How do people with high IQ think?

[TexasSky]

My IQ once tested at 157. I'm much older now, and the last few tests have come in around 140. I lacked 10 points having a perfect SAT, and I did have a perfect ACT.

I once expressed this to a friend who is a professional psychologist, and added, "I think that has done me more harm than good." He laughed and said, "Probably. People with a high IQ cannot avoid looking at more of the picture than people with IQ's that are not quite as high. Therefore people with high IQ's annoy the rest of the world, and the people with High IQ's are frustrated with the supidity around them."

He elaborated on this by explaining it this way. If the world is a giant set of dominoes lined up to fall, the average person will notice the falling of approximately three of the dominoes and conclude that this is an adequate represenation of what happens if the total line is toppled over. The person with a higher IQ will instantly realize the more likely probabilities of the entire string. They will understand that one dominoe turned just a fraction one way or the other could result in the other dominoes never falling, and that if the dominoes fall on something else, they can trigger a chain reaction in something else. They'll follow the line of the dominoes to the end, and locate the trigger, they'll recognize where the line is likely to break.

They will also be irritated by those who don't bother to examine the line, while simultaneously irritating those who don't want to hear the whole story.

In real life this matters when you get into the world because your comment at a business meeting may be 100 percent correct, but others in the room won't be able to see it. Since three of the four members see only the 3 dominoes, they assume that you are an idiot or the wrong person. When you are proved correct, they are not thrilled and repentant, they are more annoyed.

I believe my friend was mainly correct. I don't think of other people as stupid, but I do get frustrated that people don't look at more of the picture, and they get frustrated that I want to hold them back from their roller coaster rides. I want change and progress. They want the comfort of what they've always known. I want them to understand the limits of time and labor, they want to hear there are no limits. I want them to understand that when the budget you have to operate on for a year is $1,000,000 it does not mean you have $1,000,000 to just blow in any willy nilly way you want. That you have to factor in things like salary obligations to employees, utilities for building operations, maintenance fees, typical supply costs. They want to hear, "Sure, buy that new machine you've always want to try, and don't worry about the cost, you have $1,000,000."

I meet very few people of high IQ who are willing to (perhaps able to) play the games of inner office politics well.

I meet many people who wrongly assume that high intelligence quotion scores equate to instant genius in all fields of study. It does not. Einstein was brilliant at math and science, but you never hear that he was a fantastic english student do you?

We have our limits also. If I had a dime for every time someone told me, "That's the best I've ever seen, but it isn't as good as you could do with your IQ," I'd be as wealthy as Bill Gates. I'm sorry, but these people have no clue what my personal mental limits are. I do have thresholds. My IQ does not make me perfect at anything. It just makes me a little better at some things.

I also get frustrated with people who assume that if I'm not filthy rich, or if I make a typo on a document, or if I answer honestly that I really don't know how to do high level trig, that I must not "really" be smart "after all".

[Curtis2011]

Originally Posted by zpivat

I'm very interested in anything related to intelligence, and to those of you who know you have a high (i.e: 130 or higher) IQ (or at least have been regularly labelled so by your peers), I wonder how you think? How do you analyze information or situations? Are you almost always able to think quickly, solve problems quickly, understand things quickly? Do you think in a visual or abstract way?
Feel free to share anything you can think of

My IQ is 134.


But, a high IQ is only one form of measurement. In particular, it measures one's capacity to identify and understand abstract principles, but only certain types of abstract principles.

Take the term "Genius." What does it mean? Traditionally, it means a high IQ. But realistically, a Genius could be a painter who slaves hours and hours to find just the right color, only to break through his artist's block, and create the perfect physical expression of the beauty he experiences within his creative mind.

A Genius could even be a loving mother who knows just the right words to say in order to calm her crying child.

A Genius could be anyone and in any form.


But particularly related to your question, about the style of thinking itself. I think a lot. I also analyze situations a lot, intuitively and involuntarily.

However, my fondest moments come when the experience of thinking itself, stops. I embrace those moments of absolute Peace, with gratitude.

[Curtis2011]

Originally Posted by TexasSky

Therefore people with high IQ's annoy the rest of the world, and the people with High IQ's are frustrated with the stupidity around them."

...

They will also be irritated by those who don't bother to examine the line, while simultaneously irritating those who don't want to hear the whole story.

Sorry for the double post, but this is a great explanation.

[pensatortoise]

142...how about you? Although we come in different flavors, this link describes me to a "t":

An INTP Profile

Most people differentiate. i seek similitude's. Everything can be reconciled. Through the art of correspondence comes much light.
All the wisdom in the universe is inside of you.

