Most educated people in fiction?

[danzibr]

I was interested in people in fiction who are highly educated/know a ton (and would usually proceed to solve problems with their knowledge). (Side note, I put educated in the title, but actual education level doesn't really matter.)

I did a bit of googling on this, and the problem is you get a lot of people who are wicked smart but don't necessarily seem particularly learned, like Shikamaru from Naruto. People that have some crazy attention to detail, or come up with a really clever strategy.

A good example of this I think is Ben Franklin from National Treasure. Dude knows a ton, solves problems. I guess you could take any superhero with Doctor or Professor in their, uhh, name, but it seems they're more about their powers than knowing stuff.

[Peelee]

Will Hunting was incredibly educated for a buck fifty in late fees at the library.

[Rater202]

Dr. Patrick McNinja from The Adventures of Doctor McNinja has a PHD and/or MD in literally every subject except for Agriculture via an exploit involving mass cloning and then recombining with said clones.

He's often shown using his vast array of scientific knowledge(at least by in-universe standards) to solve problems.

[Peelee]

has a PHD and/or MD in literally every subject

I almost said "any character who has the standard hack writer trope of 'i have [x] Ph.Ds!'" but decided against.

[Gnoman]

One of the earliest examples would be Sherlock Holmes and his far smarter brother Mycroft, both of which display an absurdly deep well of knowledge on their specific subjects.

[Batcathat]

I almost said "any character who has the standard hack writer trope of 'i have [x] Ph.Ds!'" but decided against.

Heh, that was my first thought on seeing the subject, too. It's probably the second most common way of showing telling a character's intelligence, right behind "have an IQ of [unreasonably high number]".

As for the actual question, there are probably countless examples. For a specific one, I'll go with an example from a far too underappreciated show and say Harold Finch from "Person of Interest". While it's mostly his tech skills that get the spotlight, he's shown to be well educated in a wide range of topics.

[Wintermoot]

Dr. Patrick McNinja from The Adventures of Doctor McNinja has a PHD and/or MD in literally every subject except for Agriculture via an exploit involving mass cloning and then recombining with said clones.

He's often shown using his vast array of scientific knowledge(at least by in-universe standards) to solve problems.

Interesting. Did that predate or postdate Jamie Madrox doing the same thing in Marvel's Multiple Man X-factor serieses?

[Precure]

Jaspar from italian comic book Martin Mystere have access to Universal Databank and know anything, including a solution for the mystery of "The Mystery of Edwin Drood", Charles Dickens' unfinished novel.

[Rater202]

I almost said "any character who has the standard hack writer trope of 'i have [x] Ph.Ds!'" but decided against.

Yeah, obviously.

As I understand it, a PHD is more about the ability to do research and apply that knowledge than ti is about specific knowledge in the field so really more than two or three is excessive. In Real life to get the same effect in practice you'd have like, three doctorates in three distinct subjects plus a whole bunch of masters, bachelor's, and associate degrees in related fields

And even then unless they're implausibly young it would mostly just demonstrate that the person in question had a lot of free time and a lot of money to piss away.

Still a better shorthand than citing IQ.

Interesting. Did that predate or postdate Jamie Madrox doing the same thing in Marvel's Multiple Man X-factor serieses?

I don't know, do you have a date for when Jamie did that?

[Rynjin]

Wouldn't any character(s) with Omniscience all tie for first place on this one?

[halfeye]

There was that one dalek that downloaded the entire internet.

[Wintermoot]

I don't know, do you have a date for when Jamie did that?

looks like 2006

[J-H]

Doc Savage

Possibly inspired by him, Buckaroo Banzai. I haven't seen the 39 year old movie yet, but I understand he's a neurosurgeon, scientist, race car driver, and rock star, plus one or two other things.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

There was that one dalek that downloaded the entire internet.

There's an argument to be made that downloading the entire Internet would be a net educational deficit...

[Rater202]

looks like 2006

Then after by a couple of years.

