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A few thoughts on this.
First, of course you're right. Being attractive is also a privilege. Being tall is a privilege.
But IQ matters far less once you're out of school. For context, I'm in management at a large international software company. I have hired a LOT of software engineers. I've had brilliant engineers come to work for me (people with PhDs, people from Ivy League schools or MIT) who just could not be managed. You couldn't give them a set of priorities and expect them to work on things and deliver them on time. They'd get distracted by interesting problems, or whatever. To be clear, that's not just a high IQ thing, lots of engineers are that way. But the point is, high IQ doesn't make a good employee, even in a field as IQ-related as software engineering. There were good employees and bad employees, and the IQ doesn't weigh into that NEARLY as much as you think.
Also, we pretend that pure brain horsepower is a single thing. Even apart from work ethic, there are people who are smart in VERY different ways (again, even just within software engineering). I know people who can jump into a problem completely blind (not know the code at all) and dig through and find a specific problem that is occurring that even the experts on this code couldn't find. But that same person might not have been able to write that product from scratch, because that's a different sort of planning intelligence.
And then once you get outside of Software Engineering obviously there are all sorts of different abilities that matter a lot more. Some people have natural artistic talents, etc.
Here's a great example of this. Travis Kelce (Taylor Swift's boyfriend) is not the highest IQ guy. There was a bit of uproar when some of his old tweets came out and it was obvious he couldn't spell words like "squirrel." Recently on his podcast he was reading from wikipedia and his brother called him out because he skipped the word "pseudonym," because he had no idea how to pronounce it.
But when he's talking about football, he's some kind of savant. Here his breakdown of this play, starting at about 30 seconds in:
https://twitter.com/newheightshow/status/1733273091227419128
I'm a high IQ guy and always have been. I was one of those people who didn't have to try in high school or college. I've been following football for over 30 years. I remember this play. I know all of the words he uses in this clip, and I can understand his explanation. But to see that live, instantaneously, is a completely different sort of intelligence. IQ is not really a thing.
I just had a son with downs syndrome and i obviously worry especially in a world where intelligence is such an important thing… like it downright signifies status more than wealth itself… i just mostly worry about how he is going to be treated in this world. Disrespected. Under appreciated and undervalued. And the worst of it is, he could wind up having difficulty speaking. Which wont be to say that he wont have intelligent things to say, but it will be difficult for people to have the patience to hear it.
And then i think about my own experience. I myself had some difficulty getting any kind of respect growing up. I had epilepsy… and even teachers treated me like i was a burden. I had very good opportunities taken away from me because of it. And i grew out of having seizures but the insecurity stuck either with me. Its so important to me for people to see me as intelligent and even wise. I nerd out on a lot of things… frankly tho because i am in fact a nerd who gets really into things. But its sort of a point of honor to me where i can be in situations where i feel the need to brag… and… i have to stop myself from being so vain.
But here i am with a son now with down syndrome where i had dreamed i would have such a smart kid to brag about because i was going to teach him everything. Ive had to do quite a bit of self reflecting as you would imagine. Theres still a lot for me to process but i think i know he will be a good man no matter what he becomes. I think the most important things would be to at least teach him to be kind and friendly and helpful in any way he can. Making people around him feel happy is always a good trait that i think is undervalued but far more important to this world. And im not going to believe he cant learn certain things… im just going to let him try and see what hes interested in learning and challenge him often. I dont know what to expect… but its made me think about how my expectations for him shouldnt be any different than with any other child in that… they all have some gift to bring into this world and its more our job to find it, than to decide what it should be.
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1mo
Because no one knows how to gauge intelligence, because no one really knows what intelligence is. So, when you screw up things you 'should know', you're seen as dumb.
First off, Travis Kelce is very smart. He plays dumb, which is something smart people do all the time. Secondly, you're describing differences between people in a field that requires a higher than normal IQ to reach, i.e., by the time the people are hired on the low IQ ones are already long gone. Lastishly, IQ is absolutely a thing, it's just not everything, and downplaying its importance is akin to saying any other kind of privilege doesn't exist.
