Are you really smart? Are you really dumb? Are you average? How did you come to your conclusion?
Are you really smart? Are you really dumb? Are you average? How did you come to your conclusion?
People always tell me I'm smart. And I definitely have some things I'm good at. But I'm pretty dumb about a lot of stuff, but I think that's pretty normal.
Honestly, I try not to think about people in terms of smart/stupid. Everyone has a complicated set of strengths and weaknesses that are slowly changing all the time. Just labeling someone as smart or stupid is overly simplistic.
Yeah, very smart. External validation for years since being tested at like 6 and being told my options were staying in public school and skipping to 5th grade or going to private school where my needs could be met within an age appropriate setting.
Then there were all the tests since where I would score in the 98th percentile or higher.
The most impactful was my professional experience where my coworkers were a decade older than me and I found myself being brought in as an expert on stuff for Fortune 500 CEOs, US cabinet nominees, etc.
And yet there are times I'm straight up an idiot. Like not thinking that I can move the silverware off the napkin and lift it up to my face instead of bringing my face to the napkin. Sometimes my SO will do something simple like adding sugar to cereal I find too bland so I don't eat it, and my brain breaks with the realization that was always an option.
Brains come in a variety, and while I was lucky to get one that aligned in where it excelled with what society measures and values, I've generally found that many people are gifted in some aspect of their brains - it's just unevenly valued by the world around them.
I got very good grades at a top university in a stem subject. Most people regard me as smart. My professor who supervised my masters thesis regarded me as smart. I guess I can consider myself smart.
My brain power helps me with my job, otherwise I do the same things as everybody else.
My best life decisions came from equanimity, introspection and honesty with myself, not from being smart.
I always felt I was "smarter than the average bear" (I think I just dated myself), but I had no solid evidence growing up, besides my mother insisting that I was very smart for my age. I almost skipped 2 grades in elementary school because I was reading adult books before I even started school, and I could write just as well. But my math knowledge was just average, so they didn't want me to get behind if I missed a couple grades.
Despite this, I was a solidly C+/B- student for most of my schooling. I aced the tests placed in front of me, but I hated homework, so I just didn't do it most of the time. I understood the material the first time it was presented to me; I didn't understand why I needed to continually go over it in my free time. It felt like a waste of time. Plus, I had a hard time learning from the teachers. I did much better if I just read the textbook on my own, rather than sitting through a lecture.
In high school, I was failing a few classes. My mother thought I considered myself stupid and was afraid it was wrecking my confidence. Apparently, when she was a kid, she also thought she was stupid. She was failing a bunch of classes, while her eldest sister was getting straight-A's. She got her IQ tested and found out she was actually the smartest of all her siblings - her eldest sister actually had the lowest IQ in their family!
So my mother made it her personal mission to prove I was smart. After all, you're supposed to inherit your intellect from your mother, and my mom had a genius IQ. She hired a psychologist to give me an official IQ test, and to no one's surprise, I tested in the genius range too. So I finally received validation that I was smart.
It didn't fix my grades, though. It turns out, I was getting poor grades because A.) I refused to do homework, which lost me half my grade points alone, and B.) I was bored in class and didn't really pay attention. I would find out 20 years later that I have ADHD, which is why I couldn't pay attention in class. I have very poor auditory learning skills; when people talk to me, my brain shuts off. So lectures were the absolute death of me.
I joined the US Air Force right after high school, and unfortunately, the military requires you to blindly obey orders and not think too hard about things. Everything is dumbed down so the mission can be accomplished, even in the most stressful of scenarios. The Air Force has the strictest tests to qualify for service, and we tend to have the highest intelligent people in the armed services, but it was still a drag. I spent too many years trying to argue logic and reason with my superiors and coworkers, which fell on deaf ears. So I eventually got complacent and started doing the bare minimum to accomplish the mission and get through my days. By the end of my 2 decades of service, I feel like my brain has been through the blender and I feel much dumber than I used to be. Could also be some added PTSD, too.
Now I'm retired at a young age and living a quiet, relaxing life out in the countryside. I'm not too concerned anymore about being smart or dumb, just as long as I can live in peace.
