Intelligent and similar traits as the poster has mentioned has led me to live a near miserable life. Education was never viable because I lost interest in the mind-numbing tasks assigned to me, and the way that only stupid people who are too ignorant to realise that the work assigned to them is trivial are praised for the bookworm success. You have to be stupid or entirely ignorant to be a successful person in this society crafted by charlatans and intellectual inferiors.

Failure to submit yourself to the stupidity of our self-crafted society just leaves you isolated and miserable.

You are part of a ruling elite that sits around wondering "Why isn't my genius praised?" while brighter, better people than yourself suffer hunger, violence and deprevation

You want me to take you seriously? Ditch the capitalistic darwinistic me-me-me anti-enlightenment bullshit and find something bigger than yourself to fight for.

Even fundamentalist christians display more charity than you. Get a life. Join an aid organisation. Join your brothers and sisters in fighting for justice and equality.

Recognize that the core reason why no-one cares for your unique talents is that under capitalism, you are only worth what you can sell those talents for. Got a talent for sport? Have millions. Got a talent for being nice to people? Sucker!

Exactly the line I was thinking along. Good Fight Club reference, sir:

This is your life [lyricsbox.com]

You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake
You are the same decaying organic matter as everything else
We are all part of the same compost heap
We are the all singing, all dancing, crap of the world

You are not your bank account
You are not the clothes you wear
You are not the contents of your wallet
You are not your bowel cancer
You are not your grande latte
You are not the car you drive
You are not your fucking khaki's

Why not use intelligence in it's many forms for what the guy is after.

Atheist has a negative meaning foisted upon us by the Theists that seems to be unable to accord the Faith "reasoning" to non-theists that they themselves hold so dear.

I don't feel like playing amateur psychologist today, but I suspect there are more people around with your mindset than you might realise at that age. I met quite a few at university, and discovered that they are very good at some things, and very bad at others. Many things, including their job satisfaction and their value to an employer, depend on how well they play to their strengths.

For example, it seems they can achieve a relatively large amount in a given period of time if they are interested in what they are doing, making them very good at brief but difficult tasks where they can focus. On the other hand, they seem to be quite easily distracted by things they find more interesting, which can be a strain if you're trying to keep up a regular 9-5 job in any technology industry: in the real world, there's a lot of grunt work that needs to be done too.

IME, people with this sort of mindset tend to be natural "starters" rather than "finishers", and go for the big picture rather than the details -- they're better at producing innovative ideas than dotting the i's and crossing the t's. I've concluded that they are the natural candidates for "leading edge" research posts: let them wander with their heads in the clouds, and let those with more pragmatic, solid mindsets turn the useful ideas into reality.

Aw, crap. I wasn't going to go amateur psychologist. But hey, there you go, maybe it'll provide some ideas for you to play with.

The world is not run by intelligent people, period. Only if you are willing to be greedy, uncaring, singleminded and unyielding will you EVER be in a position of control. Everyone else gets to do the menial tasks that the overlords dictate.

Intelligent people realize that our current way of running things is horrible and they want no part of it. We want to do things the RIGHT way, the way that helps the most people and cuts through all the CRAP. Boring tasks are created by BORING people.

Don't ever tell me I need to jump through a hoop in the hopes that I may one day be able to remove it. That's EXACTLY what they want you to think. If it was that simple, this world wouldn't have any hoops AT ALL. Remember, YOU don't make the rules, the people with MONEY do.

The only way you can be happy is to challenge yourself. Find the funnest, most interesting task you can and PUSH it to the limit. Bring something new into this world and the world will surely notice.

This is possibly the worst possible motivation for getting a graduate degree (I should add I'm an academic myself so I have an idea of what I am talking about). The ONLY reason to get a PhD these days is for love of the subject. I couldn't bear the idea of not being involved in research in my field and my colleagues all felt the same. You will never make up the money you lose doing it, and in the end its not like people fall at my feet in worship everytime I use my title. Its a long, hard slog usually, intelligence is not the main factor in getting through anyway: its a work ethic and a bit of grit.

You can get just as much intellectual stimulation in industry if you land the right post. And get paid handsomely for doing it. The graduate degree is only for those who truly want it, we quite often see those who think of it as an intellectual penis-extending exercise fall by the wayside. And rightly so to be honest.

Yeah, I don't think you're alone on this one. I remember wishing someone would give me some real advice. Here's what I think.