I think people are getting confused of the difference between iq and intelligence or at least the definition used. In most cases when people are talking about high iqs they mean high intelligence that correlate with iq tests.
And yes iq tests aren’t very accurate and a perfect measurement of intelligence. But there is a noticable difference between someone with 100vs 120 iq and 120 and 140. As you mentioned, there are literally fields of study that aren’t possible if you’re below 100.
Too many people people are looking for ways to argue around it but that’s not really useful. Now if we say intelligence doesn’t necessarily scale with success that is true to a certain extent. No advantage will help if you don’t utilize it or if someone takes advantage of you. Which is a different skill set.
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1mo
You just got super triggered and had a whole conversation with yourself. Neat.
You're ignoring the fact that the only reason some of those high intellect people have to ignore certain types of problems is simply because society refuses to pay smart people to do them.
Have you ever read the story Flowers for Algernon? It's an excellent science fiction story about someone who has an IQ of 60, but because of his intense motivation, scientists choose him for an experimental surgery that more than triples his IQ.
The story is wonderfully told because it is all told from his own writings in his own diary. It shows how intelligence is a real asset but it absolutely comes with different costs.
I'm not even smart but have you ever looked around and thought 'these people are morons'?
You don't have the be the smartest person, just don't be a dumbass.
just don't be a dumbass.
OK, Red Foreman
We're all given the gifts that will shape us into the person we were meant to be. Instead of trying to make something you're not as good at naturally into one of your biggest talents, take the natural talents that you have in abundance and follow them. You find that you will re-define what you deem as successful and happy, and life will not seem to be as much of a chore.
Honestly I feel this OP. People always seemed to think I was smart because I wore glasses and read a lot but the truth is that I can't hardly remember the shit I read, I just do it for fun.
And throughout high school I struggled, would spend hours doing homework mostly the math. Other people seemed to get the hang of things that I just couldn't. And I'm ashamed to admit that I dropped out of college.
I've read something like this. About how they became successful not because they were naturally smart but because they worked hard. It is a bummer. But people with much less can/will go further than any naturally smart/gifted person. Do what you love. Don't appear smart. Appear competent. That matters way more. At the end of the day, the nurse who busted their tail because of a hindrance, to get through nursing school and clinicals - I will feel in more capable hands than the one made straight As.
God I wish I had your persistence. My life would be so very different, without the anxiety, without the depression, with the persistence and without the ADHD. I’d trade my useless 143 for your determined 100 any day of the week. Any day.
Bro, if everyone viewed the world through the lens you are using, none of us would feel adequate. The key is in understanding it is your life, your happiness, your kingdom. The concept of building these are as old as time. Set goals for a financial base. Set goals for what it seems like you want to be happy. For each goal ruminate on the validity of whether or not this goal will achieve the desired end result. For each goal establish the tasks needed to complete each goal. When you take a measurement of each goals, do not look at the time you think it should have taken only concentrate if progress was made. If progress is made for each goal each week or day, you will achieve everything you want.
This.
I would trade some IQ points for work ethic points.
I learned how to study after college once I realized I had to learn and understand stuff to make it in my field.
Absorbing knowledge and regurgitating it on an exam has always been really easy for me but to my own detriment. I never learned to apply myself or healthy study habits. I can't tell you how many papers I've written at 3AM the day they're due and not even really understanding what I was writing. But then I get a decent grade and my habits were rewarded.
It wasn't until much later in life that I started to realize... you don't actually know this stuff. Learn or you're gonna get fired and or kill someone at work.
High cognitive abilities can indeed be a privilege, but sometimes they are a huge disadvantage, it is complex, ambivalent and context/people dependent.
I consider myself highly gifted, I have abnormally high interest for rational thinking (cognitive biases, logical fallacies, epistemology) and an ability to quickly learn and retain large amounts of information.
