HandwovenConsensus

I found it on Know Your Meme: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/pondering-my-orb

That was my first thought too. What's this orb pondering business everyone's on about?

That's not true. The Hoover Dam contributes to Vegas's power supply, but it's nowhere near "almost entirely powered" by the dam, except in Fallout: New Vegas.

It's an interesting interpretation for sure. I could believe it more easily if he was shown to not care about the consequences of his actions rather than being ignorant of them.

Maybe you're right, except that in addition to having trouble communicating, he also has trouble reading social situations and understanding what others want from him. He is, as you say, very capable of solving problems that don't involve people.

Hm, he still does "dumb" things though. Trying to strain a canned peach through a sweaty sock to make a drink. Getting lost in China. Not understanding the political implications of rescuing Chairman Mao. Calling the Vietnam war "a bunch of shit" while representing the US military (it'd be one thing if it was intentional, but he didn't seem to understand what the consequences would be.) Telling Jenny that Lieutenant Dan could use the bathroom without help rather than asking her for a container that's not his hat. Kidnapping Raquel Welch.

I guess a lot of those things could be explained away one way or another. Your take on the character is definitely an interesting one, but I thought of him as more of a savant type who was capable of learning specific things extremely well, but was generally unintelligent. Though more intelligent than some give him credit for.

It's been a long time since I read the book, but that's not how I remember it at all. He was gifted mathematically, but deficient in general. He caused trouble a number of times by misreading situations and not doing what was expected of him.

He was smarter than people assumed, but I got the impression he was still impaired overall. Maybe that was the movie affecting my perception of the character.

But that's true, isn't it? Putting aside volume and shape.

You'll likely see bows and arrows in just about any movie that has Native American tribes as one of the belligerents.