Lol, I was eligible to skip multiple grades and passed on MIT to go to Harvey Mudd for math & CS. The reason why? I was undiagnosed autistic & ADHD. Most (all?) exceptionally smart people have undx'd disabilities, which leads to crashing and burning out in our 30s...
Lol, I was eligible to skip multiple grades and passed on MIT to go to Harvey Mudd for math & CS. The reason why? I was undiagnosed autistic & ADHD. Most (all?) exceptionally smart people have undx'd disabilities, which leads to crashing and burning out in our 30s...
We crash and burn bc our disabilities (that we don't even know we have) go unaccommodated. Worse still, the systems of corporate America & government are NOT designed to accommodate us, in fact, they're designed to be hostile to us.
This is why mid people get promoted while exceptional people get passed over and burn out. Most often, the measure of an employee is how much ass they can kiss in a single sitting, how good they can "play the game". Game playing is beneath exceptional people.
And there's also the oppressive, ever present, singular interest of capitalism that gets in the way: profit maximization at all costs. Exceptional people like to work on exceptional problems. But most solutions are at odds with this basic tenet of capitalism.
So you can either focus on actually solving big problems, or you can focus on maximizing profits. You can't do both. If you're an exceptional person, you more easily see the big picture and see how important these problems and solutions are.
And when you can't work on them, or when you're punished for working on them, you get burned out and quit. Mid people, on the other hand, can't see the forest from the trees. They're the definition of ignorance is bliss, and the systems reward their ignorance & incompetence.
One of the biggest lies in the world is thinking work organizations are meritocracies. They are anything BUT meritocracies. People advance based primarily on wealth and popularity/social standings, not merit. Seeing the problem now?
This really blew up. If any of you would like to help support a former gifted kid who currently is struggling to support himself and his mom due to multiple disabilities and state violence, consider donating to our GFM here: gofund.me/97dd0cba