On: The impotence of being clever

[hilbert42]

I'm clever enough to at least know I'm stupid.

[levinb → hilbert42]

I've always told myself that, "I'm smart enough to know I'm not as smart as I think I am."

[erwincoumans → levinb]

Indeed, self-evaluating your smartness precisely seems unlikely: you are more likely more or less smart.

[tartoran → hilbert42]

Say that outloud and often and some people will use it against you.

[hilbert42 → tartoran]

Usually I don't. The issue is that I so often see people who I reckon are brighter than me who fail to recognize their shortcomings or failures, that is they're not good at self-introspection or avoid doing so.

Things I'm reasonably good at are self-awareness and being aware my own limitations (if it were ever claimed that I wasn't much good at anything then no one could justifiably claim those). Being aware of them has often kept me out of trouble.

[parthianshotgun → tartoran]

I've said that in a job interview, how screwed am I?

[hilbert42 → parthianshotgun]

You're not. (See my post above.)