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552 Comments
- FarrokhBulsara, on 04/13/2009, -12/+348i had an IQ of 2547 when I was 2. Now i go on digg and try to come up with funny comments.
- inactive, on 04/13/2009, -2/+332"Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know." -Ernest Hemingway
- GoKings, on 04/13/2009, -10/+238Here come all the Digg child prodigies and geniuses to comment about the article and their personal experiences. People that define themselves as geniuses or people that think they are geniuses typically seem to have one problem. It's that they have trouble interacting with average people, and vice versa. It isn't because they are intellectually on such a high level; it's because they think they are (ala WittyBanter).
I've met some of the dumbest geniuses and some of the smartest "dumb" people. The truth is an IQ test doesn't make you intelligent; it makes you someone who performs really well on IQ tests. Bottom line is that I'd take being an outgoing person who has pretty solid intelligence, excellent communication skills, tons of friends and acquaintances, and having good common sense over a pompous genius who thinks they are so intelligent that they can't communicate with such heathens as someone that doesn't quantum physics and day of the week. This is not to say all "geniuses" are like that. But those that define themselves as a "genius" typically do. A real genius would realize how much knowledge they don't actually have, and realize there is so much to learn even from people that aren't scoring 160 on an IQ test. - ZhiZaki, on 04/13/2009, -47/+228I was told at age 12 I had a 160 IQ. Fast forward 14 years later... I've found being a genius doesn't define you.... you define yourself. Strong work ethic is more important in my eyes than someone's IQ. It says more about them as a person.
- inactive, on 04/13/2009, -1/+129An online intelligence test told me I had an IQ of 155. Then it tried to sell me something.
- nerdromancer, on 04/13/2009, -3/+128"They all said I was stupid, but I proved them"
- Fry, Futurama
I can relate! - inactive, on 04/13/2009, -7/+1304) Delusions of grandeur
- DeadBabyFloat, on 04/13/2009, -4/+1275) Learn to spell analyze.
- appleofdischord, on 04/13/2009, -2/+116Bragging about your IQ online is so passé.
- howclever, on 04/13/2009, -2/+78The vocabulary test to get into Mensa must be pretty tough.
- SwabTheDeck, on 04/13/2009, -3/+73"People that define themselves as geniuses or people that think they are geniuses typically seem to have one problem. It's that they have trouble interacting with average people, and vice versa. It isn't because they are intellectually on such a high level; it's because they think they are (ala WittyBanter)."
I don't think this is unique to people who self-categorize as "geniuses". If a person with an IQ of 100 (average) has a difficult time interacting with a person with an IQ of 60 (~bottom 2%), is it not fair to suggest that a person with an IQ of 140 (~top 2%) can have a difficult time interacting with a person with an IQ of 100? People in general (not just "geniuses") have a tough time dealing with other people who aren't at their same intellectual level. The difference is that because of the curve, everyone near the top or the bottom have a much smaller pool of people on their level and many times end up as outcasts. The majority of people are within a standard deviation of "average" and therefore have a huge pool of people that they'll be able to get along with. Most of the comments from self-identified "geniuses" are being buried in this thread. So, either they all just think a lot of themselves and it shows, or it proves my point because the minority ("geniuses") group is being isolated from the majority ("average" people) through the function of digging down comments. Similarly, the comments posted by the other minority ("idiots") are also being buried. - foucaultsvac, on 04/13/2009, -2/+71Dugg for the hilarious "my IQ is xyz and life really is so hard" comments by undoubtedly idiotic, self-important diggers.
- bugsy187, on 04/13/2009, -0/+64Having good connections or a loaded family doesn't hurt.
- ss429, on 04/13/2009, -1/+61Its all about the society you grow up in. In Asia people respect someone with a high IQ, unlike the U.S. where people apparently make the person an outcast for being smart, often calling him/her a geek or a nerd. I did not do my high school in the U.S. so I cannot really tell how it works but, from the impression I have got so far during my undergrad and grad, people with high IQ are treated badly. And the more they are isolated the more they become withdrawn and distant from mainstream society. I sincerely hope this mentality changes in the U.S. and children shouldn't have to either choose between pursuing something they are good at or hanging out with the cool crowd. It just saddens me to think about how much effort my family and I had to put in to come to the U.S. to learn from the best, when people who were already born here, not only take it for granted but disrespect it so much. High IQ shouldn't be a burden unless the person wants it to be.