I'm a complete idiot. So probs 30% to 40% smarter than the average American Republican.
Smart enough to:
See the gaps in my knowledge
Know there are gaps I haven’t even found yet
That I have and will continue to do dumb shit
I thought I was smart. And I took a class in college called Critical Theory Since Plato. It was philosophy, although I was dumb enough not to know that. Every class there would be lively discussion on the reading material where everyone was involved. Except me. I had read the material, but it was beyond my understanding. I dare not open my mouth. I just listened to people who were obviously a number of levels more intelligent than I was discuss the assignments.
It was then that I realized that there were people in the world who had a quality of intelligence so much higher than mine that we might not even seem like the same species.
Just like a tall person can see above the heads of everyone in a crowd, they could see things that were impossible for me to see. And those were the "ordinary" smart people.
It gave me a new respect for not only intelligent people, who were very kind to me, but also for those who are on the other end of this spectrum, who through no choice of theirs struggle with daily tasks. And for myself, slightly above average, and happy.
I am very smart in a single field of study and very dumb in normal life. Yay neurodivergence…
Don't care. I'll notice if there is a big difference between me and a person in front of me.
And sometimes one person is ignorant when it comes to one topic and super experienced and knowledgeable with another topic. And I'm the same things with different topics. So I can't even answer if I'm smarter than another person without you giving me a topic. Apart from that, it's just a number. And the benchmarks suck.
How did I come to that conclusion? I don't remember. Guess I have good reasoning skills and a bad memory.
Yes. Yes. Yes. Repetition.
i think I'm quite smart in a narrow field. I'm an idiot at a lot of things
Told frequently I am smart, all evidence available when really considering the question points to actually being of average intelligence, and in some areas phenomenally dumb.
Rambling follows, feel free to ignore or read on if bored.
Something my father told me comes to mind here. I was complimented frequently on being a bright student when I was younger, so with all this flattery in mind I took an online IQ test. It was a pretty good score, though I don't remember what it is (and can't speak to its accuracy - I was a kid, tf did I know about test standards). I rushed up to my dad and told him about it. He sat me down and said "IQ is just a measurement of potential - that's it. It's what you actually do with that potential that's important."
I have not really done much with that potential, if I'm honest with myself. Sure, I got good grades in school, dean's list in university, all that stuff. But when I look at my day to day life - my work, my interests, etc. - I'm struck with this sense that it's the kind of life designed for people who authority figures like to call smart, but only as an appeal to ego to serve the aims of other people. Smart takes on the same meaning as a good boy - you obey the rules, don't make too much trouble, come up with clever solutions to other people's problems, and don't neccessarily put much thought into your own. And where you recognize these problems, they are personal failures - always - that only you can solve, alone. Smart people don't need help - it's 100% false, but it's an hard idea to shake off, simply because the answer I usually got when asking about any problem is "You're smart - you'll figure it out". And I did, mostly - but what about those I couldn't, and still haven't?
The danger here is that being "smart", by dint of repetition more than tangible evidence, becomes a cornerstone in my sense of self. But all those people calling me smart and reinforcing this idea - what did they actually mean? Did they mean I am innately intelligent? Did they mean I was compliant? Did they mean I would do well as a nice little cog in a larger system? Or did they mean I actually had the potential to change something worthwhile?
Over the years, I've come to dislike the term smart given all of the above. I like to sub in clever in most cases, because you don't have to be smart, overall, to come up with a clever idea or solution. The idea of being smart, accepted uncritically, can be a prison. And most of the time it isn't true in any meaningful sense.
Smart, dumb - just try and do cool shit you find interesting. Be kind to other people. Do new things, and be willing to look like an absolute dumbass once and a while. Don't let your sense of intelligence become a complex - no matter who are, you're probably wrong about a lot of shit, go test that as often as you possibly can. You'll probably learn something, no matter how "smart" you are.
I think saying "I am dumb" has a lesser burdon of prrof so there we go.
I'm smart enough to know that I'm dumb.
I am really smart. I am really dumb. I am average.
