Just because someone’s got a bunch of fancy diplomas (hi!) doesn’t mean that they’re necessarily smart. Oh, they might have a ton of technical knowledge in their narrow field of study, but they might lack common sense. Or even worse—they might be so arrogant that they think they’re experts in every field. Which, as you’re about to see, is definitely not the case.

Redditor u/SgtSkillcraft sparked a very interesting discussion after asking people for real-life examples where someone with a PhD acted like a total idiot. Scroll down for the very top stories. Amusement? Guaranteed. A good dose of humility? You bet! Don’t forget to upvote your fave posts.

Bored Panda reached out to the author of the original thread, u/SgtSkillcraft, to hear their thoughts on education, intelligence, and learning to stay grounded no matter how many PhDs someone has. Read on to see what they told us!

#1

My wife's stepfather was a chemist who currently has diabetes. One night he went to the ER because his blood sugar was dangerously high. He claimed he was eating well (he normally doesnt) so there's no reason why his blood sugar was high.

In his car was a 2-liter bottle of ginger ale mixed in with grape juice. He said that the two canceled their sugars out and we didn't know what we were talking about because he was a chemist and he knows how to combine things.

Image credits: mctacoflurry

The OP's thread made quite a splash on Reddit, and we were curious to get their opinion, as to why the topic might have gotten so much attention online.

"I think the post resonated with so many people because a lot of us have 'been there' when dealing with well-educated people that had zero common sense and just did some really stupid stuff," u/SgtSkillcraft told Bored Panda.

"I made the post because I made a similar comment about education vs. intelligence in the Air Force subreddit," the redditor told us about the inspiration behind the thread.

"Someone in that subreddit had made a post about an officer with a PhD who bought a $10k 80 Watt laser and was shining it in the night sky oblivious to the fact that it could be detrimental to any passing air traffic. The guy had been an officer in the Air Force for some time, had a PhD, and had no idea why that could be a bad idea." And though we might not personally know anyone with a powerful laser, that story brings back memories of folks behaving in a similar unperceptive way.

#2

Peter Duesberg. Molecular biologist who works as a researcher at UC Berkeley and has an otherwise stellar career and well-known for his work. Became an AIDS denialist, claiming there's no link between HIV and AIDS. Led countless people down the rabbit hole, including many who were HIV positive. These individuals ended up infecting others and refusing antiretroviral therapies. This included an AIDS denialist activist named Christine Maggiore who infected her infant through breastfeeding thinking "Hey it's not a big deal it's just HIV it doesn't cause AIDS."

Image credits: mrcatboy

#3

I worked with a girl that graduated from Brown...she would never shut up about it. always Brown this and Brown that. I went to a state school and it was apparent that she looked down on anyone that didn't attend an Ivy League school, so one day she was doing that and I couldn't stop myself, I said something like " Oh, you went to Brown? and yet, here we are, together in the same place, doing the same job."

Image credits: Ontopourmama

Bored Panda was curious about why society seems to value education and IQ so much. "I think we value education too highly, and we prioritize it over experience. In a lot of cases, we only value the credential," u/SgtSkillcraft pointed out.

"In essence, if you have a degree, you’re 'qualified' for a lot of jobs vs. someone who has the relevant experience but has no degree. Hands-on experience is where you hone the necessary skills to be successful," they stressed the importance of genuine skills.

The OP also had some words of wisdom for anyone who might want to be more humble and have a more realistic perspective of their limits. "For anyone to be more self-aware and grounded, my advice would be to seek out feedback from those in your sphere, and then work on implementing that advice," they said. It always takes courage to ask for genuine advice.

#4

Not quite PhD. But I was at a party (in the uk) full of med students and stereotypically everyone was off their face drunk. Well some guy fell over and broke his collar bone and immediately got rushed by a dozen of them all fussing and asking him the same questions over and 'going through the checklist". Half an hour later and he's still on the couch in pain and I go in to ask if anybody knows why the ambulance is taking so long. Nobody had an answer because nobody had called one. A party full of medical students hadn't called an ambulance or made any transport arrangements for a guy in severe pain with a broken clavicle. Idiots.