- TheUngod, on 04/13/2009, -3/+61It's amazing how many people on digg fall into the top 2% of IQ. That, or there are a lot of people on digg who are full of *****.
- HeDiggMe, on 04/13/2009, -2/+59Damn that was long.
To paraphrase Malcolm Gladwell...intelligence tends to help people be successful the way height tends to help people play bball. The more you have is useful to a certain level, above that you have to have other skills and environmental nurturing. Case in point---do a search for Chris Langan or Rick Rosner and look how they've wasted their lives. - Brododium, on 04/13/2009, -0/+56@GordonFree:
Thank God for telling me that, otherwise I would have gone with the only source I could find on the internet --> Urban Dictionary: Analise v. 'To put your willy in a nice girl's bum'.
...analising the life out of everything doesn't sound very Mensa-y anymore. - gatorfree, on 04/13/2009, -4/+60Yes, because if you have a high IQ you know your full potential, and you know you will never live up to it.
- AaronCo, on 04/13/2009, -0/+48Didn't Lisa Simpson already plot this graph?
- quigles3000, on 04/13/2009, -2/+49You've succeeded.
- inactive, on 04/13/2009, -0/+44I tried to buy the product they were selling, but I couldn't figure out how to use their shopping basket.
- howclever, on 04/13/2009, -1/+42After a certain point, ability (innate or learned) is meaningless without passion and work ethic.
- TrouserJazz, on 04/13/2009, -0/+40"As intelligence goes up, happiness goes down. See, I made a graph. I make lots of graphs."
http://flowingdata.com/2008/06/20/lisa-simpson-on- ... - Thermopylae, on 04/13/2009, -3/+40Is it just me, or does this sound like the cockiest thing ever
"GOD, IT SURE SUCKS TO BE SMART LIKE ME, I FEEL EVERYTHING THAT YOU GUYS DONT UNDERSTAND THUS I AM SMARTER AND SEE THINGS THAT YOU DONT" - Azuroth, on 04/13/2009, -1/+37In high school, I had much the same problem. Typical nerd, top .5% IQ, no social skills etc. Then my high school debate teacher told me the most profound thing I'd heard up until that point. She drew a bell curve on the board and sketched in a few IQ lines. She said this is the bottom 2%, and this is the top 2% (gesturing to the curve). If you are in either of these two regions, you have the same problem, difficulty associating with people in the middle. But most people are in the middle, and if you can't associate with the middle, you're better off on the lower end, because that way people take care of you and you're generally happy about it.
Digg me down for bragging, or whatever, but this is honestly the most useful thing I ever learned in school. - inactive, on 04/13/2009, -0/+35"Many people need desperately to receive this message: 'I feel and think much as you do, care about many of the things you care about, although most people do not care about them. You are not alone.'"-Kurt Vonnegut
- laserdog, on 04/13/2009, -0/+34There is a famous study that backs up this idea.
Two groups of students. Both were given an identical, easy test.
Group A was then told that they performed well on the test because they are smarter than average.
Group B was told they performed well because they are such hard workers.
They were then given an identical, harder test.
Group A performed far lower than Group B, presumably because they gave up/got stressed out once they began having problems, whereas Group B was determined not to give up.
More about it here:
http://seedround.com/smart-vs-hard-working
But yes, the propensity of becoming "protective" of your title of "smart" seems to do far more harm then good in terms of achievement. - themadrammer, on 08/18/2009, -10/+44I consider success, being satisfied with life.
Satisfaction can be achieved through many avenues. Too many people think it can only come via economics, which is attained via Intelligence. - nemomarlin, on 04/13/2009, -0/+33Michelangelo said, "If people only knew how hard I work to gain my mastery, it wouldn't seem so wonderful at all. "
- Epitaph, on 04/13/2009, -1/+33shut up, dad.
- frankdozier, on 08/10/2009, -1/+32"I thought alcohol made you stupid?"
Fry: "No, I...doesn't"
Gotta love Fry - NSResponder, on 04/13/2009, -6/+37"Geniuses or people that think they are geniuses typically seem to have one problem. It's that they have trouble interacting with average people, and vice versa. "
No, just the ones who think that their IQ score is the most significant aspect of their personality. I know any number of brilliant people who have no such difficulty.
-jcr - sirron811, on 04/13/2009, -3/+34So why are you wasting your time on Digg? Go cure cancer you jerk.
