Asklemmy @lemmy.ml

1y ago

What thing are you exponentially more experienced in than the average person?

What is the best skill you possess that makes you stand above the average person?

212 comments

Statistical modeling.
And yes, I am miffed about the use of the word “exponential” in this post’s title.
- Same here; what're the odds?
  
  About 50/50. Either you are or you aren't.
  
  Likewise, so higher than we thought lol.
- the base of my exponential function is 1

I got a PhD in philosophy. I have exponentially more experience applying for jobs and getting rejected than most people.
- I was clearing out my Hotmail. I've a Msc in health psych. Well over 1k in reject emails. I may have a rival

Math (I'm a graduate student). And "exponentially more experienced than the average" means nothing as exponential is a progression, not a comparison between two values.
- What this person is trying to say is they are exponentially better at being technically correct.
  
  Exponentially the best kind of correct by an order of magnitude.
- This is one of my biggest pet peeves lol
- serious questions then:
  What’s a better mathy adjective to describe what OP meant by “exponential”?
  
  Orders of magnitude maybe?
  
  I'd go with "significantly".
  
  A simple "a lot" would do fine. "Orders of magnitude" as someone else suggested would work too.
  
  5sigma from the average person.
- My pet peeve with mathy stuff, "something is X times closer/smaller etc than something else"
  If A is 1 away, saying B is ten times closer means what exactly? Is B 10 away? 9, 0.1?
  I think what most examples are trying to say is that A is ten times the distance to B, but the way it is said if just annoying.
  
  "Ten times closer" is pretty unambiguously 0.1. What starts getting more confusing is "300% further" which is technically 4 but many understand as 3 (try replacing by 50%, 50% further is 1.5 not 0.5). Also "50% closer" being the same as twice closer while 50% further is only 1.5x further can get confusing too, and it gets even worse with "50% slower" - is speed now 1/1.5 (= it takes 50% more time) or 0.5/1 (= speed is reduced by 50%) ?

So you're asking people what they do for a living?
Doing something for 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week makes you a lot better at that thing than other people.
- Actually doing something for 40 hours a week is truly remarkable. People waste so much time, me included.
  
  Man I’m so good at sleeping though. I get at least 5 hours a night, so that’s 40 a week! Woohoo!
  /s
- But I don't spend 40 hours doing the same thing. I do a bunch of different regular bullshit that you can't really be "good" at, like sending emails and chatting with people on Teams.

Since the Reddit blackout I decided to learn how to solve a Rubik's Cube. My best time for solving one so far is 82 seconds. I know it's no world record but the average person can't solve a Rubik's cube so I'm way more experienced.
- Way to go! I used to hustle the lunch room with my Rubik's cube and get people's desserts by solving it in less than a minute. I only knew the inefficient layer-by-layer method, so it really was a race.
  
  It was my eldest that got me going actually. He came home from school with the old shit cube he had, did 3 turns on it and said "There, I solved it Dad."
  I said "Did you fuck. Who sorted that for you?" and he told me a kid at school was just asking everyone if they had a cube and to bring it in to school, so he did and the kid solved it for him.
  I thought "If a 12 year old can do it, so can I" and used it to help with my Reddit withdrawals.
  I've finally got a magnetic cube now and just have it in my pocket. I'm trying to improve my F2L speed where you put the corners in and the 2nd layer at the same time. I really like doing the last layer with algorithms, it's like magic.
- I feel like this about chess. I'm fairly confident I can beat everyone I know except for like 3 people. But I'm better than 12% of people on Lichess.
  
  Yeah it just goes to show that hobbies are like icebergs.
  I picked up a guitar in Covid and managed to learn basic chords and songs in the first year of playing it every single day. I'm 4 years in now, and I feel less advanced than I felt back then.
  I think it's because when you're learning a new technique, you fucking suck at it, but when it's in counterpoint to other techniques that you can do to a high level, it sounds worse than just one technique being played badly, plus you've trained your ears over the time you've been playing, so you can hear the bad bits better.
  Guitarists that have been playing for decades have more of these techniques down so they sound better, but that's just to people who have struggled with those techniques themselves. To the uninitiated guitarists are just guitarists, some play country and some do that wiggly wiggly guitar solo thing.
  Guitar playing is an Iceberg with a big bit sticking up, chess and rubix cubes are smaller icebergs, but you've got to mine it all the way down before you can climb to the top.
- Definitely. I use Rubik's cubes as paperweights
- I picked up cubing half a year ago as a middle aged dad. I set myself a goal of being able to solve it in under 30 seconds. I’m averaging around 40s now so I’m slowly getting there. It’s a fun little hobby and I always carry my cube around with me and practice as often as I can. I just finished learning all 21 PLL algorithms and I’m quite proud of myself 😄
  
