Because geniuses sound crazy until their crazy ideas are validated.
Putin khuliyo
I think it's simply because the brain of many geniuses work in a very different way than what's considered normal.
Perfect example of your question, OP.
Azuregos: You seek the scepter shard charged to the protection of the Blue Flight?
<Azuregos appears to be smiling.>
Player: How did you know? I mean, yes... Yes I am looking for that shard. Do you have it?
Azuregos: Of course I do not have the shard. That would be asinine. I walk amongst savages in this cursed land! I cannot take five steps without some crazed Orc or Human trying to thrust a sharp stick into my hide. At any given time you could very well be speaking to my spirit.
Anyhow... I hid it.
Go on... Ask me where.
Player: Alright. Where?
Azuregos: Your going to love this story, <race>. See, here is the thing. As soon as Malygos charged me with protecting the scepter shard, I knew I was in for an eternity of headache and pain.
All i want to do is study these magic rich shorelines and take in what artifacts remain from the sundering. You know, there was once a thriving Highborne civilization here! you don't have to tell me that there are going to be some solid magical items around here, <race>. I can smell it!
Player: By Bronzebeard's... um, Beard! what are you talking about?
Azuregos: As i was saying, I held onto that scepter shard for a good five hundred years and it was nothing but trouble. it attracted all kinds of attention - the wrong kind of attention. I want to be left alone to my studies not babysit some would-be hero's ticket to glory. So I gave it to the fish.
Player: Fish? You gave a piece of what could be the key to saving all life on Kalimdor to a fish?
Azuregos: Not just any fish, mortal. This fish was a minnow. A very special minnow.
Player: A minnow? The oceans are filled with minnows! There could be a hundred million minnows out there!
Azuregos: Exactly!
Player: ...
Azuregos: Genius, I know... It will never be found; but, in case it is found, I gave the minnow some special powers.
Player: You put the piece on a minnow and placed the minnow somewhere in the waters of the sea between here and the Eastern Kingdoms? And this minnow has special powers?
Azuregos: Correct. You've been listening! This minnow is really quite a terrible creature of my own creation. When I am relaxing, I like to think of the unlucky fishermen who have run into this minnow and been devoured whole. I bet they were quite surprised!
<Azuregos laughs.>
Player: You're insane.
Azuregos: Genius is often misunderstood, <race>. Now, about the scepter shard. If you want that shard and do not wish to spend the next ten thousand years searching for it, you are going to have to listen very carefully.
Player: I'm all ears.
Azuregos: Two words: Arcanite Buoy.
Player: Come again.
Azuregos: Right then... You have to build an Arcanite Buoy and place it in the ocean. My minnow will be attracted to the magical emanations. When he gets near the buoy - BLAMO! It will explode in a glorious pulse of arcane energy, revealing the minnow's true form. Also, you may or may not incur the wrath of Neptulon. A 50/50 chance I would say.
Player: Ok, let me get this straight. You put the scepter shard entrusted to your Flight by Anachronos on a minnow of your own making and now expect me to build an... an Arcanite Buoy or something... to force your minnow out of hiding? AND potentially incur the wrath of an Elemental Lord? Did I miss anything? Perhaps I am to do this without any clothes on, during a solar eclipse, on a leap year?
Azuregos: If I did not know better, I would think that you were mocking me, mortal. But yes, that is mostly correct. You may remain fully clothed.
Player: FINE! and how, dare I ask, am i supposed to acquire an Arcanite Buoy?
Azuregos: Take this ledger to an old acquaintance of mine in Tanaris. His name is Narain Soothfancy - Terrible, terrible, psychic but an amazing engineer! He should be able to make sense of it all.
No need to thank me, <name>. It's the least i could do.
Good Day!
Player: But...
Azuregos: I SAID GOOD DAY!
"Why of course the people don't want war…. But, after all… it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."
This i have had happen FAR too often with friends and family...All i did was compare past scenarios with similar parameters and estimated the most likely outcome.
