What is "being smart"?

I thought about this a little bit and just asked myself, "what do you have to do to be considered smart?"

Lets look at the definition.

1. Characterized by sharp quick thought; bright. See Synonyms at intelligent.

2. Amusingly clever; witty: a smart quip; a lively, smart conversation.

3. Impertinent; insolent: That's enough of your smart talk.

4. Energetic or quick in movement: a smart pace.

5. Canny and shrewd in dealings with others: a smart negotiator.

6. Fashionable; elegant: a smart suit; a smart restaurant; the smart set. See Synonyms at fashionable.

7. Of, relating to, or being a highly automated device, especially one that imitates human intelligence: smart missiles.

Well for starters we have Einstein who was very smart. He fits into definition number one. For definition two though it talks about somebody with quick wit. Well Dave Chappell said on his show he used didn't use a script but many of his lines were off the top of his head and showed his quick wit. Now number six talks about fashion so is Paris Hilton on the list or any of those other actresses that send thousands on their clothes?

Well who is smarter, Einstein, Chappell, or Hilton? Einstein has pure brains but Chappell is a quick comic, and Hilton (or any actress known for her "fashion" sense), if anything, probably knows clothes.

So I ask again what makes a person smart?

Several people I know have a high I.Q. so are they more smart?

What about common sense? A person may be able to wire a house but can't screw in a light bulb, yet their I.Q. is through the roof. Are they dumber than somebody with a lower I.Q.?

I have friends who are not book smart, so-so common sense, yet they can take apart most cars and put them together and are God gifted mechanics who can work on almost any car. Are they smart? Their I.Q. is lower or close to average and such yet in that field they're very smart.

Or is being smart what I'm doing now, philosophy. Is a person smart or smarter than most when they can question their own existence and the basic concepts of life?

In the end you can't say, "this person is smart and this person is dumb" or "this person is smarter than that person". I mean if you look at definition seven it talks about smart machines. Well in that case computers are smarter than humans.

So I ask again, what does it mean when somebody says, "hey you're smart"?

what?
you think Paris Hilton dresses "smart"?

the problem here is that one of your examples is flawed based on cultural/social standards and in terms of dressing "smart" being subjective.
Of course, if you consider dressing like a tart as being smart then fair enough...
The other two fall clearly into the catagory of smart as meaning having a certain command of their intellectual faculties, as neither would('ve) be(en) good at their "job" if they were not.

What a person means when they say smart is based on that person. There is no universally applicable meaning to a term that has so many meanings and whose meanings are subjective and relative, not to mention the use of "smart" as a technical reference term that does not entirely relate to, let's just say, "normal" use. Unless the user offers a comparison in their use of the term, the meaning of "smart" doesn't qualify anything.

Yes you can say that person A is smarter than person B as long as there is qualification as to what you mean by it. In fact, there are certain examples where qualification isn't even needed.
Einstein was/is smarter than Paris Hilton.

Don't you agree with that statement?

So I ask again, what does it mean when somebody says, "hey you're smart"?
I'd say someone is smart if they can apply the knowledge they've learned into the actions in their life, can communicate it to others, and refer back to that knowledge learned at the appropriate time. This, of course, depends on the notion that they are actually able to acquire knowledge in the first place. Being book-smart and/or having the capacity to learn facts about a variety of topics (which, I believe, is what IQ tests measure) is useless if you can't act on them, recall them at right time or communicate them to another...either audibly or in writing. But I also think someone who is "smart" has common sense as well. In alot of ways..."common sense" is a "measure" of ones ability to act on ones overall knowledge, even trivial, obvious knowledge. (i.e. why would you drive home drunk when you know you're putting yourself and the life's of others in jeopardy? Why would you complain to yourself that you are overweight, and yet continue to knowingly eat too much and not exercise? Why would you live beyond your means and put things on credit when you cannot afford it and ruin your finanaces and credit rating? etc., etc.)

My :2cents:

I think its just a word somebody uses when he realizes somebody else knows more about himself about a certain subject, since he clearly doesn't understand it himself I'd say that he's incapable of judging the "smart" person. It's really easier to define it by using the unit IQ. Or not to use the term at all, and say "Wow, you're really good at this stuff". Or not to say anything at all to avoid these questions.