Some gifted people might live life in easy mode especially regarding work or studies, but IMO being gifted is often correlated with neurodivergence and with asymmetrical cognitive abilities including inbalances, and specific cognitive deficits versus a layman.
For me it is about executive function, I know better than most how to think and what I should do as a rational agent however my actions, my willpower and my attention allocation abilities are lower than most which is paradoxal and often makes the gifted abilities largely wasted and impair self-esteem.
Moreover being neurodivergent often leads to socialization issues.
If you are an adult you could try some low dose nootropics like cdp choline 300mg (high doses can blunt the mood temporarilly) and gingko biloba (a brain vasodilator) or piracetam.
Nootropics are generally not much noticeable but can slighly help especially if significantly below normal "IQ"
I agree. I can now claim to be an oppressed class.
you sound like a typical asian kid that is actually highey intelligent but has parents that are hard on them. I know hundreds of people just like you
Unpopular response: I agree. People underestimate the importance of the g factor (intelligence) and how much it impacts every single aspect of our lives. It has been well studied by psychologists and social scientists that those with higher intelligence on average tend to have higher paying careers, able to solve problems more efficiently, and are able to adapt better to our complex world.
but you learned how to work.
for those of us who could just show up and get good grades, we didn't. That came later and was much more painful than if we'd had to do it to learn as kids.
Everyone struggles even if our struggles are different.
Yes being smart is an advantage. So is being rich and pretty. To someone ugly being average is a privilege.
But in the end thinking about this in this way is just a downwards spiral since you can always find someone better, smarter, richer than you and this happens for practically everyone.
From what you shared with us it seems you spend a lot of time trying to prove something. But since you’re in college it’s better to do some real soul searching and try to figure out what your strengths are instead of trying to make a statement on something that it doesn’t even sound you want to do(bachelors in science and taking physics classes?). I didn’t give a rats ass about the physics and just enough to pass it to do what I cared about. If you don’t want to do physics don’t do it. You’re wasting your energy and as you identified your usage of it isn’t as efficient as you would like it to be. So it’s best to just focus on what you want to do and do the bare minimum of everything else so you can hone or enjoy what lever you find fulfilling.
A lot of people enter STEM because money correlates to a certain extent happiness, but there are other ways to make money that aren’t high intelligence fields.
A better example is it’s like to enter the NBA when you’re 5’6. You can do it but you’re going to need abnormal passion, practice,training, and even the most likely fail.
Thank you for your post, I always enjoy hearing other perspectives like this. I don’t really have any advice for you. But, there’s some good advice from others here. I particularly like the message behind what u/mktgmstr said.
But, what I will offer you is perspective from the other side, where you feel the grass is naturally greener and maintenance free.
You are right. School was naturally easy for me. Through elementary school, I was always in the gifted classes/programs, skipped grades just for showing up, and went to a gifted-only school (we moved a lot, so I changed schools a lot).
That all sounds good… but, by the time I reached high school, I was done. I was so bored of school, I would sit in class and just work on whatever I wanted (writing music, programming, learning languages, etc). Meanwhile, the history test in front of me would get handed in with zero answers on it.
I went to summer school every year to pass, which I much preferred over wasting my time on school work the entire school year. But, I failed 10th grade because I simply didn’t do enough work. I just barely graduated high school at all.
As far as working, again… i’ve easily excelled at every job I’ve had. But, I haven’t liked any of them. It’s always just a matter of time until I’ve exhausted all I can do. Then it’s time to find another job. For this reason, I’ve had a ton of jobs.
It’s hard working somewhere and seeing all the problems with the company’s procedures, products, management, etc, but also knowing the simple ways to correct the issues. But, it turns out… companies don’t want employees to fix their problems. They want someone to sit there and do the same thing over and over… because things are “good enough”.
I was fired from Sony for being “over-qualified”. That’s the only time I’ve ever been fired. I thought a Quality Engineer should improve quality. Apparently, I was suppose to make sure things just stay “good enough”.