• Read more books
• Cook more meals
• Jog in the morning
• Drink less beer, not none, but a little less
• Start a business, anything, something that generates revenue
• Get a job, even in school, or participate in sports
• DEFINITELY go to a college, sounds like you should go to a smaller school (I went to UT at Austin, I would've chosen a smaller school looking back)
• Live on your own, it's scary
• Travel when you can
• Bad realtionships are obvious, don't ignore the obvious and end them when you have them

As I think about this, these are the things that I would tell my younger self, but, I REALLY enjoyed my younger days and going through what you're about to go through. I think I look back fondly because as I was going through college and all my experiences, I kept reminding myself that one day, I would look back and wonder how it went so fast. So, as I look back now, I wonder how it went so fast, but then I remember enjoying every minute of it. I can't help but smile and look forward to my future...and my own baby's future. Good luck. And remember, one day, you'll look back and wonder how it went so fast.

I hate sales. And it sounds like you probably do, too: "Friends and others recognize my strength in these areas." I usually say that I'm bad at first impressions but when people see what I can do they gain respect. When I say sales I include the forward type of behavior involved in cold selling, meeting women and job hunting, because I think they use very similar talents that I (and I suspect you) lack. A couple of things that helped me in this area a while back were college classes in interpersonal communication and business communication. A few customer service seminars at work helped a lot, too. This is important: having techincal skills is good, but these days you *have* to have the people skills to be secure. I still vehemently hate cold selling and job hunting, but I have good customer service skills and work well with just about everyone.

The rest you will decide for yourself as you learn and get more experience in exactly who you are and what you want. I didn't really figure it out until quite recently. I looked at other people and couldn't find anyone whose example I wanted to follow. At 30 I kinda freaked out, quit my job and did some other odd stuff because I just didn't like where my life was going. The past 3 years I've spent recovering fina

Can't say I consider myself so bright any more now that I'm older, but I suggest you try a field that has a lot of width, like architecture.

That was my experience. I was lucky to get six years to complete undergrad (thanks Mom and Dad!) so I could do the four year commitment to architecture school while still taking quite a few religion, business, art and history courses. Never failed a class and graduated with nearly 200 hours. Best thing that could have happened, even though I didn't realize it at the time. (I transferred too late in my freshman year and couldn't get into Arch school until my junior year.)

And now, even though I've been in this career for a while, I still enjoy it. Architecture has a lot of different opportunities. You can develop into a designer, focusing on the art and philosophy. Or you can explore the technical side becoming a specialist in specifications, construction administration, or some particular design focus such as laboratory planning. Other opportunities include project, financial and office management, marketing and graphics, or CAD, computer and technical support. Really, there's something for everyone.

The trick is to not focus too soon. Most professions (medicine, law, accounting, architecture) have a range of skill areas. Even computer science, as specific as it is, has opportunities in marketing, usability, testing, graphics, business and project management, sales, internal technical support, and human resources--not just programming.

The downside of not focusing early is that you'll always be behind the savant who did. But if you know yourself not to be that way (as you do) don't even try to compete. I always think its funny when the working end of the screwdriver types (in my profession the designers) lament that everyone else goes home on time and has more of a life. They miss that it's a team effort, and they need the rest of us as much as we need them. (Besides the fact that such focus can sometimes lead to massive mis-direction and inefficiency. Although I will grant that it takes that type and effort to yield the once-in-a-lifetime genius work of architecture. Once. Among dozens of failures and misses.)

So be sure to shop around and keep yourself learning broadly. Force yourself to learn things you don't want to know. And remember, even though you might be known as your office's Cliff [tvheaven.com] Clavin [tvland.com], it only takes one time for that single obscure bit of knowledge or experience to land your firm a mega contract and bump you up the ladder five rungs.

District 200 in Illinois' policy on correction of spelling errors: "only when appropriate." As if it is sometimes not appropriate to correct spelling. Don't want to make the kids feel bad because they can't spell...

[Go actually do something and prove yourself.

Until then, reel in the ego before you get pounded.

One of my favorites was the first peer review of a young intern, only about a hundred lines of source code but probably the biggest thing he'd ever written. I could see something either wrong (buffer overflows, magic numbers, etc.) or missing (no error checking, no comments, no assertions, ...) on nearly everything he did.

I know it's cruel, but to watch their over-exuberant pimply faces go from "Joy! I'm doing Important Things!" fall to "All the things I've been gloating over mean absolutely nothing" is oddly fun.

Of course, I follow the rule "reprove in private, praise in public" (with another team member present), I try to do it early, before they have much emotional investment in their work (usually after a few days of work), and always do ego rebuilding and team building afterword. Usually something like "But it's a good start, considering you just graduated. Let's sit down together and fix a few of those holes."

Am I alone in this perverse pleasure?

