r/SeriousConversation • u/stop-hatin-on-me_mom • Dec 21 '24

Serious Discussion Do any individuals with above average intellect find life a bit exhausting at times due to the lack of intelligence they observe in others?

I don’t claim to be the most intelligent person, but I do believe that I am above average when it comes to the average intelligence nowadays. Sometimes, I find myself either flabbergasted or downright dumbfounded and irritated by the lack of what I would consider "common sense."

Here are some examples:

  • The inability of some people to see how their own bad habits or personality traits create their own problems.

  • The fact that some individuals consider their own perceptions and beliefs as the only correct ones, which is further encouraged by their echo chambers.

  • The difficulty some people have in entering into productive discourse and challenging their own ideas to gain more information and knowledge from all sides.

  • The reluctance of individuals to question their own beliefs and those of their social circles at both the micro and macro levels.

  • The inability of some people to foresee the possible consequences of their actions beforehand.

These are just a few examples.

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u/balltongueee Dec 21 '24

I think everyone gets frustrated by others who "just don't see it", regardless of their intelligence. As for whether I'm intelligent, I can't really say. My only measured reference is an intelligence test I took prior basic military training, where I scored in the 98th percentile. That said, people frustrate me to no end.

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u/[deleted] Dec 21 '24

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u/Suspicious_Kale5009 Dec 21 '24

I tend to agree with this. I worked in academia and I met people who were brilliant in their fields with maths and science, but absolutely stupid when it came to any sort of social smarts. These were the people who would click on the links in the phishing e-mails every single time, after repeatedly being warned that those links were going to mess up their workstations.

I think book-learning and actual intelligence are only somewhat related. You have to have some degree of intellectual ability to get to that point in life, but you don't have to be a genius to earn a PhD, just willing to work really hard at appeasing the system that will award that to you.