I hope it makes sense but knowing prevents us from KNOWING. What we see is what we view. I've always thought that everyone with a normal brain is a sleeping genius. Exercising resistance instead of conductance, it's preconceived mental log jams that restrict or stop the current, the present, our gift. We are creatures of habit and order. Like triggers being pulled, everything new is weighed against the previous and evokes a response. They brought us out of dust but lines of logic race us away from the center. These are the halls of Karma (action...physical, verbal mental etc..every action has a reaction).

"....every one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle...Jeremiah 8"

INTrePidly yours,
Thorn E. Dawg

[MRip]

Originally Posted by TexasSky

My IQ once tested at 157. I'm much older now, and the last few tests have come in around 140. I lacked 10 points having a perfect SAT, and I did have a perfect ACT.

I once expressed this to a friend who is a professional psychologist, and added, "I think that has done me more harm than good." He laughed and said, "Probably. People with a high IQ cannot avoid looking at more of the picture than people with IQ's that are not quite as high. Therefore people with high IQ's annoy the rest of the world, and the people with High IQ's are frustrated with the supidity around them."

He elaborated on this by explaining it this way. If the world is a giant set of dominoes lined up to fall, the average person will notice the falling of approximately three of the dominoes and conclude that this is an adequate represenation of what happens if the total line is toppled over. The person with a higher IQ will instantly realize the more likely probabilities of the entire string. They will understand that one dominoe turned just a fraction one way or the other could result in the other dominoes never falling, and that if the dominoes fall on something else, they can trigger a chain reaction in something else. They'll follow the line of the dominoes to the end, and locate the trigger, they'll recognize where the line is likely to break.

They will also be irritated by those who don't bother to examine the line, while simultaneously irritating those who don't want to hear the whole story.

In real life this matters when you get into the world because your comment at a business meeting may be 100 percent correct, but others in the room won't be able to see it. Since three of the four members see only the 3 dominoes, they assume that you are an idiot or the wrong person. When you are proved correct, they are not thrilled and repentant, they are more annoyed.

I believe my friend was mainly correct. I don't think of other people as stupid, but I do get frustrated that people don't look at more of the picture, and they get frustrated that I want to hold them back from their roller coaster rides. I want change and progress. They want the comfort of what they've always known. I want them to understand the limits of time and labor, they want to hear there are no limits. I want them to understand that when the budget you have to operate on for a year is $1,000,000 it does not mean you have $1,000,000 to just blow in any willy nilly way you want. That you have to factor in things like salary obligations to employees, utilities for building operations, maintenance fees, typical supply costs. They want to hear, "Sure, buy that new machine you've always want to try, and don't worry about the cost, you have $1,000,000."

I meet very few people of high IQ who are willing to (perhaps able to) play the games of inner office politics well.

I meet many people who wrongly assume that high intelligence quotion scores equate to instant genius in all fields of study. It does not. Einstein was brilliant at math and science, but you never hear that he was a fantastic english student do you?

We have our limits also. If I had a dime for every time someone told me, "That's the best I've ever seen, but it isn't as good as you could do with your IQ," I'd be as wealthy as Bill Gates. I'm sorry, but these people have no clue what my personal mental limits are. I do have thresholds. My IQ does not make me perfect at anything. It just makes me a little better at some things.

I also get frustrated with people who assume that if I'm not filthy rich, or if I make a typo on a document, or if I answer honestly that I really don't know how to do high level trig, that I must not "really" be smart "after all".

If you are wondering why, with your fantastically high IQ, you are not successful, read my post on page 6 (A Moment of Clarity).

In short, it is possible to have a high IQ and still be a moron. Perhaps this is your problem.

Or perhaps, like every other yahoo on this thread claiming to have a fantastically high IQ, you are just full of sh*t.

Cheers!

[jaamkie]

Originally Posted by MRip

If you are wondering why, with your fantastically high IQ, you are not successful, read my post on page 6 (A Moment of Clarity).

In short, it is possible to have a high IQ and still be a moron. Perhaps this is your problem.

Or perhaps, like every other yahoo on this thread claiming to have a fantastically high IQ, you are just full of sh*t.

Cheers!

erm... I don't know why you're so skeptical that people are telling the truth about their IQ tests (online or real), or why you're so sure because someone posts on a high IQ thread they arrogantly believe high IQ leads to life success.

As far as likelihood of several posters with some legit claim to "high IQ", Steve's website selects people who don't mind the arrogance of "For Smart People" and enjoy his smart-person observations. Then even within the thousands of forum members, who do you think is going to post on a thread originally asking high IQ people for their subjective opinions? And of course online IQ tests aren't the same as those done by a psychologist- but I for one am basing my comments on a psychologist-admin'd test (I originally foolishly posted on this thread as a newbie forum member not realizing the age of the thread - I'd been following related thread links and didn't notice the timestamps until after replying... and I'm now foolishly replying again to postpone starting my next coding task =P).

