Here's my definition: I am an intellectual. By that, I don't mean I'm smarter than the average person. I mean that I live a life of the mind.

Maybe my ideas are right; maybe they are wrong. The point is that I'm constantly in my head. I'm constantly cramming new things in my head. I'm constantly pushing around symbols inside my head. I'm devoted to learning. I actually feel something akin to an orgasm when I learn.

Pseudo-intellectualism is a social stance. A pseudo-intellectual wants other people to think he's smart. He will work towards that goal in the most economical way possible.

An intellectual will read a whole book, because his goal is to understand the book. A pseudo-intellectual will read the Cliff Notes, because his goal is to convince people that he's read the book. And you don't need to read a whole book in order to make most people think you have. Cliff Notes are more efficient.

An intellectual always wants to know why. His whys are bottomless. Why is it raining? Because there are clouds in the sky. Why are there clouds? Because water condensed. Why did water condense? Etc. He will never tire of this. If you ask him why he wants to know, he'll stare at you blankly. Because, to him, knowledge itself is the goal. He gets a dopamine rush from knowledge. He doesn't understand phrases like "Why does it matter?" "What's the point?" or "What's the practical application?"

A pseudo-intellectual doesn't ask why? why? why? He only asks about things that signal he's one of the smart set. In fact, he rarely asks. He tells.

An intellectual doesn't care about "smart topics." Depending on the time period and culture, there are certain things "one should know." Nowadays, the main signifier is politics. "Smart people" are "well informed" about politics. An intellectual might happen to be interested in politics. But if he's more interested in pasta, he'll study that instead. He follows his brain wherever it leads him.

A pseudo-intellection will always be on the lookout for "smart topics." He's very concerned with what books one should read, what movies one should see, and what facts one should know.

If you say to an intellectual, "I'm going to tell you the answer to a question, but you can't share the answer with anyone else, and you can't even tell anyone you know the answer," he'll say, "Okay. Tell me."

If you say the same thing to a pseudo-intellectual, he'll say, "Don't bother."

A pseudo-intellectual, on Quora, will look at certain questions and say, "That's a stupid question" or "You're clearly trolling." He is concerned with ranking intelligence. He is concerned with motivations for asking questions.

An intellectual on Quora is concerned with whether or not a question is answerable -- at least in theory. He doesn't much care about why the question was asked. He cares about the question itself. And he's often found that when you closely examine "stupid questions" or even "troll questions" -- when you take them seriously and try to answer them -- the answers are elusive, complex and fascinating.