  I'm 39 and right there with you, although I can't seem to get under 80 seconds for a solve yet. I've been cubing for a couple of months and have got the 2 look pll and oll down nearly now, just a couple of algorithms I'm struggling to remember. Love doing the last layer though, it's like magic.
  I'm at a point now where I'm solving faster than I was (it was around the 3 minute mark a couple of weeks ago but I've just got a RS3M) and it is starting to feel "easy" now.
  I also have one in my pocket most of the time, it's another hobby my wife hates lol "Do you HAVE to bring that thing with you?" YES I DO

By feel I can identify 20 lb, 24 lb, 28 lb, 65 lb cover, 110 lb cover, and 12 pt matte paper. I'm increasingly impressed by people's business cards as a result, as it is often much, much heavier than 12 pt matte.
Using comparison I can distinguish 80 lb semi-gloss cover, 100 lb semi-gloss cover, 8 pt gloss, 10 pt gloss, and 12 pt gloss. (But then again, most people could, given multiple choices rather than a free-response question.)
- "Look at that subtle off-white colouring. The tasteful thickness of it. Oh my god, it even has a watermark."
- Does it have a watermark?
  
  In case you're legitimately asking: No, it's just cheaper and fancier versions of normal printer paper and cardstock (cover and cardstock are essentially the same thing). You just feel its texture, maybe shake it a little, figure out its weight.
- lmao you became the guys from American Psycho

Being comfortable enough with myself to answer this question honestly: nothing

Socializing with cats, befriending them.
- I too consider myself better at this than the average person. I often find myself slow blinking at random cats in the street.
- I wish I had this skill! I love cats and dogs and wish I could talk to them and pet them every time I see them.

Having gone through conscription military, I have leveled up some very important abilities.
Looking busy: I can find convincing ways to spend time without actually doing anything important.
Wasting time: When nobody is looking, I can find creative and fun ways to pass the time. (this ability is maxed out)
Also gained a few special perks.
Forest fun: Who needs movies, games or the internet when you have an axe and some wood. Even pine cones, rocks and sticks will be enough to keep you preoccupied in creative ways.
Day dreaming: Who needs the forest, when you can build countless universes in your mind.
Oh, and I did learn to shoot and keep my rifle in working order. I guess that’s nice too. Didn’t get to level that anywhere near as much, but that’s ok.
- To add on to your 'looking busy' skills....In Moving Pictures, sir Terry Pratchett points out that if you have a determined fast walk and a piece of paper in your hand, you can go anywhere. I used to use this technique to get breaks in the office. I'd just grab a piece of paper and quickly walk the length of the building with a determined expression.
  
  And if you walk fast enough, the paper can also be completely empty.

I want to join in here too with the exceptionally good driving. I, like everyone else here, am totally a very much better driver than the average person on the road. Exponentially much better, even!
- One friend of mine says the same all the time... In fact, he's the worst driver I've ever driven with! In reality, I am much better and even exponentially better than the average driver.
- I like to think people learn from me just by hearing my cry of "come onnnnn!"
- All you have to do in order to be a better than average driver is to be alert to what's going in around you. I do that, and I drive fast. I'm an exponentially better driver than most.

I have a lot of experience reconstructing whale skeletons for museums and such. I do it as a hobby with a friend of mine who is the marine mammals recovery coordinator for the state of North Carolina.
- Based Lego.
  
  Haha I think I would describe it more like erector sets than lego but yes it is very similar. We put the whales in the ground for ~18 months and then pull them out and out them together piece by piece

Statistics.
That word does not mean what you think it means.
- It doesn't mean inferring something about a population from a sample?
  
  The word in question is "exponentially".
  And in any case, no.

I am, without trying to sound arrogant, much better at cornering, roundabouts, and general driving than a large part of the population in Australia.
I can enter a roundabout, in a preselected gear, at appropriate revs and speed. Load up the suspension just right, so I'm released into my chosen exit, kissing the apex with a release of energy that feels so sweet, smooth and safe, that it's a beautiful part of my life.
All within safe thresholds, and always when I know it's safe. And the way others use roundabouts, it's always safer than the general population.
- You're like an aussie Alan partridge
- As a fellow Australian I think this is partly down to the equipment as well.
  I can take a roundabout much faster and more confidently in my sports car with a low centre of gravity and performance tyres compared to an SUV with cheapo tyres like a large proportion of the population drives.
  I'm guessing you also drive a car which is more performant than most on the road.
  
