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Comment by moonchrome | Hacker News Reader

>People that tend to waste cycles on comparing their intelligence to others tend to be insufferable, egotistical, and boring.

You don't have to compare intelligence to notice that you're edit: r/smarter/more intelligent (or that others are r/smarter/more intelligent than you). Especially when you're working together with someone for a long time.

After a while it's like knowing you're shorter/taller than someone - you won't notice and you might be wrong if the difference is small - but when it's a large difference it's just something you know even if you never consciously thought about it.

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I have never found a circumstance where those comparisons are actually useful in the sense that they can make me a better person. All they have ever done is make someone (usually me) feel better about themselves.

Every time it has come up, the situation has been a trap of some kind

And what is smarter anyway? Book smarts? Street smarts? Your coworker may not have intelligence in the same areas as you, but I bet there are areas in life where they will kick your ass

What a lot of people are really asking is, 'how experienced is this person in the same areas that I am?'

I shouldn't have used the word smarter - I meant to say intelligent.

I think intelligence is just "processing power", there are people that catch on faster, can evaluate more angles simultaneously, are able to wrestle with complex ideas - once you start working with people on new/hard problems you notice who struggles to keep up and who outpaces you.

Agreed, but I think many of the ways that manifests can be acquired with experience if you're looking at one thing. I think the idea we are both getting at is capacity for learning, or quick thinking, and for that you need to see that person perform in a suitable environment, which the workplace is probably not providing.

And again, these are all components of intelligence but missing large parts of the bigger picture. What about the ability to make a point or debate well? Or charisma? Those are social skills, you might say -- social intelligence? So then is intelligence simply the sum of ones skills and ability to pick up new ones? Maybe, but then how does that apply to your specific situation?

My point is that intelligence is probably undefinable. "I am better/more experienced/more capable than this person at X and Y" is probably what you should be saying to yourself instead.

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