as that person, you’re highly recommended to find a new room where you are no longer the star but are surrounded by people smarter than you. Being in a company where you “know the most” (leaving the discussion on meanings of smartness for different people to another day) doesn’t challenge you to think differently and doesn’t serve your growth. You can lead a sufficiently comfortable life, where you can get by with the help of your already acquired intellect without having to experience anything new, ever. You have no competition and you will soon fall in the pit of complacency, and God knows for how long would you be able to hold the smarty pants crown. I know right, how scarily boring does that sound!?

The second case would be that you think you are the smartest person in the room – but that’s actually not true. This category can turn into an awkward arrangement of things where your actions are guided by the false confidence in your intellect. This category has been studied in psychology as the Dunning-Kruger effect which is a cognitive bias where people with lower abilities tend to overrate their intellect. On the face of it, having an inherent confidence might seem helpful for one’s motivation but is actually a disservice to you in the longer run because you end up putting much less effort in your tasks, relying on your pseudo amplified intellect.

The actual conundrum that arises now is, if I identify with this category, how do I know if my judgement is true or false? I am surrounded by my friends, who I love and have been my friends for a long time, but now that I think of it, I feel I am the most intellectually sound – does that mean I need to change my friends? OR I feel I am very good at my job but I’m not getting proper recognition for my efforts, does it mean my theory of office politics was wrong -- does it mean I’m actually not as capable as I think I am? The ‘smarter one among my friends’ one is interesting because I have engaged in this topic of discussion twice already recently, and it is important to mention that you don’t need to leave your dear friends if you fall in that category. Friends serve a different purpose in a person’s life which if overlaps with the intellectual interests of oneself is icing on the cake but is not a prerequisite for friendship. You can surely find company of intellectuals without having to dump your friends for your intellectual quest. In the other case of ‘I know I am good at my job’, the next logical step would probably be revaluating your assessment. Looking at your capabilities through a critical lens, clearing out that bias and looking at the situation from another’s point of view presents a fresher perspective on things. However, while introspecting if you slip to the other side of the Dunning-Kruger boundary, you might end up doubting your true intellectual level, and even start getting ideas if you were never smart to begin with and have been making a fool out of yourself all this while. That level of induced self-doubt could potentially do more harm to you than the company of less smart individuals would have caused.

You know nothing, John Snow

The other category of equally interesting set of phenomena is the one where a person lives under the constant dread of feeling that they actually don’t know anything and perhaps are faking their success. I’m sure everyone has experienced this at least once in their lives in some form or the other, where everyone else but you seem to be excelling in their lives, where everyone has an intellectual opinion on things whereas you are barely struggling to understand the subject matter of the debate, where everyone else seems to have luck by their side whereas your ‘low brainpower’ and capabilities seem to repel even your luck. It is this recurring thought of feeling inadequate, feeling that no matter how hard you try success will always be a far-fetched idea. You don’t feel confident about your capabilities so you make half-hearted efforts for your growth. If you think the only cure to get out of this rut is finally landing some success when you can prove your worth to yourself, sorry but I’ve got news for you.

Success doesn’t guarantee an internal sense of accomplishment, and this has been testified by many ‘famous and successful’ people who have spoken about their Imposter Syndrome. Imposter Syndrome is a psychological condition where a person feels that they have reached acclaim based on sheer luck and they themselves are mere imposters and not the person others are raving about. You feel that you aren’t as intelligent as you are perceived to be and don’t actually deserve your success. It is that hollow feeling you get when you look back at your achievements and are unable to figure out or believe how you got there. You are dreading the day when others find out that you are a fraud, faking it all along and got here just because luck favoured you over someone else who was probably more deserving than you anyway. This can turn into a situation with serious repercussions where huge self-doubt can lead you to not trusting your skills anymore and hence being unable to retain your position of success.

Both these phenomena, over estimating or under estimating your capabilities, can be harmful to your intellect and personality in different ways. And my guess is most of us fall in either of these categories, misjudging our capabilities and trying to navigate life in the best way possible, co-existing with this mismatch. But this doesn’t seem a very optimum or even fun way of approaching life, does it?!

Just like in the German series Dark (if you know you know), the key, if there is one, has to be in a third category.

Strictly speaking, I’m still on track

Go listen to the fantastic album The Slow Rush by Tame Impala if you haven’t already. If the song “On Track” hits you hard, welcome to the third category. This category operates on the starting point of acknowledging that there is bound to be a mismatch between our understanding and the actual level of our intellectual capabilities. But rather than over-estimating our capabilities (because seriously though, who wants to play that true or false game) we begin with the assumption that we know way less than we ideally should. There are days when you feel incompetent and there are days when you feel invincible; what is essential is to keep moving forward in your pursuit of knowledge.

My brother runs a WhatsApp group and a Twitter page by the name of Asymptotic Knowledge, where he posts a variety of interesting articles for curious minds. The other day I asked him why he had chosen the name for the page and this is what he had to say:

“I was reading a bit about curves, and remembered the concepts of asymptotes. To be asymptotic means to approach a value or curve very closely but never quite reaching it. I think our pursuit of knowledge as likewise. We try to read, write, listen, talk etc. all through our lives in pursuit of knowledge. We get really close sometimes, but because knowledge is infinite - we never quite catch up to it. It's an eternal pursuit. An asymptotic pursuit.”

This explanation describes the core tenet of people that identify with this category. Now this might seem bleak at first glance; chasing something you’ll never catch up with, constantly seeking knowledge, only to find it everywhere and still not enough. The more you know the more you realize you have so much more to learn. To successfully function in this framework, one also needs to wary of not falling in the Imposter Syndrome black hole, but rather have cognizance of our achievements, acknowledge their importance in our journey so far and continuing to take in the vast ocean of knowledge. This is the true essence of life; the realization that we are not there yet, but we are on this journey which is a collection of diverse experiences, people, lessons, failures, milestones and successes. As cliché as it sounds, it is really about the journey and not the destination.

Not knowing how smart you actually are is a good thing. One, it isn’t easy to actually measure it, and second, wasting time in trying to measure it is way less fun as compared to starting from the assumption that you don’t know enough and hence are eager to learn more. Appreciate the wonder that is our universe (if at all it exists; what’s up my simulation theory enthusiasts) and consciously grow curious about all the possible experiences you can have in your lifetime. Keeping your intellectual levels under question periodically will ensure your mind doesn’t achieve dormancy and complacency, but always has new things to look forward to. This way you ensure you keep learning your entire life, which is a sure shot way to make you smarter each day. Years of exploring, learning and adapting is what got our species here.

Who knows, one day we might even evolve to develop an intellect rating system.

Tame Impala saved the day once again.

You can read more of her writings here.

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