this post was submitted on 09 May 2025
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[–] BlackRing@midwest.social 45 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I have a high IQ as well as ADHD and Autism.

Out of context, scoring as high as I did really meant next to nothing. In the context of the diagnoses I received later in life, definitely made sense, and helped color a picture painted in two solid days with a psychologist.

Somehow, I think it's important that the IQ test I took was not called an IQ test to me until after. Like, I knew I was in for tests, but more broadly told what things were about.

As a student, I had a science teacher who had been teaching many years, tell my mother he had never seen a student think in the manner I did. I was doing exceptionally well in class, but did not exceed in the fashion that would get me into an ivy league school, which at the time was supposed to be a goal. My father graduated MIT.

There are times when it's great. When I can focus on something, I can learn a lot and get very good at it. However, I spent decades with two obstacles I could never get myself past: the inability to keep that focus or control it, and the inability to even understand other people enough to try to get along with them long-term.

The result is I am just now, at 41, starting to figure out what I want to do with my life after way too long in a profession I should never have entered, and burned out of twice. And by burn out I do not mean tired and sad, I mean hospitalization.

In summary, it can be pretty great, but in my case it's fraught with difficulty as well.

[–] snek_boi@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Thanks for your response.

It's interesting to see your story in relation to other stories I've heard or people I've met.

Before I describe them, it's important to say that you don't strike me as unkind. I wouldn't want you to compare yourself to the people I'll mention and conclude that you're somehow bad. I'm taking the time to say this because I don't know if the difficulties you've mentioned are a sore spot.

Alright. The people I've met. I've met people whose identity was tied to their IQ and it became painful for me to wonder what I meant to them. For sure I was not close to their IQ; they needed to take multiple tests because they were off the charts. But I always wondered if they liked me as a person, based on my values and how I did things.

I've also met very relaxed and kind people who went on to study at the schools that were supposed to be a goal, people who made me realize it's possible to be wicked smart and simultaneously kind.

When you mention that it was important that you weren't told that the test you took was an IQ test, I think about teenage me. Back then, I learned that people could judge me based on my IQ. I made the mistake of reading white supremacist bigotry, and read that they evaluated whether people were worthy of living based on things like IQ. I knew the whole white supremacy discourse was pseudoscience and bigotry, but I was scared of bigots in power evaluating my existence. I became terrified. I became very distrustful of people who I should've trusted, wonderful people who would've never had such narrow and mistaken views. That has changed, now that I have a clearer sense of self and more perspective. But I can't help but wonder what would've happened if I wouldn't have mistrusted wonderful people. I guess the discourse around IQ can really change the way you look at the world and what you do.

Is it too nosy to ask a couple of follow up questions? If not, here they are: you mentioned ADHD and the obstacle you could never get yourself past, the inability to keep your focus and control it. Is the diagnosis recent? Could medication help? Could any treatment help with the ADHD? As to difficulties understanding other people, do you know about relational frame theory, the self component of ACT, and the PEAK and AIM programs?

[–] BlackRing@midwest.social 3 points 1 week ago

As far as medication, I have not decided yet. This is all recent, within the last year. Therapy has been helping a lot for my current state, but ADHD isn't the focus. Recovering from burnout is.

I haven't looked into anything you've mentioned.

I have been described as, and willing describe myself as, a good person with a capacity for kindness. I am not nice in much of what that means.

I think my political stances sometimes highlight that. I will willingly punch nazis given the chance. No, that's not hyperbole. I have no tolerance for bigotry. I lost a good friend who became a cop, and then said some questionable but not outright hateful things in the aftermath of George Floyd's murder.

A flawed but not altogether useless analogy is I am not the guy who waves someone on at a stop sign when it is that person who is supposed to yield. I have no patience for it, nor do I have patience for it happening the other way around.

When I recognized that a now good friend wasn't so harsh to me out of spite or hate but out of personal struggle, I wanted to know more, and now we not only became good friends, but we are to each other among the very few people we talk openly with about therapy and how it's really going. We both understand and respect the need to break down the stigma of seeking help with mental health. We had both peered into the void.

But in public, I wind up ignoring a lot of people simply from wearing headphones and wanting nothing to do with any of it.

"How does this (dress, shirt, whatever) look on me?" My wife gets the truth, like it or not.

I could go on, and am willing to try to answer any questions.

[–] rudyharrelson@lemmy.radio 28 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Episodes of Rick and Morty really hit close to home in a way that normies couldn't possibly fathom. It's a blessing and a curse.

[–] snek_boi@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 children)

Genuine curiosity: I’ve seen piles of "my superior intellect" and "normies would never understand", so I wanted to ask if your answer was sarcastic. If it isn’t, are you saying that you identify with Rick? Or something different?

