What makes a person a Genius?

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My mom drives a bus, and she spent a lifetime focused on learning to drive a bus if that is what you mean ?

The people you speak about, do they spend their free time reading about their interests that won't earn them
better pay, or advance their position on a job ? Will they learn esoteric knowledge just for the sake of curiosity? Did they spend their entire lives focused on a single intellectual area ?

IMO, there is no comparison between an intelligent HFA/AS person that spent a lifetime learning and memorizing information and some NT person in terms of being considered the same.

I see very few NT people, possibly none that can hold a lifetime interest.

My experience, seeing the intelligence of my AS brother and AS father, and myself, and my experience working with PhD people who consider me to be a genius, then you cannot believe how much smarter AS people are in comparison to NT people. There is an astounding difference.

Sure, the gap narrows when you compare ASD/AS person to like-minded NT people, however, I believe the gap is huge still.

I suspect there is a higher percentage of geniuses in the autistic population than in the neurotypical population, and I know autistics can spend a huge amount of time on a focused area of interest, which can lead to discoveries that might not be made otherwise. But to say that neurotypicals are only interested in money or other personal gain, and not into learning for the sake of learning is just wrong.
I know many of them are definitely motivated like that, but many are not. In Australia, until this year, there has been a huge mining boom and geologists were able to earn huge amounts of money working for the mining companies. In fact, there has been a worldwide shortage of geologists for years. Yet my University still had a few teachers, and researchers, choosing to pursue science instead. The ones I know are all NT's, and there is no way they were served better by staying than going into the industry.
Class sizes used to be about 5-8 individuals, only about a dozen year ago. Now they are 35-45 people. I'd say this is pretty telling about proportions of people in geology who are materially motivated.
It is a form of prejudice to say NT's are all materialistic and devoid of curiosity. Also silly.

Sorry if I'm asking to much but: Wouldn't a career path generally in Science and math be problematic for me because of those poor results? The Block Design subtest will probably inpact in my life later on and I do not wanna regret that decision, yet I scored high on Matrix Reasoning for some apparent reason that I have no clue about. Is this a stereotypical Aspie-NT problem or is this considered a right hemisphere dysfunction (please answer this one)? I also read in wikipedia about Iq were they mentioned that people with a below-average intelligence are unproductive/efficent, is it true in this case? Will I be a slow learning invidual with no what so ever progress academically in the scientific subjects? Also how is it possible to score EXTREMELY low on Block Design yet high at Matrix Reasoning if they're related to eachother, both of them require the visual aspect of the brain to work at advanced levels, yet low on block design.

So if I'm not fitting as a scientist what should I do otherwise if It's the only branch I wanna work on, I don't wanna be a slow scientist (if I am slow?) because that is not really what the society is demanding on right now... I'm really serious, I'm not showing a slightest interest in any other topics unrelated to astrophysics and if I cannot accomplish it it would be a huge disappointment, it even makes me upset by thinking of it.

And again sorry if I'm asking to much, I tend to ask for to much information or ask repetitive questions without noticing it.

Matrix reasoning indicates that you are good at non-verbal fluid reasoning, and it is good sign that you scored high at that.

Block design, I am not sure why you had such problems with this subtest, but was it motor problem or visual problem?

To gauge your potential in math and science, I would say to take math and science classes in school or try to study a subject like physics on your own and see if it comes easily to you, if you find it easy to understand the topics and can figure out how to do most of the problems. That is bester indicator than IQ subtests. Also, read science articles (scientific american is good source) and see if you are interested in science research and to start getting your brain to think in research way beyond textbook knowledge.

If you are really into math, there is a book called "problem-solving strategies" by arthur engel, that someone told me about, and it is 400 pages of math math math teaching you to think well in different ways.

A good physics book (many many many pages of physics) is "The Road to Reality" by Roger Penrose.

I'm not very sure about it. When I took the test the psychologist gave I just found it very hard to manipulate them and placing them correctly as the image tells me to, even if it is the most simplistic thing anyone can do, I just couldn't "find" it. Might be a motoric problem because I never think on how to do it before, instead I just "experiment" by doing it like a zombie, if that explains anything. I simply don't or cannot visualize when doing something, I literally cannot do two things at once.

