Tfw you've proven a new theorem, but you're too tired and lazy to type it up

the smart one gets fed everything from the worker bees, and lays intellectual eggs.

You took the time to type that up? Fucking hell OP I hope you have your motivation now.

>For instance, you can't read a book and understand math.
Disagree, you've clearly never studied math beyond calculus.

There's no such thing as a smart and succesful person who is "smart but lazy" since if they weren't a fuckup they wouldn't have to make up excuses such as being lazy to begin with.

I'll second you on that but the thing about math books is that you'll only get the bare minimum theorems by not doing the exercises. The exercises provide theorems to prove that give you a more complete view (more or less, mostly less) of the material.

I agree on that and know the value of doing those exercises, but you can definitely understand the math, and the theorems you have to prove can be learned by reading the questions -something you will do anyway given the structure of the text usually embeds it in the middle of the chapter- even if you don't actually put the ink down to prove it to yourself (or LaTeX etc.; fuck you pedants).

You don't realize how many holes there are in your understanding until you actually try to apply something. It's like saying that you can play the piano if you can read sheet music.

I go to UPenn and it sounds like you might have too.
Which school did you attend?

Yeah, the problem with "smart but lazy" people is that there's no reason for them to put in effort because they don't have talent in the first place. Someone who genuinely has talent and is genuinely lazy will still make the rational decision to put in effort, since doing so advances him.

Upenn isn't second tier. Cornell and Dartmouth are.