Quote:
Originally Posted by abhs  MRip, unfortunately not everyone has the opportunity to take a standardized, psychologist-administered IQ test like the WAIS. Even if they did, there is no way to corroborate their self-reported results on an internet forum. There are high IQ societies which require score validation before admittance but that is another matter.
With that said, I volunteered my IQ because I derive a sense of camaraderie from connecting with like-minded highly intelligent people. We bear a unique similarity that unfortunately is not easy to come across IRL. Having read the replies made by the other posters, I believe most of them had the same intention that I did.
To be honest, I don't peg you as an high-IQ individual. You sound like either a troll or just an ignorant observer. I value skepticism but I am not tolerant of silly attention-whoring boisterousness, especially when it derails a conversation that was headed in such a fantastic direction. First, you tried to shunt us all into a foolish archetype. We do not all live trapped within our thoughts, and closed off to the rest of society. We are not all "idiot-savants" a la Rain Man or William Sidis and ignorant of societal norms. Many high IQ people do in fact exhibit social awkwardness (to an alarming rate at IQs above 150 if we are to believe Mega Society), probably because they are more interested in other things. But that is not the case with all of us, and is a foolish generalization to make. People like you that foster this stigma of social awkwardness around high IQs probably confound the problem more than anyone else. Generalizations and leaky heuristics are the mark of low intelligence. Secondly, I don't know what bodily orifice you are pulling these statistics out of - as they are wrong - but your reasoning is faulty to begin with. I volunteered my IQ at 150. That is about three standard deviations above the norm, making me about a 1 in 1000 individual.. meaning that I have a .1% probability of occurring. I imagine if I used your reasoning to determine the chances of a large TNS meeting occurring they would be infinitesimally small, and I could use that number as a gimmick to compare it with the chance of me getting hit by lightning 6 times in my life while becoming a part-time NBA player slash part-time rock star.
However, TNS meetings do occur.. and high-IQ people do congregate, because we like to talk to each other and share ideas. Even at TNS meetings though, it is exceedingly rare for me to meet like-minded high IQ people that share the same spiritual beliefs or thoughts on self-development. Before you hijacked this thread, there were some much more interesting posts on utilizing high-IQ powers of meta-cognition as a means for personal, emotional development. We have more acute powers of observation than others.. maybe not much greater, but definitely greater..
I agree with bluedragon about leveraging mental ability for learning how to handle emotions. I personally have a reductionist approach to my self-development. When I notice a style of thinking that does not seem true to my inner self, I seek to eliminate it. This is my personal m.o. for handling emotions, as my thought patterns and belief systems are ultimately the effectors for my emotions. As a result, I've had much more mitigated negative emotions and enjoyed a happier life. I reached the level of self-awareness by observing my mind, but I know other people that achieve it in other ways. |
I may be a troll, and I certainly may be an ignorant observer, however, I suggest you actually read my posts before replying.
I am not sure what post you read, but your response, however passionate, does not seem to be to my posts.
#1 - I didn't volunteer my IQ. It's nice that you don't peg me as a high IQ individual, but it seems you are refuting an argument that I never made.
#2 - You said my statistics were wrong and that I pulled them from "a bodily orifice". Again, please read my post. I didn't offer any statistics save one; the standard distribution of IQs in the general population. The other numbers were not statistics - they are probabilities calculated using simple math.
#3 - You said that "We are not all 'idiot-savants' a la Rain Man or William Sidis and ignorant of societal norms." I never said that or anything like that either. I went on to describe some of the common interactions you describe as "social awkwardness".
You claim such awkwardness occurs at "alarmingly high rates", then you go on the make almost the exact argument I did, stating that this is "probably because they are more interested in other things."
Thanks for reinforcing my argument.
#4 (and this one is the BEST!). You claim the following:
"I imagine if I used your reasoning to determine the chances of a large TNS meeting occurring they would be infinitesimally small, and I could use that number as a gimmick to compare it with the chance of me getting hit by lightning 6 times in my life while becoming a part-time NBA player slash part-time rock star.
However, TNS meetings do occur.. and high-IQ people do congregate..."
This tells me one thing - your IQ isn't anywhere near 150.
You are effectively saying that because TNS meetings occur, and all the people that come to the meeting have IQs in the top 99.9% of the population, it is then reasonable to believe that of the people who volunteer their IQs on page 6 of this forum, all of them have IQs in the top 1% of the population.
Aren't you missing a little something here?
I'll give you a hint: it has to do with populations.
Let me help you out.
Who can go to TNS meetings? Anyone? I don't think so. In fact, only TNS members can go to TNS meetings. Therefore, the attendees at a TNS meeting are taken from a limited population - TNS members. So, what are the chances of the members at TNS meeting having an IQ in the top 99.9% of the population?
It is not, as you claim, equivalent to the chances of you "getting hit by lightning 6 times in my life while becoming a part-time NBA player slash part-time rock star."
Since the entire population of TNS members have IQs in the top 99.9% of the population, the probablity of all the attendees at a TNS meeting having a 99.9% IQ is exactly 100%.
This forum, on the other hand, is not like a TNS meeting. Who can post on this forum? ANYBODY WHO WANTS TO! Even an ignorant troll observer like myself can post! So, the population from which we are drawing the sample is somewhat different, wouldn't you say?
Your argument might hold water if there were some kind of IQ requirement to post on this forum. Since there is not, however, you seemed to have overlooked a rather important piece of the problem.
I must thank you, however. Your claim of having an IQ of 150 and then making such a gross error in the same post is very helpful to my original argument that many of the people claiming high IQs on this forum are full of ****.