(smart + dumb) / 2 = average
It seems most likely that I'm average, just like you.
Int score 18 Wis score 16ish Cha score 8 Motivation score 3 Addiction resistance 2
I've been known to be smart since I was 7 or so. It's awful, because my parents assumed that since I could do math I wouldn't have any mental health problems. D&D is nice because it demonstrates there is more to the brain than a single spectrum, but even that falls short.
Average. As a prior it just seems most likely and I'm not really up my own ass enough, nor do I trust myself enough, to fairly account for things that would prove one way or another
I appear incredibly smart when I get to flash my surface level knowledge about a, quite frankly, impressively broad spectrum of topics. But I always feel dumb as hell when people who really know their stuff about some stuff talk about the stuff they know so much about.
I'm either the dumbest smart person or the smartest dumb person. Depends on the day. Lol
I could be smart or I could just be surrounded by a lot of dumb people leading me to think I'm smart 🤔
Thick as pudding. I have lots of skills but can’t do basic maths in my head. Also high in EQ so fell into management roles and my people generally love working with me because I care more about them than the business. This means they are happy and healthy and work well.
I'm smart (IQ tested at average 140 over three runs in school.) I have Asperger's which tends to make you smart intellectually but dumb socially. I'm very dumb socially. I saw a meme that really spoke to me the other day.
Both. Years of evidence. I'm probably autistic, extremely impulsive and have substance abuse issues. So, no matter how intelligent I can be I make a lot of bad decisions. Also, being hungover or high really lowers your ability to be smart and make good decisions.
Uninteresting average
Don't look very handsome or ugly. Just regular
White and screen tan
Work in IT
20 y/o
Not many hobbies. Tech like homelab, biking and ski. That's it.
Not wealthy.I think I'm smart. Not because I have an internal metric, but because others will say that I'm smart.
I'm as oblivious as a brick, but people around me say I'm intelligent, and I get good grades in school, so I must be good at pretending to be smart at least. I can't say if I am actually intelligent in any way. It is kind of hard to tell without being someone's too, if that makes sense.
I'm smart in some ways and dumb in others. I'm not gonna say I'm smart with my qualifications because I have one of the worse social senses I have ever met and there are some topics I am abysmal at
I'm incredibly stupid. Stupendously stupid. I've managed to take all the advantages a white dude from a lower middle class could have and squander them. I'm stuck as a worthless blue collar p.o.s in an open air
sweatshopfactory on the far end of an expensive island.If I were smart I'd be making 100k+ working from home with literally all my friends from highschool that went on to study computer science.
I really don't think I'm able to judge myself on that scale. All I know is I've made some really smart and some REALLY stupid decisions in my life. So... ehh... it evens out?
About average. I have a master's in maths, and am pretty competent at tech stuff. Also do a lot of music. Those are just interests though, really. It's easy to get caught up on the idea that being good at the skills society deems as "valuable" or "smart" means you're in some way objectively smarter than other people. I've just found that isn't remotely the case though. People have different interests, I've heard "dumb" people passionately talk about things they love, going into complex inner-workings that I would have to also spend hundreds of hours trying to wrap my head around. Also, a lot of the "smartest" people I know are utterly clueless at anything social. Sure they may end up as maths researchers but they can't pick up on nuances of social interaction.
Some people would argue that the metric for smartness is a little more set in stone, usually the same people who think that IQ is anything more than an ego-trip to justify MENSA charging people money for a shitty magazine and "proof" that they're smart. It's never felt that simple to me though, there are so mant facets of life to be understood and everyone has different understandings of them
That's always been a tough thing for me to define personally. To me, trying to determine whether you're "really smart" (or not) vs average requires context, I'd need a definition of who I'm comparing to, what subject/fields (or "types" of knowledge), etc.
As others have mentioned, I'm generally good at sensing what I don't know and determining that I need to read up on more about a subject rather than just blindly assuming that I do know it and trying to fix the wiring in my house for example (probably an extreme example, because there's no way I'm ever going to try to do that on my own - even with an infinite time of "research").
I'm a software developer, and my friends claim that this makes me really smart - but when I compare myself to other developers it doesn't feel like that. And yet for being "smart" I am terrible at math.
