I am highly intelligent, ask me anything

[nolinkname]

Using standard IQ scales/assessments I am highly intelligent. I have also done some research into high intelligence. Being highly intelligent has advantages and drawbacks. Ask me anything :-)

(Just to preempt some comments: No, I don’t think intelligent people are better human beings than other people. I think qualities such as being kind are more important for example. No, intelligent people are not always ‘better for society’, there is some evidence, for example, that really highly intelligent people carry out proportionally somewhat more crimes (white collar). No, I don’t look down on less intelligent people (sometimes I envy them), but it can obviously be a bit difficult to connect if you have very different frames of reference. No, intelligence does not have any direct links to social skills (positive or negative).)

It seems like such a narrow and limited form of judgement. It says nothing about a person's ability to interact with the world, their character, their emotional intelligence, or their actual achievements.

Honestly, I sort of thought we'd decided as a society that IQ was mostly nonsense. Especially given that some people can end up scoring very highly by just practising the tests like mad - and it doesn't make them functionally more 'intelligent', just because they got a higher result!

I was I suppose cleverer than usual at school in certain subjects but in one school I played this down whereas in another private school intelligence was valued and encouraged. I’d never call myself what the OP has done though. It’s a bit of a stealth boast.

Had to reply to this quickly because b) really stuck out for me. I do drive but I have enormous issues with driving in busy places or on fast roads because I don’t trust my brain not to take me on a journey through literature, time, space, matter etc while I’m supposed to be following regs and keeping everybody in the car alive.

Totally agree. It's quite depressing that people still get hung up on this stuff.

I find it strange that someone would assume that they know what a person is like based on one thread that they started. Do you always assume that someone who starts a thread about something is very wedded to that particular subject?

Completely agree that an IQ score is a very crude instrument and that intelligence is broader. Few people know such nuances though, so it was easier to use it here (note also that I immediately qualified it 'Using standard IQ scales/assessments').

She's not answering any of my questions.

She's smart enough to know when she's up against an adversary... or she might think I'm drunk.

I really wish I had sage advice. I’m not clever enough. Hence my eff up.

@MrsBennetsPoorNervesAreBack: 'Personally, I don't think that people who are highly intelligent have difficulties in connecting with other people because of their intelligence at all.'

You are free to think what you want of course. A lot of research would contradict this thought.

Did you come here for a fight? It sounds like you did.

Completely agree that an IQ score is a very crude instrument and that intelligence is broader. Few people know such nuances though
I disagree that few people understand such nuances.

What's the circumference of your head?

Can you do the worm?

How were your school years ? I ask as my 9 year old in quite intelligent herself but struggles with adhd too

Ah, interesting. So you think being intelligent means that you have to read up on everything (everything you think is important) and have a view on everything? I'd say the opposite - we'd get further if not everyone was expected to learn everything and that we could rely on each other to know things/tell us things.

May I ask you a question - by no means obliged to reply - how’s your mental health?

One thing I’ve learnt in life is that a very high IQ in personal relationships means nothing and is useless if you don’t have emotional intelligence. High IQ, great if you’re in research, medicine or development etc, otherwise it is emotional intelligence you need. No one wants a clever but emotionally stunted spouse, parent, friend or co-worker.

I think perhaps her point was about both curiosity and awareness. If something is a current debate, often people form an opinion on it.

Can you describe a foundational belief you currently hold that is most likely to be proven wrong in the next fifty years, and what specific evidence are you currently ignoring to maintain it?

Agreed. I think OP thinks they are very clever indeed, and perhaps indeed is very intelligent, academically speaking - but OP's intelligence appears to be as narrow in scope as IQ tests are.

OP doesn't seem to realise that they are not very skilled at engaging in human communication without making the assumption that everyone they interact with is much stupider than them, and then broadcasting that quite clearly. Even when the things OP is talking about are either common knowledge, or wrong.

It's a little painful to watch at this point, and yet I can't look away.

Interesting comments on my not feeling that I don't have any relevant comments on a certain issue, but preferring to defer to others who have better informed views. I'd say it would be much more arrogant to say that my view (on anything) is so important that I have to share it and tell people.

Perhaps, but a lot of that research may be flawed. For example, a lot of the "evidence" may be based on self reported experience. And if that's the case, all that it tells us is that some highly intelligent people believe that their social connection problems are the result of their high intelligence. It doesn't tell us whether or not that is actually the case.

It's interesting that you decided to selectively quote my post, and that you chose to edit out my earlier question, which you chose not to answer. I'll try asking it again.

If you think that some highly intelligent people struggle to connect with others because of their high intelligence, then what exactly do you think is different about the many highly intelligent people who do not struggle in this way?

Surely if high intelligence was the cause of such struggles, then all highly intelligent people would be affected in the same way?

I would really like you to answer this question, if you are willing.

No, I think the answer is so obvious that it doesn't require research.

Unless you also think you have to thoroughly research flat earth theories before you proclaim the earth is round?

But often in work meetings “the conclusion” or agreed course of action cannot be decided by intelligence alone. There needs to be knowledge from a range of different perspectives that need to considered from both ethical and practical viewpoints. No one person can “get to the conclusion” as there is more than one. As I said earlier I work with a lot of highly intelligent people, and this doesn’t necessarily mean their input in meetings is more valuable. And this is the same in most non-work related conversations. E.g if I were to discuss current affairs with them an interesting conversation would be based on curiosity, knowledge and opinion as much as intelligence. While I certainly feel outclassed intellectually in some wor-related areas I think I more than hold my own in others and would be surprised if my colleagues felt the need to “hold back” in non-technical interactions

How about in the middle 🤣😋

You don't have to read up on everything no. Having an opinion on high profile topics and current affairs isn't reading up everything.