> groups proposing to be built of smart people are often as not built of over-opinionated pretentious people who've come to believe they are intelligent through one way or another
Dunning-Kruger societies.
I used to associate with a bunch of people who self-identified as "being smart". Trying to fit in led me to form the terrible habit of never saying "I don't know".
I've since met a number of genuinely smart people, and they are typically driven by curiosity and delight in learning, not pretension.
> I enjoy the company of people with passion, more than I do that of "smart" people. Passionate people are experts at something, and they have something to teach me.
I wish I could upvote this a million times over.
I've often found that groups proposing to be built of smart people are often as not built of over-opinionated pretentious people who've come to believe they are intelligent through one way or another. It's why I've avoided high-IQ societies and the like. It's just a bother and I don't think I'm particularly enriched by them.
I've actually found that I do like energetic, "passionate", self-aware people more, which is probably why I've hung around HN so long.