[–] rudyharrelson@lemmy.radio 18 points 1 week ago

I was being sarcastic, lol. It's a play on the "you have to have a very high IQ to understand Rick and Morty" gag.

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[–] isyasad@lemmy.world 21 points 1 week ago (1 children)

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.

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[–] borokov@lemmy.world 20 points 1 week ago (7 children)

I have a high IQ and diagnosed as "gifted" by psy at nearly 40.

I won't argue about IQ and Giftedness having scientific base or not. All I can do is a professional clinical psy told me I am gifted. And what I'll say is just my way of thinking.

I have a systemic brain. I have very poor memory concerning names, date, etc... but I can remember complex system (basically, what cause create which consequence) really easily. I also understand problem, and find solutions much faster than most of peoples, I have strong Intuition of things, but I have difficulties explaining how I've found the solution. Scientists think it may be related to Myelin. That stuff increase connection speed between neurons, so it makes you think "faster", but sometime faster than you conscience.

I also wants to give meaning to anything. If I take a nap and hear the wind in the trees, I immediately imagine air molecules traveling and hitting leaves, sound wave propagating and hitting my ears. Wind also blowing the small layer of hotter air near my skin, explaining why it feel cold, etc...

I see object through their functioning, not their usefulness. When I see any new machine, I don't really care what it does, but more how it does it.

I'm constantly flooded by information, and I'm constantly analyzing everything. Being in a crowed area is exhausting for me, because there are too many stimulus. I'm not going to faint or something, but I think being in a crowd for me is like being in a kindergarten class full of screaming children.

I don't talk a lot because I'm easily bored by small-talks. I don't see the point of speaking about what I've done this week end, or the weather, or anything. I prefer staying in my own bubble speaking to myself.

I don't feel part of this world, I more feel like an observer watching some weird TV show. I don't understand most of human reaction.

If you are French speaking, I strongly encourage you to read the comics Comme oiseau dans bocal. It's based on serious research and is a very good popular science story about IQ, giftedness, etc...

[–] BlackRing@midwest.social 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Just wanted to say wow, so much of that sounds familiar!

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[–] Mothra@mander.xyz 3 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Since you've been to a psychologist for your assessment (is that what you mean by "psy"?) have you asked or considered the possibility of neurodivergence? I have suspected autism in myself for a while, and I resonate with much of what you said in regards to stimulus overwhelm, staying in your bubble, disdain for small talk etc. That's pretty common in many autistic people.

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[–] rockstarmode@lemmy.world 17 points 1 week ago (2 children)

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.

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[–] SplashJackson@lemmy.ca 17 points 1 week ago

You don't feel smart, but everyone else appears extremely dumb

[–] w3dd1e@lemm.ee 12 points 1 week ago (2 children)

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.

[–] Hugin@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

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.

[–] Ragnor 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

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. *Edit: It wasn't because I didn't try to get things that required more work from me. I always asked for harder problems when doing work in class, because I always finished the problems we were given to do while in class and finish as homework before the class was done.

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.

[–] Mothra@mander.xyz 12 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I think it would be hard to isolate exactly how much of our daily lives we experience as a direct consequence of our IQ and how much is a consequence of other things such as personality, emotional predisposition, environment, and luck.

My IQ is pretty average (around 115 I think? I tested ages ago and I can't even say the test was reliable). Some people insist I must be somewhat higher than that but I don't know. I feel dumber every day.

My father though, he does have a higher IQ (I think 135 iirc) and it's obvious to anyone that he's a brains guy. Always top student in his youth and later a decent researcher, engineer and programmer. And yet he still makes dumb mistakes like everyone else, and his temper and personality will often turn a mediocre day into a bad one. He has a tendency to overcomplicate things unnecessarily, and sets high standards for others around him- you'd think being smarter would mean he wouldn't do this, but as I said, intelligence doesn't work isolated. I remember asking him how it feels like being smarter than most of his peers and his answer is always "bah!".

So I don't know if this answers your question, but there's my two cents for you.

[–] snek_boi@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

So I don’t know if this answers your question, but there’s my two cents for you.

It does! This is precisely the kind of stuff that I'm interested in! I agree with you, in that it's possible to think wrong thoughts even with a higher IQ. I see IQ as the speed of thought, and you can very quickly arrive at wrong conclusions. Similarly, if there's a thought that your skill tree hasn't unlocked, then you're left with thoughts that are maybe not ideal for a particular situation, thoughts that could make someone "overcomplicate things unnecessarily" or "make dumb mistakes", as your dad or anyone on planet Earth would.

I think it's especially hard to isolate IQ when there are many thoughts or behaviors that we don't typically associate with high IQ. "Ah yes, the violin is a sensible instrument for a learned man" or whatever people may think. That's partly why I asked my question. If someone leads a life not typically associated with a high IQ and yet have a high enough IQ that manifested in their life, how did that look like? Of course, I'm not looking for wild stories. I'm looking for genuine stories, and I'm glad that I got an interesting answers like yours!