I think its just a word somebody uses when he realizes somebody else knows more about himself about a certain subject, since he clearly doesn't understand it himself I'd say that he's incapable of judging the "smart" person. It's really easier to define it by using the unit IQ. Or not to use the term at all, and say "Wow, you're really good at this stuff". Or not to say anything at all to avoid these questions.

I think this is the most appropriate and easily understandable answer here. The word "smart" is an adjective but like most adjectives requires a direct or indirect object to make the word itself have meaning. For example.... I think you're smarter than me when it comes to cars. This is a subjective statement although based on whatever actions or incidents which have been undertaken can be measured objectively.

Basically, this is all grammatical semantics. Things can always be interpreted a certain way. However, phrases like "you are dressed rather smartly today" only fit within a cultural vernacular that readily understands why such a phrase would be used when the person could've said "you look dapper" or "damn you got some style" or whatever.

what?
you think Paris Hilton dresses "smart"?

I was using that as an example. Personally I don't but you see fashion magazine and others who think so. I did say though any actress. Most Hollywood actresses are considered to be "it" when it comes to "fashion" although I don't agree. Again, it was just a small example.

Also, yes, Einstein was/is smarter than Paris Hilton. A rock is smarter than Paris Hilton.

Being smart is having the ability to solve problems, this is the most important aspect of intellegence and is why we as humans are where we are today. All other measures of intellegence are insignificant in comparison. Everyone has an aspect of intellegence that is strongest in them whether it be memory(savants), language skills(dave chapelle), math skills(einstien), or social skills(insert famous and well liked person), but problem solving(edison, einstein, franklin, newton) is the most fundamental form of intellegence.

A rock is smarter than Paris Hilton.

A rock is smarter than any of us.

Rocks don't hate.
Rocks don't have feelings to fuck things up.
Rocks don't build weapons of mass destruction.
Rocks don't eat alot of things to get obese.
Rocks don't see a purpose in reproduce.
Rocks don't hurt anybody.
Rocks don't see reason to know stuff;
Rocks don't need exapnding of its own race nor territory

Rocks are superior to the human race, and we can want to be superior how much we want, we wont get superior and we will by no means be able to kill our superior race on this planet.

Though humans as well are more intelligent than Paris Hilton.

So I ask again what makes a person smart?

Intelligence is a natural force that everybody has and it grows by learning and experiments, the more you know, you more you can understand widely, knowledge is like a city, this road leads to another road and that road leads to another road.

Scientists to me are not better than us, they are curious people who are willing to learn about things that they love to learn about, they do observe, think, try and figure outs things.

The discoveries that have been made have not been made like that, there are things that leaded them to discover things, if you ask yourself how something works and you didn't know how it does, this doesn't mean that you aren't intelligent or it is a miracle, the scientist who discovered it for example didn't know it before discovering it and it is not a miracle because you can not figure out a logical explanation and just because you don't have one doesn't know mean that there is no explanation for it.

What is "being smart"? (quote Muscletang)

Bending a spoon with your brain is way smarter than walking off a cliff on accident.:rolleyes:

the word "smart" is simply an adjective that only has meaning in the context of the sentence or conversation. it is not a state of being.

Definitions of smart on the Web:
showing mental alertness and calculation and resourcefulness
chic: elegant and stylish; "chic elegance"; "a smart new dress"; "a suit of voguish cut"
bright: characterized by quickness and ease in learning; "some children are brighter in one subject than another"; "smart children talk earlier than the average"
fresh: improperly forward or bold; "don't be fresh with me"; "impertinent of a child to lecture a grownup"; "an impudent boy given to insulting strangers"; "Don't get wise with me!"
painfully severe; "he gave the dog a smart blow"
quick and brisk; "I gave him a smart salute"; "we walked at a smart pace"
a kind of pain such as that caused by a wound or a burn or a sore
ache: be the source of pain
capable of independent and apparently intelligent action; "smart weapons"
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

Being smart is taking note of unprotected soft drink fountains (ones that are not behind the cashier) and ordering a small drink for free refills.

Being really smart is bringing a mug or bottle to said fountain during peak hours and getting free refills.

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