Image credits: Reiseoftheginger

#5

As someone who works security in a hospital I can say a good 90% of the doctors there are smart but lack any type of common sense and sometimes I wonder how they function on a day to day basis

EDIT: I also forgot to mention I’m almost 2 years in a relationship with a pediatric cardiologist and it’s as shocking at home as it is with the ones I work with lmao but I can’t say it’s boring

Image credits: Ray_Ray_86

#6

A physics professor got catfished by someone claiming to be a supermodel who asked him to bring her suitcase from Brussels to Milan. Of course, the suitcase had drugs.

An idiot would have seen through that in two seconds, but a super smart guy convinced himself it was real.
https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/physics-professor-catfished-by-super-model-imposter-lands-in-jail-for-drug-smuggling/

Image credits: Only_makes_nice

The OP quoted well-known American theoretical physicist Richard Feynman in their r/AskReddit question, pointing out that people shouldn’t confuse education with intelligence. An individual with a PhD can still be—for all intents and purposes—an absolute idiot.

Someone who has various higher education diplomas is probably very good at following orders, memorizing facts, working with data, and adapting to the academic system’s demands, whatever they might be.

However, it doesn’t automatically mean that their research is very useful for society or that they’ve applied themselves in their studies to push the limits of their field. Of course, they might be fantastic academics and genuinely intelligent people! Then again, they might be oblivious in all fields but their own and only have so-called ‘book smarts’ without knowing how to best apply that knowledge in real-life situations.

A quote that we keep coming back to is one popularized by Bloomberg, “If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich?” This raises a very important idea, namely, that if we consider intelligence to be behavior that leads to (e.g. financial) success, raw IQ scores might not be what we should be focusing on. Instead, acting intelligently (in the broad sense) becomes akin to being social and working hard.

#7

I have a PhD and I am an idiot in most respects.

All it takes to get a PhD is to be really good at or persistent in doing research in one narrow area of study.

Edit: So several commenters pointed out that I simplified things too much. A PhD also requires hard work, luck, and some basic competence in a topic. But that doesn't preclude one from being completely clueless in other aspects of life.

Image credits: wolfdisguisedashuman

#8

My uncle is smart as f**k. Multiple masters degrees in education and science, constantly wins awards for his teaching and high averages from his students.

Tell me why this idiot needed me to remind him how to make ramen several times over?

#9

A doctor telling me my 6 month old couldn’t have strep because she was infant and taking her to the ER because she was getting worse and no urgent cares were open and finding out she had strep.

According to economist James Heckman, personality trumps IQ when it comes to financial prospects. Diligence, self-discipline, perseverance, and conscientiousness lead to good grades which, in turn, are a good predictor of success in adulthood. In short, it’s not just intelligence (in the narrow sense) that’s vital, it’s also non-cognitive skills like one’s ability to collaborate with others and to develop good habits.

During an earlier interview, Bored Panda had gotten in touch with Steven Wooding, a member of the Omni Calculator team, as well as a member of the Institute of Physics in the UK. He explained to us that quantifying intelligence objectively is a very hard task.

"The gold standard is the IQ test, but maybe a person that does very well on this measure would be ineffective in a real-world situation that does look like an IQ test question," he pointed out to us. "The other issue with the IQ test is that it gives you a score relative to the population, so it's not an absolute measure. Then there is emotional intelligence, which can make a person very effective in the world but is entirely missed by the conventional IQ test.”

#10

Dr. Ben Carson, one of the most skilled neurosurgeons alive, thinking that the Egyptian pyramids were used to store grain.

Image credits: AdmiralAkbar1

#11

I worked IT for a hospital. I was speaking to a doctor who forgot his password. While he was spelling his name phonetically over the phone, he said, "Z as in Xylophone." Needless to say, my eyebrows raised.

Image credits: dacekrandac

#12

I have a PhD, and I work with a bunch of PhDs. Basically, a lot of them think that because they succeeded in one area, they are an expert in every other area of life. And they always have strong opinions about everything. I think it's also called a PhD syndrome.

Image credits: krukson

According to physicist Steven, one way to stay grounded is to remember that everyone, absolutely everyone makes mistakes. No matter how intelligent you are (or think you might be), you will make a mistake sooner or later. 

"It's good to remember this if you're feeling very confident or you've rushed an answer to a question. Take a moment to double-check yourself," he explained that it’s important to stay humble.

