Smart is facile, streetwise. Nothing to do with wisdom. Genius is extraordinary creativity, also not necessarily connected to wisdom.

It’s hard to persuade someone who has spent $200,000 on their education that they might be wrong, or that they’ve been duped.

I see that most of the people are trapped in rigid ways of thinking and interpreting the world which just don't hold up as time passes and things change. And regardless of what they think, they are certain they are right, and they have a lifetime of unshakable, pre-packaged opinions, few of which are or ever were valid. And they're not even what I would consider bad people. Just stuck.

A genius is able to make paradigm shifting discoveries because they are willing to entertain a number of perspectives since they are focused on discovering the truth, then appearing to be right. They theorize based on the evidence and when new evidences arises, they create new theories. A genius is shown through their unique perspective on life and whatever they decide to focus on. True genius must be in love with having imagination, because that's where possibilities of discovery lie.

Their genius lies in their willingness to entertain their imagination permanently.