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We are all flawed and incapable of perfection. Even the most intelligent people will have occasional “dumb” moments, and that’s okay. 

However, some of these blunders recently became a topic of discussion on Reddit when someone asked, “What’s the dumbest thing you’ve seen an intelligent person do?” 

One story involved a microwaved fork at a research institute. Another was about a doctor who placed his hand under a lawnmower while it was still running. 

You may laugh at some of these responses and feel bad for a few others. But if there’s a key takeaway, no human is superior to another because each one’s skills and traits tend to balance out somehow. 

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#1

30 Of The Dumbest Things People Witnessed Geniuses Do Support Trump. I'm not saying this in a cheeky way, necessarily, but I have friends and family that will do mental gymnastics to justify supporting Trump despite a *vast* amount of evidence piled up against him. They will then turn around and believe anything they hear about Biden and family without a shred of evidence to support their position. It's baffling. I'm conservative, but the way Trump has hijacked my party with non-stop false claims is alarming. The way he is undermining trust in our electoral system just because his ego can't handle losing is scary. Smart people in my life falling for it really confuses me. Like *how*?! Maybe my assumption that they are able to critically think is vastly inaccurate.

newtrawn , Sharefaith/Pexels (not the actual photo) Report

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5 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And...he is now your next president, after spectacularly failing the first time.

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#2

30 Of The Dumbest Things People Witnessed Geniuses Do I’m an ocean lifeguard - I was driving a truck on a beach that has unstable cliff faces, so part of my job is telling people it’s unsafe to sit under them. I pulled up to a man that was comically sitting on a fallen rock, directly in front of a sign that said, “DANGER FALLING ROCKS.” Warned him it wasn’t a safe area, and he kinda smirked for a second before looking around, and seeing that I was right. He got very, very embarrassed - turned bright red, head in his hands, visibly upset and very apologetic. I told him it’s fine, and that a lot of people don’t think about things like that. He said, “No, you don’t get it. I should know better, out of anyone. It’s not fine. I’m a geologist.”.

FalconTonguePunch , Matt Browne/Flickr (not the actual photo) Report

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#3

30 Of The Dumbest Things People Witnessed Geniuses Do My psych once asked me what caused my PTSD

As I was telling him, I started crying and shaking.

"Damn I didn't think the question would make you cry" he responded.

THREE PHDS AND YOU DON'T THINK REMEMBERING THE CAUSE OF THEIR PTSD WILL MAKE SOMEONE CRY???

splithoofiewoofies , Thirdman/Pexels (not the actual photo) Report

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#4

30 Of The Dumbest Things People Witnessed Geniuses Do Last week I couldn't find my phone, so I looked down to the phone in my hand and started to try the Find My Phone thing when... oh.

(I swear I'm at least reasonably intelligent.).

Pyran , iam hogir iam hogir/Pexels (not the actual photo) Report

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#5

30 Of The Dumbest Things People Witnessed Geniuses Do Just this week someone microwaved a fork in the office kitchen. I work at a research institute. Everyone in here has at least a master's in engineering.

throughalfanoir , Lindsey Turner/Flickr (not the actual photo) Report

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Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het
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5 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Working at a research institute? He was just researching the unknown effects of metal in a microwave. For science.

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#6

30 Of The Dumbest Things People Witnessed Geniuses Do My Dad is super smart. Like... He's a member of MENSA smart, has several patents he wrote when he was in his early 20's, once asked a flight attendant a bunch of weird questions about the plane we were on so he could do some crazy math equations FOR FUN. You get the picture.

But his smarts were no match for little toddler me crying because my toy pony stopped making noise after I brought into the bathtub. Dad panicked, figured he could dry it out.... In the microwave. He did not seem to make the connection that in order to make those noises it had to have electronic (aka METAL) parta inside it. So pony goes in the microwave and a few seconds later it basically explodes into flames. We were both in shock for a few minutes. Surprisingly I stopped crying because it was so unexpected and then Dad taught me about how metal doesn't go in the microwave.

ThatKinkyLady , Craia/Flickr (not the actual photo) Report

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5 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

(BTW, you don't have to be all that smart to get into Mensa.)

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#7

30 Of The Dumbest Things People Witnessed Geniuses Do Buy a billion dollar platform and tell the main revenue stream to f**k off.

venom121212 , LinkedIn Sales Navigator/pexels (not the actual photo) Report

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Pedantic Panda
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5 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Don't think this one counts as the person was not intelligent.

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#8

30 Of The Dumbest Things People Witnessed Geniuses Do My cousin (21) got the highest marks in his A levels and GCSE’s in england, he’s now in scotland studying at one of the hardest university’s to get into, one day he decided to hoover the lounge this is how it went:

*me walks in*

“what are you doing?”

him- “hoovering the lounge?”

me- “you need to plug it in first?”

he was pushing the hoover around the room without plugging it in and turning it on.

DOORFORAKNOB , MART PRODUCTION/Pexels (not the actual photo) Report

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Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het
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5 days ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That's nothing, lots of men fall penis first into the hose of a vacuum cleaner.