Meanwhile, the scientist added that it can be very hard not to get frustrated if someone else doesn’t have the same knowledge base as you do. Changing your perspective can help. “The best way is to assume the role of a teacher and help those around you learn what you know. Over time, the gap between you and them will narrow, reducing the cause of potential frustration,” he told Bored Panda.

#13

I had a professor for higher mathematics who had real difficulties figuring out how to extract a cup of coffee from the vending machine. Bless him.

Image credits: onesmilematters

#14

I know many people in the science field that conduct Double Blind Randomized controlled experiments in the lab and then go home and check their horoscopes...

Image credits: DieKunstder

#15

British historian David Starkey, he is only a historian in regards to Tudor England (1485-1603). Other than that, he is a complete idiot, especially when it comes to politics.

#16

In a personal note: my wife was a PhD candidate when we moved in together. Early on we went to a party and when we got home I told her I felt inadequate because I was the least educated person in every room and felt kinda dumb listening to them all go on about things I had no idea about. She said to me “they each know the most about some little thing they just got their PhD about. Some gene mutation or how some molecule interacts in some rarefied environment, but apart from that, they’re all just regular people who can’t figure out how to match their socks or talk to a member of the opposite sex.”She said “ you’re one of the most curious people I know. Your library is bigger and more diverse than anyone else I know and you’ve actually read them. You ask questions and talk to everybody and have actual things to talk to them about because you know about things they’re interested in.” Now she’s an MD PhD and all our friends are doctors of one kind of another and I’m STILL the least educated person at the party but now I can see people are just people and yes, you can be super smart about one thing or another and still by a f**k-up in the real world. It’s waaaay more important to be a good kind person who does what you say you’ll do than the smartest kid in class — at least that’s how we raised our kids anyway.

#17

If you work IT you feel this. Every lawyer, doctor, celebrity and CEO I've ever worked with is computer illiterate. They can email, they can Twitter and that's it. They confuse the mouse, they openly call themselves Luddites, they kick the power plug out and claim the 'box broke'. Mega-millionaires, too. Smart in other regards, but computers are kryptonite.

#18

As an aside, look at how much nepotism factors into getting into an Ivy League school before being automatically impressed that someone has a degree from one

#19

My great uncle is a brilliant engineer but has zero social awareness.

If I tell him a joke about, say, dogs he won't laugh but he'll tell you about how dogs evolution mirrors humanity's and how our species are symbiotic or some s**t. Then we explain to him that it was a joke, he'll replay it in his mind, and *then* laugh.

Edit: I appreciate all the online diagnoses, but he's absolutely not autistic

#20

I'm an attorney. I was taking a class at my local university for a graduate program and the professor, not knowing about my day job, proclaimed that having a PhD legally gets you out of jury duty, because the law is that you're too smart to be on a jury.

I spoke up, and said that was simply not true. There are no restrictions on being a juror in my state, other than being a US citizen.

She was pissed, like red-faced, vein-popping-from-the-foreheard angry. She said she'll prove me wrong next class.

And she never did.

#21

My college roommate, smartest person I've ever met, spent nearly an hour trying to shove a desk back into the corner of our room at an angle. She wouldn't listen to me because in her words she "got this."

After she finally gave up, I walked over. Pulled the desk out completely and straightened it with the wall, and pushed it back in. One movement, no struggle.

Many a time we had where I'd realize she might be the smart one but I've got more common sense.

#22

I work with medical doctors all the time for work. Doctors are some of the dumbest smart people I have ever met.

Image credits: Secksualinnuendo

#23

This is basically what The Best And The Brightest by David Halberstam is about. It tells the story of how the Kennedy and Johnson administrations got the United States into the Vietnam war, and it particularly zeroed in on Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. He kept escalating the conflict at every turn, and if you questioned him he could bury you in data showing that the US was winning the war and the Defense Department just needed more troops and more money to put us over the top. I'm grossly oversimplifying a great book, but that's the gist of it.

