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Any high IQ people here?

Shawn October 22, 2021 at 23:33 11500 views 75 comments
As a child I grew up knowing that school was something very mundane and standardized according to the norm. As some of you may know, the average IQ is usually 100. A doctor or lawyer will have 120 IQ. The higher your IQ the closer you are at attaining a label such as 'gifted' or 'genius'. The quotient of 'genius' begins at 140.

When I was about 15, I scored the ceiling on most abstract tests that my father took me to. That was around 160 IQ. In my adult years I took some heavy g weighted tests and scored pretty low. All I know is that I score the maximum on cognitive complexity and abstract measures of intelligence, with some fMRI scans indicating very efficient neural networks for intelligence. But, due to lack of interest in knowledge in my youth I remained very low on the g factor describing memory and knowledge. I don't memorize things easily and I have to spend time utilizing the Loci method or chunking or other tools at memorizing information. I have pretty much specialized all my interests in philosophy, mostly.

I have a question about my situation and whether anyone relates to it? My IQ is very high for hallmark features of superior IQ, and yet my memory of what symbolic representations by numbers or associative memory of analogous reasoning fall short. What should I do about this?

I plan on applying to a 160+ IQ group, called Promethean Society to chat with more people for intellectual stimulation and such. Are there any high IQ people on this forum and what would you have to say about my situation? I enjoy reading journals of high IQ groups like the Mega Society, called Noesis.

Thanks and regards.

Comments (75)

I like sushi October 23, 2021 at 00:42 #610499
Quoting Shawn
What should I do about this?


Take up some form of art.
Caldwell October 23, 2021 at 00:46 #610501
.
Nils Loc October 23, 2021 at 00:58 #610507
Quoting Shawn
What should I do about this?


Try to persuade your farmer/owner not to turn you into bacon to buy more time. I'm sure they'll spot an exceptionally bright pig with the help of some other high IQ animal who can spell words.
Tom Storm October 23, 2021 at 01:01 #610508
A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti.
Wheatley October 23, 2021 at 01:02 #610509
Quoting Shawn
Any high IQ people here?

I'm actually very dumb because I guessed all the questions on the IQ test. As a result, I have a very low IQ. :cry:

praxis October 23, 2021 at 01:04 #610510
Quoting Shawn
What should I do about this?


Me no understand question.
Shawn October 23, 2021 at 01:08 #610513
Idk, it's kind of strange that when you look at philosophy, you definitely encounter something of a unconscious urge to get smarter.

Would Plato have still produced his works with an average IQ?

I wonder, because the counterfactual almost doesn't obtain when you reduce their IQ's.
Manuel October 23, 2021 at 01:09 #610514
James Riley October 23, 2021 at 01:10 #610515
Quoting praxis
Me no understand question.


Mongo just pawn in game of life.
Wheatley October 23, 2021 at 01:11 #610516
You can actually practice IQ tests to get better at them.
praxis October 23, 2021 at 01:11 #610517
Reply to James Riley

Long live the pawns!
Janus October 23, 2021 at 01:12 #610520
Reply to Shawn I scored very high on IQ tests in school and I didn't even really try; parents were told near genius. I've done online tests and scored between 140- 160. I came second last in the year in the higher school certificate exam (spent half of year 11 and all of year 12 experimenting with LSD and Psylocibin).

I don't set much store in IQ tests though. Someone said "intelligence is the ability to grasp complex relations". That says nothing about the speed required by IQ tests, and it also obviously requires a good memory. The other important thing about intelligence that IQ tests cannot measure is the ability to see what's salient and having a good imagination.

Manuel October 23, 2021 at 01:13 #610521
I suggest you take a look a Chris Langan's "CTMU Theory". The highest IQ in the world, or at least in the US.

It's quite remarkable.
Wheatley October 23, 2021 at 01:15 #610523
Quoting Shawn
Would Plato have still produced his works with an average IQ?

Idk, the theory of forms seems abstract.
hanaH October 23, 2021 at 01:19 #610528
Quoting Wheatley
You can actually practice IQ tests to get better at them.


Which, incidentally, doesn't increase my regard for IQ tests.
Wheatley October 23, 2021 at 01:21 #610529
Shawn October 23, 2021 at 01:35 #610535
Reply to Janus

Yeah, I notice you usually post interesting things about anything philosophy related.

Hmm, LSD and psilocybin, I tried microdosing LSD at college, and it definitely pushes you in 'some' direction to try harder or encourages some kind of creativity in effort towards aims and goals. I also took Psilocybin after college to reduce anger in my life. I'm pretty sure it helped with that.

