I saw this on Quora and thought that it was worth sharing.
There was once a mathematical genius and member of the Prometheus Society (cutoff is at the 99.997th percentile - 1 in 30,000, IQ 162) who was driving when he had a flat tire outside the fence of what is sometimes called an insane asylum.
As the genius was changing out the flat tire he placed all of the lug nuts together on the ground. But as he mounted the spare tire he hit them with the spare and all 5 went down a sewer grate.
You don’t have to be a genius to imagine the colorful stream of invectives that passed though his lips at that point.
Well, said genius sat on the curb trying to figure out what to do next - he had no way to mount the spare tire and knew that if he called road service the driver was unlikely to have lug nuts that fit his car.
For all his intellectual ability, he sat there as helpless as a baby.
And then, from the other side of the tall wrought iron fence of the asylum he heard a voice …
“Hey, Mister. Psst. Mister.”
Mr. Genius turned and was startled to see the image of an old man in a hospital gown, long wild hair and beard, spittle on his face, looking like an driveling idiot, talking like a child, and reeking like an outhouse.
The stranded genius ignored the person, who he perceived to be a moron. In fact, Mr. Genius moved further away from him, scooting down the curb to do so.
“Hey Mister,” the stranger repeated.
But Mr. Genius dismissed the smelly, disheveled wretch. In fact, he yelled at the man, “Get away from me! Shut up you stupid fool! Can’t you see I’m trying to solve a problem here?!”
And then the stranger spoke:
[ Hit spoiler to learn what useful advice the wise old man had from the other side of the fence and to learn the moral of the story. ]
There was once a mathematical genius and member of the Prometheus Society (cutoff is at the 99.997th percentile - 1 in 30,000, IQ 162) who was driving when he had a flat tire outside the fence of what is sometimes called an insane asylum.
As the genius was changing out the flat tire he placed all of the lug nuts together on the ground. But as he mounted the spare tire he hit them with the spare and all 5 went down a sewer grate.
You don’t have to be a genius to imagine the colorful stream of invectives that passed though his lips at that point.
Well, said genius sat on the curb trying to figure out what to do next - he had no way to mount the spare tire and knew that if he called road service the driver was unlikely to have lug nuts that fit his car.
For all his intellectual ability, he sat there as helpless as a baby.
And then, from the other side of the tall wrought iron fence of the asylum he heard a voice …
“Hey, Mister. Psst. Mister.”
Mr. Genius turned and was startled to see the image of an old man in a hospital gown, long wild hair and beard, spittle on his face, looking like an driveling idiot, talking like a child, and reeking like an outhouse.
The stranded genius ignored the person, who he perceived to be a moron. In fact, Mr. Genius moved further away from him, scooting down the curb to do so.
“Hey Mister,” the stranger repeated.
But Mr. Genius dismissed the smelly, disheveled wretch. In fact, he yelled at the man, “Get away from me! Shut up you stupid fool! Can’t you see I’m trying to solve a problem here?!”
And then the stranger spoke:
[ Hit spoiler to learn what useful advice the wise old man had from the other side of the fence and to learn the moral of the story. ]
“Mister, why don’t you take one nut from each of the other wheels and use them on the spare. That way you can drive to a mechanic.”
Moral of the story:
If you aren’t smart enough to know that everyone has something that they can teach you, then you are an idiot and not half the friggen genius YOU think you are.
Moral of the story:
If you aren’t smart enough to know that everyone has something that they can teach you, then you are an idiot and not half the friggen genius YOU think you are.