And as far as IQ==success... I was originally interested in this thread/topic BECAUSE an abnormal IQ is not necessarily a blessing, but instead seems to have some correlation with social problems/isolation- the focus of this forum. Sure IQ is imperfect etc, but it is a long-established measure for some mental processing traits, and it is interesting to hear others on the forum describe experiences I relate to. Because IQ is such a touchy subject, I don't know/ask the IQ of most people I meet, so (pre-hijacking/bickering) I thought this was an interesting discussion.

[MRip]

Originally Posted by jaamkie

erm... I don't know why you're so skeptical that people are telling the truth about their IQ tests (online or real), or why you're so sure because someone posts on a high IQ thread they arrogantly believe high IQ leads to life success.

As far as likelihood of several posters with some legit claim to "high IQ", Steve's website selects people who don't mind the arrogance of "For Smart People" and enjoy his smart-person observations. Then even within the thousands of forum members, who do you think is going to post on a thread originally asking high IQ people for their subjective opinions? And of course online IQ tests aren't the same as those done by a psychologist- but I for one am basing my comments on a psychologist-admin'd test (I originally foolishly posted on this thread as a newbie forum member not realizing the age of the thread - I'd been following related thread links and didn't notice the timestamps until after replying... and I'm now foolishly replying again to postpone starting my next coding task =P).

And as far as IQ==success... I was originally interested in this thread/topic BECAUSE an abnormal IQ is not necessarily a blessing, but instead seems to have some correlation with social problems/isolation- the focus of this forum. Sure IQ is imperfect etc, but it is a long-established measure for some mental processing traits, and it is interesting to hear others on the forum describe experiences I relate to. Because IQ is such a touchy subject, I don't know/ask the IQ of most people I meet, so (pre-hijacking/bickering) I thought this was an interesting discussion.

Ok, one at a time.

To your first point: I don't recall alleging that anyone on this thread "arrogantly believes high IQ leads to life success." Since I didn't write that, I see no need to address it.

To your second point, which is much more interesting.

I think your point is this: I say the people on page 6 who submitted their IQs are lying. You say it's plausible they are telling the truth, because among other things, smart folks are attracted to this discussion by the nature of it's content.

Let's talk a little about the likelihood that all the people on page 6 are telling the truth about their IQs.

There were 6 people who volunteered their IQs. Of those, all 6 said they had a score which landed them in the top 1% of the population. That is 100% of the sample.

Now, the odds of 6 random people selected from the general population all having an IQ in the top 1% are about 1 in 63,195,232,636,900. That would be 63 Trillion with a "T".

However, as you pointed out, these people aren't just any people, they are smart people. How smart? If you believe them, REALLY SMART. But for our purposes, let's make an assumption.

Let's assume all the visitors to this thread (not just the 6 smart ones) are above 115 (solid college material). The mean IQ in the general population is 100 with a standard deviation of 15. So, our population is reduced to roughly 16 people in every 100.

Even given this very limited population, the odds of those 6 having the IQs they claim to have are 1 in 927,048,304 - slightly better than 1 in 1 billion.

To put this in perspective, the chances of winning a lottery where you have to pick 6 out of 50 numbers are 1 in 15,890,700.

I must point out that these are pretty long odds. I don't doubt these people's claims because I think they are morons (which they might be) or because I believe it is human nature to embellish (which it is). I doubt these people because the math says it's nearly impossible.

Some or all are lying.

Cheers!

[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.

[joelr]

Yes Mrip was wrong. He was too forgiving. IQ 141 and up is only .5% of the population.


His theory about Internet Warriors remains true.

[MRip]

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 ****.

[daynalynn]

It's very hard to answer your question, but I was drawn to it because I ask myself almost the same question constantly. It seems key to my whole life. I blurted it out one day that kind of says it all if you can understand what it means on a much bigger level. (in frustration) "The English language is insufficient to describe what I am trying to say" I know for myself, I have figured out that all of my thoughts, or more than that, the processing of information into knowledge of something always seems to be solved through emotion. All my memories first come to mind as an emotion. That's why it is so hard to place or communicate my perceptions. My responses are always spoken in words that do not convey my thoughts because one word or even using several words never express my point correctly. So hard to explain (case in point). So, I often confuse people to the point that they don't even realize they are confused. So, they think I'm confused! And about your friends labeling you or people in general - I anyway, tend to come across as stupid because people cannot understand what I am saying.