I'm not sure how much of IQ is navel gazing or just ego inflation. I tend to think that the cult of individualism comes off as inflated in human civilization. Yet, it seems true that Newton, Spinoza, Shakespeare, and Aristotle had very high IQ's.
Shawn October 23, 2021 at 01:40 #610541
Quoting Manuel
I suggest you take a look a Chris Langan's "CTMU Theory". The highest IQ in the world, or at least in the US.

It's quite remarkable.


Ah, I haven't spent too much time reading it; but, I think I might look into it.

What are your thoughts about it?
Janus October 23, 2021 at 01:44 #610544
Quoting Shawn
Yet, it seems true that Newton, Spinoza, Shakespeare, and Aristotle had very high IQ's.


That is probably true, although we cannot get them to do a test. I have read that Einstein's IQ was "only" about 160, but I don't know if he was tested or if it is an estimate. I remember when I was a kid I read a book that estimated the IQs of some of the greats. From memory (take the precision of the actual figures with a grain of salt, but I think my memory of the order is right), I think they scored da Vinci at 170. Goethe at 190 and Leibniz at 210.
Manuel October 23, 2021 at 01:45 #610545
Reply to Shawn

I can't make heads or tails of it.

I suspect that part of the problem might be that he thinks himself so smart, he gets lost in jargon. He seems to mix theology with physics and argues that the universe is a language and that he has developed a metatautological system which can't be refuted.

So...
Wheatley October 23, 2021 at 01:46 #610546
Quoting hanaH
Which, incidentally, doesn't increase my regard for IQ tests.

According to Wiki: Psychometricians generally regard IQ tests as having high statistical reliability.(link)

Wheatley October 23, 2021 at 01:50 #610549
Quoting Manuel
I suggest you take a look a Chris Langan's "CTMU Theory".

There's a very interesting Quora page on "CTMU".

https://www.quora.com/What-do-scientists-think-of-Chris-Langans-CTMU
Manuel October 23, 2021 at 01:53 #610551
Reply to Wheatley

:up:

Thanks for sharing, will check it out.
Wheatley October 23, 2021 at 01:53 #610552
The Man With The World’s Highest IQ, Christopher Langan, Is Gaining A Following On The Far Right
https://forward.com/news/breaking-news/421234/christopher-langan-alt-right/
Shawn October 23, 2021 at 01:56 #610555
Quoting Janus
That is probably true, although we cannot get them to do a test. I have read that Einstein's IQ was "only" about 160, but I don't know if he was tested or if it is an estimate.


Yes, that's what I heard also. He actually is often quoted with saying that the cult of individualism is so highly regarded that he found it close to or actually grotesque.

Similarly, Newton stated he was peering through the shoulders of giants before him in his own discoveries.

Have you heard of John Von Neumann?
hanaH October 23, 2021 at 01:58 #610556
Reply to Wheatley
Thanks!


Psychometricians generally regard IQ tests as having high statistical reliability.[14][82] Reliability represents the measurement consistency of a test.[83] A reliable test produces similar scores upon repetition.[83]


I'm not surprised by this at all. Note that this does not say that they are reliable indicators of other kinds of ability.

I will say this: intuitively, a person incapable of complex work in the real world is probably incapable of scoring well on an IQ test. It's also intuitively plausible that those who do well on an IQ test are more likely to be able to handle complex real-world tasks.

That said, is it not strange to fetishize tests that merely suggest the possibility of achievement as opposed to the achievement itself? Such tests seems like a cost-effective hack to me. It's cheaper to print 500 copies of a sequence of pattern games and crunch some stats than to give children opportunities to development and demonstrate their intelligence in more realistic ways.
hanaH October 23, 2021 at 02:09 #610557
Quoting Janus
I have read that Einstein's IQ was "only" about 160, but I don't know if he was tested or if it is an estimate.


I did a quick calculation. An IQ of 160 indicates that one scored better than about 97.72% of fellow test takers. This means that that roughly 2.28% of test takers score better than a 160 IQ.

EDIT: I mistakenly used SD = 30 as opposed to SD=15 in the calculation above. An IQ of 160 is very much in the top percentile.

In my opinion, a percentile score would be more informative and less misleading. It's not hard to do the conversion (https://onlinestatbook.com/2/calculators/normal_dist.html), but why not just percentiles to begin with? Or would that be too demystifying?
Wheatley October 23, 2021 at 02:15 #610559
Quoting hanaH
I'm not surprised by this at all. Note that this does not say that they are reliable indicators of other kinds of ability.

There's a famous book called The Bell Curve that argues all sorts of connections between IQ and abilities. The book has long since attracted a ton of criticism because it links race and IQ.

