It&#x27;s interesting.  I was just thinking a little while ago about the tendency for smart people to equate being smart with being right.  A while ago I was mentoring a young colleague of mine and I warned him that it is often the case that when we experience one failed project after another, we tend to think, &quot;People should listen to me.  I&#x27;ve seen every way to make a project fail and so I know how to make a project succeed.&quot;  In reality, unless you have experienced success you are unlikely to know how to create that success.<p>He replied with one of the most interesting things I&#x27;ve heard in a while: &quot;But I have lots of good ideas.  Not all of them can be wrong&quot;.  I had to step away and think about that for a long time, but eventually I realized that, yes, he <i>could</i> be wrong every single time.  The search space is huge.  And the tricky thing is that it doesn&#x27;t really matter how smart he is.  He can still be wrong every single time because there are a lot more wrong answers than right ones. A lot of the wrong answers really look like they <i>should</i> be right too.  Even to otherwise brilliant (though wrong) people.<p>In a similar vein, I think you will find that despite your great intellect and professional success, there are many, many areas where you are wrong.  In fact, there are likely to be a <i>lot</i> more areas where you are wrong than areas where you are right.  There&#x27;s just a huge search space out there.<p>I have no idea if you are right or wrong about marijauna use.  I&#x27;m am <i>absolutely convinced</i> that you would beat me in a debate on the subject (I can&#x27;t even spell the damn word correctly).  Beating me (or anyone) in a debate makes absolutely no difference to whether or not you are correct.<p>It&#x27;s not like I am immune to the occasional (umm... possibly a lot more than occasional... :-P) egocentric outburst, but I have found that admitting that I am likely wrong actually improves my credibility.  I mean a brilliant, internationally famous blogger with a CS degree might very well be right about the effects of marijuana on the brain.  Researchers on the effects of marijuana on the brain <i>may</i> just have the edge though, despite a possible lack of comparative brain power.  It&#x27;s something to consider.