Sheldon (from Big Bang Theory) is a good example of someone with high intelligence who has trouble relating and interact
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werecow2003 — 10 years ago(April 30, 2015 02:56 PM)
What bothers me personally is not that people are not always particularly bright, but that even highly intelligent people are often terrible at critical thinking. And they often have little to no knowledge of science (unless they actually happen to be scientists themselves), yet they somehow think they know everything.
I think this world would be a far, far better place if we taught everyone critical thinking and scientific skepticism from a young age. Critical thinking is a skill that has to be honed, and you don't need to be exceptionally intelligent to have a good BS detector. However, people who are generally intelligent but who have not spent time honing that skill set tend to think that they cannot be fooled, and that they do not deceive themselves as others do.
In fact, the opposite is true; smart people tend to be more imaginative, and more capable of performing acts of mental contortion. As such, they tend to be better at defending any intellectual position they happen to be invested in, even if that position happens to be the wrong one.
And on top of that, there's also the aforementioned Dunning-Kruger effect; laymen are less capable of recognizing how little they know about a subject (because they don't know how much they don't know), so they very confidently vastly overestimate themselves. Meanwhile, highly knowledgeable people are aware of all the uncertainties and subtleties in their field of knowledge (they know how much they don't know), and therefore underestimate themselves and display less confidence.
Anyway, those kinds of things lead to much more stupidity in the world than just having a low IQ. -
a-hasver — 10 years ago(June 21, 2015 01:26 PM)
well. i would say no, even though my iq is only in the 135 - 140 region. i believe that it is much more dependent on the arrogance and/or ignorance of the bearer, rather than iq itself. also, i would assume that there is a higher percentage of average people who THINK they see the world like this (everyone else is an idiot and does idiotic things), than there is among really bright people - who, more often than not, do realize that world is a complex place and even them don't have a reliable solution for most of current challenges
but than again - it goes back to the nature of a person, arrogant person would think they have a solution and everyone else is an idiot. and usually would push his solution forward, regardless of smarter people that might be in his way
i at least try to avoid quick judgments and opinions of the people i know to be stupid. on the other hand i still know that i am no genius myself (and frankly, almost no one is - i have never met a person profoundly smarter or more intelligent than me, except for brian greene, the 1 % that we both share, he on the top shelf, me on the lower one, is really slim and theoretical also)
pardon my english, i tried to be brief, hopefully understandable as well -
phyre_Iyz — 10 years ago(July 21, 2015 08:04 PM)
I've never taken an IQ test but I continually scored high in state exams that measured proficiency compared to age/grade. In 5th grade I was reading and comprehending at a college level. My math, in comparison, was never on par. I am also (self-diagnosed) dyslexic. I know that there are people with less intelligence than me, as well as many who are vastly more intelligent than myself.
With that in mind, I'm sure I seem idiotic to those who are smarter than me, as those who aren't as smart as me seem idiotic. I think this movie is more symptomatic of the level of education declining, not the lack of intellectual ability of the masses. We are culturally dumbed down, allowing ourselves to believe things because it's just easier than questioning and reasoning and understanding.
It is cliche, but our need for instant gratification is making us less educated, less intelligent, and less intellectual as a whole. You can blame industrialization and the loss of connection to the land, but that's a conversation for another place.
Make sure that your children readeverything. from the "stupidest" beep to Samuel Clemens. Turn off the tube and electronics and connect. That's one step away from Idiocracy.
Please ignore any misspellings and grammatical errors as I am typing this on my phone. Thanks
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ghbbrown-1 — 9 years ago(July 28, 2016 08:51 AM)
You describe what was pretty much my experience, except that I HAVE been scored on IQ tests. I've learned that the scores are not particularly useful to me. My self=description is that I'm intelligent by some measures but not particularly bright in terms of social adaptations and navigating common life.
Fortunately, I learned to make use of my abilities in tandem with intuition and curiosity and have lived a reasonably productive and good life. My personal definition of that is out of step with the standards promoted by those with an interest in fostering a consumerist set of values. I am disappointed with people/s behavior that seems to be moving in the direction of what's presented in the movie but that's not the result of knowing the artificial standard of measurement that hasn't defined who I am. -
pdxjames — 10 years ago(October 18, 2015 08:03 PM)
The Average IQ score in the USA has fallen 1.5 points per year for 20 years. "Normal" was once 100. The average score is now 88, what we used to call "bumbling idiot". In ten years, average will be "drooling mendicant". A population without the ability to use common sense or invoke critical thinking. We are doomed.
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yezziqa — 10 years ago(November 23, 2015 01:32 AM)
In ways, yes we do. But the keyword is people, in the sense of it being a large group of people, not the individuals. I do not look down upon or condescend people of lower scores than my own, we are just different in some perspectives. But I fear the lack of intelligence from humankind, it will be the end of us.
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palvdb — 10 years ago(March 14, 2016 08:16 AM)
I have an IQ somewhere between 120 and 130 and I'm quite often surprised by how dumb people are. But quite often it comes down to how uncritical they are, it often becomes unclear whether they are ignorant or actually stupid.
I think what's mostly problematic is that so many attempts at an intelligent conversation are just judged for being arrogant or pretentious. -
kevinb70 — 10 years ago(March 31, 2016 10:25 PM)
I see the world as built to cater around the lowest common denominator or average intellect. Vast number of jobs which can be handled by average IQ; few jobs challenge someone mensa+ level. I shudder when I think about half the cars around me are driven by people with an iq of 100 or less.