Maybe its not the simple answer you're looking for, but I guess I feel smart at some things, average in others, and not so smart in certain subjects/fields. I couldn't place myself in a "one-size fits all" answer.
I feel like I'm smart, but then I compare myself to other people and see they're more successful in areas I struggle. I feel like my brain short circuits under stress. I'm my own worst enemy in that regard.
These threads are always midwits with good test scores lamenting they ended up mediocre. Coping they ended up just as an unbiased observer would expect.
I'd say I'm kinda smart sometimes, but kinda dumb sometimes. Supposedly I'm above average but I think it's a wash.
Dumb. Pretty dumb.
First, I often don't get jokes and sarcasm (/j and /s are here for me)
But most importantly, I don't know anything. I don't even know how to start learning any subject. There's so much information out there, and I know basically nothing. I can't even program, which everyone seems to be able to do.There's so much I'd like to get into, but where do I even start with each thing?
I'll try to list some things. Sorry if they'll sound stupid, I am stupid.:
I'd like to better understand GNU+Linux. Get into networking. Currently that's only partially satisfied via CCNA courses provided by school, but Cisco != networking. Programming. C++ looks like a nice option. Learn Morse code. Currently I am doing that via cracked MorseMania app. Get some understanding in computer security by which I mean pen-testing area, and not by using existing scripts. RF electronics. Wouldn't it be cool to design my own RF filters, upconverters, downconverters, amplifiers, etc.? Antenna modeling. I don't want to remain stuck with a dipole forever. Learn using GNURadio. At least graphically using GRC, but C++ would be useful here. Digital Signal Processing. No idea where to start with that. I'd also love to actually understand various modern digital modulation techniques, not just acknowledge their existence. Math. For almost all of the above (and more) I need some better background in math. It should be easier if I could see the actual real world use cases.But I have no idea where to start with anything. And lastly, there's the constraints of time. (And my smooth brain, of course.)
And lastly, social anxiety. I am afraid to speak with people my age. Especially women 💀. But, let's be honest, that definitely saved me from embarrassing scenarios a lot of times.
People say I'm really smart but I think I'm just average tbh. I think I just know how to learn things and I try to keep an open mind to everything.
I perform well in areas I have interests in. Thus, by coincidence, I can appear capable in those areas. I'm also shockingly stupid in other areas. I've noticed a few things about how I learn: it has to be practical. Nothing theoretical will stick, unless put into practice. Thus, school was hell. I am also a devilish combination of a very slow learner who thinks differently about things. When a teacher taught things to the class, everyone got it immediately and I always somehow managed to come up with my own, weird, wrong interpretation of things. Once I have finally learned something, I am very accurate and precise, which is fairly useful in the fields I've worked in. I also have a flexible mind, which is great. I can usually reason outside of the confines most people think within. Which, see school, can be a blessing or a curse.
I've met truly intelligent people. Like, real freaks of nature types. PhDs in aerospace engineering, that sort of thing. Their universal intelligence is something else. It has shown and demonstrated to me beyond a shadow of a doubt that there are levels of comprehension, both in the uptake and subsequent processing of almost any information, that I will never reach.
But don't for a minute think that these were happy people.
I'd say I'm above average but not a genius, IQ professionally tested at 117.
I have decent logic skills, spatial awareness, but I really think I lack social skills, I have a very hard time picking up social cues and that kind of stuff. That's something an IQ test can't measure and it's my weakest spot.
I'm alright at written arguments when I can take my time and rewrite and make different multidimensional bullet-point lists and tables, but I can't organize ideas or comprehend let alone create arguments verbally. This has led me to believe I'm far below average in terms of verbal sparring. Maybe 25th percentile at most.
I don't do too wonderful remembering things people are saying either, especially in emotionally charged situations like arguments with loved ones. I have to write things to mention down beforehand and write specific actionable items to consider them resolved. I do well in academic lectures only because I take very good notes (not exhaustive; I paraphrase and use inside jokes to remember). I think I'm far below average there too, so for auditory processing maybe. I do my best to practice this by listening to podcasts and YouTubers without subtitles. I often have to rewind 5 or 10 seconds, but I'm getting better, I think. I'm probably around 40th percentile here.
