No matter what the subject of conversation , you have something to say about it . I mean , of course you do ! You took a lot of history and skill courses in college , and you keep up with the late intelligence — from more than just one origin , thank you very much . So what ’s the question , again ? The problem with fracking ? Eurozone economical crash ? Sewage in ancient Rome ? Something about bee keeping ? Yes , you have an answer . And you also suffer from one of the most common geek affliction in the world . It ’s name “ answer syndrome . ”
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I first heard of this disorderliness when I was doing a science journalism fellowship at MIT . A friend and I were talking to a computer scientist who suddenly found into a retentive lecture about journalistic ethics . Even though this guy rope had never even dim his toe in the journalism diligence , he felt that he had response to all the great ethical quandaries of the professing . Which , of class , he did n’t — to an embarrassing degree . After he ’d give , my friend reverse to me , wrinkled her nose , and said simply : “ result syndrome . ” I live immediately what she meant .
solvent syndrome is the affliction of the hyper - educated , the particular - orient , the obsessive , and the cyberspace - saturated . It plagues people whose highly technical and specialised cognition stand for that they often pass their daylight explain affair to people who have no idea what they are let the cat out of the bag about . That computer scientist at MIT , for example , could have recite you things you never even knew you wanted to postulate about PGP encryption . masses with answer syndrome get used to having all the answers . And then . . . they do n’t know when to cease .
Answering is a terrible addiction . It begin out with little things , like dropping a few bits of ( correct ) small beer you gleaned on Wikipedia about the history of the term “ free market . ” But then it snowball , and suddenly you ’re flailing wildly , convincing yourself that it ’s utterly lawful to inform everyone about how Adam Smith really would n’t qualify as a capitalist today . After all , you have intercourse that it ’s on-key . How do you know ? Well , it seems correct . base on what you ’ve read , which by now seems to encompass several book , because after all the the great unwashed who wrote the Wikipedia first appearance on free markets cited hundreds of rootage — plus , there was that economics book you scan that included a department on Smith . So surely that mean that you have absorbed the relevant knowledge from at least a dozen sources .
At this point , you ’re in denial . At some deep grade , you realize you do n’t really get laid what you ’re talking about , but you convince yourself otherwise . Answer syndrome , at its worst , is a physical body of self - psychotic belief . But like all the most potent psychotic belief , it ’s establish on truth . In the information overburden eld , we all get it on a little scrap about everything . We ’ve read a billion headlines . And because we ’re human , we have opinions about stuff we ’re pretty hazy on . The person who suffers from answer syndrome , however , adopt it to the next level . That person feel as if he or she is qualified to be an expert with all the answer — usually , as I said earlier , because he or she authentically is an expert in one or two topics already .
call up of answer syndrome as a geek defense mechanism . It ’s hard to emerge into the real mankind from that cozy position of extremely technical selective information where you screw absolutely everything and people revere you as an solution god . Because in the real earth , you do n’t actually fuck everything about the underlie mechanisms that control culture , the economy , and weigh itself . Still , it ’s heavy to admit where your expertise stops and uncertainty begins . You may have figured out which street in your city have time lights , but that does n’t mean you love why time lights work ( or do n’t ) , nor what the optimum route is from Point A to Point B in every possible part of the creation .
It ’s thwarting to find thing you ’ll never be an expert at when you ’re a genius at write algorithm to divulge novel properties of the transcriptome , or analyzing the structural properties of concrete , or figuring out how to explain 500 million years of world organic evolution to mass who did n’t even realize Earth was once a giant ocean bubbling with speciating graptolites . And you know what ’s even more frustrating when you ’re a genius ? Talking to hoi polloi who presume to give you the answer to something ! Especially something that you know , in secret , is way outside your area of expertise .
That frustration , my friends , is where all those answer come from when your mouth set out running quicker than your cognition base .
Is there a curative for this disease ? Something that prevents you from shutting down conversations and make real experts opine you ’re an idiot ? honestly , I do n’t know . Just ponder the wonder of that phrase for a minute — I do n’t know . Start every sidereal day by practicing it . Say it to yourself in the mirror in the mornings . What is the sodding razor for take on off the hair without leaving paring wounds ? I do n’t know . What is the historical reason why the Grecian parliament is such a mess ? Dunno . How did they take the shawarma aspect in The Avengers ? No freakin idea . What triggers mitosis ? Nobody knows ! And neither do you ! So shut up !
The preferably you’re able to ask — instead of answer — the more of a genius you ’ll really be .
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