Superior intelligence is so overrated

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I have to disagree with all four points. It's mainly a matter of using intelligence correctly. All of my relationships were with people I meet through Mensa, ditto most of my friends. My chose field of work required high intelligence and my salary (I'm retired) reflected my capabilities.

As far as happiness goes, that takes work to understand what is enough. If you always want more, you'll never be happy no matter how smart, rich or popular you might be.

Intelligence is cool, but it's just a talent like any other you might be born with. It's no reason to assume superiority or think the world will be handed to you.

It makes sense that somebody who's intelligent would naturally enjoy things that use that intelligence, and enjoy spending time with people who enjoy similar things; but that doesn't mean that those pastimes or those people are superior, any more than people who are good at making money or good at playing sports or good at being charismatic would be superior.

Intelligence needs to be taken down off the pedestal people have put it on, and recognized as simply a talent that people can have. Base your self-worth on your IQ, and you'll be sorely disappointed when you realize just how silly it is to assume that your penchant for academics or puzzles or logic gives you any kind of inherent superiority... because it just doesn't. Enjoy your efficient brain and your effective learning; but don't go and insist on the world on a silver platter, because you won't get it--nor should you.

It depends on your definition of 'superior' intelligence.

I happen to agree, (as someone who probably meets your definition) that it IS overrated.



That said, those on the autistic spectrum will have a broad distribution of intellectual intelligence and social ('skills') intelligence.

Whilst social skills can be learned (by some at least) intelligence CANNOT.

So I must confess that I would rather be socially impaired, with the intelligence and determination to overcome it, than an NT with impaired mental capacity.

I think you're actually kind of comparing apples and oranges here. Classical "intelligence" is, basically, academic ability. Social intelligence is some kind of measure of whether you've got a knack for socializing.

However, someone with low academic talent (i.e., a low IQ), can learn through persistence what someone with more talent in that area would pick up easily.

That's pretty much the same thing as someone with low social talent (i.e., autism) learning through persistence what someone with more social talent knows instinctively.

Compensating for low social skills by figuring it out intellectually isn't much different from using your social skills to connect with a teacher to learn something academic.

Naturally this becomes harder as your level of talent becomes lower; but that holds for both examples. A really, really autistic person isn't going to learn as much about socializing as one who's just a little autistic, no matter how hard they try.

Are you sure this isn't just because this is how you are already? I don't know too many people who would want to give up the talents they have, which are integral to every part of how they experience the world, to acquire another talent which they're currently doing without and have spent a lot of energy compensating for... Doesn't just go for neurology; go ask a rock star whether he wouldn't rather be a pro football player, or a famous comedian whether he wouldn't rather be a best-selling author... gonna bet the answer's "no". Though the comedian will probably think up a more interesting "no" than most.

Reading your posts makes my day. There are times out in the world and times here at WP when it seems like the whole world considers itself to just plain be better people than my daughter because of her IQ. I come here for, among many other things, solace. But there are so many posts that essentially say. "I may be autistic but I still have a higher IQ than all those other people". And then I think, "but what about somebody who is autistic and has a lower IQ than all those other people. Is there any place in the world for them?" And then I read one of your posts and it puts things back in perspective again. There is a feeling floating around in the world and that I've spent my whole life immersed in that any disability is basically ok to live with unless it is or is accompanied by low IQ/cognitive disability. Thus my special hate for Princeton Prof Peter Singer. In the world of Special Ed there can sometimes be a (I hate to say this because I need them) feeling of smugness with a subset of the teachers...that they are making bearable the wrteched lives of the damaged. You bring a dose of clear vision to the whole concept of IQ and cognitive disability. I know your tag says engineering student and that's what you are studying. I sure hope there are some just like you over in the Ed school studying Special Ed because goodness knows your perspective is what a lot of people desperately need.

