5 Unexpected Downsides to Being Smart...

...according to Cracked, which obviously is the premier source for things the subject of which is "intelligence."

Also, nerds are "hyperwhite":

2. Nerds tend to focus narrowly but deeply (single-tasking), Big Men broadly but shallowly (multitasking). Nerds lack the "situational awareness" that the Air Force prizes in fighter pilots, but their ability to concentrate obsessively makes them good at designing the planes that pilots fly.


3. Nerds work best asynchronously (as Howard Bloom says, they never say the right thing at the right time -- I can vividly recall walking along after a college history class, thinking about the Austro-Hungarian Empire, when some black friend passing by said, "Hey, what's happening?" "Hmmhmmh????," I thought to myself in consternation, "What exactly is happening? Well, the Austro-Hungarian Empire is definitely not happening, but what is?" About five minutes later, I came up with a clever, but by now useless, reply, which later I could never seem to remember the next time somebody asked me "What's happening?). In contrast, Big Men are better when they are "in the flow" (of the discussion, the hunt, the battle, the basketball game, or whatever).

Also, a lot of reading literally rewires your brain in a way that impair your ability to recognize faces.

A lack of "situational awareness," a reaction time measured in minutes and an impaired abilty to recognize the faces of people you've met and you have the explanation for why I find walking into a bar to be living life "on the edge."