I came here to nominate twickster, too. While I agree that she has intra-personal intelligence in spades, I would have gone with #7 – Linguistic Intelligence.
…man, there’s gonna be no living with twickster now.
**Chronos **definitely warrants a mention as one of the more intelligent people posting to the SDMB and I am surprised that I’m the first person to mention him.
I’m avoiding it for exactly this…
Aw, crap.
I’d bote for** tomndeb**, unless the subject is baseball, in which is usually advisable to defer to RickJay.
Polycarp and tomndeb were the first ones I thought of when I saw the thread.
A more obscure choice would be UDS – his/her range of knowledge is pretty amazing sometimes.
QED definitely ranks way up there. I’m pretty sure he’s answered or at least contributed to answering alot of the questions I’ve put in GQ.
Gotta be Mycroft Holmes, right? He’s smarter than Sherlock.
I would add:
I’ve learned a great deal of perspective from the likes of David Simmons
…and I’ve learned the number one most important lesson for life on this board from Hal’s wonderfully charming self-mocking mock thread about leaving yourself logged in. If I hadn’t have read it myself, I wouldn’t have thought that anyone could make as much fun of himself as that man could! Genius! Pure gen… Wait; what’s that?
Not to slight others, but **Chronos ** & **Colibri ** are the two that come to mind immediately. I am always impressed with their knowledge and as a bonus they are usually polite to others.
Jim
I cast my vote for Polycarp, who also has one of the coolest usernames on the board.
I have a marvelous proof that I’m the smartest, but alas, the margin of this message board is too small to contain it.
I was actually going to say Cervaise probaly belongs on the list. I just recall him writing some very cogent explanation of a fairly complicated plot twist some years ago, and I saved the thing for future reference. It wasn’t just that he sorted out the tangled threads, but that he was able to make it so clear to others. It’s a skill I cannot overstate my admiration for, especially given how many obfuscating academics I breathe the same air with.
What’s this? Fifty-some posts into the thread and the smartest people here haven’t been mentioned? You guys been hangin’ out in the wrong threads.
Go to GQ and check out the brilliant, thought provoking questions asked by Wesley Clark, or venture on over to GD and read the writings of one of the great political minds of our time as rjung carries the banner for truth, justice and the Maoist way. Them two boys is some thinkers, yes indeedy they are!
But who comes here for smart anyways? Me, I come here for fun! Smart ain’t all it’s cracked up to be….lemme tell ya’ about smart:
Once upon a time long ago I took this really smart chick out on a date. All she did was babble about some cat named Py-thagg-ar-ous or somthin’ like that, and his goddam theorem. Then by the middle of her third margarita she was off onto quadratic equations, whatever them things are.
Then her airhead friend came and sat at our table and kicked me in the shins and kinda’ nodded at the dance floor, so me and Air Head went to dance while Smart Chick was babblin’ about entropy. Somewheres near the bottom of her fourth margarita, Smart Chick went into a sinkin’ spell and forgot what the situation was. She asked if me and Air Head would mind droppin’ her off at her place, which we didn’t mind doin’ at all.
Then me and Air Head went dancin’ and drinkin’ in a serious manner, and next mornin’ we woke up on the beach hungover and hankerin’ for breakfast.
So I asks ya’, who had a better Saturday night, Smart Chick or Air Head? Which of ‘em was smarter, really?
See, smart ain’t all it’s cracked up to be, and anyways, who comes here for smart? I come here for fun and there are lots of FUN people here. Sometimes you just gotta’ sift through the smart riff-raff to find the fun folks.
I’m going to add Ultrafilter to the list as I am fairly…fairly certain that he is one of the top mathematicians on the board (assuming I’m not thinking of some entirely different person and got the name wrong which is unfortunately very possible.)
And I’ll second Lissa just because her mind is hawt. (Taken of course, but that still doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate the view.) 
Staggered not to see Stranger On A Train’s name here; his grasp of, and ability to explain, the physical sciences (at the least) are unparalleled IMO.
Monstre’s last theorem. Wonderful. Now we won’t know the answer for hundreds of years.
If we can vote for banned members, I’d vote for The Grapist..
Seriously there are so many areas of expertise that are well represented that I can’t single any out as the smartest.
Tamerlane makes very erudite posts on an impressive range of topics.
Sam Stone is the go-to guy for learned non-partisan politcal discussions. I’ve learned a lot from him. Rickjay is up there for sports discussions. Those were the automatic two I thought of.
Airman Doors is also one of the smartest. His cheesesteak recipe alone would make the list. He’s also a great example of a political commentator who’s head is not shoved so far up his ass that he can think independantly.