Besides Cecil Adams of course, who would you say is the smartest person who frequents the SDMB? Although I’m a long way from knowing everyone here, every time **Q.E.D. ** posts, he always seems to know what he’s talking about. This thread is just one example. **Q.E.D. ** = bastad offspring of Cecil Adams . One never knows. So, who do you think should take up the right hand man position to our all knowing leader?
I am, of course!
Seriously, I think Polycarp seems to be one smart feller. I’ve yet to see him claim something as fact without any evidence to back it up, and most of his posts carry a very creative twist.
Probably someone who keeps his own counsel and doesn’t respond to threads like this…Well, that certainly knocks me out of contention. Doesn’t it?
TV
There isn’t one.
Bow to me, peons, for I am your intellectual god!
Ringo is right - we’re more of a hive-mind.
bzzzzzzzzzz muzzzt colleeeeect honeeeey…
Modesty forbids me to answer, sir.
Who is smarter: someone who can hold their own defending a position in GD, or someone who can answer a lot of questions in GQ?
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Very good point. 90 percent of the questions in GQ can be found by someone with above average Google skills.
If you are looking for the smartest person on the board, I would suggest starting in GD.
Smackfu, that’s an interesting question - if I may hijack this thread for a second to answer it? 
I’d argue that it depends on the question, but that all other things being equal the skilled debater in Great Debates is more intelligent than the person considered to be equally (whatever that means) skilled at answering GQ questions. I’ve always thought of intelligence, rightly or wrongly, as the ability to acquire and apply information in sophisticated ways. Debating requires a high degree of sophisticated use of information - examine subtleties of fact and statistical bias, present them using the optimal rhetoric, and exploit weaknesses in the way the other person presents their facts.
“Simple” questions, on the other hand, don’t necessarily require that degree of skill. A factual question - “Why can we only give certain blood types in transfusions to certain people”, for example" - can be answered either with knowledge a person already has, or with a bit of research. I don’t mean to downplay the effort involved in that - heck, it was a GQ question that saved my rear on a term paper! - but it does seem to be a lower level of information usage than debate. The only reasoning skills needed are those needed to be an effective researcher - debating, I think, sets the bar higher.
That said, there’s many, many questions in GQ which can have a variety of answers, which are subject to debate. So, since debate occurs in both GQ and GD (whether it’s supposed to or not, referrered to as “debate” or not), I would be forced to retract my earlier assertion and suggest that a person who consistently did very “well” in GD and someone who did just as “well” in GQ would probably be demonstrating roughly equivelent mental skills.
Eh, that’s my thoughts, at any rate. My apologies for the hijack.
Damnit, I need to remember to preview before I start running at the mouth again - Joey beat me to it. Ah well - I stand by what I said, though, about GQ in fact also having a good deal of debate in it. Someone who consistently gives solid answers to GQ questions - including the 10% google can’t answer, or gives ambiguous answers on - should be considered in the same league as a GD champion, IMHO.
You did a much better job than I did.
So - Mr. Excellent is smarter then?
Ah! But can they be answered correctly?. There’s the rub.
And 90% is too high, in any case.
You call yourself a god? Bah!!!.. You are clearly delusional. Everyone bow and repeat after me…
“IA IA CTHUHLU PHTAGN!!!”
Banger. Not only is he extremely brilliant, but he is also incredibly humble.
His only failings are that he doesn’t post in Great Debates enough and he occasionally refers to himself in the third person.
Hahahahahaha! Great post Banger! I hadn’t read your nick before reading your post and it took me about three or four seconds after I finished reading your post to realize how you fooled me. Moving on:
It is hard to pick a single person for the title of smartest guy/gal on the board. But If i had to pick one, it would be
To me, a truly smart person is: (among other things)
Anyone who is so confident in their capabilities that they wouldn’t be so insecure as to nominate themselves on this thread. Think about it: if you have to tell people that you’re the smartest, then you’re not. Judge the smartest person by what they’ve said and done. I think Dr. Salny, the supervisory psychologist of American Mensa, said something like that.
In my limited experience on this message board (a little over a week), Marley23 and Polycarp seem to know what they are talking about and don’t just type to see themselves be clever (although in my first experience with Polycarp, I had to correct his Hebrew syntax - no big deal though). Dex on the Staff is also really smart. I’m a newbie though, so I don’t yet know everybody.
Banger: You got me, too, with that one. Like Gozu, I didn’t see your username until after I read the post. Very funny!
I can’t pick a smartest… There are so many people who are so smart in different ways.