[–] proceduralnightshade@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 week ago (2 children)
[–] TORFdot0@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago

It’s within a standard deviation, it’s not like it’s getting him into Mensa.

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[–] snek_boi@lemmy.ml 11 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

If you believe psychology and IQ are nonsense, here’s a comment I copied over from another thread:

IQ means intelligence quotient. A bunch of people take a test and they’re compared to each other. Your result is your intelligence quotient.

Its origins were noble, because it was designed to identify students who needed extra help in school. The creator of the test knew that people could change their results with good instruction.

However, that noble origin story was besmirched by what happened later. Eventually, IQ tests were used as a way to classify people in more brutal and rigid ways. The USA military used it as a cutoff for aspiring cadets. USA colleges use tests that effectively are IQ tests to let people in or not. The worst part is that bigots around the world injected pseudoscience into IQ and used it to decide who they think are worthy of life and who aren’t. It’s as awful as it sounds.

You may notice that helping struggling students sounds wonderful, and you may think that we should go back to that.

However, some people are deeply marked by the dark history of IQ. They have developed beliefs that protect them from the dangers of bigotry and IQ reductionism. They believe that tests aren’t useful at all to tell us something about anything. They believe IQ tests should be banished and never used.

Other people believe IQ tests are a snapshot of how a person answered the questions to a test in a given day. Take the same test days, months, or years after a great education, and the result will be higher. Additionally, these people notice that, in research, IQ scores are robustly associated with other things, such as quality of relationships, happiness, income, and other measures. They contend that learning about the world, about ourselves, and how to think critically and solve problems has massive domino effects in peoples’ lives. Once again, these people believe that a test result one day doesn’t doom you for life and doesn’t define you. A bad test result shows the gap that a good education would fill. These people know that a good education makes the mind curious, nimble, and open.

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[–] DancingBear@midwest.social 11 points 1 week ago

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.

[–] Corno@lemm.ee 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

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!

[–] GiantChickDicks@lemmy.ml 10 points 1 week ago

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.

[–] geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] GeeDubHayduke@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I just laminated a bunch of cards that say Wile E. Coyote; Super Genius and hand them out. Saves time.

E: ducking autocorrupt

[–] Allero@lemmy.today 7 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I'm 128, it's up to you to decide whether it's high enough or not.

Generally, I am successful in my studies and pursue career in science. I am not a high earner, and doing mental work still drains me heavily. I take a few hours of dumb physical work every week to reset. I am more or less satisfied with my life, I do have a romantic partner and generally find it easy to navigate social situations, but I'm introverted and need to recharge. So, you can say I have a high burst productivity all-round, but I'm not good at a long game.

This is just me though, and one thing to remember is that there is no objective metric for intelligence, and it can be divided in many different ways. Some people are great at solving math problems, but are dead stupid in social situations. Some go vice versa. Some have a gift for certain areas of knowledge or skills where they are way above average, while having underwhelming performance with the rest.

For example, I excel at disciplines that require me to connect many diverse data points (my area of interest is microbiology), but I'm not that good at following logic through many layers of calculations and linking it back to source (as in physics/math; I'm still able to carry out calculations I need for my work, but it's exhausting). I acquire language skills quite readily, and have good auditory perception overall, but have high reaction time and struggle driving or doing competitive sports/gaming (no, higher intelligence doesn't mean faster reaction).

Overall, I'm just a normal human, fairly smart, fairly capable, but nothing supernatural and sometimes straight up underwhelming.

[–] nokturne213@sopuli.xyz 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)
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[–] Lemming6969@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago

Very depressing. We're social animals, and being highly literate and informed while also socially apt, you really realize just how far apart you are from others, which is alienating, frustrating, and tiresome.

[–] rawn@feddit.org 5 points 1 week ago

It vastly depends on everything else.

You can be a dude with a normal life, who just makes conclusions faster and you've learned that everyone likes how smart you are and you enjoy this.

You can be a restless mess, because you've known all your life that there's nothing to compete with and it's difficult enough to find someone to even have a somewhat decent conversation on your level with. These people come with or without the arrogance you're thinking of right now. Some are just genuinely kind and thoughtful, but always a step ahead without even really appreciating their ability much.

You can be an absolute underachiever, because being smart was never rewarded in your life. Maybe you even learned that "You're not special" so much so, that you punished others for not being able to draw the same conclusions as you in the same time, because you always thought they were just being lazy on purpose.

You can be entirely unaware and may say funny things like "I don't think we're all that many really smart people in $techplacewithclearlysmartpeople. I talked to most of them and I don't struggle at all".

