Does being really good looking doom you to mediocrity?
 

I just read a Socrates quote about the body that a lot of fitness/weight lifting people seem to use for motivation. It made me think, what is it about being born attractive or working to become that way that does seem to mean you are not doomed to be a great mind.

when you think of all the great intellects, writers and comedians in history and currently, all the great scientists, all the great business tycoons it's pretty much average looking people down to outright ugly people.

so is it that average/ugly people from a young age can't rely on their attractiveness and concentrate on their minds that produces this? or that it's just too time consuming for somebody to be obsessed/driven in two very opposite areas?

forget about actors, pop music stars, pro athletes - their bodies and looks are everything in their careers, their business successes are a direct result from them.

well, I'm pretty mediocre, so guess it must be that I'm too damn good looking :cool-smil

My Mom says I'm handsome,I've been in 2 commercials

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh

It's cause attractive people will get more, achieve more just based on looks... so they really don't have to try that hard, and won't learn all that much throughout their lives.

this is why many of the hottest girls are dumb as shit.

On the flip side... Ugly people probably have to try harder so learn to operate at a different level.

Deep questions, mutt.

You must be fucking hideous looking. :winkwink:

I suspect both, but more the latter, perhaps. Einstein probably couldn't be bothered about his hair, he was kind of busy figuring out the whole universe and explaining it all to the rest of us. When you have to figure out how gravity works, then come up with the calculus to show why gravity is controlled by the speed of light, that salon appointment can wait.

I'm seeing this from the point of view of a really ugly guy with an IQ way higher than some of my life decisions would indicate. Based on "stupid is as stupid does", I'm kind of a dumbass. Based on all of the tests, at 19 I should have been graduating from Yale, not smoking weed all day.

"People of Walmart" reminds us that there are plenty of dumb ugly people. In fact, being dumb perhaps turns you ugly by way of beer and Twinkies. So we have lots of hot dummies, ugly nerds, and ugly dummies. Plus just a few hot brainiacs, like Mensa member and piano virtuoso Asia Carrera.

Anyway, based on the relative sizes of the four groups, it would be reasonable to hypothesize that super high IQ people don't often bother much with looks, while dumb people can sometimes pull off looking good, but sometimes end up on People of Walmart.

I have struggled with this problem all my life.

Socrates was one ugly motherfucker (the ugliest of all Greece) so ...

It's not that being hot holds you back: lacking sufficient brain power does. This fact is easily seen in the professions you are exempting.

Tom Brady & Joe Montana's faces did not hold them back from being hall of fame QBs. It was their big brains that got them there.

Same with Oscar winning actors - any pretty face can act, but only the smart ones get the oscar.

Its hard to even make this distinction for any people over 100 years ago, before the age of mass media. My guess is that george washington was a stud in his day.

bottom line? there arent many hot people, & arent many geniouses...so a hot genious is surely a rare bird.

.

having a high iq has little to do with success or achievement. Most of the worlds innovation has been created by everyday people who are driven instead.

Most? I'm sure you meant a few, like in 0.01%. Or let's define "everyday people", because as long as I can think of, "everyday people" can be geniuses.

Anyway, you can be as driven as you want, but if you can't, you can't. It's like saying "I want to grow wings and fly, I have such a determination and drive that I will do it".

Sorry, I have to leave this discussion, just want to admire myself at the mirror now :)

I would agree that drive and hard work, combined with at minimum average intelligence so you're not working on dumb things, is key to big public achievement. For a great many people, success isn't grand public spectacle, but simply financial peace of mind and the like. As noted in my above post, those who consider satisfaction to be success may consider a burning desire for more to be failure, because that fierce desire for more means you're unsatisfied.