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A high IQ can be a brutal burden to bear

Hello Everyone,

I am assuming there may be some high IQs (I am a former member of MinD, or MENSA in Germany) in the Nexus? What have been the challenges you have faced in the world due to this? Has your IQ sometimes been a heavy burden to bear?

Any thoughts on this? Experiences to share?

Tags: IQ

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Permalink Reply by alexa penzner on November 3, 2011 at 8:01am

hi james - being highly intelligent does set one apart - but i'd rather be 'apart'. i am glad to hear you say you're not a genius - that word is thrown around so much it has lost it's meaning. true geniuses are extremely unique - of course, Da Vinci was, but was Marie Curie? she was incredibly intelligent and worked very hard. what actually makes a genius as opposed to a very intelligent or very creative (picasso) person? how do you figure that? maybe it just pops out - sh/he is a genius - that's all there is to it (?).

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Permalink Reply by scott martins on April 19, 2010 at 11:16pm

I haven't ran into too many problems. Then again, like Johnsky points out, I'm kind of lazy and haven't studied many things to in depth. I also have the same problems when falling asleep. Though I try to think of easier ways to connect a piece of iron when putting up a building instead of inventions or physics applications. I know that doesn't sound like my IQ can be considered high but I have tested to be well above average.

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Permalink Reply by Johnsky on April 19, 2010 at 11:31pm

IQ has little to do with your willingness to use it.

... but you can lose it slowly if you let it idle too much.

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Permalink Reply by Garrick McElroy on April 19, 2010 at 11:49pm

Yep! I'm about to fail out of school and my IQ is above average. Weeeee!

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Permalink Reply by Mike Vogt on May 1, 2010 at 7:39pm

School is more about diligence and ability to conform. A high IQ either makes you the teacher's favorite, or the most loathed person in the room. Sometimes both.

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Permalink Reply by Tarquin St John Sh'gn'sty on April 21, 2010 at 10:20pm

"IQ has little to do with your willingness to use it."

Quite right. Some of the smartest people I've met lack focus. A thing needs to be easy or they won't bother..

There is also more than a little disagreement on the meaning of the word 'intelligence' and exactly what IQ tests measure, if anything apart from the ability to do the test.

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Permalink Reply by Becca on April 19, 2010 at 11:31pm

Ok it's not quite on topic but I gotta ask. What is the use of being in the MENSA club?

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Permalink Reply by Фелч Гроган on April 19, 2010 at 11:36pm

It makes you important.

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Permalink Reply by Becca on April 20, 2010 at 9:46am

The number you got on an IQ test doesn't make you any more like-minded than the number you get on any other test. I definitely don't think MENSA's purpose is for like-minded people to meet... I don't even think this place (Atheist Nexus) is a place for like minded people to meet (it's more of a respite from a theist dominated world - but that's besides the point and my personal opinion.)