At least when we're shown it, it's not clear how long beforehand it was planned out

[Trixie_One]

Interesting. Did that predate or postdate Jamie Madrox doing the same thing in Marvel's Multiple Man X-factor serieses?

I think Naruto might beat both of them? Him doing the learning by clone absorbtion was pretty early 00s.

[Batcathat]

I wouldn't be surprised if there are even older examples. Once you establish that a duplicating character retains every copy's memory (which I imagine most do, to keep down the confusion about what they've actually "experienced" if nothing else), exploiting it like that is probably fairly close at hand.

[Tyndmyr]

Heh, that was my first thought on seeing the subject, too. It's probably the second most common way of showing telling a character's intelligence, right behind "have an IQ of [unreasonably high number]".

Yeah, in the real world, anyone who feels compelled to tell you their IQ or brag about having seven PhDs is invariably an idiot.

It's weird that fiction writers feel that this method of telling us is better than showing them doing something smart.

There was that one dalek that downloaded the entire internet.

Ultron kind of did that, though the result was less "I smart" and more "decided humanity needed to perish," which is fair.

[DavidSh]

For well-educated people, although probably not what you are asking for, I like Fred Cassidy from Doorways in the Sand, who, due to particular clauses of his frozen uncle's will, was a full-time undergraduate student in good standing for 13 years, before finally being forced out with a PhD. He had to keep shifting majors to avoid meeting the requirements for any one of them, but meanwhile had a comfortable stipend from a trust fund that would vanish on graduation.

Realistically, the only degrees that people end up with multiple copies of is the Master's degree, unless you want to count combinations of PhD, MD, and JD.

[Batcathat]

It's weird that fiction writers feel that this method of telling us is better than showing them doing something smart.

I think the problem is the same as the one encountered by most roleplayers who've made a serious attempt at roleplaying a character with a much higher intelligence than their own. It's pretty damn hard to do convincingly. So while I don't love writers taking shortcuts like having their characters have an IQ of 378, 17 PhDs and the answer to literally any question, I can understand why they do it.

[Peelee]

Yeah, obviously.

As I understand it, a PHD is more about the ability to do research and apply that knowledge than ti is about specific knowledge in the field so really more than two or three is excessive. In Real life to get the same effect in practice you'd have like, three doctorates in three distinct subjects plus a whole bunch of masters, bachelor's, and associate degrees in related fields

And even then unless they're implausibly young it would mostly just demonstrate that the person in question had a lot of free time and a lot of money to piss away

Also contribution to the field. You want a doctorate, you gotta bring something to the table and advance the knowledge base yourself. And be prepared to defend that dissertation when you present it.

But yeah, graduate degrees are basically specializing (and maybe even sub-specializing) in your field. Writers giving characters multiple Ph.Ds,while not unbelievable itself, usually just highlights that the writer (or maybe an exec who meddle and insisted) doesn't understand how academia works.

That all being said, i did laugh when Thor told Banner to use one of his Ph.D's in that Thor movie.

It's weird that fiction writers feel that this method of telling us is better than showing them doing something smart.

Without being insulting to the writer, the character cant be smarter than the writer is. Genius in fiction is an illusion. A good writer can pull thr illusion off well. A poor writer just says they have an IQ of 300 and then magically know whatever they need to solve the plot.

For well-educated people, although probably not what you are asking for, I like Fred Cassidy from Doorways in the Sand, who, due to particular clauses of his frozen uncle's will, was a full-time undergraduate student in good standing for 13 years, before finally being forced out with a PhD. He had to keep shifting majors to avoid meeting the requirements for any one of them, but meanwhile had a comfortable stipend from a trust fund that would vanish on graduation.

Realistically, the only degrees that people end up with multiple copies of is the Master's degree, unless you want to count combinations of PhD, MD, and JD.

