Intelligence Makes One Do Stupid Things

Theory time. I don't really know the theory on this... I'm totally winging this without any sort of research on the subject.

There are two primary ways to learn - intellectually and intuitively.

Intellectually, one learns by understanding the theories and reasons behind the topic. This works fantastic for computer programming or accounting (I've been in both professions).

Intuitively, one learns by feeling, without ever concretely expressing what is understood, aside from "People like that." This works for marketing or sales. Or life.

Life is trial and error. We don't learn how to be successful in interpersonal interaction by logically figuring out how to talk to people. Intelligent people try to figure out what they're doing wrong in interpersonal interactions. Intuitive people live by a lot of trial and error.

I always thought that intelligence was the greatest trait to have, since intelligence implies that, no matter what the scenario, you're better equipped to figure out what you need to adjust to make things work. However, the answer to "How do I make this work?" can sometimes be "Stop thinking and just act."

We're human. A minority of our actions are motivated by intelligence. A majority of our actions are motivated by feelings. Even our intellectual actions are motivated by feelings. I pursue intellectual challenge because it makes me feel good. I love the feeling of a database that is appropriately normalized for its application, and it has all the right indexes, and people say "Damn, how did you speed up the database like that?"

"Ancient German secret."

Then they see SQL Profiler behind my box of Calgon, with a trace showing which commands in the stored proc take all the time. "Ancient German secret, huh?" Busted!

So back to the topic of trial and error, and intuition being built from a willingness to experiment. Well... I think I'm done with that topic. Time to stop being introspective. I'm not being funny anymore, and it's really lame.