Lonely isn’t the right word, because I’m not upset about not having a large group of people I consider myself close to. It’s somewhat disappointing that I can’t deeply relate to more people, though. I’d like to meet more likeminded folks, but I’m also less and less willing to tolerate draining relationships as I get older. Being particular about where you invest your time and energy tends to be socially limiting.
Imagine being smarter than everyone around you, constantly speaking like you are explaining to a child. You can never truly be angry at people because how could they know any better?
That is how people who think they have a high IQ think, those who actually have it are probably mostly successful academics who are actually pushing humanity forward and are probably not assholes about it because for someone to truly and deeply understand a complex subject they must not only be smart, but also dedicate significant time and effort into learning.
I always found Tony Stark to be a funny character. He is basically the embodiment of what stupid people who they are smart want to be. Like that scene where he figures out time travel in a single night because he is so smart, but of course even an infinitely intelligent being would still need a few weeks of reading just to catch of on the knowledge needed to even understand quantum mechanics properly.
My IQ was tested several times back in school and I usually clocked in at 148 or 149. That said I don’t think IQ tests are very useful. They also test for very spefic types of thinking. Those traits that people considered smart have. It’s kind of circular.
I think it’s like a physical fitness test that just measures bicep thickness. It tells you something but not as much as it claims.
I’m very good a understanding systems and understanding how changes effect them. I also pick up concepts very easy but struggle with remembering the details.
Presumably that’s because I learned it quickly and didn’t have the repetition to cement the details. Because I know the concept I’m board trying to memorize the details.
I know what J K reproduction types are but don’t remember which is which. Same with baryonic particles I can’t remember if they are half integer spin or not and or if they obey the Pauli exclusion principle. But I understand what those concepts are.
I’m ok with people and general social interaction but I don’t read people well and stick to the social rules for a situation. I’ve totally misread interactions more than most people but usually keep it civil.
I do a lot of cooking and am very good at getting the effect I want. I know what protiens and starches do at various temps and how to calculate the right amounts of salt, acid, and sugar. I’m not good at winging it or being creative with flavors.
I’ll give you an high IQ answer even though I’m dumb as a f*ck
All answers here are just inner ramblings of average people with average IQ.
And if you ever want to find a true smart person just lookup Dunning Kruger effect.
You seem to value honesty and accuracy. It sounds as if you’re saying that someone smart wouldn’t say they’re smart. It also sounds as if you’re saying that someone who wouldn’t be considered smart can correctly identify people who claim that they’re smart but in reality aren’t.
What is considered high? I have an above average intelligence, but I also have ADHD.
I have a fantastic memory, but I can’t always choose what I remember. I’m great at facts and trivia but I can’t remember things that are actually important in my life.
I didn’t have to study in school. I could glance over the material minutes before a test and pass without trying. Then, I got to college and I didn’t know how to study as I’d never done that before. I failed out.
So 100 is an average IQ. They will actually change the scoring to keep it that way. 115 puts you 1 standard deviation ahead. 125 or higher puts you in the top 5%.
I was similar in high school and college. I wasn’t good at studying and hadn’t needed to in high school. I had a rough first two semesters in college going on academic probation.
I was able to adjust in time and put the work in to pass but it could have gone either way. I tended do the best in my hard class because I put the most effort in those at the expense of my easy A classes hurting my GPA.
Same here.
I learned to read at 3, and taught myself English before starting in school by reading all the text I came across on my Amiga, recognizing words that were similar to the Danish ones and slowly picking up more and more.
I also got a My Little Professor at 3, a reverse calculator that gave problems to solve. My mom taught me addition, subtraction and multiplication, and my mothers “subtraction is the opposite of addition” was enough for me to figure division out. I did the hardest problems in all four categories in my head, with numbers with up to 4 digits, before starting in school too.
I never did homework in school, only things that had to be turned in. I always had my hand up in class, because my innate curiosity and mental capacity meant that I could figure things out as the questions were written on the blackboard. The lax attitude stuck.