What I HAVE learned from working 42 jobs over the course of the 32 years I’ve been working is… from a Dishwasher to Nuclear Imaging Field Engineer, it’s all the same. I’ve found no difference as far as effort, reward (besides money), or the jobs simply being interesting.
The main issue from this side of things is there is nobody to talk to. Conversation only goes so far, so I’m almost always quiet…. to the point where I’ve been asked if I speak English.
I grew up being called shy. In reality, it’s because I wasn’t interested in talking about sports, celebrities, movies, TV, relationships, or whatever everyone else is interested in. I wasn’t simply shy… there was simply nobody to talk to. Over the course of my life, I’ve found maybe 5 people I could have a deeper-than-surface-level conversation with on more than a subject or two.
Through long-term and short-term relationships, and even a relatively long marriage, I’ve never had a partner I could actually have an intellectual conversation with. That is, until I met my current wife just a couple years ago. I feel like I won the lottery with her. She’s taught me so much about both everything and nothing.
I apologize for rambling, but I just want you to be aware of the “green grass” you perceive over here.
The truth is, approximately 90% of people make up the “normal intelligence”. Society is best suited for them, as they form the bulk of society. The rest of the people, at either tail of the bellcurve… we don’t fit here. It’s a struggle.
If you have low-intelligence, you shouldn’t wish for high intelligence. If anything, average-intelligence should be theoretically optimal (ignoring thousands of other factors)… as, nearly all the systems, products, education, careers, entertainment, etc on Earth were made by people of average intelligence.
High-intelligence is a romanticized concept. Now, high-intelligence paired with autism, adhd, a healthy level of ocd, and internal illeism… yes, i feel privileged with this (hahaha I told you there were other factors).
So what if it is? Do you want people to apologize for being intelligent?
Or you can just have empathy for people who are less fortunate then you? When I was in exstra education there were people with harsher struggles then me (inaudible, severe autism ext) and I acknowledged it and helped those around me.
What makes you think I don't?
Is it a privilege or are you just disadvantaged?
And let me get this straight, you got a bachelors in physics (or as you said something that required a lot of physics) and the idea of people just breezing through school wasn’t dispelled by this? Because this just doesn’t pass the smell check.
There are plenty of “gifted people” that don’t amount to nearly as much as you have because natural talent only takes you so far in most cases.
I hate when people say “go to therapy” but if this post in true, you really need to talk to someone because your worldview is immature and a bit fucked.
OK so as I said I competed in Judo. There are priviliges that I have, that I didn't work for that allowed me to compete at that level. I had financial privilege- my parents could pay for classes, travel and equipment, I had natural athletic ability; I put on muscle easily. I had parents that who fed me a good diet. If I didn't have those priviliges theres no way I would of competed at the level I did and thats just a fact. I'm humble enough to acknowledge that I have a unfair advantage over the kid with a low metabolism from a poor obese family - if that kid got frustrated with their situation id never fix myself to go up to them and say "me? I'm not priviliged" ESPECIALLY if I saw them training 5 times longer then me and still not being able to get on my level.
What the fuck is the point of this post?
Literally just a personal account on learning difficulties
I'd throw all my intelligence away. High school was too difficult for what I was willing to study and I burned out. My IQ only made me think about myself, my shitty life and my failures. There is no "intelligence privilege" like there is "pretty privilege", you can say "I have 139 IQ" and employers will laugh at your face. It's like being gifted a hen that doesn't lay eggs.
Why would you throw your intelligence away rather than develop other qualities to compliment it? Also, employers value people with enough emotional intelligence to realize that you shouldn't mention your IQ score in an interview because its offputting. And if you're clever enough to display your intelligence without alienating your interviewer, they also value that.