  No matter what you drive, it's still not hard to be better than all the people who stall traffic because they don't realize they can squeeze through a gap about 4 feet wider than their car so we can actually pre fill the turn lane while the light's red.
  Nor is it hard to actually know to accelerate smoothly through a turn instead of braking through it.
  Or to know how to just stay in your clearly marked turn lane during your turn (literally marked through the entire intersection) instead of cutting off the other two turn lanes (this happened to me yesterday).
  None of these things are actually much harder to do in a large car than a sports car, just obviously your actual speed and acceleration should change based on your car, tires, and everything else. I use the same principles I use when driving a fun car to help drive safely when it's a minivan.
- I'm an American who knows how to properly signal when going through a roundabout. This automatically makes me more knowledgeable than 99.99999% of American drivers.
- found Daniel Ricciardo

Pole dancing! I’ve taught professionally for like 15 years.
Btw this instance is about to be exposed to amazing pole fitness content, prepare yourselves.
- Where to subscribe?

Not littering.

Maybe not better than an average person, but the last 10 years of my life taught me lots of handy life skills, like owning up to my mistakes, having more self esteem, showing confidence in tough situations, standing up for myself, having better people skills and to know when not to get involved and when to speak up.
Most of these are basic human skills, but the combination of these can make a huge difference. I landed jobs thanks to them, I made friends and removed toxic people from my life. I have less issues with adult responsibilities and in general I am less stressed.
Again maybe not exceptionally more experienced than an average person, but compared to my old self its a huge difference.
- Isn't it kind of amazing how much better your life can be with the addition of those "soft" skills?

Locks, lockpicking, and teaching English grammar.
- Who are you and how did you get in here?
  
  I’m a locksmith … and I’m a locksmith.
  
  and where is the lawyer?
- So when do you I 'whom'?

Anyone in this thread could probably just cite their career.
- Bold of you to assume.
  
  I suppose 😂
- Joke's on you, my career is nonexistent!
  
  I'm sorry ☹️

Cocktails. I'm purely an amateur home bartender (I work in software development) but I'm better at making cocktails than most paid bartenders in the city, including a number of the ones working at craft cocktail bars I've been to across the country. I make my own syrups, creams, infusions, carved ice, and dehydrated fruit. I've recently started using an iSi whipper to make foam toppers; beer foam for old fashioneds, tropical foam for Mai Tais. My avocado orgeat is awesome. Fat washing with coconut oil is easy and makes Campari and cachaça amazing. I've hosted many parties in the 15-28 person range, as well numerous smaller cocktail nights, so I have experience creating thematic menus and then prepping and serving the drinks all night.
I have a ton of knowledge about spirits in general, both breadth and depth. Most bartenders and even mixologists don't even know what baijiu is (let alone tried each aroma), know the difference between soju and shōchū, or why soju is rarely made with rice. My rum knowledge is where I've specialized and I can recommend multiple bottles of each type (Smuggler's Cove categories or Minimalist Tiki's) in varying price ranges, what cocktails they are best for, and the subtle differences between each bottle within its own category.
I'm a perfectly average programmer though.
- Hell yea. Hobbies like that are awesome.

I am "exponentially" better at nothing in comparison to others. There's always this one kid, who will do whatever I do, far better than I can ever do.
- But that one kid isn't the average person. Don't put yourself down.
  
  Thanks for the uplifting words ❤️
- Sounds you're like the main character in Everything, Everywhere, All at Once . If you haven't watched it I recommend
  
  Yeah, I've seen the movie. The best cluster fuck experience I could ask for. I still do not know what the donut was all about. 😅

Exponentially denotes a progression, a rate of change. You probably mean greatly or vastly
For me it would be authoring images-illustration, rendering, etc. I guess most people can answer with their job
- Don't forget to add "being pedantic" to your list!
  
  Being accurate with words isn't being pedantic. There was an opportunity to teach, I took it. That's it. Perhaps you got that impression because text doesn't convey intent very well. That's alright
- I am exponentially more experienced at swimming than the average person.
  I'm actually a pretty average swimmer, so in this case the exponent is zero.
- . I guess most people can answer with their job
  Yeah I was going to make a pithy joke about my job, but note that having any skill in a field that's at all niche puts you well above the average.
- This is my biggest pet peeve. One data point can't be exponentially more than one other data point without context.
  If people still want to sound "smart" because they used a fancy math word, you can say "orders of magnitude more experienced."