Maybe being a genius is just the way someone is inclined to use their mind. It seems that ASD people love to think about and solve problems of a scientific and concrete nature rather than thinking about their relation to the world of other people or what movie stars and sports figures are doing.
Maybe the reason for the way a person is inclined to use their mind has to do with the way their brain is wired and structured, not necessarily that their brain works better or more efficiently, but just that it works differently.

I don't think that you have to worry about this problem for physics, eggsp. theoretical.

Maybe for eggsperimental physics or anything that involves working with your hands (how are you at working with your hands?), it would be problem, but I sucked at this kind of physical manipulation + multi-tasking until I majored in chemistry and did hours and hours and hours of eggsperiments, after which I became good at it through lots of practice.

Quantum, try to put the IQ test results aside for one moment and think practically.

You're a teenager and still in high school, right? What are your grades like? If you're passing with high or even just good grades then that's all you need to focus on right now. If you're not passing well then try to lift those grades. Then you will be able to enroll in the university courses you would like to take. Then just focus on those grades. One step at a time. Nobody has ever asked for my IQ results when I've applied for a job. They want to know if I have the skills for the job and nothing else. Focus on getting the grades that will get you the right qualifications.

You can't predict your future career success based on the parts of an IQ test. It gives you an idea of some strengths and weaknesses but it can't give you absolute certainty of what you can or can't accomplish. Your IQ suggests that yes, you may take longer and need to work harder than someone like me to learn things. However I have no interest in astrophysics so will not study it so you are likely to accomplish more than I ever will in that area.

There is an element of truth to the children's story of the tortoise and the hare. Are you familiar with it? Sadly, intellectually I am like the hare. You could well be like the slow and steady tortoise who 'wins the race', so to speak.

I'm really trying hard to achieve good grades in HS and I'm making HUGE progress, example: Before I went to HS I was exeptionally bad at mathematics but as I took these advanced mathematical courses in the first grade of natural science class (when I sucked at it) I started to learn very quickly when it came to math for some reason, the only problem is that the teacher has to explain things several times in order for me to comprehend it or know what to do. I had a mathematics test today and I have to admitt I did very poorly, I studied 3-4 chapters in mathematics about everything possibly for beginner math and then, the examination was full of problem solving (Much text is what I mean, I don't understand what to do then) and nearly nothing about what I was studying which is unfair. Also is problem solving a issue for aspergians or is it just that most of them need concrete instructions on what to do?

I probably have a few hundred more questions but I will try to keep them for myself xD

Well that's excellent! Firstly because you are making progress and improving and secondly because you have identified a couple of areas in which you are struggling. Now you know what to try to change so you will do better.

Try talking to your teacher about getting the information in a different format. If you struggle with verbal instructions then ask for them written but in bullet points, small concise phrases or diagrams (whichever you find easiest) so that you can follow them. Many Aspies seem to have auditory processing issues, if WP is anything to go by.

When you are faced with a large block of text in a problem, try going through it and underlining or highlighting the key words and information you need to be able to place into an equation. The way it is presented is to test if you can identify the information you will need then apply it correctly. If you're not sure how to do that then ask someone to help you. I am good at problem solving and this is a simple technique that even I still use as an adult. I skim the problem to get an idea of the scenario and look for the key information I will need to use to solve it. The instructions are given, just in a different way. Worded problems require some reading comprehension skills combined with math.

It's also a good idea to tell the teacher you are trying to improve your grades and ask the teacher which parts of the course work will be covered in the next test. If they say something unhelpful like "all of it" ask them which areas are given the most weight so that you can concentrate on studying and practicing those more thoroughly. That will help you plan your time so you don't wear yourself out studying things which aren't important.

Finally, there are a lot of people on WP who are good at math. If you're studying and need help with a specific concept then come and post and I'm sure someone with a special interest in math will be happy to give you a little guidance. Most of us love to discuss our special interests!

Thank you all for the very helpful advices . But this is the last question (I hope?) for now, that I need to understand a bit more:

How can I improve my Reading/Listening comprehension, do I simply read books that contains 700 pages (Not literally)? I tend to read scientific articles mostly but I still can't comprehend it so I have to read each sentence 2-5 times. Is that the only way of improving it, to read texts carefully repeditly until I can understand it all? Even if I do it I will end up missing very important content of the texts which might result in inaccurate facts for example during a test. Also I have a interest in Sci-Fiction books, any good ones out there? Is a Space Oddysey[b]good?

