>>><snip>
>>>
>>>>>Being an MVP bestows no particular moral high ground on a person. Being technically skilled does not make one a better person ("better" being a very subjective word). In fact, being able to become an MVP might show an ambitious streak which might manifest itself in other less desirable ways. Michel's observations of past altercations involving MVPs is interesting I think :)
>>>>
>>>>It also seems that in tech disciplines there seems to be very little correlation between professional skills and social skills (unless, perhaps, an inverse one <s> )
>>>>
>>>>There are extremely pleasant exceptions : Tamar, Bonnie, Doug Hennig, Rick Schummer, Ted Roche, the late Ceil immediately come to mind though of course there are many others.
>>>>
>>>>And there are people whom I personally find charming, fascinating and easy to get along with who seem unable to abide each other as their egos seems to clash on sharp edges. I found the famous confrontation here between Steve Black and JVP absolutely excruciating to witness and I was embarrassed for them.
>>>>
>>>>Al Doman made the observation that our youth are growing up prone to self-destructive behavior partly due to their lives being so devoid of real danger.
>>>>
>>>>Bill Fitzgerald mentioned how a sense of perspective can be augmented by experience in life when nasty people are really trying to kill you.
>>>>
>>>>I agree with both, and offer it as a partial explanation for on line vitriol in communities like this one in confrontations between some of the "heavy-weights"
>>>>
>>>>"The reason academic politics are so bitter is that so little is at stake."
>>>
>>>Yes, I agree and well written (again). I have often found that the more smart people are the less humble they become about "their" knowledge. They know it all and can become quite arrogant and pedantic often failing to see alternatives or new avenues that might have opened in the meantime.
>>
>>Agreed. I have mentioned many times that being smart is absolutely not the same as being intelligent, and vice versa. I have a person in my own family who is, without any doubt, a very intelligent man. But he is also the most narrow minded person I know. In his own mind he is perfect, and everything he says is the final solution. I avoid meeting him unless there's a special family thing.
>
>Is he an engineer? :-)

No, he is a biologist, and a philosopher.