- GoKings, on 04/13/2009, -4/+32As a Mensa member you should realize it's spelled "analyze" not analise... Perhaps it's your lack of proper spelling that makes it so people don't understand you.
- Xalorous, on 04/13/2009, -4/+31But it is unethical to do less than required.
- naldwell, on 04/13/2009, -4/+31Don't tell you nothing about no grammar skills either.
- Brad324, on 04/13/2009, -0/+26We just end up being very good at world of warcraft.
- KMFDM781, on 04/13/2009, -2/+26It's more a burden to know how the world is and be unable to attain true happiness as a result. How I miss the days of my youth, when everything seemed so innocent and I was completely oblivious to the blackness that runs just under the surface.
- cbg78, on 04/13/2009, -15/+38I tested 174 in 4th grade, I don't put much stock in these "tests".
- nemomarlin, on 04/13/2009, -1/+23I think, Very hard work+Passion=Success
talent is cheap. - deity, on 04/13/2009, -0/+21I tend to agree. There are many people I know whom are very intelligent but that doesn't mean that they are successful in life. The IQ score also doesn't accurately measure many facets of human intelligence, as such it's probably best at measuring one's potential for success in school and little else.
- bagelmaster, on 04/13/2009, -1/+21This pretty much sums up my life. Knowing I'm smart enough to do just about anything but never actually getting off my ass and doing it... sadness...
- RGB0099CC, on 04/13/2009, -2/+22The heat caused from all the friction of this massive circle jerk of ego stroking is astounding. You pop open your thesaurus and try to prove some point about how your whole life would be easier if you were dumb. But, you don't believe it. Hell, you don't even hardly mean it. Your IQ gives you this inner superiority, some subconscious title that you bestow upon yourself that is indestructible and infallible. Yet, you hide behind this idea of exile and rejection while the truth is those are devices of your own creation. Your mind gives you the ability to remember, to visualize, to dissect every detail and subject it to astounding analysis and thus you choose to reject that which has no value to you. Once you choose to acknowledge that you are aware of your choices and their consequences you relinquish the right to complain.
Our greatest tool is our mind, and we have been given instruments of extreme efficiency and capability. Whether we choose to take advantage of that is our choice. - djtansey, on 04/13/2009, -0/+19I agree that a lot of it has to do with culture. In the U.S., we have very strong identities. So if you have someone with a high IQ who, almost by nature, starts questioning the fundamentals of the society, they are seen as "arrogant bastards." This is especially true since our shared sense of purpose has more to do with professional and financial success than anything else. Thought has little value in itself.
Also, this questioning is a lot of the reason people with high IQ don't achieve as much as others. When you have an IQ of 130, you are able to succeed at almost anything. You have no trouble going down the paths society subscribes for you, be that the path of the doctor, lawyer, or engineer. But at an IQ of 150 or more, it isn't so easy to march down one of those paths because you start questioning their legitimacy. If you're an engineer, you say, "I could solve this problem with the methods I have learned, but I don't think they're really the most efficient methods. So should I use what I think are less efficient methods just so I can get the job done, or should I not solve the problem until I have matured the method?" Or, in a broader sense, you start thinking, "Everyone subscribes to the legitimacy of the rat race: working to make money, have a nice house, and live in a good school district. But isn't that just keeping up with the Joneses?"
It's that kind of thinking that makes high-IQ people less successful (and less happy). The problem is, if "everyone" subscribes to a certain spectrum of what "acceptable" lives and careers are, you are immediately an outsider if you're not content with submitting yourself to one. Thus, less happiness. - Origin415, on 04/13/2009, -3/+22I like how no one who uses digg has an iq less than 150.
You'd think with a normal distribution and all that would be less than 1% of the population... - Zyvo, on 04/13/2009, -6/+24People, you don't "have a high IQ." You scored highly on an IQ test. There is a difference.
- beesaretasty, on 04/13/2009, -0/+18"I must be retarded" - Me
- magibeg, on 04/13/2009, -0/+17It's actually pretty funny. With the numbers that people claim (i already see many here who claim to be in the 99.999~ percentile) you'd think that digg is a gathering of super intelligent humans. I would be willing to bet if we gathered up what the claimed IQ's of digg are we would come up with an average above 130.
- Hudon689, on 06/13/2009, -3/+20What the ***** did I just read.
- inactive, on 04/13/2009, -0/+17What Hemingway meant, is that intelligent people think way too much to ever be happy. They can't suspend themselves and live in the moment, because they are too busy over-analyzing it.
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