Rename: Intelligence Equals Isolation

Intelligence Equals Isolation should be renamed: it implies intelligence is a necessary and sufficient cause for social isolation, when it is only a strong conditioning factor, in that too much intelligence may isolate you from the people around you, no matter how good your social skills are, leading, at worst, to Broken Ace. I suggest Intelligence Induces Isolation. Someone suggested Wit Wrought Woe, but that sounds too much like Too Clever by Half.

Did you check any of the wicks for potential misuse? If not, I can.

As an aside, this page currently has 163 wicks and 178 inbound links since Feb. 20, 2009. Not a bad set of numbers, per se, but could probably be better.

You're kind of nitpicking hear. Most people don't expect the trope names to be literal. And, more importantly, most people don't expect the trope names to reflect reality. We catalogue patterns in media, not Real Life.

It doesn't matter that in Real Life, it isn't strictly true. The trope is about how in Media it frequently is.

Unless there is significant misuse, the name is fine as is.

I don't really get your argument, are you talking about what'd happen in Real Life? In fiction, yes, people get isolated because of their intelligence.

But, incidentally, this is one trope that IS Truth in Television. When you use "social skills' like that it sounds like as if it's being treated like some sort of RPG skill where if you have a certain amount you are automatically able to get on with everyone.

But intelligence does not work the way people sometimes depict it, that it includes a comprehension of everything "under" it, nor are other people's thinking the same just one step below - there are no Intelligence Levels just as there are no Evolutionary Levels. Kids, on the other hand, will find friends based on who they have more in common with, who they can easily relate to and understand each other with. So the Genius Kid will end up not finding anyone he'd care about, while others will hit it off with people who they have more in common with, simply because they do not have anything they could talk about - the "smarter" kid is bored by what the others can say and the other's can't follow the smart kid's thoughts where he wants to go. It's hardly a rare thing.

edited 3rd Oct '10 3:42:41 PM by Vree

^ Yours is an interesting proposition. The very concept will piss some people off, who will automatically blame ''your'' lack of social skills. However, the way you put it, it is a vicious cycle of sorts: As a kid you don't find common interests with people, which leaves you with weaker, untrained social skills, which only makes it worse.... Eventually your lore (and the social status you can acquire in adulthood) reaches a critical mass where it can allow for even greater social skill than natural socialites. They spent their weekends hanging out with each other, not doing or saying much, but you have a huge baggage of fiction, non-fiction, and technical knowledge, with which you can become A Gentleman And A Scholar instead of the Hollywood Nerd or Hollywood Geek you used to be.

Okay, back on topic, can we at least make it an alternate title? It's just that "equals" is a bit too strict IMHO. "Causes" or "Induces" or "Promotes" would be more accurate. Also, "Induces" has Added Alliterative Appeal.

Redirects Are Free if you want to make one, but the end point is that this site catalogs tendencies in media with Truth in Television being a nice, but unintended, side effect. In media, one of the key traits of a smart person is that they are isolated socially from others. Many of them are perfectly capable of being social at times, but there's a definite tendency of smart = socially isolated.

I really didn't understand that page. What is it that I am supposed to do? "Add the synonym to a page" What?

Okay, let me see. Intelligence Induces Isolation.

YAAAAAY!

edited 4th Oct '10 5:30:08 AM by RawPower

I cleared up some of the wording on that page for the benefit of future newbies, I wasn't aware the wording was like that.

If the issue has been resolved, can someone remove the Repair Shop tag from the article?

All I have to do is lock it and it'll magically vanish. Poof.