Yes with one ridiculous exception. For some reason, rock stars and movie stars are longing to be each other and frequently attempt to cross over into domains they have no talent for. So we get the good actor Russell Crow as a terrible musician and the good musician Bjork as a terrible actress (I hated Dancer In the Dark- but maybe I should blame Lars Von Trier since I think he's a terrible director).

My intellect is both a curse and a blessing. Blessing in that it's allowed me to get as far as I have, and learn about those things that interest me, curse in that I know how difficult it will be to continue, how incredibly F'd up the world is, and how I used the intellectualization defense mechanism to F up my emotions when I was extremely young.

Being ignorant to the point of a dog has some very strong appeals. Strong enough where if I was given the oppurtunity to change places with the dogs I had when I was younger I would do it in a heartbeat. The thought of nothing but food, human subservience (petting, loving, sleeping, feeding) and no worries. No such thing as stress. Food's always there, people are always there when you want a belly rub, outdoors to run in, no leashes or fences. Yeah, our dogs had it made. Damn I'm envious of them.

Ah well. I'll just have to settle for my self study of various science subjects, and gaming.

It doesn't even especially help you learn. You know how AS is -- you tend to be either terrific or horrible at a subject with nothing in between. I'm told my IQ is close to genius level (depending on which scale you use) but I couldn't even do long division by the time I got out of high school.

Exactly. I used to basically just sit there, zone out and stockpile knowledge. But then things got better for me once I actually started applying it.

Academic intelligence is one facet of intelligence, so don't expect it to be the only thing you need in life.

Is it too much to ask for both?

Superior Intelligence being overrated is a matter of opinion of who is thinking that. I wouldn't consider it overrated.

Then it leads me to the whole "ignorance is bliss" thing. Those that don't have the knowledge of certain things are ignorant in being happy what they don't know or believe. Those of us who do have knowledge of things can see the unfairness, injustice, and ignorance of the world and it can be depressing if you let it get you.

Superior Intelligence is what you make of it. You can have it and get rich, or you could have it and do nothing with your life.
Make a hobby you love into a career so at least you are doing what you love. I'd rather do what i love than settle with some career i couldn't stand or tolerate.

Those with a low IQ may be happy in their ignorance of things and how they work. We don't know, for we are not them.

Oh the old "ignorance is bliss" trope. Those with low IQ must be happy happy happy because they don't understand the miseries of the world.

It aint necessarily so. My (low IQ autie) daughter struggles to understand the world and her difficulty in understanding it is a great source of unhappiness and frustration for her.

Hm... Superior intelligence...overrated? I wasn't aware that it had been "rated" in the first place!

Well, okay... Walking around while surrounded by stupid people really got to me after a while. What's wrong with all of these people? Why are they so slow? I'm still routinely shocked by how slow most people are at math problems. And they claim that I have a disorder!

Interestingly, people tend to get smarter when talking to me... But unfortunately, it wears off as soon as the conversation ends.

I think that a lot of people (individually) 'rate' intelligence, but I may be wrong.


Now that you have our attention, what is your IQ or perhaps better yet, since there are different scales, what IQ percentile are you at?

Well, I find the scores to be a bit arbitrary... (On one online test, I got all of the answers worked out ahead of time and found that the highest score that it was willing to give to a 19-year-old male was 154.)

Now, what was that percentile? ...I seem to remember seeing 98, but it may have been 97, 95, not sure...certainly no lower than 95, though.

You might want to take the Mensa test.

Membership starts at the 98th percentile, which is where I happen to live (I don't actually live on a two dimensional graph I just...........)



I am in my mid forties and have had to rely very heavily on my intellect to compensate for impaired social intelligence and lack of social intuition.

It has served me well but at times it can be utterly exhausting, like using a high gear to cycle up a steep hill.

I too used to share your view of 'others' but since learning about Asperger's I think I am now much more forgiving.


Actually I am much closer to the 98th than the 99th percentile, which makes me one of the more 'stupid' members of the 2% group!


I wonder if the guys at the very top of the Mensa chart actually think of people like me as stupid/limited?