There’s two people for me, I think one of them is much smarter in raw intelligence, and the other guy is very easily underestimated mostly because he’s just about the most redneck motherfucker I’ve ever met in my life. And I’ve met plenty.

The guy I typically say is the most intelligent is also one of the biggest dumbasses I’ve ever met. He could pick up completely new concepts faster than anyone I’ve ever seen, figure out solutions to problems no one else had identified as a problem yet, could speak to anyone’s level and explain difficult subjects in simple terms, but he could only ever show up to work on time or show up sober but never both and got caught using the company fuel card for his personal vehicle more than once. He also accidentally facetimed his wife in the middle of getting blowjob at a hotel from a lot lizard.

The other guy is not like the first one, what sets him apart in my mind is that he can look at just about any mechanical or hydraulic system for a couple of minutes and completely comprehend it, and can answer pretty complex math and logic problems off the top of his head. He can talk to someone for about five minutes and get invited on fishing trips, hunting trips, weddings, or offered jobs, and he’s one of the hardest workers I’ve ever met.

A lad I knew at 20, he was an absolute fucking genius. Could run circles round anyone in most subjects and his memory was astounding. I permanently felt thick next to him. Lovely lad as well

I can’t think of a specific person. I’ve met a lot of people who have quite some brain power available. Who are way more knowledgeable than me and faster processing things. Most interesting encounters are when I don’t specifically attend an lecture of someone who is very smart, but randomly meet them. Like I talk to an old lady and find out she has a lot of wise words to offer.

And intelligence is quite a broad term. Some people are experts in one domain and are crazy at that. Some have broad knowledge and you can just ask them about anything and they have a clever take on it. Some are book-smart, some handy… And I don’t really have a good metric to compare them.

Dr. Robert Capener who taught me Lisp in 78.

When I went to grad school I thought I’d meet lots of geniuses with, like, unearthly intelligences. I was surprised to find that none of the successful scientists I met, even those from top-tier universities leading highly-respected labs, were geniuses of that sort. Some were even “slow thinkers” or had slightly faulty memories. But what the most successful scientists did have was: i) very high levels of motivation, and ii) excellent work habits.