An archist
Well-known member
I was reading a thread here about how good looking, happy people are disagreeable to many people here and one of the comments really jumped out at me. One person posted that there was some kind of study where people were showed pictures of other people and those that were more attractive looking were percieved as more inteligent. Now, I think that's nonesense about them actually being more inteligent (case in point: Paris Hilton!), but I'm willing to bet that good looking, or otherwise more socially integrated people are more successful than us loners.
As a matter of fact, I think lonely people are more intelligent, or at the very least far more interesting and unique, than other kinds of people, however that in no way translates into success. Penn and Teller's show on Showtime did a show about how college is bullshit. I agree whole heartedly! But they said that you don't actually learn anything new in college, but rather it's a place to get what you've learned notarized, so to speak. While that may be true, I think college does do one thing in particular to lay the foundations of "sucess:" namely, it's a place to build up social capital.
There's a wikipedia article on social capital (where do you think I heard about it from? God! Isn't wikipedia just the greatest thing ever?) which is worth checking out. Social capital, in a nutshell, is another way of saying "it's who you know", "building contacts", or as I prefer to call it, chronyism!
The ability to socialize--enviable in itself, considering that I'm completly freindless--does seem to have economic importance. The more friends you have, translates into more knowledge of potential job opportunities for starters. Also, the ability to rub elbows with some important people obviously has its perks.
So now I'm starting to get a bit worried here. I'm getting really great grades in college, but I haven't made a single friend or even hung out with anybody from school in the 3 years I've been here. Just how big of a hamper do you think social ineptitude can be with regards to jobs, and such? I'm sure you've seen movies where the awkward little genius gets stuck in the basement doing all the work, while his boss takes credit all the credit.
I find this concept truly repugnat! I feel rotten enough being completly isolated without a social life! And really, since I've been this way for so long, I've come to regard socializing as something quite tacky and superficial. I just want to hear some of your thoughts on any of this.
As a matter of fact, I think lonely people are more intelligent, or at the very least far more interesting and unique, than other kinds of people, however that in no way translates into success. Penn and Teller's show on Showtime did a show about how college is bullshit. I agree whole heartedly! But they said that you don't actually learn anything new in college, but rather it's a place to get what you've learned notarized, so to speak. While that may be true, I think college does do one thing in particular to lay the foundations of "sucess:" namely, it's a place to build up social capital.
There's a wikipedia article on social capital (where do you think I heard about it from? God! Isn't wikipedia just the greatest thing ever?) which is worth checking out. Social capital, in a nutshell, is another way of saying "it's who you know", "building contacts", or as I prefer to call it, chronyism!
The ability to socialize--enviable in itself, considering that I'm completly freindless--does seem to have economic importance. The more friends you have, translates into more knowledge of potential job opportunities for starters. Also, the ability to rub elbows with some important people obviously has its perks.
So now I'm starting to get a bit worried here. I'm getting really great grades in college, but I haven't made a single friend or even hung out with anybody from school in the 3 years I've been here. Just how big of a hamper do you think social ineptitude can be with regards to jobs, and such? I'm sure you've seen movies where the awkward little genius gets stuck in the basement doing all the work, while his boss takes credit all the credit.
I find this concept truly repugnat! I feel rotten enough being completly isolated without a social life! And really, since I've been this way for so long, I've come to regard socializing as something quite tacky and superficial. I just want to hear some of your thoughts on any of this.