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#9

30 Of The Dumbest Things People Witnessed Geniuses Do There's a lot of guys who would never get laid if it wasn't for intelligent women who make bad choices.

Solobotomy , Josh Willink/Pexels (not the actual photo) Report

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#10

30 Of The Dumbest Things People Witnessed Geniuses Do As a kid I saw my stepfather (a Doctor with several specialist qualifications who did two Masters in the same year on a whim) put his hand under the lawnmower to dislodge something....The lawnmower was still on. He didn't lose fingers permanently but had several months of recovery and skin grafting surgeries. He was academically brilliant but lacked a lot of practical life skills, clearly.

HipsterPicard , Bill Smith/Flickr (not the actual photo) Report

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#11

30 Of The Dumbest Things People Witnessed Geniuses Do This week I had to explain gravity to a group of people and they didn't believe me.🙈.

Leonetta852 , fauxels/Pexels (not the actual photo) Report

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#12

30 Of The Dumbest Things People Witnessed Geniuses Do My grandmother infamously tried to make an ice cream cake back when those were a new thing in the early 80s. She put ice cream on the cake batter…and put it in the oven.

My grandfather said it was tasty though.

Ruffffian , Valeria Boltneva/Pexels (not the actual photo) Report

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#13

30 Of The Dumbest Things People Witnessed Geniuses Do Someone with a Harvard PhD in biochemistry told me that it never occurred to them that different colors of Nespresso pods in their office meant different types or blends of coffee. It was just all coffee and sometimes the coffee was good, sometimes it was off, and sometimes it felt like it did nothing. It wasn't until they mentioned the last point to a co-worker, that the co-worker pointed out that this person was in the process of loading a decaf pod into the machines.

BS_Creative , aaron_anderer/Flickr (not the actual photo) Report

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#14

30 Of The Dumbest Things People Witnessed Geniuses Do A cardiologist I worked with was contacted by "Apple" about his computer security. He gave them access to his laptop and was working with the guy to set something up on there when I got suspicious and googled for him. I ran to his office to show him the apple website, saying they would never contact you by phone, and if you do, it's a scam. He immediately ended the call and shut the computer down. He had to make many phone calls and change MANY passwords as it was his work laptop. Thankfully, no harm was done. Proof that even highly educated doctors can be scammed.

Suspicious-Elk-3631 , Кирилл Абрамов/Pexels (not the actual photo) Report

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5 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Honestly this happened with the C-Suite execs weirdly often at my last work. They’d get an email from a strange address saying “Hey this is (CEO’s name), I need you to do me a favour and pick up a bunch of gift cards and send me the numbers” (classic scam) and they kept falling for it 😂 I have no idea why they were making 300x everyone else’s salary.

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#15

30 Of The Dumbest Things People Witnessed Geniuses Do I once had the great pleasure of getting to ask our very experienced master electrician who had decades in powering giant events but one day couldn't get his computer to boot:.

"Uh, Mike? Are you sure it's plugged in?"(it was not).

defenestrayed , Luis Quintero/Pexels (not the actual photo) Report

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#16

30 Of The Dumbest Things People Witnessed Geniuses Do Computer tech here, traveling for work, I checked into the hotel. My room is on the first floor. I get in the elevator and press 1. Nothing happened. I press it again a few times. The other guy in the elevator says "Hey buddy, you're already on the first floor."

"Oh... Yeah."

I was really burned out.

mike_e_mcgee , Aaron/Flickr (not the actual photo) Report

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5 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In most of the world that's normal. Start at the Ground floor. up 1 is the first floor, up 2 is... you get the picture.

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#17

30 Of The Dumbest Things People Witnessed Geniuses Do Physician got a flat on his high end Mercedes.

Mr Fixit decided to take things into his own hands, dismounted the wheel and got a ride to the tire store.

“I need a tire for my Mercedes.”

“Where’s the flat one?” They asked, presuming they could either repair it or get the specs.

“I threw it away, it was flat.”

Dumb**s threw the entire wheel and tire into a dumpster and it was gone when he returned. Car had to be towed, new OEM wheel ordered.

What may have been a $10 flat repair put his car out of commission for over a week and cost more than $1,000. This was in the ‘80s.

RationalDB8 , Mike Bird/Pexels (not the actual photo) Report

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#18

30 Of The Dumbest Things People Witnessed Geniuses Do Watch Fox News.

Designer-String3569 , Nothing Ahead/Pexels (not the actual photo) Report

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5 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is the dictionary definition of stupid, no contest.

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#19

30 Of The Dumbest Things People Witnessed Geniuses Do Go down the entire anti vax big pharma bad rabbit hole. Threw away the free bowl cancer screening kit our government sends out every two years once you turn 50.

Now, she is undergoing chemo for bowel cancer. (Fixed major typo).

cruiserman_80 , Ivan Samkov/Pexels (not the actual photo) Report

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5 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

OK, big pharma bad...but, the scientists who dedicated their life to researching and finding vaccines for so many things are GOOD, stop conflating the 2 just because big pharma are the ones with the resources to produce and distribute the results of all that good work.

