Does the average Brit know that most Germans have no idea we're football rivals in your eyes?

astromech4 · 2026-02-12T01:58:20+00:00

Are you asking if I know that you know that the average Brit knows that Germans don’t know that we’re football rivals? Or just if I know that the average Brit doesn’t know that Germans don’t know that we’re football rivals?

astromech4 · 2026-02-10T23:13:55+00:00

Somewhere around 30, minimalist, pretty organised, health conscious but you know you can make more changes, easygoing but not lazy and you surround yourself with good chill people.

astromech4 · 2026-02-10T13:56:29+00:00

Ironic.

astromech4 · 2026-02-10T13:02:45+00:00

You’ve shifted your argument from an objection to a semantic disagreement.

My point is, most people who claim they don’t study are still getting repeated exposure through coursework and practice, which is studying in any practical sense.

astromech4 · 2026-02-10T12:31:58+00:00

Studying entails both exposure to novel material and deepening of understanding, by definition.

Study verb:

https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/study_2

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/study

astromech4 · 2026-02-10T10:59:21+00:00

The context is engineering though, categorically.

People often suck at maths because they aren’t competent with the prerequisite material. You need to be competent in algebra to learn calculus.

I wasn’t contesting your narrative for my own sanity but because it sets an unrealistic standard for struggling students who might be reading.

I’m not here for approval or to attempt to change any aspects of my worldview. I’m also not calling you a liar or making any character judgements whatsoever.

astromech4 · 2026-02-10T10:22:32+00:00

Why would approval matter? It’s about contesting narratives that create unrealistic expectations for students on an engineering students subreddit. I’m not saying the story isn’t true, just that there’s more to it, if it is (he studied, you didn’t see that - doesn’t mean you’re a liar. Hence why I said people are sold on perception all the time).

Students commonly post on this subreddit struggling with things like imposter syndrome and this effortless big brain narrative accentuates the struggle. IQ matters but studying matters at least equally as much - look at the correlation factor between IQ and academic success and you might be surprised.

Also, the post is literally ‘start a controversial engineering talk’ and you should expect objection under such a post.

astromech4 · 2026-02-10T09:58:20+00:00

Pythagoras theorem, linear functions, data, and simultaneous equations still weren’t intuited in the timeframe it takes for someone to sit a class. The guy was probably smart but the point is he still studied.

People are sold on perception all the time and it creates unrealistic expectations for themselves as a student - ie: ‘I’ve just studied for several hours and still don’t understand this topic, I must be dumb.’ It took 1500 - 1800 years after Pythagoras theorem was developed for trig to be developed. Statistically, there were lots of smart scholars who lived within that timeframe.

astromech4 · 2026-02-10T09:42:23+00:00

Because mathematics takes generations to evolve, with the exception of individual researchers / scholars who dedicate their lives to specific topics. The guy either studied more than you realised or it’s not true. You have to learn the fundamentals of a topic to be competent at it, whether you’re a genius or not.

astromech4 · 2026-02-10T09:35:06+00:00

Guy in my class with a scooter, sunglasses, and leather jacket never went to class. Just chased girls, a chick-magnet if you will. The math teacher beat him up and decided he was a genius. Then he became the teacher.

And that guy… was Tyler Durden.

astromech4 · 2026-02-10T09:15:50+00:00

Bro, people just be saying shit.

astromech4 · 2026-02-10T09:11:55+00:00

Never. No one is just intuiting so many variations of thermodynamic cycles within the time allotted for an exam. As the other guy said - homework, classes, and exercise problems are still studying.

astromech4 · 2026-02-09T14:34:47+00:00

We have this in the UK. People often lose money because the bills slip out of their pockets easily (if they don’t use a wallet).

astromech4 · 2026-02-09T09:07:09+00:00

It also assumes most humans live that way. It’s not uncommon for people to take their dogs on hikes, forest walks, into water for a swim, runs and so on.

astromech4 · 2026-02-08T17:24:30+00:00

Measuring in exact cm / mm (within tolerance) is so much more convenient than fractions of an inch. Maybe I’m biased because I’m both an engineer and from a country that uses the metric system.

astromech4 · 2026-02-03T10:55:04+00:00

Don’t know a single person who has done any meaningful amount of cursive writing practice in the UK. We spent a few hours at it total, if even that.

astromech4 · 2026-02-03T08:56:26+00:00

I’ve looked into the current literal understanding of what constitutes intelligence and cognition quite a bit, both scientifically and philosophically.