How to handle multiple repeated panic attacks every day
- Dang and here I thought nothing in this list would apply

The best skill?
Im a good driver. Very good, in fact. Not at racing, i mean. But actually driving on public roads.being predictable, parking legally, following speed limits, using the turn signal before i actually turn, etc etc
It pains me to ride as a passenger now :(
- Booooring! 🙃
  But exciting is not the driving style I want from fellow drivers, so thank you .
- Signal before you actually brake for the turn, that's the key. Not just before the turn.

I can mould the old shower soap in to the new shower soap like an absolute boss.

I could say job-related things or my hobbies, but Ima go with Google-fu. Maybe just search engine fu.
I know way too many 'first page people' when it comes to results. No fuckin' way. Learn how to dig. Do not take no for an answer from a search engine without trying a range of strategies to find what you're looking for.
OK, I'm lying. This is part of my job. I teach academic research, and I hear these people with two sources tell me there aren't enough sources for them to do a research paper on a given topic or that all these peer-reviewed journal articles say the same thing.
But it does extend into non-academic life. I was out of town, my older brother needed a U-Haul, drove 40 minutes to a place he knew, but there was a U-Haul less than 10 minutes away that he couldn't find.
I'm surrounded by this.
- Though Google doesn’t let you dig much past the first page anymore.
  “10 billion results!” It says.. then 4 pages in it just goes “never mind, that’s it”

Gamemastering rpgs. 20 years of experience and a good cross section of games played. Spent the last five years really trying to improve too.

This feels like a cheat answer, but as someone who has played for 25 years and organized events for 15, I’m likely much more knowledgeable about the rules of Magic: the Gathering than the “average person”. Not sure that I am necessarily exponentially better than the average player, but maybe I am now that so many people play digitally and don’t need to know the rules as much.

Picked up soldering and small appliance repairing as a hobby couple months ago so I guess that

Diagnosis, repair, and operation of CNC lasers, both flat plate cutting lasers and tube lasers.

Ability: Coordinate system rotation. I can move 3d objects around in my mind with ease and it is clear in group settings that most people are not good at this.
Knowledge: heat transfer. I've done years of theoretical study and more years of practical application of heat transfer.
- I can't picture things in my head almost at all. I used to think I was mind blind, but I'm not entirely it seems, it's just that my ability to visualize things is paper thin. It takes enormous effort to visualize almost anything and even then it kinda just proofs, no actual rotation with information, just the idea of rotation. Can picture a tree, but I can get information from it.
- Kids should have access to CAD early in life. I grew up with it and mentally picturing, moving, and manipulating 3D objects in my mind is just second nature. I can even keep track of orientation (Front, Back, Left, Right, Top, Bottom views) with minimal effort.

I have two useless talents:
Highly developed sense of smell (sometimes a liability)
Ability to identify voice actors with high accuracy
I once identified the source of a minute gas leak in my basement, which had evaded the calibrated detection equipment of the utility company, so I guess I can't say it's completely useless.
- With you in the ability to smell. The only issue is I smell ALL THE THINGS. And it is overwhelming at times.
- Did you ever puke in a wastebin just because you're overwhelmed by the smell?
  
  Yep, no fun. I also can't stand strong perfumes and colognes.
  
  and then go crazy because of the smell of puke in the wastebin?

I'm good at putting a needle inside people's veins.

My humility.
Joking aside though, I'd like to think I'm pretty empathetic and understanding.

Pretty good generalist.
- I feel similar. I'm good at my profession (very white collar) and have managed to start my own business based on a good reputation in the industry, solid outcomes etc. I'm pretty good with my hands and troubleshooting so I'm handy in a crisis, good at solving problems. I read a lot about lots of different things, I listen to a lot of different music so I'm a good person to have on your trivia team. I've kept pretty fit into my late 30s so I'm up for any exercise or going for long rambling adventures.
  But am I great, beyond my peers at any one particular thing? God no. And it bothers me. I wish I was really, really, really good at any one thing to the point someone would call me an expert, but I'm just not. I don't have the energy, interest or focus to dedicate to one thing, so I'm just 'okay' to 'pretty good' at a tonne of things, but not necessarily better than any one person in the room.
  
  So good! I'm pretty much all of what you said, but without my own business.

Understanding how substations work. Also, knowing what substations even are...
- As in, electric grid things with big wires and fences?
  
  No, they're places that make sandwiches.
  
