This advice is about having one specific thing for which you can say you're "the smartest person in the room". It's not about being the "smartest person in the room" in any general sense. So imagine aspiring to have something about which you are better informed / knowledgeable, even if you're in the same room with Albert Einstein, Richard Feynman, Nikola Tesla, Paul Graham, Elon Musk, Yann LeCun, and Grigori Perelman. Are you likely to be smarter than all (or any) of those people in general? Maybe not. Is there some specific niche which is "your niche" where you are more informed than all of them? Very possibly so.
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This advice is about having one specific thing for which you can say you're "the smartest person in the room". It's not about being the "smartest person in the room" in any general sense. So imagine aspiring to have something about which you are better informed / knowledgeable, even if you're in the same room with Albert Einstein, Richard Feynman, Nikola Tesla, Paul Graham, Elon Musk, Yann LeCun, and Grigori Perelman. Are you likely to be smarter than all (or any) of those people in general? Maybe not. Is there some specific niche which is "your niche" where you are more informed than all of them? Very possibly so.