Yep. Double-doctors aren't uncommon, even if it's not the same degree. Walk into the medical district in Birmingham and you'll see a good bit of "Lastname MD, Ph.D"

[Seppl]

One example I immediately thought of is the Mother of Learning. Contrary to most other examples, the main character's education is not some informed background attribute, instead acquiring that knowledge is actually the focus of the story. He has to actually seek out the knowledge he needs, and practice a lot, before he gets to use it. Thus, all the times he uses his knowledge, it feels earned and not like an author fiat. While his education at the end is far from complete (that would be unrealistic even through the book's multi-year timespan), we still see him rise from underperforming student to one of the world's leading experts in the fields he chooses to study, with a generous helping of polymathy.

Without being insulting to the writer, the character cant be smarter than the writer is. Genius in fiction is an illusion. A good writer can pull thr illusion off well. A poor writer just says they have an IQ of 300 and then magically know whatever they need to solve the plot.

What about speed? The author can have weeks to think about a problem, then have the character follow the same train of thoughts in seconds. Quickly coming up with solutions for hard problems is an important part of high intelligence.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

I think the problem is the same as the one encountered by most roleplayers who've made a serious attempt at roleplaying a character with a much higher intelligence than their own. It's pretty damn hard to do convincingly. So while I don't love writers taking shortcuts like having their characters have an IQ of 378, 17 PhDs and the answer to literally any question, I can understand why they do it.

Also, you have to be able to show that intelligence to the audience in a way that they understand, which can take a significant amount of time. Especially because this specific shorthand gets used during character introductions, before you've actually seen them do anything. It's a signpost saying "hey, expect this character to do smart things later on". There aren't a lot of fast ways of showing that character trait, which is also why the Rubik's Cube and hacker babble cliches exist.

[Tyndmyr]

I think the problem is the same as the one encountered by most roleplayers who've made a serious attempt at roleplaying a character with a much higher intelligence than their own. It's pretty damn hard to do convincingly. So while I don't love writers taking shortcuts like having their characters have an IQ of 378, 17 PhDs and the answer to literally any question, I can understand why they do it.

A much better way is to find smart things that happened in history and file off the particulars. It might be challenging to be clever on demand, which for a roleplayer is something of a problem, but in writing, one has the luxury of reflection and research. So, I don't feel too bad about holding the professional novelist to a higher standard than the guy who just wrote his first character sheet.

In any case, one must use the same solution for a number of other things. Writing a murderer but you, yourself, have only barely dabbled in felonious attempts on a few occasions? Time for research!

[Batcathat]

Also, you have to be able to show that intelligence to the audience in a way that they understand, which can take a significant amount of time. Especially because this specific shorthand gets used during character introductions, before you've actually seen them do anything. It's a signpost saying "hey, expect this character to do smart things later on". There aren't a lot of fast ways of showing that character trait, which is also why the Rubik's Cube and hacker babble cliches exist.

Heh, that reminds me of something that happened just a few weeks ago. I was sitting next to a stranger on a plane and for most of the flight, she was nonstop fiddling with a Rubik's Cube at lightning speed (I think she was repeatedly solving it, but since it would be weird to stare, I suppose she might just have been turning it at random) and I actually had the thought that if it had been a movie, this was clearly establishing her as smart (and possibly afraid of flying).

And yeah, I suppose that sort of shorthand is pretty common during character introductions in general, like the funny character that gets a lot of laughs (possibly without letting us hear more than the punchline) or the womanizer who seduces someone with like two lines.

[Prime32]

Unusual case: Index from A Certain Magical Index is a girl with photographic memory who was locked up for most of her life and made to read 103,000 grimoires (normally you're lucky if you survive reading one). This means she can instantly figure out 99% of spells and how to counter them, but has very little knowledge on anything else. She normally can't use magic herself, but she's done things like hijack remote-controlled spells by sending them fake commands.

[Rynjin]

I think Naruto might beat both of them? Him doing the learning by clone absorbtion was pretty early 00s.

It, funnily enough, is ALSO 2006. Specifically, August 2006. So depending on what volume Jamie does it in, the comic version might just barely eke it out.

It's definitely interesting to see some parallel development on the same powerset among authors I'm pretty sure have no idea the other exists.