Quoting hanaH
I will say this: intuitively, a person incapable of complex work in the real world is probably incapable of scoring well on an IQ test. It's also intuitively plausible that those who do well on an IQ test are more likely to be able to handle such complex tasks.

I agree. Some people are smarter than other. Just a fact of life.

Quoting hanaH
That said, is it not strange to fetishize tests that merely suggest the possibility of achievement as opposed to the achievement itself?

I don't think it was meant for vanity. There's a horrible history of people misusing the IQ test (racism, eugenics). The test was originally used to help school children. I like what Steven Hawking said “People who boast about their I.Q. are losers.”

Janus October 23, 2021 at 02:18 #610560
Reply to hanaH I've always felt it's counterintuitive that one person in fifty would have a genius level IQ.
Janus October 23, 2021 at 02:23 #610561
Reply to Shawn :up:

Quoting Shawn
Have you heard of John Von Neumann?


I have, but I know little about him. I think I have a book by or about him somewhere on my shelves, but I haven't read it.

hanaH October 23, 2021 at 02:27 #610564
Quoting Wheatley
I don't think it was meant for vanity. There's a history of people misusing the IQ test (racism, eugenics). The test was originally used to help school children. I like what Steven Hawking said “People who boast about their I.Q. are losers.”


I can imagine practical uses for the test, like steering children through some system.

But when adults give it too much thought, I imagine they've never done intellectual work with smart people. When you are kid and no one trusts you with anything real, they give you a pencil and a test. In the real world, there are actual, difficult problems to be solved...as well as financial rewards for solving them (or the adoration of the curer of cancer, etc.)
180 Proof October 23, 2021 at 02:30 #610565
hanaH October 23, 2021 at 02:35 #610566
Quoting Janus
I've always felt it's counterintuitive that one person in fifty would have a genius level IQ.


I know what you mean. 'Genius' makes me think especially of artistic genius (Van Gogh, etc.). It's hilariously banal to apply this old word to someone who merely aces an abstract pattern recognition test. Obviously it's cool to do well, but still....
hanaH October 23, 2021 at 02:40 #610567
Quoting Shawn
Have you heard of John Von Neumann?


I've heard that Von Neumann was to brilliant people as brilliant people are to normal people, and it's the brilliant people who said so (and who else would be in a position to do so?).

Probably Von Neumann would or did destroy an IQ test, but that's trivial compared to the work he did, which is what surely impressed those brilliant people who could half-understand him (or rather understand him by taking much longer than he did to arrive at the thought.)
Wheatley October 23, 2021 at 02:40 #610568
Quoting hanaH
But when adults give it too much thought, I imagine they've never done intellectual work with smart people.

Perhaps.
Quoting hanaH
When you are kid and no one trusts you with anything real, they give you a pencil and a test.

Exactly! The video I posted early, physicist Michio Kaku argues that IQ is merely "bookkeeping" ability. He mentions other forms of intelligence (such as planning and scheming).
Quoting hanaH
In the real world, there are actual, difficult problems to be solved...as well as financial rewards for solving them.

Yeah, and some problems require other brain abilities (besides IQ): coordination, organization, time management, rational thinking, etc..
Shawn October 23, 2021 at 02:44 #610570
Quoting hanaH
I've heard that Von Neumann was to brilliant people as brilliant people are to normal people, and it's the brilliant people who said so (and who else would be in a position to do so?).

Probably Von Neumann would or did destroy an IQ test, but that's trivial compared to the work he did, which is what surely impressed those brilliant people who could half-understand him (or rather understand him by taking much longer than he did to arrive at the thought.)


Yes, he was called Johnny by his peers at Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project.

It's amazing how quickly he understood the implications of Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem's right after his seminar.
hanaH October 23, 2021 at 02:49 #610571
Quoting Wheatley
Exactly! The video I posted early, physicist Michio Kaku argues that IQ is merely "bookkeeping" ability. He mentions other forms of intelligence (such as planning and scheming)


Just watched it. Nice vid!

Quoting Wheatley
Yeah, and some problems require other brain abilities (besides IQ): coordination, organization, time management, rational thinking, etc..


Right. So the test, maybe good for some things, is maybe just overblown.

"Smith just cured cancer. Now let's see what he can do with an IQ test...."

hanaH October 23, 2021 at 02:51 #610572
Quoting Shawn
It's amazing how quickly he understood the implications of Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem's right after his seminar.