I think I'm better than average at putting ideas into words, maybe 60th or 70th percentile. Unfortunately, that skill is made obsolete by ChatGPT and similar. (I'm not an "AI" evangelist; I just recognize that it is better than me at the common task of using English grammar patterns to make something that sounds plausible out of a list of bullet points and fragmented ideas.)
I think I'm maybe better than average at using search engines and reading manuals to figure out how things work. I learned everything I know about credit cards, CDs, stocks, 401ks, and Roth IRAs from various sources on the interwebs as well as from reading the fine print on the contracts I signed. Maybe 70th percentile.
As a bonus, I'm pretty good at inventing harmony lines to songs. That comes in helpful for songs I cover/write.
Smack dab average, honestly. Within my carreer and special interests I'm knowledgeable, and I speak three (four if you're generous) languages, i've learnt complex skills by myself as well, but give me anything numerical and I will choke. I'm also horrible at reading the room or social cues. I've also done some real stupid decisions before out of pride/stubbornness, and if that ain't stupid I dunno what is.
I average out to average, because I know a lot of things and can figure out some things, but I also have huge gaps. Whether I seem smart or stupid depends a lot on the situation and company.
I know two things. I really like to be right about stuff and if we’re going by the usual tests a majority of people are going to be near average intelligence.
So I’m most likely average and real smug about it.
I’m smart enough to know, that there are loads of smarter people than me, and a lot of them are worth listening to, and by doing that, I’ve become pretty smart myself.
Technically I have a high IQ, but that is just a number. Besides that I consider myself decently if not quite smart. I recognize that I can come up with creative solutions to problems, but most importantly people come to me to ask for help for certain problems, which feels great and I think is a measure of how someone is "smart". I lean less from books and more from association and observation. I also generaly reach high in what I do, but that is more thanks to determination and ambition than pure skills. Of course I also lack in many other things, staying around and understanding people is difficult and making friends is incredibily challenging
The only think if Knowles is that if i'm smart im a failure, if im average im a falure and if im dumb im almost decent but still a failure, i dunno on this point of my life i see myself nothing as a failure and i just want to kms at this point
Technically I have a high IQ, but that is just a number. Besides that I consider myself decently, if not quite, smart. I recognize that I can come up with creative solutions to problems, but most importantly people come to me to ask for help for certain things, which feels great and I think is good a measure of how someone is "smart". I learn less from books and more from association and observation. I also generaly reach high in what I do, but that is more thanks to determination and ambition than pure skills. Of course I also lack in many other things, staying around and understanding people is difficult and making friends is incredibly challenging
A little above average.
An IQ test a psychiatrist gave me when I was a kid said I was just shy of a couple standard deviations outside the norm, one day I saw it in my parents' filing cabinet.
I definitly dont think I am smart. Other people can get new friends, find love-life , can afford proper apartments, knows how to plan social events, are wellrounded enough in knowledge that they can do trivia quizzes, and can do small-talk about real life stuff, or remember each others names, faces, and what they talked about last time they met. I got so little clue about any of that. Feel seriously dumb sometimes.
I can google very well. I'm a self-learned developer without university education. I can do okay on pop film-music trivia quiz. Can read out a good fiction novel in a single night. So I am above average smart in some VERY narrow fields.
But at least I dont think I know stuff I dont. I know my limits. I defer to people who have more experience than me. So I trust doctors and teachers about vaccinations, I trust that scientists are right about the coming climate changes, and I dont trust in people who have been caught lying before, no matter how much money or power they got. Im not THAT dumb. Sometimes it feels like just that alone puts me above average. But that cant be right, right?
High Intelligence, could most likely become a Mensa member. Incredible emotionally crippled by being bullied, early verbal/speech issues, been in a lots of fights, had motivation issues through university. Doing quite fine now career-wise after changing to IT and saw immediate appreciation for my faculties, but still a emotional mess, though I have a tolerant girlfriend.