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#20

30 Of The Dumbest Things People Witnessed Geniuses Do My eye doctor walked into the wall once during an exam. My EYE DOCTOR 👀.

Nunya_biz_nas , Ksenia Chernaya/Pexels (not the actual photo) Report

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#21

30 Of The Dumbest Things People Witnessed Geniuses Do I knew a many of people completely ruin their future by storming the capitol. Totally smart people. I talked to one recently after avoiding contact with him and he told me about his life since then. He cannot get a job at all no matter what the job is he cannot get it. He recorded it all on his phone so of course the FBI found him pretty easily. Took his phone. But the weirdest thing: he no longer owns a phone. He has like this nokia looking government provided phone that does absolutely nothing but call and text. Of course all messages sent and received are monitored. I literally don’t know how he’s supposed to advance in life like I don’t know if he will ever find a job.

qleptt , Tom Fisk/Pexels (not the actual photo) Report

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5 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Sadly it seems like they'll all get pardoned now. What a completely fskd up system. Armed insurrection will be forgiven once your demagogue manages to get into power.

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#22

30 Of The Dumbest Things People Witnessed Geniuses Do My brother lit a firecracker, got distracted and put it in his pocket.

luckykobold , bfishadow/Flickr (not the actual photo) Report

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#23

30 Of The Dumbest Things People Witnessed Geniuses Do Bought balloons for a house warming party, blew them up by mouth, and didn't understand why they didn't float.

Granted, she grew up a Jehovah's Witness and wasn't around balloons a lot.

jtho78 , Tirachard Kumtanom/Pexels (not the actual photo) Report

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5 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They always work that way in the cartoons, so it's not entirely unreasonable.

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#24

30 Of The Dumbest Things People Witnessed Geniuses Do My friend was dropping me off home after a day of hanging out, and he tried to argue with me on which street that I live on.

Dude is an engineer.

synchrei , JESHOOTS.com/Pexels (not the actual photo) Report

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#25

30 Of The Dumbest Things People Witnessed Geniuses Do I have a close friend, super smart, always had the highest average at uni, won multiple awards and stuff, and in conversations generally just either knows a lot about any subject at hand, or knows enough from other subjects to draw a probable theory about it. She's also kicking it in every other aspect in life- great girl, kind, humble, caring towards everyone, works out, eats healthy, is always learning a new language or skill, all in all an amazing girl. But I swear on my life, I have never seen anyone with a worste taste in men. Most of the guys she was attracted to/dated were losers, cocky bastards who think too highly of themselves, or just utter scum. I can't even explain it, to me the guys were walking red flags, a waste of a bag for bones.

Luckily, she finally found a decent, smart, caring, well-spoken man. I damn near cried tears of joy when she told me about him. They've been together for a few years now.

anon , Farzin Yarahmadi/Pexels (not the actual photo) Report

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4 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Sometimes I wonder if those are cases of what Terry Pratchett described as "jerk syndrome", where a woman is so grandiose that most people would not dare approach her because they think her out of their league, leaving only idiots to ask her out and her being grateful for it because she thinks others avoid her because she's not good enough...

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#26

30 Of The Dumbest Things People Witnessed Geniuses Do He coded a full on website in his notepad, then when he tried to copy it, he deleted everything by accident. guess he was shocked so he immediately closed notepad. then he realized he just ruined his last chance of undoing it.

Bokajako , Mizuno K/Pexels (not the actual photo) Report

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5 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I’ve done this (not with a website, but with an entire chapter of one of my novel manuscripts, when inspiration struck and I didn’t have my laptop). The pain is unmatched 😭

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#27

30 Of The Dumbest Things People Witnessed Geniuses Do My mom, who was multilingual, said to me, “Watch out for that ice. It might be frozen.”.

anon , Martin Cox/Flickr (not the actual photo) Report

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#28

30 Of The Dumbest Things People Witnessed Geniuses Do Believed she could cure her ALS by having her fillings removed because they contained toxic metals that caused the disease. Spoiler: it didn't work.

Goldeverywhere , Maycon Marmo/Pexels (not the actual photo) Report

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#29

30 Of The Dumbest Things People Witnessed Geniuses Do Try to sand the underside of a fan belt while the engine was running. His index and pinkie finger are the same length now.

Pyrochazm , David McElwee/Pexels (not the actual photo) Report

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5 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I had a friend with a Volkswagen Beetle Old model. The car would not start and she asked a male friend to help. He opened the FRONT of the Beetle and said to her that someone stole the engine. (for those who do not know the old Beetle the engine was in the rear of the car) She was so shocked and went to the police to open a case of a stolen Beetle engine. The police just laughed at her

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#30

30 Of The Dumbest Things People Witnessed Geniuses Do I had the most amazing friend he was super smart talented and rich. But was he a soft touch 3 times he married the same women each time with no pre nup because this is true love this time.

Plus_Data_1099 , Deesha Chandra/Pexels (not the actual photo) Report

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