Yeah, that's what I had in mind. I also am becoming more interested in economics and game theory...as something like the heart of reality...and that makes me relate to him (on the level of interest anyway.) I also like CS, and he was deep in that. A god among men, a superman, an anomaly.
180 Proof October 23, 2021 at 03:01 #610574
SQ (stupidity quotient) tests taken at the end of primary school, again at the end of secondary school and then lastly at the end of professional school (e.g. law, medicine, finance, a research science) would be, IMO, far more useful to society as a criterion for disqualifying idiots from being allowed to squat in high places since, apparently, it is the well above average level of stupidity endemic in the intellectual (bureaucratic) & decision-making classes that is chiefly responsible for the persistently deplorable state of many developed societies (re: climate change, WMD proliferation, human trafficking, neoliberalization, etc). :mask:
DingoJones October 23, 2021 at 03:03 #610576
Reply to 180 Proof

Amen :up:
Manuel October 23, 2021 at 03:07 #610580
Reply to 180 Proof

:clap:

Facts. Well said.
Wheatley October 23, 2021 at 03:10 #610581
Quoting hanaH
Right. So the test, maybe good for some things, is maybe just overblown.

Who knows?

Shawn October 23, 2021 at 03:11 #610582
Shawn October 23, 2021 at 03:12 #610584
Reply to 180 Proof

So, essentially your not happy with the test or criteria?
Janus October 23, 2021 at 03:13 #610585
Quoting 180 Proof
it is the well above average level of stupidity endemic in the intellectual (bureaucratic) & decision-making classes that is chiefly responsible for the persistently deplorable state of many developed societies (re: climate change, WMD proliferation, human trafficking, neoliberalization, etc). :mask:


Most likely that and the well above average level of complacency and corruption in those classes. That said, I guess complacency and corruption could arguably be seen as functions of stupidity. :wink:
Janus October 23, 2021 at 03:14 #610586
Reply to Shawn Does the perpetually nodding imbecile there have a high IQ?
Shawn October 23, 2021 at 03:15 #610588
Reply to Janus

I don't know man. It's Jack fucking Nicholson, so who gives two shits?
180 Proof October 23, 2021 at 03:26 #610590
Reply to Shawn Are you?
Shawn October 23, 2021 at 03:28 #610591
Reply to 180 Proof

It wouldn't be an intelligence test if it was about, as you say, "Quoting 180 Proof
deplorable state of many developed societies (re: climate change, WMD proliferation, human trafficking, neoliberalization, etc)
"

So, your argument is a non sequitur, no?
Shawn October 23, 2021 at 03:29 #610594
What your basically asking for is a competency test, no @180 Proof?
180 Proof October 23, 2021 at 03:30 #610595
Reply to Shawn I don't think so. That you've quoted me out of context amounts to a non sequitur.
Shawn October 23, 2021 at 03:31 #610597
Reply to 180 Proof

But, you do agree that what you describe as a competency test doesn't amount in any manner to psychometric IQ testing?
180 Proof October 23, 2021 at 03:33 #610599
Reply to ShawnReply to Shawn Stupidity test. Stupidity. Test. How you get "competency" from that only you would know, Mr. "160". :roll:
Shawn October 23, 2021 at 03:35 #610601
Reply to 180 Proof

So, I take it your not happy with the test...
Wheatley October 23, 2021 at 03:36 #610602

5:00 psychometrics is not useful for judging individuals. It's useful at scale (studying populations).
180 Proof October 23, 2021 at 03:38 #610603
Reply to Shawn IQ tests are irrelevant because they are not predictive. As Michio Kaku says "they are just bookkeeping".
Shawn October 23, 2021 at 03:40 #610604
Reply to 180 Proof

Predictive of what?
180 Proof October 23, 2021 at 03:53 #610606
Reply to Shawn IQ tests are not predictive of anything useful to either the test taker or society. MENSA is merely a club for high aptitude underachievers. Big whup.
Shawn October 23, 2021 at 03:57 #610607
Reply to 180 Proof

So, since you use the term, "high aptitude" I suppose you see this as non relevant to academic achievement? I mean, the correlation is pretty strong between the two.
180 Proof October 23, 2021 at 04:22 #610610
Reply to Shawn For such a self-described "high IQ" fella you sure do make a lot of hasty generalizations, Shawn.
god must be atheist October 23, 2021 at 04:23 #610611
Quoting 180 Proof
IQ tests are not predictive of anything useful to either the test taker or society. MENSA is merely a club for high aptitude underachievers. Big whup.


IQ is a measure of a quality. Other qualities exist, which may enhance or diminish what success one with a high IQ may achieve. On the other hand, even the concept of "success" is at stake, or rather, a matter of individual preference, which is subjective, and is therefore not a good benchmark.