  Haha, yes. Specifically, they're a grouping of electrical equipment that transfers high-voltage to low-voltage and low-voltage to high-voltage. :)

Playing piano, and knowing too much about headphone gear and audio measurements

Being myself, I'm pretty good at it.

...stand above the average person?
Kinda opposite of the prompt:
Scuba!
Lots of divers will tell you that buouancy control is difficult for most divers. Mine is absolutely good. I teach underwater photography and can hover within a fraction of an inch over a super silty bottom while swimming backwards and taking video without stirring up anything.
I have other instructors and professionals come to me for buoyancy training.
- Isn't that just controlling your breathing? Get your bcd to a neutral boyant point and then do the rest with your lungs.
  At least, that's what I do and I wasn't aware this was something experienced divers had a lot of trouble with. I suppose I don't ask people though.
  Swimming backwards while filming with your hands is a neat trick though. I always reverse with my arms, so I'd be keen to see how you do that!
  
  Lots of diver don't know their buouancy sucks because they overweight themselves and stay neutral by having poor trim. They angle their feet downward and kick to stay neutral, which uses more air and causes them to silt out the dive site because they're disturbing the water below and behind them, but never see it because they're not facing that direction.
  Most of my photography classes are actually teaching buouancy and advanced kicking because you really can't do good macro shots from 8 feet away. You have to get to the subject of the shot, and have to be able to do it without stirring up the silt.
  The frog kick, back kick, and helicopter turns are essential skills, but a lot of people have shitty or gimmicky fins, which makes it much harder. My thought on fins is that there's 2 kinds - Jet Fins and Bad Fins. They were designed in the 60s and have never been matched.
  Those big, heavy, stiff monsters are great, because you can do a reverse frog kick without them bending and pushing you forward while you're getting them in position for the back kick.

i got 4 nukes in MWII

If I was to base it off people I know IRL, it'd be video games. But against the collective of gamers on the internet, I don't even rank. :/
Well... I guess that's just skill. Experience, though... Many streamers and gamers are a fraction of my age, and I've been gaming since as far back as I remember.

Besides my professional skills, which are so boring they’re not worth mentioning, I’m good at snapping my fingers? I can do both hands really fast.
Also, standing on one leg, having internal monologues that can last for hours and other useless skills :)

Loading a vehicle or container for moving. I've had friends ask me to basically take over their move. And yeah, I may be a sucker for doing it, but I will save people hours and multiple trips while moving. I 3d tetris the hell out of a uhaul.
Height. I'm 6'6" on a good day. Top 99.897% in the world.
Reviving and programming REMBASS units. REmotely Monitored Battlefield Sensor System was a old ass piece of equipment when I was using it 20 years ago in the Army. You'd have to program different channels using another old ass piece of equipment. And very often they'd drop their fills, or not appreciate having a new, fully charged battery in it. It would frustrate people to no end because they'd spend hours trying to get it going, and then I'd stroll up talking all nice and pretty to the gear and shit would just work for me.

drawing porno
- Show us your PayPal balance

Freeze-drying, it's a d(r)ying art.
- It’s not difficult if you have a multi-thousand dollar freeze drying machine. It is difficult if you have less money than that and try to build your own…

Linguistics, programming, rationalizing, and trackmania =)
- What is trackmania?
  
  A racing game that has a very nice track builder and is very open to modding. Its focus is on the individual driver and the time they achieve on a track.
  Flying for hundreds of meters, drifting under water, going at high speeds through multiple loopings, sliding on ice and so much more is totally possible with Trackmania.
  Try it, the base game is free and their pricing for online services and cups is totally fine.
- Ah man, I've been playing various Trackmania titles since 2013 but I still struggle with some of the campaign author medals and my placements are only around top 5-10% of players. Better than average sure, but not "exponentially" [sic] despite years of experience :(

Well, it's definitely not my height, hahahaha 🥲
But I'm pretty good at ~~not giving up~~ getting obsessed with a problem and basically bashing my head against the wall until the wall gives in.
Or until a new problem steals my focus.
Like, I have no mechanical experience, but I did a valve adjustment on my motorbike.
- 99% of people either ignore their valves or have the dealer make the adjustment. You and I are top 1% of motorcycle owners.
  
  It's a mission right. Definitely not something I want to be doing very often. But I did save a bunch of cash and extended the life of my bike.

I'm pretty good at controlling my temper... does that count?
- Teach us your ways
  
  No magic bullet, it just takes years of practice and a jail sentence or two later before you realize some things are not worth getting cranky over.