Poll: How smart do you think you are?

[OpticalJunction]

Not the brightest crayon in the box, but I'm ok with that.

 

[unicron44]

I would say just average. I really don't apply myself enough to get any higher though. I have two years left of high school, maybe I should do something about that.

 

[Gamblerjoe]

I graduated near the top of a large class, and a particularly bright class compared to the ones above and below us. to boot i went to school in a state that tends to blow away national standardized tests and therefore requires its own test which is more difficult. most of you would not believe me if i told you what state that is.

i tested out of 2 semesters of calculus for engineers. i passed 2 semesters of physics for engineers, and a number of other filter classes at UMaine, which has a very prestigious engineering program. im starting to learn programming, which has always come easily to me.

i would have to agree that the escapist community is bound to have people of above average intelligence. most people you encounter in any decent job or school are likely to be above average. the reason i believe this is because there is a HUGE number of knuckle dragging retards that we simply dont encounter on a daily basis. the bottom 50 percentile is just so so stupid that anyone who can form a cogent sentence, or do more than one thing well is pretty much in the clear.

there are people who voted for Bush. there are people who listen to Jim Kramer. there are people who dont realize that Glenn Beck lies his ass off. there are people who think MMA is more dangerous than boxing and football, when there are fewer injuries and 0 deaths so far. there are people who take Stephen Colbert seriously and dont realize that he is being sarcastic. the list goes on. these people exist, and most of them sit safely out of my personal space. thankfully there is a large buffer zone between me and the areas of the country where they are most concentrated.

 

[xdom125x]

I voted "average" because I think I have a lot more common sense than many people but I don't really know much practical information. Also, me sucking at math factored into it too. Probably.

[sub]Also, also, me going to summer school probably factored into this self-assessment, too.[/sub]

Also, I remember reading in a different thread something fitting for this thread. To paraphrase:

"50% of people are above average intelligence
90% of people think they are".

Oh by the way. I find it kind of funny that according to the poll: approximately 1000 people here are above average intelligence while just under 200 people are average or below.

 

[Lazier Than Thou]

I guess it's far more determinate upon subject, but I put below average. I think one of the most basic indicators of intelligence is pattern recognition and I think I've failed that test spectacularly.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

I'd say above average. I'm pretty darn smart, that there's loads of people way smarter than me.

 

[EternalFacepalm]

Far smarter than i actually am

But then you think you're not smart, saying you think you're smart but then saying you're not and then you don't think you are because you just said you weren't and PARADOX.

I don't think I'm smart, considering I easily get confused over stuff. I have no real idea how you can grade intelligence, considering

IQ test only test how good you are at taking IQ tests.

this.

 

[Airsoftslayer93]

Far smarter than i actually am

But then you think you're not smart, saying you think you're smart but then saying you're not and then you don't think you are because you just said you weren't and PARADOX.

[/u].

nope, its not a paradox, i just know that im arrogant, thats all im saying

 

[BlumiereBleck]

I like to think I'm Treize Khusrenada smart. But in reality i only excel in history, literature, acting and "problem solving"

 

[EternalFacepalm]

Far smarter than i actually am

But then you think you're not smart, saying you think you're smart but then saying you're not and then you don't think you are because you just said you weren't and PARADOX.

nope, its not a paradox, i just know that im arrogant, thats all im saying

You said that you thought you were smart, but you knew you weren't; that's a contradiction. I'd say you're trying way too hard fooling yourself.

 

[Airsoftslayer93]

Far smarter than i actually am

But then you think you're not smart, saying you think you're smart but then saying you're not and then you don't think you are because you just said you weren't and PARADOX.

nope, its not a paradox, i just know that im arrogant, thats all im saying

You said that you thought you were smart, but you knew you weren't; that's a contradiction. I'd say you're trying way too hard fooling yourself.

Then i would say your correct, you've just uncovered my deepest and darkest insecurities, well done and congratulations

 

[enriquetnt]

IQ test are absolute bull, if i take one whit mathematics components y get about 110-130, but if i take one of the figure based ones (no language, no math, just raw brain power) i get over 150 consistently, i did graduate first of my class in college but i studied a non math based career and i have near photographic memory son it felt like cheating almost, and my problem whit math is that im dislexic and that severely impairs high math reasoning.

 

[HerrBobo]

IQ test only test how good you are at taking IQ tests.

this.

Tis true!

 

[Kargathia]

pollysyllabic

This typo was the best part of your post (you know, outside of taking those painful steps towards humility). Don't ever fix it.

Nope, I won't be editing that one. Still smiling about it myself right now, so thank you for pointing out that little oversight in my proofreading.

To my defence: I do know how to spell polysyllabic.

 

[Kargathia]

Spoiler

Generally I doubt you're going to find many people of below-average intelligence on a forum that among nerds is known for its intellectual snobbery.

Personally I'm rather sceptic about the whole notion of "intelligence" as an universal yardstick - according to all kinds of tests I'm very intelligent, but am I really having the feeling it's helping me get somewhere? Not really.
It's fun - and occasionally useful - to impress others with your ability to concisely express complicated thoughts in complex pollysyllabic words, put in complex sentences, featuring far too few full stops to be easily understood by anyone who did not as a previous occupation translate Latin epic writers, or is willing to spend an unneccesarily large chunk of his time deciphering a sentence that is altogether too unwieldy to properly communicate said complicated thought - even though one can possibly admire the fact that even after four full lines the sentence still makes sense.

See what I did there? Did it serve any real purpose except maybe dazzling people with long words?