Some say success is the individual's ability at reproducing his or her own DNA in the largest number of replication. In this case, people with the highest success, and therefore the most intelligent, are Mick Jagger, Madonna (the singer / songwriter), several boxers and several basketball players. While the bottom of the totem pole of success are those with no DNA derivatives of their own; such are Hitler, Jesus Christ, most Catholic clergymen, and people who are born dead or are
eaten soon after they get born.
Shawn October 23, 2021 at 04:29 #610612
Reply to 180 Proof

Sure, whatever floats your boat. Call it a stupidity test as you did, whatever that means.
180 Proof October 23, 2021 at 04:50 #610613
Reply to Shawn I've told you already what that means. Use some of my that "160" and read what I wrote charitably like you want to understand as a few others have already. You may disagree but at least you might then stop asking irrelevant or deflective questions (this exchange doesn't have to be an impromptu "SQ" test / quiz for you).
Shawn October 23, 2021 at 04:57 #610614
Sure, have at this part:

Quoting 180 Proof
IMO, (certain tests) (are) far more useful to society as a criterion for disqualifying idiots from being allowed to squat in high places


I filled in the parts in parenthesis. Are these tests actual IQ tests?
TheMadFool October 23, 2021 at 05:26 #610618
Quoting Wheatley
I'm actually very dumb


Silence is golden! :chin:
TheMadFool October 23, 2021 at 05:27 #610619
:flower:
god must be atheist October 23, 2021 at 06:10 #610627
Quoting 180 Proof
IMO, (certain tests) (are) far more useful to society as a criterion for disqualifying idiots from being allowed to squat in high places


Admission tests to law school and graduate school. Pure IQ tests, to decide who gets in and who does not.
180 Proof October 23, 2021 at 07:55 #610646
Reply to Shawn Apparently, your IQ is too high to read an entire paragraph and thereby contextualize the sentences you choose to quote.

Reply to god must be atheist Proves my point.
I like sushi October 23, 2021 at 10:47 #610671
The g factor is a thing. That is about all we know. The IQ test was originally made to distinguish children with mental issues so they could be better taught in a more specialised environment. They were never intended to measure the high end of the scale only find the lower end so they could be helped out.

IQ tests that score higher and higher are less and less accurate. IQ tests now also come in many different forms aimed at different groups.

We know higher IQ (g factor) generally relates to higher all round achievement but it isn’t necessary for high achievement (whatever that maybe) nor does having a higher IQ mean you’ll ‘achieve’ anything.

There is a lot of misconceptions surrounding IQ tests. The bottomline is they do measure something generally referred to in the field as the g factor (but it is not an amazingly accurate measure of g and we don’t even know exactly what g is other than to say the higher it is in some individuals the more it seems they’re able to solve novel problems others cannot or do so quicker than others can.

Really though comparing people in this manner is kind of pointless as it is like comparing the art of a musician to the art of a sculptor. We can roughly agree on what music is passable and what sculptures are okay, but cross comparisons only hold so much weight. A bad singer can be successful and a great singer can receive no success. Mostly it seems to be down to planning and hard work when it comes to success, yet for extraordinary success a latent ability and/or luck are key ingredients.

Note: By ‘success’ I mean creations and/or solving problems not ‘living a good life’.
jorndoe October 23, 2021 at 12:48 #610688
Hey that may actually be predictive, Reply to 180 Proof.
I suppose ethical concerns might be raised (in particular) if it would all be on public record.
I'm guessing surgeon Ben Carson would get a good score.

180 Proof October 23, 2021 at 20:16 #610805
Reply to jorndoe Yes, the world-class neurosurgeon-turned-trump-stooge is a perfect example of a (n apparently) high IQ with a (definitely) high SQ.

Reply to I like sushi :up:
Janus October 23, 2021 at 22:59 #610866
Quoting hanaH
It's hilariously banal to apply this old word to someone who merely aces an abstract pattern recognition test.


Yes, both banal and arbitrary I'd say.
Janus October 23, 2021 at 23:01 #610869
Quoting Shawn
I don't know man. It's Jack fucking Nicholson, so who gives two shits?


Shit, I always thought he was a fuckin' genius; and now I'm confused. :yikes:
MAYAEL November 05, 2021 at 22:18 #617227
The IQ test is a testament to the low intelligence of the inventor and the faculties that implemented
James Riley November 06, 2021 at 16:12 #617520
I wouldn't know no how. Ain't never took one of them there things. I did get unlimited call-backs in the Marine Corps (was them IQ tests?), but they might just been trying to figure how's I could walk; what with being so stupid an all.