[ElliousKedward]

I am 18 years old. At 16, my IQ was recorded as 145.
I found this post in a Google search on common problems people with high IQs have. I will in-brief describe my thoughts:
I want to relate with problems I am having. I wanted to see if they are relevant to my IQ, or if they are independent and I feel I will never know. While I am very much able to hold a logical grip on what I perceive as real, I suffer from psychotic symptoms. I have been diagnosed with a few mental illnesses, but they can all be attributed to the fact that I find it hard to fit into society, even at the fun age of 18. I am depressed most of the time, partly due to the fact that most gifted people fail to overcome the problem of negatively viewing those who fail to realize certain concepts, whether these concepts be socially, academically, or ethically. I am one who struggles with this. I have moved passed the first stage; accepting that I cannot change people to agree with my opinions, no matter how justifiable they seem. However, it still causes a great deal of distress to be surrounded by people who are entirely uninterested in issues and concepts that I find very pressing, almost necessary to form an adequate society. What this boils down to is that while I accept people for who they are, their incompetence is distressing not only in my daily routine, but in its very essence; simply the very thought of mental isolation. This combination of stress and dysfunction has led to declining academia, depression, very specific and unmanageable social problems, problems with the law, and a general lack of success in comparison to the potential I know I have. The compensation for these problems has been even more troublesome and has included social isolation and heavy drug use. While things have begun to improve (specifically the latter two) I still feel as if I am ultimately on a path to failure in a culture that serves the most passive thinkers.

My conclusion is that without the proper environment to learn in, and the proper teachers that I can relate to, school is quite ineffective in teaching anything I need at the moment. I would love to learn AP Chemistry and devote my time to intensive studies, but with a hesitation, with a certain incompatibility, I lose it immediately. I lose interest, I lose motivation, and ultimately I lose hope, which all only pushes me farther back. I'm 18 though.

[Jaiysun4]

Originally Posted by ElliousKedward

I am 18 years old. At 16, my IQ was recorded as 145.
I found this post in a Google search on common problems people with high IQs have. I will in-brief describe my thoughts:
I want to relate with problems I am having. I wanted to see if they are relevant to my IQ, or if they are independent and I feel I will never know. While I am very much able to hold a logical grip on what I perceive as real, I suffer from psychotic symptoms. I have been diagnosed with a few mental illnesses, but they can all be attributed to the fact that I find it hard to fit into society, even at the fun age of 18. I am depressed most of the time, partly due to the fact that most gifted people fail to overcome the problem of negatively viewing those who fail to realize certain concepts, whether these concepts be socially, academically, or ethically. I am one who struggles with this. I have moved passed the first stage; accepting that I cannot change people to agree with my opinions, no matter how justifiable they seem. However, it still causes a great deal of distress to be surrounded by people who are entirely uninterested in issues and concepts that I find very pressing, almost necessary to form an adequate society. What this boils down to is that while I accept people for who they are, their incompetence is distressing not only in my daily routine, but in its very essence; simply the very thought of mental isolation. This combination of stress and dysfunction has led to declining academia, depression, very specific and unmanageable social problems, problems with the law, and a general lack of success in comparison to the potential I know I have. The compensation for these problems has been even more troublesome and has included social isolation and heavy drug use. While things have begun to improve (specifically the latter two) I still feel as if I am ultimately on a path to failure in a culture that serves the most passive thinkers.

My conclusion is that without the proper environment to learn in, and the proper teachers that I can relate to, school is quite ineffective in teaching anything I need at the moment. I would love to learn AP Chemistry and devote my time to intensive studies, but with a hesitation, with a certain incompatibility, I lose it immediately. I lose interest, I lose motivation, and ultimately I lose hope, which all only pushes me farther back. I'm 18 though.

I think a certain quote from Ghandi is relevant:
"Be the change you wish to see in the world."

Essentially you are gifted and noticing the sheer absurdity, pointlessness, self-centeredness and incompetence of many social structures, teaching methods, people's actions, and so on. People you looked up to and respected as a child, perhaps now seem very ordinary, in fact you are suprised at their shallowness, lack of self observation and sheer degree of arrogance?

If so, it sounds similar to my situation a few years ago. Unfortunately you have to learn to stop judging others and looking outwards so much, and stop caring what they get up to. Its a sad story but the most successful tend to be those confident one's with no degree of morality or self-criticism. But you should let this go, and simply pursue what you want without needing or wanting other people to care or understand. Become more selfish, and take better care of yourself!

And if in doubt, get the qualification. Push through it. Because it looks good on a cv.