The more people I get exposed to, the more I realise that most successful people aren’t smart either. They happen to have some skill that they’re able to wield, without always understanding it.
Someone who’s intelligent in the sense that they are able to see and understand underlying relationships in a system that others don’t should ideally be able to exploit those as well?
If that is the case, then why don’t smart people who understand deeply how things work succeed more often?
Why is it the charismatic storytellers, the charalatans who call their self-published book with 14 ratings a ‘rapidly emerging work’ appear to be successful?
Perhaps my lens is broken. I’m getting drawn into the illusion of success they create and they aren’t really successful?
This is a question I’d want to explore further. Think a lot more deeply about. Is there arbitrage waiting to be found in markets and systems only because you understand them deeply? If so, what can you do to ensure that others don’t exploit it once you’ve discovered it and you’re the one who ends up reaping its benefits instead?
I do hope this doesn’t play into my sense of being a Mycroft Holmes. The prometheus. The Dr Strange - although I haven’t seen any of his movies. The seer. The foreteller. You get what I mean.
To put it differently, why does relatively dumb action appear to consistently win over significantly stronger thought?