/lit/ - Literature

>>10801841
>"bruh, I need help with my theory so I can win in a debate with my friend!"

I think your friend may be right about you trying to make this sound more important than it is.

I think it's basically correct. I would classify it more like this, personally, based on my experiences:

Baseline
>average joe, doesn't give a fuck about anything and takes the world as it is given to him; sees intellectually difficult things the same way he sees learning a fuckload about entomology, namely, a specialist hobby for nerds that is either harmless or annoying depending on how pretentious the hobbyist is

Aspirant
>someone who is conscious that specialist knowledge is prestigious, and wants to be part of that set; but who only cares about prestige (or is too stupid to notice anything beyond it), and mistakes "being smart" for a cool kids' clubhouse, where membership is confirmed solely by other people recognising one's prestige
>same as above, but instead of (or at least in addition to) becoming conscious of the clubhouse, sets sights on ACTUAL knowledge and not just its appearance and the social status associated with it

Intermediate
>douche: like #1 in the preceding, but has incidentally and haphazardly amassed a decent amount of knowledge as a necessary sacrifice on his road to being able to plausibly perform as "guy who has lots of knowledge" and get jerked off for it
>initiate: like #2 in the preceding, if he hasn't lost his way and become #1; also having a much less rewarding time than #1 for the time being, because his reward for learning is always a deeper sense that he still has infinitely more to learn, and he doesn't get the short-term dopamine release of jerking himself off in public

High level
>ultra-douche: the highest level a douche can achieve; a lifetime of incidental knowledge almost sorta kinda allows for some insights, but with no drive underlying them, and no self-transformation undergone through years of asceticism, he is forever a spiritual dullard
>"i feel the warp overtaking me": the initiate's efforts begin to pay off and he feels himself initiated into a higher realm, a realm that was there all along but that he can only begin to see now; great sense of purpose and drive, a sense that he has discovered an unknown country that ultra-douche couldn't "see" if he were standing in it

Wizard
>there are no douches at this tier and only true masters can reach it, after years of long toil; the path before one ceases to be a maddeningly fertile country as one's destiny appears before one as it always was: singular and inevitable; genius and initiation to higher planes are as much burdens as gifts, and no joy is found in jerking off in public; fellow seekers are rare and it's very hard to get a girlfriend, but on the plus side you are finally ready to properly appreciate the video game "Morrowind" in all its glory

>>10801950
>The road to asceticism and the acquiring of unalloyed knowledge requires a solipsistic ego and huge virgin balls

>>10801950
It's because the stupidest pseudo-intellectual you'll ever meet

>>10802005
Yes, I like how much better fleshed out your tiers are. This is a beautiful system, we should write a book together anon

>>10802005
>you are finally ready to properly appreciate the video game "Morrowind" in all its glory

>>10801841
>I thought up four tiers to appreciating something generally considered "smart" or academic.

In about ten seconds, it seems. Maybe your friend took offense to being tier 2 because you pulled this shit out of your ass just to try and laud your pseudo-intelligence over him.

Grow up. Be a better friend.

>>10802005
this