I really do think you don't realise how much you don't have to worry about being intelligent. Even day to day things for some people with super low IQ is a serious struggle. Like for example I wasn't able to write properly until 14, because I kept writing right to left. Even when I learned to write I have to twist the entire page upside down, I read and write upside down too and this effects everything in my life. From being able to drive, to learning pretty much anything, I have major set backs. The fact you can go about your day and not have to worry about that, the fact you can read what I'm sending you with ease and not have to use use siri is the privilige I'm talking about.
I got turned down for a job one time because I scored too high on their “IQ” test. There’s a place in this works for everyone
Ngl this is a pretty intelligent take
Nobody makes it without the grind, just too much competition. But being obsessed with something is how you really get good at it. IQ is nice and all but Mensa is full of people who never did shit with their potential.
I feel this, I’m doing a bachelor of science too and all my peers seem to get higher grades than me. :(
do you have learning difficulties or is it just difficult for other people to tell you what to do because you dont take orders from people????
No I wasn't able to write until 14, and I cant write the right way up. I write and read upside down because I my brain cant go left to right I have to right to left. Imagine perceiving the world backwards.
no way! thats awesome, i can understand it being a little bit of pain fitting in with community that operates in a certain way but damn thats cool
Having a low IQ sucks if you're aware of it. Having a high IQ pretty much sucks all the time. I'm in the middle, but I've seen this play out with a lot of people. It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if there is extreme correlation between high IQ and depression.
just a few things that come to mind reading your post:
school is (more or less) made to work for a majority of people, but the reality is that a lot of people don't function the way school expect them to... so you have a lot of very intelligent people who basically fail at school, because school/the way things are taught isn't made for them/their brains. so basically, being very bad at school while others do well, isn't a sign of intelligence at all. i also met a lot of people who have a master or phd and who, in all honesty, don't impress me much in the way they think, the amount of things they know etc, it's just that they managed to remember all the information they needed to absorb to pass a test (and then forgot most of it the following months but whatever) and they didn't learn critical thinking on the way, are not curious either so they didn't try to learn much about life beyond the area they studied after they graduated etc.
intelligence is a very vague term... some people have great memory, lots of knowledge (in a few areas, or in general), get things fast, are good at languages or other skills, have great emotional intelligence, they think differently and have great critical thinking so they understand others/things better, some people are talented/have great senses like direction/musicality/etc, ... there's many things that define intelligence, and basically, we all have more or less of all of those things. some of those things are great to have to be a good obedient student, while some are not used/valued at all by the education system... critical thinking isn't important at school, and when you have a discussion with someone who lacks a lot of it, you would easily say that they're not that smart...
iq tests, while giving a vague idea of one aspect of our intelligence (solving problems, calculations and finding patterns/correlations is basically the only thing that iq tests actually measure), isn't a science per se. we know that stress, fatigue or motivation affect our results, and that if you do a test this evening and tomorrow morning, you will most likely get a different score - unlike measuring your height, that will remain the same. so in short, iq scores are to ponder.
i'm not sure how intelligence can affect how good you can be at judo, i suppose it's more of a matter of skills, something that can be worked on, while some people start from a different square at it (same for all practices).
one last thing, on the other side of things, having a brain/mind that is sharper than average isn't all positive. yes, it has advantages... and also, it can make people's life difficult at times. besides the bullying they might get at school for it (which might affect them for life), it can be quite isolating because it can feel like (if we exaggerate, and just to make a sort of metaphor) living surrounded by children at all times... everyone else is a bit slower, you always know more, people tell you things that feel very simple to you, you see more in what people say/do, there can be a lack of intellectual stimulation that can feel frustrating and depressing, and you can't easily talk about it because people don't understand how it feels, and will think you're arrogant, a liar, or whatever. all of that to say, it's not only a "privilege" in all ways... everything has pros and cons.
anyway, just a few things to ponder...
It's only a privilege if paired with the ability to do what's required of you - work hard, persist in doing mind-numbing tasks without which completion is impossible, focus solely on what matters, etc.
