You need to wear your joshing goggles on the internet sometimes. :)

I agree completely. There is a HUGE difference between being "intelligent" and being educated. Some of the folks posting on this thread that have stated that they don't have a degree (of any sort) are smart as hell imo.

Don't know that anyone has maintained that on this thread. I do take exception to the premise that "degrees = (a measure of)) education" however. I challenge anyone who thinks so to evaluate themselves. IMO, education is acquired knowledge. Did most of your "education" come while obtaining your degree(s) or afterward (on your own, or outside of a degree program)? The cumulative intelligence and knowledge base (and that of the individuals) on this board have always impressed me. You don't find that just anywhere...even in a LOT of doctorate programs imo.

ps: If you don't believe me, just ask the PPOT braintrust :p

I've got qualifications up the "ying yang" but my guess would be Z man for the most educated here.

I don't have any degrees and I'm not all that smart, based on available evidence. :)

You're smart as a whip too (and you know it)....you dumbass :p

I've dabbled in it.

You don't know the half of it. There are a number I have met that couldn't get themselves out of a locked car..I try to distant myself from them as much as possible. To be fair though, there are quite a number of PhD Psychologists who are brilliant and I am honored to be associated with them or have worked with them.

Here is one of them...Elizabeth Loftus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia You guys would love her research. She did a lot to debunk "recovered memory" BS and the malleability of eyewitness testimony.

Thanks for the props but I'm just thankful to still be in one piece. I got lucky a number of times in my life, but I did make the most of the 2nd and 3rd chances. And like Moses, my undergraduate degree was from a small liberal arts college that required a very broad set of classes. That, and an undergrad advisor that changed my life, got me into Caltech. What got me through was being slightly nuts and interested in things outside of my "schoolin'".

Then again, I did a career change in 2000 and rarely think about chemistry these days. Thankfully grad school taught me to solve problems, not just learn chem. The music biz provides a lot of problem solving opportunities as well. In the end the critical stuff comes down to managing people. And I learned part of that from my past boss who said, "management is 75% mommy he hit me and 25% mommy he took my stuff."

That said, I probably learned the most attending Bass Nature Camp as student then staff. Seriously life-changing, and another example of the fact that you never know when/where your education will come from. The more I learn, the less I know.

Oh, and my ex-wife has a B.S. in chem from Johns Hopkins, Ph.D in chem from Caltech, and J.D. from USC. She's got me beat...

Just a BS in Geosciences here.......and I use it almost every.........oh crap, never.....
I use the skills I learned in the Army and while working crap jobs through college all the time though...
I like to think I'm at least an Apprentice Jack of all Trades, I learn quick and work hard....

I have a cousin on the other hand with a PhD in Nuclear Physics from MIT who had a fit because he thought his car was broken because he'd never experienced a steering lock before.....he's 35....

This post is useless without TED!:)

I have bachelor's degrees in mechanical engineering and materials science, and got most of my way through a master's degree in mechanical engineering, focusing on optimization and analysis of composite structures.

The education was only a gateway to further experience. The experiences that I sought out in various fields in parallel to those degrees taught far more (and with greater efficiency) than the academic institution. However I do feel, for the work I do, the university I chose (which was chosen over some others of greater prestige) served my needs better than almost any other could have.

I will nominate RWebb. He seem to know f'n everything and if you don't believe him, just ask him. ;-)

The good news is I saw the rough cut this week so it is close :D

This is incredible.

What's really incredible is that his dad, my uncle, could rebuild any IC engine you throw in front of him without breaking a sweat or needing a manual.....and he barely graduated high school.

heh - it's me

I was in the position of bestowing PhDs on other people. I also have a nice collection of both undergraduate and graduate degrees, but my points am duh follering:

1. how duh ya tell whut "most educated" is? do you count degrees? certificates? experience or what

I used to know a guy who was pretty well educated... by talking to people. He was nearly illiterate, and had no degrees, not even a HS grad. He became one of the top Okinawan martial artists in the US. The judge told this ghetto youth either join the Marines or go to jail. He did the former and learned Goju ryu while stationed in Okinawa. I think he would get respect from Chinese Masters.

2. Suppose we decide on a way to tell who is most educated? So what? The real question is what you do with it (or with something else). The world is full of PhDs who have never published anything more than their thesis (dissertation). Or, you can find a cure for cancer or a childhood disease. Or study how particles in the atmosphere influence radiation levels and pollution effects, or look for environmental contaminants in sediments to see if our lakes and streams are in danger. I know physicists who do the former, and a chemist who does the latter. That is important work.

No this is reality.

i nonimate baygone

Yep, I've changed my mind. I will sleep well knowing that I'm more educated than Bill Gates :D

My old roommate (in Palmdale) had a PhD and was an actual rocket scientist for NASA. he was sharp. Another guy I know is a nano-composite/stealth technology engineer for Northrop's version of Skunkworks. He also has his PhD.

From a technology point of view, some of the sharpest people in the world are working within the confines of Edwards AFB and Plant 42.