"He has a fast computer with maya and photoshop, and everything else worthwhile installed. but he has shitty ram that core dumps quite often causing the computer to reboot, and he never takes the time to make a backup!"

I couldn't take college and dropped out because of my arrogance, similar as yours.

Maybe you were arrogant, maybe not. There are a lot of smart people who don't fit into the traditional understanding of "intelligent", "smart" and "clever".

Robert Sternberg [yale.edu] is a psycologist whose life project is to show that there are multiple types of "intelligence" and current "intelligence tests" only measure one or two of them.

When we look at the life of people such as Tomas Edison for example, who dropped out of school and was then fired from work for being "too clever" (he created a auto-responder to a morse signal that was supposed to verify if he was awake) it becomes obvious that the school system is not suited for educating some of the smartest people that have lived.

I belive Sternberg is righ, I belive there are very intelligent young people who are being labelled "arrogant" and a lot of other negative names because they are not "connecting" with the "system" as they "should be".

So what is the right way for such people ? Follow your instinct.. It will be hard, it will be difficult and there will be ups and downs but at least you have a chance to be *yourself*

My take:

• Most importantly, recognize that you Work to Live, not Live to Work. Do whatever job seems damn lucrative and vaguely interesting at the time. Ideally, pick a field that lets you adjust course every couple years to change the flavor of work you're doing. Adjust your resume and start looking when the stuff you're doing gets stale. And try to get 2 years per job minimum. Meanwhile, GET ENOUGH OF A LIFE TO WHERE WORK IS NOT THE FOCUS OF IT.
• Acquire some people skills. Lacking the dedication to be a guru with 25 years experience, you'll want to at least play nice with others and avoid friction. Learn to diplomatically accept unpleasant tasks, support others, and be an asset for work that way. If possible, learn that 'they call it work because it's unpleasant, otherwise they'd call it *fun*'.
• It sometimes is a huge PITA, but there are non-work dividends to having enough social skills to maintain relationships (unlike many proverbial nerds): if works sucks and you've got a wife and kids, at least there's someone to take your mind off stuff 16 hours a day.
• 50% of people are above average? Heh, it's more like 70% of the people, thanks to grade inflation.
• That said, I deeply identify with your self-description. I am regularly called the 'smartest' person they know by lots of folks. If you imagine a bell curve, 'above average' can also be construed to be the 10-20% of people that are NOT in the middle of the curve. I'd use that definition, rather than the parent poster's.
• So, I'm almost 40. I took over a decade for college, including grad school. I changed majors slightly, flunked lots of courses, retook them and others until I got the 3.0 GPA I felt was a critical minimum. I made the dean's list once in college, and from junior-high on, my GPA would embarass most folks. That said, I've rarely met anyone who could outdo me on standard tests, from SAT, ACT, etc. to the GRE's. I'm well-adjusted, happily married with kids, have been tweaking computers since I was 12, and have migrated from computer programmer to admin, to tech lead to programmer to information security consultant. I've also done chip design, electrical engineering, civil engineering, environmental engineering, field Civil/Arch/Struc engineering, surveying, carpentry, in small doses. Meanwhile, my hobbies have migrated thru games, small businesses I've started, writing, music, homebrewing, botany, cooking, bartending, booking performers and bands, old-home restoration, and so much more. My job now is for a small consultancy, so I tend to go from start to finish with a client in 2 to 14 months, which is plenty of time to get deep exposure and even bored, but never more than I can endure. Oh, and I do a handful of charitable websites. Variety is the spice of life, pal. If you're the same cog in the same massive bureaucracy for too long, find a different job until things bounce around enough to be interesting.
• If I had it all to do over again, I'd either fast-track thru an engineering degree and focus on a field that would let me get a PE, become a partner, and retire relatively early. Or I'd be a plumber or a chef. The jobs are both somewhat redundant but the pay is decent, the work is universally needed, and people are glad to see you. Third choice is to pick a career that'd give me enough long-term job security to let me comfortably fade to half-time status early on, like investment advisor, insurance broker, real estate salesman, or attorney. Some job where a fair share of people tend to marry themselves to a damn good agent and stick with them forever, guaranteeing your job. Some careers do have a shield against ageism.
• Avoid working for yourself, if you get bored easily and tend to not follow thru. People in business for themselves generally get there through doggedness. Being too smart is almost a bad thing for this sort of work. Just as you get efficient,

I am just as guilty as the next person in causing my own undoing. I do take a little from the fact that I at least acknowledge it, and try to fight it. Who knows, even I may not end up useless after all.

