I certainly learn more by being the dumbest in the room. It can be a frightening though.

It is better to buy the worst house in the best street rather than the other way around.
I like to learn, I like to keep interested in things, hmmm, back seat in a kindergarten class or a university class?

I think it is best not to judge and compare so often. There are different types of intelligence, and everyone you meet knows something you don't. We can learn something from each person, and we can teach something to each person. We just have to couch our vanity and pride to do so, and be open to all kinds of knowledge and learning.

Learning is an always occurrence. Not sure ego should be starved but I really try to keep mine very hungry. Also lots of different kinds of intelligence and no one is brilliant in all of them.

I prefer to learn.

I remember the day I became a birding "expert."
When I lived near Morehead, KY, I attended two years of the Beginner Birding Weekends at Jenny Wiley National Resort Park, 1998-99, to learn from the attending birding experts. I was in awe of their abilities and constantly practiced at home identifying birds by ear and from quick glimpses, using field guides and CDs.

In 2000, when attendants were boarding little pontoon boats for the usual birding trip on Dewey Lake, I protested that my own boat didn't have a "expert" onboard. The staff member launching the boat looked puzzled and said, "Sure we do..YOU."
I looked around and all the beginner birders were looking at me expectantly. I then realized that an "expert" is sometimes the most knowledgeable person present.

Life is about learning and only a fool knows everything. I'm more than happy to be corrected if it increases my knowledge

Even being the smarter in the room you can learn something from those seen as "not so knowledgeable". Try.

I think it's best to just be honest and not worry about what others think. The exchange of information need not have any relation to ego, no matter which direction it's going.

The smartest person in the room knows they still have a lot to learn as does the dumbest, it's some arrogant schmuck somewhere in between that is sure they have all the answers.

Being the smartest one in the room doesn't mean you know everything there is to know. As Dwight pointed out, it could mean that you are the one most able to absorb, analyze and categorize a new bit of knowledge. One who would dismiss that information without consideration is likely the "dumbest" .

If you can learn something, then you are the smartest person in the room!