A great companion piece to the book is a documentary called The Fog Of War by Errol Morris. It's a one on one interview with Robert McNamara filmed near the end of his life where he ruminates on the lessons he's learned. After watching it 90% of people come away from the experience thinking that McNamara is a particularly intelligent and sagacious man, even though there's a mountain of evidence showing that that's not the case

#24

I was at a keg party at college and the (gravity keg) was set up. Someone complained that the beer was not flowing, so I check that the keg was still almost full. Turns out someone closed the air intake on top. I opened the intake and poured myself a beer. Problem solved. A few minutes later someone else complains the beer is out. I told them the keg was full a few minutes ago and it was a tap problem that I fixed. They told me they just came from the keg. I go back to the keg and find the intake was closed again. Opened it and poured the young lady who said it was empty a beer. As she is leaving my suitemate comes in and goes to the intake can closes it. Now my suitemate is a straight A student who gets all As mostly due to his photographic memory. Back to the keg. So I tell him that he needs to leave the intake open to let air in to displace the beer coming out of the lower tap. He then proceeds to tell me that since the beer is carbonated air is not needed to replace the liquid volumn lost when the beer is dispensed. So I asked him two questions; If it is not needed, why is there the upper tap, and does he really think the amount of gas the carbonation gives off in a glass of beer is equal to the volumn of the liquid beer? He thought for a few seconds and his only response was, "I have a 4.0, what is your GPA?" Then he walked away.

Image credits: vpniceguys

#25

Dr. Oz. He really went to Harvard. He really is a University Professor. He really did pioneer several cardiac surgery techniques.

Also, he promoted hydroxychloroquinine to fight Covid after reading about it on the Internet.


I don't mention the obvious scams that he flogs on his TV show because I don't think he really believes in them; I think it's an act he puts on just to scam gullible people.

Image credits: brighter_hell

#26

I went to 3 ERs when I felt something was wrong with my arm. It felt like a bug bite day 1 and by day 4 a bungee cord from my elbow to my wrist. 3 doctors said it was a skin irritation or dermatitis. I kept telling them something was wrong. I have no medical degree. I work in Property Management. Day 5 I walked into another ER and said “I don’t care if I have to pay out of pocket or sit here all night but something is wrong with my arm”. Finally, after many rude looks and comments I was given an ultrasound of my arm. Then rushed to a MRI. Then told I was being admitted. A 3” blood clot in my upper arm, 2 in my chest area, and one had passed my lung already. Diagnosed with Factor 2 Gene Mutation 22 days later (blood clotting disorder).

Image credits: A-Whole-Vibe

#27

My first call at my first IT job was in a medical laboratory. There was a doctor who had been in the job for years and she called saying her computer would not power on. I walked her through some troubleshooting and nothing worked. "Is the computer plugged in? Ok, is the monitor on? Ok, when did the problem start?" type of questions were asked and she answered them all. I go up to her office and indeed the computer is plugged in to a power strip which is plugged in to itself. Cleaning crew had deep cleaned her office and never plugged anything back in. Dr. plugged the power strip into itself thinking that as long as it was plugged in, that's all she needed.

Image credits: acheron53

#28

I worked for a statistician who had a PhD in statistics and was dumb as a post.

OTOH, I worked with this *really* smart guy who happened to have a PhD, and as he said it "all that means is I did the work [for a PhD]."

Image credits: brock_lee

#29

My ex had a real lack of knowledge and common sense when it came to children.

She's currently completing her PHD in biochemistry and molecular biology. She was confused though when I said I couldn't go out after putting my toddler to bed as I had no one to babysit. In her mind, once my daughter was asleep she no longer needed anyone here to take care of her.

I chalked it up to cultural differences and never being around children. Eventually though our opinions on raising kids differed too much and I had to end things for my daughter's sake.

Image credits: RetroDad-IO

#30

I had a boss who was an engineer who put a couple hundred dollars in change in a bank’s pneumatic drive through tube where it got stuck and they had to use a jack hammer to get it out. He was upset that the bank was charging him for this because he didn’t know this would happen. They had large signs saying not to put change in the tubes, including on the tubes themselves.

Image credits: RumBunBun

#31

Jordan Peterson is the poster child for this.

#32

I used to work at a university, and tons of academics are incredibly educated in their chosen field, but have the common sense of your average dachshund.

My favourite was probably an entire group of geology professors and PhD candidates who got "stuck" for a good few minutes in an entryway because they didn't think to check if the door required a pull rather than a push. Bearing in mind that they'd just entered with that same door not an hour before.

#33

My wife has two Masters and a PhD, is internationally recognized in her field, and is an absent minded doofus. My role in her life is to ensure that her car works, that she takes her meds, and that she eats things other than yogurt and eggs. She can be brilliant one minute, then walk into the side of a moving bus the next.

