[ He figured, which is exactly why he said what he did. ]

Oh, definitely. There's this guy I knew--a Columbia grad, knowledgeable as hell, but couldn't problem-solve his way out of a paper bag to save his life, probably because he never really got his hands dirty. If his usual way of doing something was blocked off, then he usually counted himself shit out of luck instead of trying to find another way around. I liked to call him the dumbest genius I ever knew.