Often times, it comes with neurodiversity, scattered curiosity, painful inability to finish the boring stuff, getting bored easily, lack of executive function, and so on. What you end up hearing is how much potential you're wasting, which makes it seem like a moral failure. The tortoises zoom by you while your hare self is taking a mid-afternoon nap.
How has that translated to being a functional adult?
I'm unable to perceive left to right, so everything to me is backwards. I have to read and write upside down and things take me 5 times longer to understand then average people. I have to use siri to translate words into text. It effects my day to day. Simply ordering at a coffee shop, driving, even conversation. I premeditate discussions in my voice notes before I enter them or I won't be able to keep up with the average person. Almost everything in my life takes extra effort. And its hilarious how these people are trying to convince me being intelligent is JUST AS HARD by sending me 5 paragraphs of grammatically correct arguments with perfect vocabulary that they conjured up in 10 minutes for fun.
The Education System: “Now Climb That Tree” | The Marquette Educator (wordpress.com)
I don't know how old you are, but modern day, never ever take school grade seriously. It doesn't actually measure true "IQ" or "Intelligence". Not to mention that you can "fake" intelligence. This is done by someone else teach you how to do certain y if x happens. This is like a robot / instructional. There's no thinking behind yourself and/or decision making. You're just following what you've been taught. This is not real intelligence despite looking like one. Especially if trained for a long time in such a way. Can easily fool others into thinking you're intelligent. I believe school is this way. You study hard and memorized the information you've been told to remember. In math class you're just redoing the same sort of thing you've been told to do for the most part. And then people call a grade A student as "intelligent" and such. I don't believe it. Memory absorption and recall is not exactly true intelligence imo.
There's all sorts of different type of IQ, as well as different type of intelligence. No one is "super intelligent" and just become a master of everything instantly. You aren't an intelligent oil paint artist just because you are intelligent at being a electrical engineer. That's not how it works. Sure you can figure out ways to translate from what you learn as an electrical engineer to painting up to some degree. But you can never 100% transfer over such intelligence to another area like this.
Honestly, being shouted by who is supposed to be your tutor is absolutely horrible. True decent teachers don't shout. And I'm saying this as a certified and degree-ed pianist now working as a data analyst (previously computer programmer). Not to mention that these hobbies should be something you enjoy, not something to try and gain recognition or admiration or any of that sort of thing. You should only play piano because you enjoy playing the piano, or the music. That's it. You should only do judo because you enjoy judo itself or similar. That's it. Anyway...
Personally, despite many experts and scientist says otherwise, I'm not convinced that true intelligence can't be trained. (the idea that you're born with fixed potential of intelligence.) I'm someone that people around me considered I'm "intelligent" compare to others (I don't even agree to it) and also have helped other people who needed help and thought they are "unintelligent". Based on my experience in helping people, intelligence can be improved. The biggest hurdle is when people don't like to think a lot, nor do they spend time to actually try and figure things out in their head. Brain is a massive muscle. You exercise it by working it. Just as you would to train the rest of your body by hitting the gym working the muscles there. Sure that reading or learning things help. But depends on how you "learn" i.e. reading. You're just absorbing information most of the time. You're still not actually exercising critical thinking skills and such. This is further made difficult because different people think things differently, and how you relate information to your own experience also differs from how other people relate information to their own mental world (e.g. Memory fortress or whatever it is called. This is a technique that people use to help them remember things. What is interesting regarding my point is that one person will relate information to colours, while another person will relate information to a wacky weird story the randomly created for the purpose of remembering things. Both are just trying to remember even the same information, but both are approaching it slightly different from others. Hence different people do things differently. Thus you can't teach people to do it exactly the way you did. But you need to help people teach them how to do it in a way they understand well and relevant to their world. You hardly find any wise people help you and teach you like this).
Now I'm of course no scientist or any sort of PhD expert. But I would love to experiment teaching people how to be intelligent (i.e. critical thinking, logical thinking and transferring experience of intelligence from one area to another no completely because that is impossible, but up to a certain % efficiency).
deep breathe I just told you.... I struggle intellectually and you send me a word press study... with 5 paragraphs explaining the different types of intelligence that you probably wrote out in 10 minutes. You dont understand how long its going to take me to understand what you just wrote to even reply and its stuff like this that im talking about when I call intelligence a privilige. And you did it for FUN. You basically just did a back-flip infront someone with no legs.