Source: High IQ myself, working with other people who increasingly talk to me openly about this and their overall situation. So much of who we become is about what our parents do to us and if there's understanding and love and support on that end.

Obviously there's the whole spectrum thing as well. I don't think a higher IQ means "more autism", as someone suggested. I think it increases your chances of struggling with a regular (neurotypical) kind of life, for example because you are supposed to be interested in 1 subject (to make a career), but - similar to people with ADHD - may care for all the subjects.
If you think about what is neurotypical though, you can classify people with a particularly high IQ or people with particularly high sensitivity as neurodiverse in just the same way you do that for people with Autism or ADHD. Now if you think about humanity as a whole, we may all to some degree be diverging from the norm in any or all of these ways, but still be more or less free of struggle, because it's not by much, while for the more extreme cases, they stand out for better or worse.

[–] Kwakigra@beehaw.org 5 points 1 week ago

You get to impress the worst people in the world by giving them a number which generally indicates the quality of your education. Other than that, it's pretty useless.

[–] TheGuyTM3@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 week ago

It’s being like you

[–] Bwaz@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago

Being told all through school that I'm not 'working up to my potential'. Frustration at dumb jobs.

[–] Hugin@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago

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.

[–] Nexy@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 1 week ago

Probably the thing it's get a little mad because you need to explain multiple times things you think are really easy or stop hearing some people when start explaining things because you know you can catch what they are saying anytime. It's really shitty, I dont whant to be this way. Also people treat you different because "you can so it better", no I can't.

[–] JacksonLamb@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

Thanks for asking this question. I have enjoyed reading the answers people gave you.

[–] SteposVenzny@beehaw.org 4 points 1 week ago

I'm comfortably above average but comfortably below genius, not entirely sure whether that fits your personal definition of high so it felt worth clarifying.

In school, it meant that learning was something I could do with no actual effort. Without studying and without doing homework aside from what I did at my desk to pass the time before class started, I had as strong a grasp on the subject as the students who did and comfortable grades. Then when I started college, that passivity suddenly didn't work anymore and I had no idea how to cope with it. I never actually learned how to learn, formally speaking.

Emotionally speaking, that whole thing was awful. It sucked when it was easy because I was so bored, it sucked when it was hard because I was so frustrated. I actually failed out of high school due to low attendance at the very end, then tested into the local college without a diploma because I still knew the material even with the problematic attendance, then got suspended from college due to now-for-the-opposite-reason low attendance and never went back. There was also unrelated shit going on, to be clear, but this that I'm describing was not a small part of my overall psychological state.

As an adult, it doesn't mean much of anything. While it's a bit easier for me to learn things than it is for the average person, the ease with which I learn things doesn't matter anymore because it's largely happening without other people's direct involvement or on any kind of schedule. On the occasion there needs to be an actual work training lesson I attend, it's something that only happens for a day and enduring a single day of tedious education is so very achievable compared to it being my entire life.

The biggest impact these days is that it makes me hate Aaron Sorkin.

[–] ArsonButCute@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Frustrating.

The rate at which I absorb information is disgusting. Yes please finish your sentence I already have a response why are you taking so long. How did I learn that? I picked up the manual and did it. Developing new skills? Learning Rust right now and its going well, failed out of highschool because I learned too easily and didn't need the homework to learn (so it didn't get done).

It comes with imposter syndrome: I knew the problem, I had the pattern figured out, why did I still fuck everything up (plot twist I probably didn't).

It comes with a superiority complex: I learned this in 10 minutes from looking at a Sci Journal, why has it been hours and yallvstill don't get it? 🙄

It comes with accidentally hurting people: frequently I say things thinking something hould be obvious when it is not, while unintended, it often hurts my partner who is usually in the line of fire when I let some dumb shit outta my mouth and insult someone's intelligence.

Anyway I hate it I'd rather be dumbsauce ignorance is bliss

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[–] Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 week ago

You wouldn't understand

Jk, I'm dum af

[–] butsbutts@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 week ago
[–] MTK@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

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.

[–] un_aristocrate@jlai.lu 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] snek_boi@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 week ago

Hahah! Living up to your aristocratic origins, I see.

[–] folaht@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 week ago

My highest IQ I scored was 135, the lowest 115.
Do I get to part of it?
The IQ tests themselves are not great tools of measuring intelligence but it's the best we've got. And I'm glad people here realize that.

Well...I currently feel like I'm the dumbest one among friends. I've got ADD, so I lose concentration a lot and my friends don't seem to have that, while they have high IQ as well.

It's also good to see that you know that IQ is speed of measuring thoughts, because I don't think the current physicists have got it correct at all and fail even on a basic level of natural philosophy/science, but they certainly can whip up complex equations faster than either of us can.

[–] AnnaFrankfurter@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

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.

[–] snek_boi@lemmy.ml 2 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

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.

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