Most of the "smart people" I communicate with tend to think as futurists; they derive enjoyment from extrapolating novel outcomes from any given starting point in life. Sometimes they dream up futures that are somewhat Orwellian, and sometimes they imagine a world that operates better (if not faster).

My personal view, which I'd encourage you to consider (or disregard, as you wish) is either cheerful or hopeless, depending on how you want to use what it offers. If you're under age 30 today, I believe you'll get the opportunity to make that choice.

Today we are seeing a high rate of proliferation and evolution of "cooperative" (capable of arbitrarily routable information exchange) computing systems, which can be divided into a few categories:

(1) Physical Systems: Multiprocessor systems which utilize CPUs in concert to process information. These systems include everything from dual CPU servers to supercomputing clusters. The defining factor is close physical proximity of each CPU to the others in the system, and the use of local (isolated from the rest of the world) high speed interconnects to transfer information between CPUs.

(2) Geo-Localized Systems: I guess you could think of the collective computer systems which comprise a university campus as an example of this category. Any system which communicates with other systems in the grid constitutes a member of this group. Various methods of dividing systems into smaller groups (networks) are usually employed for political and administration purposes, but those divisions exist only to serve specific human goals for the locale.

(3) Global System: The Internet (and newer global academic networks under development) represents the infancy of a flexible, high speed, and resilient virtualized grid of computing units. As the network evolves, the important units will include lots of combinations of categories (1) and (2). We're setting the stage for the real fun.

Assuming current trends in information growth continue (manifested most clearly as faster computing systems connected to larger instantly accessible data stores), I don't think we'll have to wait *too* many years to see the rise of a distributed system that's self-aware in some respect and is capable of self-improvement. Some people call that a sentient system, others quibble over the definition of sentience. It's not really important.

The important part is the potential: this sort of system wouldn't have the kind of limits we normally associate with intelligence, and would demonstrate exponential growth while tending toward increasingly efficient operation (smaller components, whether physical or virtual, in closer proximity). The efficiency part is very much a necessity, given our current understanding of the limits imposed by physics on the speed of information transmission. Of course, at some point where its performance exceeds anything we can really imagine today, such a system could begin making optimizations that would leave our current crop of physicists scratching their heads...

Think about it a bit. Most smart people spend their lives feeling excluded from humanity, blessed and cursed with a mind that can't accept a simple existence as sufficient. Questions must always be answered, which leads us to ask another batch of questions. We're only happy when we're miserable solving the latest problem, and there's no difference between engineers, mathematicians, biologics, or the rest. Some of us learn to apply our minds to profitable professions, while others wind up destitute despite their mental gifts.

If the deepest reasons for humanity's biggest problems are eliminated, the global population stabilizes, and the human lifespan becomes ridiculously extended by the solutions afforded us by our new life form, how will you spe

When we look at the life of people such as Tomas Edison for example, who dropped out of school and was then fired from work for being "too clever" (he created a auto-responder to a morse signal that was supposed to verify if he was awake) it becomes obvious that the school system is not suited for educating some of the smartest people that have lived.

Then, read James Lowen's _Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your High School History Texbook Got Wrong_ [uvm.edu] to see how your mind has unknowingly been filled with nationalist and consumer crap (despite your technical proclivities). Also check out Howard Zinn [geocities.com]. Learn to live simply and frugally [thegarden.net] so you have more options:

If you have started doing all that, by now you are primed to begin to question what [unconventionalideas.com] education [consciouschoice.com] really [spiritone.com] means [johntaylorgatto.com].

And further, to even question why [whywork.org] people [retireearlyhomepage.com] need to work [deoxy.org] and what it should mean to do useful things.

You'll have time to read great minds like Bertrand Russel [mcmaster.ca] and Freeman Dyson [mac.com].

Then you can accept [bygpub.com] you [marshallbrain.com] are still [house.gov] stuck [zmag.org] in a stupid [bear-left.com] system.

But you'll be positioned to make the best of it and yet still see how the world [xat.org] can be a made [schumachersociety.org] better [conceptualguerilla.com] place to for the bulk of humanity and other creatures.

Always remember in your darker hours to at least ask yourself the question, "Can life be made worth living?" And in your brighter hours, remember to ask yourself if you are playing a finite (to win) game or an infinite [amazon.com] (to play) game?

And, finally, for continual inspiration, read _Voyage From Yesteryear_ [jamesphogan.com] by James P. Hogan.

Now go out and take some educated risks to try to make life worth living -- despite your future happiness possibilities already almost being ruined by being convinced you that you are "bright" just because you know some technical things (same thing almost happened to me).