A positive can-do attitude is more important for problem solving than intelligence. The hard problems are not the ones you sit down and do alone. They are the complex problems that involve multiple people, and social skills matter more than raw intellect.
Any mix of traits will provide inherent advantages or disadvantages. We don’t live in an equal or fair world, because we are not all made with equal characteristics.
I'd agree, it's a privilege. So is having tutors, extra curricular activities, and parents that not only allowed, but actively participated in your development. Most people have to overcome serious adversity to be productive and successful.
Totally, in fact, having above median natural ability at anything is a sort of privilege. The 'people should succeed based on their natural abilities' as a value combined with the impulse to maximize that value gets eugenics-y pretty fast.
The set of assumptions: You need to have merit to have the right to exist -> merit = raw potential + training -> people should be sorted by merit and rewarded accordingly
Turns out not to be as great an idea as it would intuitively seem.
Uhh, this is just life, bro. It's a privilege to live in a society where people who dont learn quickly are supported. Because in nature you either learn fast or you probably won't make it.
Oh it was definitely a privilege to be smart in k-12. But once you hit college it starts to even out for most ppl.
holy fuck the concept of privileges is dumb.
You're right, being smart is a privilege and in general it makes life easier. With that being said, IQ isn't everything. You seem to have a lot of discipline, resiliency, and a high work ethic. Those qualities are more valuable than a high IQ score, and it isn't particularly close. I think IQ is fairly comparable to natural good looks, in that it makes life easier if you choose to be lazy, but if you want to achieve anything worthwhile, it's going to take more than just the tools you were lucky enough to be born with. My suggestion to you is to find something you're passionate about and keep overcompensating. You'll outshine a lot of people who have more natural talent than you, simply because they can't match your other qualities.
This is true 100%. Hard work ethic,discipline and resiliency is incredibly important, and the most important. It doesn’t matter if you’re 6’5 or a genius, if you don’t actually do the work. A lot of people think they are smarter than they are so slacking off, and slow and steady can catch up.
Just don’t fall into the trap of entering the rat race and just look for a higher salary. It’s important to actually build skill sets and not just “work hard”.
It can also be a curse if not channeled. We used to just call these things “talent” but now “privilege” is the new buzzword. It’s preferred by the social justice warriors bc it conveys a sense of unfair advantage. Talent is admirable but privilege is bad. See what they did here? By calling it privilege, they can justify programs for the “less privileged “ to offset the advantage. This is how things like DEI come into existence.
Yh because God forbid children with learning difficulties get exstra educational support, we can't have that now can we. 🤣💀 what programs are you so against? The educational ones for children with learning difficulties???
I’m against the “intelligent” kids being slowed down to make the lesser ones not feel so bad which is what is actually happening. The libs aren’t happy unless we all get our participation ribbons, and achievement is equally distributed.
The intelligent kids arnt even being educated in same classrooms as the lesser ones. They literally divide maths classes based on abilities- the world where autistic kids are holding back prodigies dosnt exsist. I didnt even take the same exams as everyone else i had to take a easier version of the exam where my grade ceiling was a C- I didn't even qualify to even get the opportunity or attempt for a B or an A. Infact alot of special needs kids arnt even in the same schools. I may not be gifted academically, but im decent athletically and I would never go up to someone with scoliosis whos trying their hardest to keep up and go "what do you want a participation ribbon? You're a lesser and youre holding prodigies like me back"
Natural intelligence is a lie.
You learned hard work tho. That's way better. Also, you have a degree in physics or engineering? Your did the hardest things and struggled? Who'd a thunk it?
That sounds dumb.
lol... jfwy... 😉
Being born with advantageous characteristics is the definition of a privilege. The benefits of those characteristics are real and unearned.
