An Arrogant Idea

I was thinking yesterday about what levels of intelligence I like and dislike. I really like people who are as smart as I am. They are good people to know. They make good contributions, and they appreciate my good contributions. I am wary of people who are smarter than I am. They will call me on my bad contributions, and make enough good ones that there will be no opportunity for me to do so. That's as far as I go with that end of the spectrum.

As for people who fall below me in intelligence, I don't like any of them too much, but it takes some thought to decide which I like the least. It doesn't take very much, but it does take some. I think I like the stupidest people better. It strikes me that they are the least likely to be in any position to do a lot of harm. They are like swimmers too weak to get out where they might drown. I guess that's maybe not an apt comparison, but I'll never claim to be the absolute smartest.

Those stupid people may also, I think, not have an overly high level of misplaced confidence. If one were to have some money, it would be possible to overestimate how much. If one had no money, it would be much harder to do that, and much harder to overdraw on it. The same thing seems true to me about intelligence. You get get in over your head if you can get yourself started in that direction. The stupid can't do that, for which I'm grateful.

As I said, I don't claim to be the smartest. I like to think that knowing I don't know it all is as good as knowing it all, and no one knows it all. There are only the people who know their limitations and who never step out onto uncertain ground. Whenever I have, I have more likely been punished than been rewarded for the risk. This whole idea that I'm expressing may be arrogant and wrong, but I do know of the possibility. Does that prove it or disprove it?