Smart people are often weird

"The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool." — William Shakespeare (from As You Know It)

Based on my experiences and observations.

When I observe people who I deem to be smart and thoughtful, I sometimes notice that they have certain strange behaviours. By strange I mean things that other people normally wouldn't do. For example, I have a friend from university who strictly avoids drinking anything from plastic bottles. Quite weird right?

One day I asked him why and he said that it was because overtime, microplastics begin to fill the liquid inside of the plastic bottle. He also added that tap water in Canada was so clean that there was no reason to even drink bottled water. Like any other normal person, I thought this was quite reasonable and completely forgot about it.

However, a few months later when walking past a campus event, I was given a plastic bottle and it reminded me of the conversation I had with my friend. After reflecting on it for a few seconds, I realized how weird it was for someone to make such an obscure rule for themselves. This was especially surprising because I think of my friend as quite a smart and calculated person.

After a bit of research, it turns out that the effects of microplastics on human health are not well known. However, there are possible mechanisms for harm outlined by well cited papers. Also, avoiding liquids from plastic bottles is the best way to avoid digesting microplastics — quite a negligible cost for the possible health ramifications of microplastics.

But nobody else I know avoids drinking out of plastic bottles; I doubt you the reader have ever met such a person. But the risks are worth considering and in general, if peer-reviewed science is telling me that I should act a certain way, I would listen, right?

Well, no.

Just look at the COVID-19 vaccines: millions of people around the world refused to receive the vaccine because others online began to spread misinformation and conspiracy theories surrounding potential health risks. These were baseless claims that went strictly against what the science indicated.

Humans are stubborn creatures and our world model is largely shaped by social norms. It's weird to be the person who refuses to drink from plastic water bottles, it was weird to believe that diseases are caused by microorganisms and not the devil/miasma[1] and it's weird to act in principle with a personal hourly rate. Does that mean these ways of thinking are inherently wrong. Absolutely not.

Reflecting on The importance of great questions, people who achieve great things ask weird questions about the world – things nobody else has ever asked – which by extension made them somewhat weird as well. Being strange gave many of them the freedom to explore what they truly wanted to do. This reminded me of the following quote:

"The more neatly you fit into society, the less free you actually are." — Naval Ravikant on X

Just remember, living life as who society thinks you should be might result in toxic microplastics flooding your body. It could be the difference between doing great work or not. Acting in accordance with your beliefs sometimes means avoiding social norms around what is acceptable. You shouldn't shield yourself from the truth, as strange or uncomfortable though it may be, because the funny thing with the truth is that it doesn't care about your feelings.

So the next time you notice smart people doing something weird, think to yourself: "What if they're right?". Because very often, the people staring truth in the eyes are the ones who see most clearly.