I was gifted in grade school, and I'd give anything to be normal. I never learned to study, to actually apply myself. How much I was ridiculed for not doing homework, not following the rules. The number of parent teacher conferences I had. Thankfully, by high school, my mom learned I didn't need it, so she stopped trying to ground me. The standard I held myself to was absurd, I was still a kid. Intelligence isn't just books, it's also experiences. Its knee capped me as an adult. And the absolue meltdown I had when I got to college because I couldn't make very high-level concepts make sense in a way for my brain? Holy shit, what a failure I was. The deep depression I fell into. I only recently was able to unpack my childhood shame I held.
My point is OP, you're experience is not exclusive to academically challenged individuals. It's shared by all. IQ is a tricky thing. It's a totally abstract way of categorizing people, with the average across all being 100 in a uniformed distribution, each standard deviation away from 100, you're going to start to see both sides of the shift struggle because society isn't built for those people.
We share way more than you think, I became lazy because the moment I faced any obstacle, I'd quit. Many, many decades of hating myself, the past 4 years in therapy, I can hyper focuse on the smallest thing, but ignore something of grave importance because it brings no joy. But you know what? I'm now proud of my old self for finally realizing I needed to change, seeking help, advocating for me, and getting me to where I am today. It turns out I'm inattentive ADHD. Who would have guessed it?
Your struggles weren't because you needed help to fit the mold society put on you, it was a failure by those who were support you recognize the need for your learning to be modified to fit said mold. I'm sorry the world wasn't kind to you either OP, it wasn't fair, it really sounds terrible. But shame is the echos of their failures you tell yourself. It's not easy, but you need to give yourself grace, OP, and treat yourself kinder.
Good luck OP, smart, dumb, it doesn't matter, we all deserve internal peace, I hope you can find yours.
The fact you were even capable of writing that down - probably with EASE is a privilige. You used words like ridiculed, and you were capable of FULLY communicating your struggle. Its a bit ironic that you try and prove to me how intelligence isn't that great by just demonstrating intelligence unintentionally. You just did the equivalent of a back-flip infront of someone with no legs and went "life for me is just as hard".
For me to simply be able to do what you just did and type out what you typed out in probably 5 minutes without siri would of taken 45 minutes easily for me. My learning difficulties effect my day to day tasks, ordering coffee, my ability to drive, reading the time, understanding time tables things you don't ever have to even think about. Imagine everything in your life taking 4 times longer to figure everything out, and perceiving everything backwards thats my reality. I have to use Siri because and I cant write or read the correct way up- because im not capable of perceiving left to right only right to left. So I have to twist the page and write upside down. Things that are enjoyable for you that you do for FUN is probably highly difficult for people like me. Even keeping up with you in regular conversation is highly exerting for me.
You got discplined for not doing homework out of lack of motivation while I mentally and physically couldn't- i don't think that's the same level of struggle, not even the same ball park.
Quit playing the victim. You're making too many assumptions about me to validate your own shame and predefined world view.
You got discplined for not doing homework out of lack of motivation while I mentally and physically couldn't- i don't think that's the same level of struggle, not even the same ball park.
I mentally couldn't either, it's called executive disfunction, but because I didn't act out like my brother did, and was gifted, I couldn't possibly have ADD or ADHD like him. Honestly amazing what I can do now that I'm on meds and getting CBT for it. I focused on what can I do to help me.
Frankly, you sound miserable, because you focus on what you can't do instead of what you can do. You don't need to explain to me how you struggled OP, I believe you, and it sounds like it really did suck. But this isn't a contest of suffering the most, I'm simply telling you your preconceived idea that smart people have it SO easy is flat out wrong. But I'm telling you from my own experience, once I realized I was tired of hating myself, and sought out help my whole mental health got better. It wasn't easy, but it's doable.
Believe me or don't, I honestly don't care. At the end of the day, I know what I experienced.
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