I love her dearly but she's a numpty.

#34

Being intelligent and being an idiot are not mutually exclusive. Some of the smartest people are idiots, just like some of the dumbest are. Come to think of it, some of the most average people are idiots too.

To sum: Idiocy is not positively or negatively correlated with intelligence.

#35

Ben Carson.

Neurosurgeon who also believes the pyramids were made to store grain.

#36

All of Trump's lawyers have passed the bar exam, otherwise they wouldn't be lawyers- and yet time and time again they keep proving that they have either no understanding of how the law works, or disregard any understanding they may have had.

#37

My old psychiatrist was morally against prescribing certain effective medications and instead recommended i continue to consume almost twice the daily limit of caffeine instead. Had decades of experience and my therapist thinks quite highly of him, but I do not share her enthusiasm.

#38

My professor, a brilliant neurosurgeon, once decided to directly smell a bottle of ammonia. He then told me “don’t smell that”. I did not plan to!

#39

Those french idiots who put non-medical-grade silicone pads into people and caused death and cancer in 2010.

#40

That biologist lady who works for creation ministries (ken ham). She denies evolution and insists that we are descended from a mud man created by magic.

#41

My ex-boyfriends mother was a linguistics professor and knew over 10 languages. She was also one of the dumbest people I've ever met. Some examples: she believed that in case of emergency stewardesses catapult out of the plane; she was also convinced donating blood causes some blood disease and you can die because of it. But my favourite one was when she said her son's orthopaedic problems are not a result of a serious injury he had. His knee hurts because he eats too much ketchup.

#42

A long time good friend, absolutely brilliant. Can literally beat you at chess blindfolded. Engineering in college and one of the smartest people I’ve ever met. But he’s a big picture guy, sees how things develop and great long term vision. Incredibly successful. But little things? Guy couldn’t pack a suitcase, wouldn’t know how to book a flight. Was making boxed Mac-n-cheese and couldn’t figure out why it was so watery. Ya, he didn’t drain the water after the pasta was cooked.

#43

The entire pandemic response in the US. Everyone became a virologist, except the actual virologists who were called sell outs and liars.

#44

Worked at a tech company, was made team lead. One of our team members was a PhD in astrophysics. He would ping me constantly for how to do things that we had well documented. How to install certain programs, how to gain access to servers or code repositories. Literally we would sit in zoom calls together and I would just read the instructions out loud and watch him do them. I was utterly confused as to how he could breathe by himself.

#45

My ex wife with a PhD in neuroscience driving my car around with the handbrake on calling me to ask about the noise and smell.

#46

Not a PhD but I know someone who has a masters in finance and thinks everyone should just own a house, I was like how are they gonna pay for it? He was like they should work hard . I couldn't stop laughing

#47

I have been told that idiots are running the world, but if thats true I would have thought I would be a little higher up.

#48

> I don’t need to listen to you, I have “credential, credential, credential…”

If you aren’t willing to consider novel information because of the messenger, sorry, you’re an idiot.

#49

MBA’s are probably the most overhyped group of people on the planet. I’m like 99% certain that nepotism was getting too obvious so they had to invent an incredibly expensive degree that friends of rich people could get so that they could also get great jobs and become rich. Most MBA’s I know are actually so dumb it hurts.

#50

Me. Masters in cybersecurity and can’t help my 5th grader with his math homework.

#51

Engineers.

I'm a machinist.

#52

As someone who did two trades and then decided life is better with education - my experience currently going to Uni is how clueless so many people are in Uni .. I wouldn’t say they’re an idiot, but tons of ignorance develops living in a student bubble your whole life.

I rented a room to a guy who did his masters and it would take him hourssss to cook dinner. I watched him one day and he just couldn’t wrap his mind around cooking things that take different amounts of time to cook.

Like, he’d start cooking potato’s and wait til they were done before moving onto the next thing he was going to eat them with.

#53

A different version.

Elon Musk. Just because you were rich and got richer doesn't mean you're successful or innovative. See Twitter and Tesla and Space X's admission they have people who's only job is to distract him from the actual workings of the company.

#54

To get a doctorate, you need to know absolutely nothing about a wide range of subjects.