The Failure Mode of Smart People

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I think when people who are used to just being the smartest person in the room and they can keep people in an argument, it doesn't mean they're right. They might actually be more likely to become overconfident in their own beliefs because they're just used to sort of being able to outwit someone. And I've been trying to figure out the best balance for this, like the best solution. The thing I have found that works the best is actually just having a mix of people in your life.

What's the best way to help someone who's going through a difficult situation? What are the four states of distress? What are "comfort languages"? How can we introduce more nuance into our everyday thinking habits? When gathering information and forming opinions, how do you know who to trust? What's the difference between intelligence and wisdom?

Kat Woods is the co-founder of Charity Entrepreneurship, a startup incubator for effective altruist charities. It provides training, seed funding, and the other things necessary to kickstart an effective nonprofit. Previously, Kat co-founded Charity Science Outreach, a meta-organization that raised nine counterfactual dollars for high impact charities for every dollar spent. Subsequently she co-founded Charity Science Health, a direct poverty charity that received multiple grants from GiveWell and has served hundreds of thousands of families in India. You can find more about Kat at her website or on Twitter at @kat__woods.

Staff