[gbaji]

Also contribution to the field. You want a doctorate, you gotta bring something to the table and advance the knowledge base yourself. And be prepared to defend that dissertation when you present it.

But yeah, graduate degrees are basically specializing (and maybe even sub-specializing) in your field. Writers giving characters multiple Ph.Ds,while not unbelievable itself, usually just highlights that the writer (or maybe an exec who meddle and insisted) doesn't understand how academia works.

Yup. And there's also a big difference between academic and practical knowledge. The higher the degree, the more specialized the subject becomes and the more narrow that person's specific area of expertise. In some fields (medicine for example), this is then followed up with a lot of practical work. But in some fields? Not so much. Which means that the professor at some university with a PhD in a subject, may be an absolute expert in the one tiny little area they're specialized in, but has less actual knowledge and practical skill in the field in general than some random person with a year or two of experience actually earning money doing the job.


In the "real world" we sometimes refer to this as "unteaching the ivory tower". So... yeah. Just having a boatload of book learning isn't always going to result in someone who is competant at anything (other than rattling off stuff out of a textbook I suppose).

And yeah, your points about actual intelligence and the difficulty of writers expressing this is very valid. Really intelligent people "learn how to learn". They can be exposed to just about anything that they have some knowledge about, and know how to gather information to learn what they don't know, figure out which information is useful and which is not, and then make good decisions based on that. Basically, good critical thinking skills. If you have that, then any raw information you have is powerful and useful. Without it, all you can do is parrot what someone else wrote in a book somewhere. That may be "educated", but does not really qualify as "highly intelligent" in my book.

Very very few writers actually do this well IMO.

[Peelee]

Yup. And there's also a big difference between academic and practical knowledge. The higher the degree, the more specialized the subject becomes and the more narrow that person's specific area of expertise. In some fields (medicine for example), this is then followed up with a lot of practical work. But in some fields? Not so much. Which means that the professor at some university with a PhD in a subject, may be an absolute expert in the one tiny little area they're specialized in, but has less actual knowledge and practical skill in the field in general than some random person with a year or two of experience actually earning money doing the job.


In the "real world" we sometimes refer to this as "unteaching the ivory tower". So... yeah. Just having a boatload of book learning isn't always going to result in someone who is competant at anything (other than rattling off stuff out of a textbook I suppose).

And yeah, your points about actual intelligence and the difficulty of writers expressing this is very valid. Really intelligent people "learn how to learn". They can be exposed to just about anything that they have some knowledge about, and know how to gather information to learn what they don't know, figure out which information is useful and which is not, and then make good decisions based on that. Basically, good critical thinking skills. If you have that, then any raw information you have is powerful and useful. Without it, all you can do is parrot what someone else wrote in a book somewhere. That may be "educated", but does not really qualify as "highly intelligent" in my book.

Very very few writers actually do this well IMO.

Great points. And for a TV example of someone less educated than a doctorate-holder but with better application, MacGuyver is fantastic. IIRC he had a masters in chemical engineering and BS in physics (not pre-chekcing with google is dangerous for me here, so we'll see if my Mac knowledge holds up), but most of his famous "macguyvering" was taking chemistry and physics principles and applying them to real-world scenarios. Or, at least, as "real world" as 80s adventure TV shows could be. I hear teachers and parents loved that show because thr principles were often sound, even if the execution was, well, 80s adventure show, and it did a great job of glorifying education in the sciences.

So yeah, OP, I'm also gonna say Angus MacGuyver for this (dropping his first name to regain some of my street cred if it turns out I got his degree wrong ).

ETA: Dual degree in physics and chemistry, no Masters. I have failed you all.

[Aedilred]

Not someone you'd necessarily think of, but, in his film incarnation at least, James Bond.

While in the early films he sometimes comes unstuck (his mystification at how to disarm the bomb in Goldfinger comes to mind) his level of specific knowledge on niche topics is remarkable even relatively early on, and this in an era when quick lookup was unavailable.