One thing I have always been aware During my time developing this site is that I am gaining knowledge that many others do not have, and as a result I am probably going to lose touch with them. They in return will not be able to relate to me and while I could go on about how to relate to others i'd rather explore the nature of the learning.

Is it that I am more intelligent than others, or am I more deluded than others?

Anyone can go off on a tangent and learn a specialist knowledge, and the more specialist they become it seems the more isolated they will get from friends, family, and loved ones. This is not done through any choice as such, it's more like the natural order of things; the two can't mix. With this isolation comes the feeling that one is superior because of the knowledge one has gained, that somehow it is only an intelligent being that could walk this path and because of other peoples insecurities and fears they are not able to learn this stuff.

Because one has dropped those insecurities and fears, one can explore a tangent and get wrapped up in it, not really knowing that it is an intelligent choice. The more one learns, the more the world seems different and therefore the person could well be deluded and not know it. One could become so different from the norm that people around them would see a madman before them rather than someone with intelligence.

Is the ability to learn about the experienced universe a wanton disregard for intelligence?

I guess one would have to understand what intelligence is first, and i'm not sure I do. My basic summation is that one who is intelligent understands the rules behind a particular system and can apply them to the world around them. Intelligence it seems is nothing more than a collection of rules that gives you a better understanding than someone else. So it's a perspective thing, intelligence only works when a subject is realted to a group of peers. There is another side to this though, intelligence can also be seen as a spark in someone that causes them to go beyond the norm. Is true intellegence not the stuff you have learned or the ability to learn, but the inclination to go and do it.

So what is a delusion?

Again I don't really know, but the closest I can get is to say delusion is a path that has been explored and makes perfect sense to the subject, but makes absolutely no sense to anyone else. Therefore the general populous do not agree with the knowledge the subject has and label them deluded, because everybody knows it is not that way. Delusion also appears to be a relative thing, if the masses believe one thing and an individual disagrees, the majority has the ruling ability.

To me, the two topics are so closely related that they must actually be the same thing viewed from a different angle; Genuis Vs Insanity! Intelligence is something that the population as a whole aspire to, but delusion something they shy away from. Anything that strays from the norm, or the middle is deemed to be unnatural and should not be done, this is why boffins are in a minority, and also why the mad are in a minority.

I can't help but think that again this all cancels down to fear.

Yesterday I heard you say you never close your eyes,
Sometimes the world's a scary ride, it's hard to hang on,
along the way we got off track,
now if we turn around can we ever get back.

Sheryl Crow,
Where has all the love gone.