Sorry again for the amount of questions

When I read science articles, I don't worry about meaning of each sentence, but just read quickly the article to get the idear of the science concepts involved, and what the research ackshuly was. The more you read, the faster and bester you will be at doing this. Also, most science articles come with informative figures and tables, which you may understand bester than words, so look at these to get the concepts.

Good scifi, I recommend Isaac Asimov, the Robot series and the Foundation series, and other standalone books like The Gods Themselves. Also Frank Herbert's Dune series.

Depends on why you cannot comprehend the articles (I'm assuming you're talking about popular science articles). My experience is that they create more questions than they answer because they do little or nothing to explain how the scientists conducted their experiments and interpreted the findings. Also, even more so than science in general, pop sci articles rely heavily on metaphors to explain things, so it's quite difficult to figure out just what they are talking about, especially if one is not familiar enough with the scientific lingo to know the concrete facts behind the metaphors.



Well, I like old-school sci-fi, so it's Jules Verne and H.G. Wells for me. Also Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis.

What do you mean Bohr's trumpet isn't blown? Because he isn't a household name? Well Einstein probably caught on because of the whole World War II thing...

This thread is crazy...Ya got people implying everyone is a genius, people mad Michaelangelo isn't a genius, and others downplaying the genius of Einstein and Newton,
It's 2013...Science is built off of other already discovered science. So I guess the car was a "hack" invention since the wheel was made so long ago??

Correct, Bohr is not a household name. Why is Einstein? Everyone know who he is, and his equation, but no-one understands the physics except physicists, who DO know damn well who Bohr is. There are T-shirts and bobble head dolls of Einstein sold today - his name is a massive industry - yet most of the product purchasers only know that 'he came up with the theory of relativity, and the equation E=mc^2', and they have no idea what those things even mean. Most people don't even know how big a part he played in the war. They know nothing but the hype. Einstein's fame in the general public eye is ALL about hype and marketing, and nothing else. Only people who know enough about physics are actually capable of appreciating the value of his ideas.

OP...if your grades are not good enough, you may not get accepted into a University. But you can still do work until they are good enough, if you need more time. Some Universities do accept anyone with the requisite knowledge, even if they took a little longer to get it. They need to know you are capable of passing the courses. At my Uni, you can study science part time, so you can spend more time on each subject, and there is a lot of help and support available. They have tutorials, and a science room with tutors on hand, and all sorts of options to help you get through the courses. You may want to find out at your available Universities if that is the case there also. You could get a degree even if you don't have the IQ, but you will need to work a little harder. Uni is quite difficult, especially after first year.

I did astrophysics. First and second year were pretty straightforward. They were about learning facts and concepts, and equations, and how to apply them. The hardest thing was converting Units. You always had to watch the Units in the data and equations, and make sure you kept them consistent or correctly converted, eg. kilometres, astronomical units, to light years, to parsecs to megaparsecs or whatever. If you do this, then you should spend a lot of time practicing these equations so that you can get a high enough grade on exams to pass your course.
Third year was quite difficult. There were some very difficult concept to understand, such as the limits of what we could observe, and why, and what this means to our understanding of the expansion of the universe.
The other things you need to keep in mind is that you won't become an astrophysicist without a PhD. I think that is much harder to get.
I absolutely do not want to discourage you. You must not think an IQ test is predictive of success or failure. They are indicative of some things, but they do not mean you cannot be what you want. I love astrophysics, and would have been happy just to be a slave working under astrophysicists, if the option was available to me. You might find as time progresses that you have all of the necessary strengths to succeed, even if you have other weaknesses. You won't know from reading our opinions. Don't be afraid to try. But be prepared face challenges.

"Talent hits a target nobody else can hit.
Genius hits a target nobody else can see."
- Arthur Schopenhower

There are many kinds of intelligence, and a surplus in one area usually goes with a deficit in another. Perhaps we could say that the lower one's various intelligence ratings, the less significant will be the things that you might be a genius at. I once watched a carpenter remove the skin of an apple as one continuous strip, using the edge of his tape measure.