It's about the same thing with what we call "intelligence", as featured in IQ tests.

(And please don't turn this ridiculous by going "oh, but that's not so complicated that my superior mind can't understand that". I'm not trying to compare dick sizes, I'm trying to say that I'm slowly reaching the conclusion that intelligence has next to no intrinsic value.)

Well, to be fair, intelligence, as I assume it's being used in this context, covers a wide range of topics outside just latin literature and english verbosity.

Intellect, by nature, would mean anything that can be known.

So while I agree that there is no binary sure-fire way to measure intelligence with any accuracy, since there are so many different unrelated topics that can be known. (quantity of total knowledge would be far from any good notion of where someone stands on the sliding scale of idiot to genius).

I mean, intelligence is one thing, but it has to be applied to be of any use to you. A mathematical genius who doesn't practice mathematics won't see it bearing much fruit to him, for example.

A genius who doesn't decide to specialise in a field as highly theoretical as mathematics won't see it bearing much fruit at all. It of course could be described as a waste of talent, but we still perceive our "intelligence", as measured by IQ tests, to be an universal yardstick of aptitude for anything - even when completely different factors are often much more important.
Efficiency, thoroughness, resourcefulness, creativity, attention to detail, social skills, patience; none of them are really tested, while many of them easily are as important as intelligence.

EDIT: My apologies for the double post - I meant to copy/paste the code from the quote window, and edit my previous post. It funnily enough further reinforces my argument.

 

[Dr. Feelgood]

Way above average, at least compared to a majority of those around me. I'm very capable of taking in information and remembering it. I'm pretty good at reading, but only decent at writing. I take great pride in my common sense, which is becoming a rarity. Just a basic overlay of how I see my intelligence.

 

[Continuity]

EDIT: From the numbers so far, it seems most of us aren't lacking in self confidence, but I'm as guilty as any else.

Well the problem is this poll it being taken by 80%+ nerds, who to be quite frank are usually in the upper quartile intelligence wise anyway. So it might be that were all overestimating our abilities but I think its just as likely that we actually are a pretty smart bunch. After all the 100 IQ ave is for the whole population, not a nerdy subset.

 

[pppppppppppppppppp]

EDIT: From the numbers so far, it seems most of us aren't lacking in self confidence, but I'm as guilty as any else.

Well the problem is this poll it being taken by 80%+ nerds, who to be quite frank are usually in the upper quartile intelligence wise anyway. So it might be that were all overestimating our abilities but I think its just as likely that we actually are a pretty smart bunch. After all the 100 IQ ave is for the whole population, not a nerdy subset.

Eh, I don't buy the idea that people who love videogames are smarter than everyone else. I think that because of the whole "people who play videogames are losers and you shouldn't associate with them" stereotype, we feel the need to separate ourselves intellectually from the people who pick on or ignore us. So it's not that we're smarter than everyone else, it's that it's more comforting to feel like the smart guy in a room full of idiots than the geeky guy in a room full of non-geeks.

 

[Continuity]

EDIT: From the numbers so far, it seems most of us aren't lacking in self confidence, but I'm as guilty as any else.

Well the problem is this poll it being taken by 80%+ nerds, who to be quite frank are usually in the upper quartile intelligence wise anyway. So it might be that were all overestimating our abilities but I think its just as likely that we actually are a pretty smart bunch. After all the 100 IQ ave is for the whole population, not a nerdy subset.

Eh, I don't buy the idea that people who love videogames are smarter than everyone else. I think that because of the whole "people who play videogames are losers and you shouldn't associate with them" stereotype, we feel the need to separate ourselves intellectually from the people who pick on or ignore us. So it's not that we're smarter than everyone else, it's that it's more comforting to feel like the smart guy in a room full of idiots than the geeky guy in a room full of non-geeks.

NO, and I dont buy that Idea either and its not what I said. I didn't say people who love video games are smarter I specifically said those here may be smarter. Those here are a subset of the set of gamers, mostly, a subset which is articulate and well educated... just ask the people in this thread what jobs they do or if they're college students or what their other hobbies are...

 

[pppppppppppppppppp]

EDIT: From the numbers so far, it seems most of us aren't lacking in self confidence, but I'm as guilty as any else.

Well the problem is this poll it being taken by 80%+ nerds, who to be quite frank are usually in the upper quartile intelligence wise anyway. So it might be that were all overestimating our abilities but I think its just as likely that we actually are a pretty smart bunch. After all the 100 IQ ave is for the whole population, not a nerdy subset.

Eh, I don't buy the idea that people who love videogames are smarter than everyone else. I think that because of the whole "people who play videogames are losers and you shouldn't associate with them" stereotype, we feel the need to separate ourselves intellectually from the people who pick on or ignore us. So it's not that we're smarter than everyone else, it's that it's more comforting to feel like the smart guy in a room full of idiots than the geeky guy in a room full of non-geeks.

NO, and I dont buy that Idea either and its not what I said. I didn't say people who love video games are smarter I specifically said those here may be smarter. Those here are a subset of the set of gamers, mostly, a subset which is articulate and well educated... just ask the people in this thread what jobs they do or if they're college students or what their other hobbies are...

Woah, take it easy man. It's still just a forum. I'm sure a lot of people here are smart and well rounded, but the escapist is not immune to the "12 year olds pretending to be Harvard graduates with a hot girlfriend" syndrome. I'll agree that compared to a lot of forums, people here are more articulate and reasonable, (if only due to fear from the mods) but this is still the interwebs in all its idiot-attracting glory.