People still often say i'm wrong...Then later i often turn out to be right LOL.
One irony is this thread is showing me more and more why my therapist and others in my life have called a genius....Still don't buy it. I know so little that i just can't truly buy it.
Its not rocket science man. Geniuses have to dedicate their mind, time, effort, and money into that one thing that it makes other categories in life... insufficient. No one becomes a genius and still excels at other aspects of life. Where one strength is gained, another strength is lost.
Call me House.
THAT IS BRILLIANT!!! Besides if something is THAT important pissing off an elemental lord really should be worth it. ESPECIALLY if it's not a 100% chance.
I mean hell if it were me i mighta eaten it or stored it in some kinda dimensional vortex...Or thrown it down a ravine LOL. But the MINNOW now THAT is TRUE genius.
---------- Post added 2013-01-30 at 01:18 AM ----------
I often relate it to stat distribution in classical RPGs. Gotta choose your stats and classes ya know.
I for one have had alot of variants...But i mainly know anime/manga and some social stuff....Though again i have stray information on most subjects that SEEMS to be above average.
Honestly if a person can live their life happily and do that which they enjoy, then they are a genius and figured out what's important to them. Even the people at the top of science/art etc. fields do what they truly enjoy in life. There's nothing wrong with being "dumb" so long as its not on purpose but a matter of just not understanding something at first. I don't judge people based on their intellect and I don't get annoyed by people who are not informed on a subject I maybe well informed on because I know damn well that they no something the I don't and I appreciate learning from others.
I kind of find it disturbing by how people get angry at so called "stupid" people when it's merely they are not educated on certain subjects. Should I get mad that someone I talk to or is in a class or I work with doesn't know how Steam generators work in a PWR? No I understand they don;t have my background and I'll gladly inform them if they wish.
You didn't actually read what obdigore wrote, did you?
Or didn't understand, at least.
I think that is what is most infuriating about this topic. People proclaiming their 'genius,' their high intelligence, their prowess of the mind, and yet those very same people being unable to grasp a simple sentence.
It is evidence of nothing more than a complete lack of self-awareness with a hefty dose of confirmation bias.
I've also said many times that i often consider myself something of an idiot. And for future reference there ARE many types of knowledge.
Not to mention many potential ways to interpret even one word in english let alone an entire sentence. In my case it's most likely true that i'm a bit of an idiot who just enjoys thinking.
But i doubt it's true for everyone here.
We smart people see the world differently, and that makes us different than other people and isolates us.
Isolation makes us crazy.
Personally, I don't buy the "dealing with 'average' society makes them crazy" hypothesis. If you are so smart, dealing with stupid people shouldn't be a problem - barring the presence of other mental disorders.
There are geniuses who are perfect sane and well adjusted members of society.
However there seem to be an unusually high number of weird people (and outright nutters) amount geniuses though - especially in the mathematical community it appears.
http://youtu.be/pnCrUroeVlI
Yea I was having a bad day and that post was sort of a joke. I certainly get frustrated when people can't 'grasp' things that I find easy, however I would guess that most of the extreme cases of IQ deviation are not because their brains are just better, but different parts of their brain have different levels of activity than most 'normal' people, which would cause them to relate and understand differently, and make a lot of them seem weird.
I'm also of the opinion that everyone is completely odd, some just hide it better than others.
Edit -> I recall reading a stat that a high majority of serial murderers have extremely high IQ's, but that just might be because it is required to avoid being figured out and tracked down by the police after one or two...
What I really find depressing is all of these kids I run into who have college degrees, and they are about as anti-intellectual as they come. They have absolutely no interest in discussing any highbrow topic. They talk about getting drunk, tattoos, partying, and nothing else. They are constant screwups and don't care.
There's this one 28 year old woman with a degree I have to interact with regularly. Tattoos all over, she dates convicts, she is like "eeewww" when discussing anything intellectual. She doesn't do her job well, either. She goofs off constantly. But, she has a degree. I have nothing, nothing in common with this woman.