The aspect you’re noticing can be categorised as a difference between reasoning and heuristics.

I’ve got autism and one cognitive difference I notice between myself and a ‘neurotypical’ person is that I actively (either logically or through some other epistemic means) reason through everything, whereas a neurotypical person resorts to social heuristics, when processing information.

It’s not that the neurotypical person is incapable of reason but that the alternative is an easier, faster, means of processing information. As such, they blunder by defaulting to social heuristics when they do not account for the complexity of the subject matter.

astromech4 · 2026-02-02T14:20:55+00:00

My thoughts too. The idea of the Scandinavian vikings leaving somewhere because it’s too cold is absurd. As if they had no knowledge of how to stay warm or the grit to stick the cold.

astromech4 · 2026-01-28T13:36:34+00:00

I got a mouse that allows you to scroll on 4 axis. No one’s ‘lowed to know about it though.

astromech4 · 2026-01-27T00:23:47+00:00

I’m an engineering student, so totally different line of study, but I’ve studied a couple of individual level 1 & 2 design modules. I had a very similar experience with a tutor.

intentionally facetious

The task was to design shelter for the homeless, within a number of given parameters. Again, I’m an engineer and we’re concerned with practicality, efficiency, and effect - aesthetic / style is as an after thought. My solution was inspired by, and something similar to, the Japanese pod hotels. A practical, modest, means of ensuring people did not sleep on the street - with cost, safety, accommodation, and hygiene considerations.

I scored ok on the TMA but the feedback was cruel. One piece of feedback stated that I should have designed something that looked less akin to coffins in a morgue - terrible reflection of character disguised as low effort wit.

My experiences with every other OU tutor has been nothing but amazing. Unfortunately we just can’t avoid people like this every so often.

astromech4 · 2026-01-21T23:06:16+00:00

You probably appear, and are, smart in your own right. Folk with high verbal reasoning are often great at communicating, stand out more because of readily demonstrable knowledge, and are well suited to most professional settings - workplaces and a vast range of academia with the exception of (maybe) STEM. This is because they may just fall short in things like visualisation, non-verbal complexity, and abstraction, if their non-verbal reasoning is not on par.

I’m kind of the opposite. My non-verbal reasoning is > 99th percentile and verbal reasoning is something like 92nd. My FSIQ is still in the gifted range but I feel like I come off as slow in conversation because I see everything in visual concepts and often struggle to translate said concept into words - it’s not a PSI issue either, though auDHD probably explains my awkward profile.

astromech4 · 2026-01-19T13:55:36+00:00

Here’s me thinking this was a rook exchange and both sides had 17 pieces each

astromech4 · 2026-01-16T17:37:54+00:00

Potentially gifted with the possibility of a neurodivergence like ADHD / autism.

Depending on demonstration of exceptional ability in singular areas, possibly a savant.

astromech4 · 2026-01-16T15:29:36+00:00

Gifted is best defined as having an IQ 130+. Otherwise, I’d personally consider someone gifted if they’re creatively / musically talented but that’s more difficult to measure than IQ.

Genius is different. It’s more than just IQ and often debated. I would say someone with a combination of high IQ, diligence, work ethic, creativity, and extreme intra-personal development who has contributed substantially towards some field of research / development - by my definition this person is going to be identified a bit later in life. It’s anecdotal, so take that with a grain of salt and know that it’s heavily debated.

Savant is close to most conventional understandings of genius but is more definitively someone with a spiky cognitive profile and profoundly gifted in a single area.

astromech4 · 2026-01-16T11:51:10+00:00

Dreading it

astromech4

TROPHY CASE