My biggest problem growing up was bullying. I didn’t share interests with hardly any of my classmates, since I was at least 3 years ahead of them in my mental development. My best friend was 10 years old when I was 7, and he and I played Magic together because his classmates couldn’t figure it out. My glasses, small stature, and the fact that I changed schools twice didn’t help.
It’s a mixed bag.
Growing up was made difficult because school is so slow that I’d rather be getting into trouble than sitting in class. By the start of middle school I’d already read the entire high school honors reading list, I had to walk to the high school from my middle school in 7th grade to take math classes. I rarely had regular school work in high school, nearly all of my academic teachers designed a different curriculum for me, which was nice but probably mostly to keep me from acting up in class. I never studied or did a shred of homework, but got good grades.
Social interactions were tough, I’m not much of an empath, not that I don’t experience empathy but emotions just aren’t intuitive, actually they often are the opposite of what you’d expect to be helpful, especially among young people. I had to concentrate to read people’s faces and mannerisms to understand the emotional and social subtexts of most interactions. I self medicated with alcohol a lot in high school.
All of my academic classes in high school were honors, and my final 2 years were all AP, while lettering in 3 varsity sports (4 total, but you can only play 3 each academic year). It wasn’t until my second year in uni that I ran into a class for which I actually had to study (nuclear chemistry), and boy was that an awful surprise. A handful of classes were like this for me, most I just showed up 3 times and got a good grade: the first day of class so I wouldn’t get dropped, the midterm, and the final.
I read quickly, think systematically, and information just sticks in my head. It was very difficult to understand why this wasn’t how most people were. Everything I do I analyze for improvement, and remember to do it better the next time. My wife calls me a skill collector because people seem to think I’m super good at everything, but to me it’s just logical that if you’re going to take time do something you might as well do it as well as possible.
After uni things started getting easier. Being forced to closely analyze social interactions and systematically give the “right” reactions is extremely useful in professional life. I wear this mask in all my interactions with all but my closest friends. It’s a bit psychopathic, but I don’t do it to anyone’s detriment, it’s mostly to get along and fit in.
I’ve self selected for highly intelligent friends, and I’m exhilarated to meet new people who can communicate with the kind of bandwidth that our brains run at, if that makes sense. I’m still close with most of my friends from high school, who have had varying levels of success, but I still have to be guarded when it comes to activities or conversation to make sure I don’t stick out too much.
In general I have a very pessimistic view of people and the world. The average person isn’t very sharp, and half of all people are dumber than that. However many smart people do evil things, most of the time for no reason at all. It’s exhausting to keep up with it all, so I just focus on my path and my family, and do what I can to directly improve my community.
It would be nice to fit in a little easier, but I wouldn’t trade my experience for anything else.
This is relatable.
The section about pessimism is relatable. I spent a few months in my teen years in a chatroom with the topic of being outcasts in some way or another, before realizing it was a self-prophecising kind of toxic the same way that incel culture is, but there were some people ranting about how stupid people are and woe is me, I’m Cassandra! And my impression at the time was thinking they’re probably an egotistical prick who thinks they’re better than everyone else. But on the other hand, it is frustrating to see, less how ‘dumb’ people are but how ignorant people are. It’s hard not to get a bit of ego at times. And this isn’t about IQ for the most part, these issues are often caused or compounded by other problems with education, social values, propaganda/indoctrination and the lot. I guess I feel the activist frustrated enough to yell “why don’t you care?” when obviously, rationally it’s more complex than that.
This is a big issue in tech communities as it becomes more accessible, people are entering who aren’t used to the DIY culture, who don’t understand unsaid (or said) rules like asking smart questions to not waste everyone’s time. The world is at your fingertips! Fucking put that question in a search engine first before you waste my time, my life has value goddammit! When I occasionally whine about reddit culture, that’s a part of it. People who are curious (and that’s perfect!) but don’t realize they’re asking questions they can learn the answer to themselves. It’s like if we’re talking about cooking and someone jumps in to ask “what is a herb?”, it’s a valid question, an important question, but for fucks sake you can learn that without asking us all! Or at least go to ELI5 & NoStupidQuestions where those questions are appropriate.
Keep in mind, that rant is specific to online questions, where you have the resources you need. It’s more acceptable in a conversation, and I certainly don’t want anyone to feel uncomfortable learning things.
Honestly, a community learning how to effectively direct people to an FAQ to onboard uninformed newcomers on answers and community expectations is the difference between a welcoming community and burned-out babysitters becoming toxic.
It’s tough having a high IQ. Most people don’t understand the world and the flaws of humans, at least at the level I do. As such, I find it hard to connect to other people. Most people are morons. I feel deep sorrow in knowing the direction the world is going and that the inhabitants of the world are mostly idiots.
…
Why do so many people (in this thread) unironically feel this way? “Intelligence” is a socially constructed and often useless idea that includes and excludes many things seemingly at random. For example, chess is often thought of as something that’s very intelligent, but skill at chess is (just like nearly anything else) based on practice & experience. Just because you’re good at chess and did well in school doesn’t mean that you alone can understand the problems in the world at a deeper level than an average Jo.
Everyone should read “What Is Intelligence, Anyway?”, a short excerpt from Isaac Asimov.
I’ll paste the part I think is most important, but the whole thing is worth reading:
Well, then, suppose my auto-repair man devised questions for an intelligence test. Or suppose a carpenter did, or a farmer, or, indeed, almost anyone but an academician. By every one of those tests, I’d prove myself a moron, and I’d be a moron, too. In a world where I could not use my academic training and my verbal talents but had to do something intricate or hard, working with my hands, I would do poorly. My intelligence, then, is not absolute but is a function of the society I live in and of the fact that a small subsection of that society has managed to foist itself on the rest as an arbiter of such matters.
Related to tests and skills, What if we just didn’t mark students?, a short talk from a university course runner and educator in general.
It makes some points that are already familiar or easy to notice, but it’s also an interesting exploration of academia, tests and skills. I know some students who learn under that lecturer and what they’re taling about clearly comes through in the course structure. One notable part is that one tutorial class is responsible for making notes for each week of lectures, and the whole cohort is allowed to bring those collaborative notes into the exam, like a semi-open book test. I heard they just decided one class to have a lesson on rhetoric instead of cybersecurity because it’s a pretty nerdy industry and one involving invisible risks, and there’s no point being an expert if you can’t convince your boss to let you fix the problems.
You don’t feel smart, but everyone else appears extremely dumb
its awesom
Being told all through school that I’m not ‘working up to my potential’. Frustration at dumb jobs.
I’m struggling to take a lot of these answers seriously. You really think that way about yourself?
I had my IQ tested when I was 12 and it was high, but alas, not high enough to understand Rick and Morty
Jokes aside, I’ve been told that I catch onto things quicker and I’m good at solving things in creative ways!
The details of my life are quite inconsequential, but since you asked…
Very well, where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a fifteen year old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet. My father would womanize, he would drink, he would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Some times he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy, the sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament. My childhood was typical, summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring we’d make meat helmets. When I was insolent I was placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds, pretty standard really. At the age of 12 I received my first scribe. At the age of fourteen, a Zoroastrian named Vilma ritualistically shaved my testicles. There really is nothing like a shorn scrotum, it’s breathtaking, I suggest you try it.
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that’s one thing my mom did for me that I appreciate. When they asked her if she wanted me to skip grades she said no.
It’s very tiring having to start off every conversation by letting people know that I’m more intelligent than them, but it is necessary.
I just laminated a bunch of cards that say Wile E. Coyote; Super Genius and hand them out. Saves time.
E: ducking autocorrupt
