…anyone else?

No. I’m very intelligent.

Realising you aren’t actually very intelligent…

……not a problem for me as I’ve never considered myself to be intelligent. Set the bar low and then it aint a problem!

I always try to ensure i’m the cleverest person in the room.

Mostly by locking myself in the toilet.

What you end up with are people who might be brilliant at solving complex analytical problems or writing academic-style reports, but haven’t got the faintest idea of how to interact effectively with other people, lead a team or, quite often, change a freakin’ lightbulb.

I used to share a house with a guy with a Masters Degree in Biochemisty or something very similar. He bought some new wiper blades for his car and spent ages faffing with them before throwing them in the bin as they didn’t fit. I fished ten out and had them on in 30 seconds flat.
I chose not to go to uni. I didn’t want to, hated school and couldn’t see the point. Nearly 30 years later I know that was the right choice and I’ve never once regretted that decision. I could have passed whatever degree I liked and that’s good enough for me.

MrSmith – Member

To those who think stw is a hive of great minds… it’s really just a hive of great googlers.

yep. take the one thing you know a lot about, you may not be an expert but you have years of experience in this one thing but are intelligent enough to know that your peers in that field know more (even if they are lacking in some areas that you are stronger)
then look at the instances when that is the subject of STW posts…
it’s mostly internet forum bullshit from desk worriers.

There’s obviously a certain amount of black-belt cutting and pasting going on, but if you look at, e.g. the long-running threads on things like photography, or “last thing you made” threads, or the shed-building clique, or just commonsense solutions to simple mechanical problems that would have the likes of me baffled, there’s quite a breadth of intelligence and creative thinking of different types to be found on here.

At some point a long long time ago, I came to realise that my grammar school and university education bore practically no resemblance to who I am today (or have been for ~20 years), due to life’s lottery of infinite possibilities.

Doing an MSc in Pure/Applied Maths was where I found my limit, the course was Approximation Theory lead by M J Powell (Cambs Uni). Up until that point I had found Maths really trivial and then suddenly I was struggling to keep up.

I went to uni with a 17yr old lad doing pure mathematics combined with philosophy. I could have a crack at all the other work the housemates were doing, law, physics, engineering etc, but not that, utter mystery to me and most of the world.

He could have gone into a career in that world but the jobs are few and far between and your colleagues would be somewhat ‘challenging’.

I’m not a deep thinker but I am damn fast at thinking, this gets me into and out of trouble in equal measure.

Seems a lot of people think that having an academic education means that you are shit at practical things.

I have a Masters degree in Physics, but I can also fix things in the garage and fit wiper blades and a whole host of other things. Practical skills and academic skills are orthogonal – you can have one, both, or neither.

Njee your awesomeness went down 2437% when you told me who you worked for. Still leaves several thousand per cent though

😆

False accusation, less than 1,200% representative!

I went to uni with a 17yr old lad doing pure mathematics combined with philosophy. I could have a crack at all the other work the housemates were doing, law, physics, engineering etc, but not that, utter mystery to me and most of the world.

Maths is a weird one – at A-level I found mechanics and statistics very straightforward, but pure maths just wouldn’t sink in. Ended up getting AA-U in the different modules, C overall. Not needed anything beyond GCSE maths since I don’t think 😕

I have lots of degrees, but really really wish I could be more of a handyman.

I also have little-to-no wit. Thinking on my feet is a real challenge, but I write very good books and papers.

Seems a lot of people think that having an academic education means that you are shit at practical things.

Yes, I have a relative with a PHD in quantum physics (really). It didn’t only require lot of high level maths but the ability to design and build you own experiments, usually involving soldering irons and lots of lasers and stuff. She went on to study law and became a patent attorney.

She’s the one that does all the electrics and fixes the mechanical stuff in her household. Her husband bought her a power drill for Christmas.

Seems a lot of people think that having an academic education means that you are shit at practical things.

I have a Masters degree in Physics, but I can also fix things in the garage and fit wiper blades and a whole host of other things. Practical skills and academic skills are orthogonal – you can have one, both, or neither.

This is very true. It’s often a sop to the less able to suggest that the intellectually gifted “lack common sense”.

That said, Dr North does work with a chap who once, on standing up to start a lecture, put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a banana skin. After a split second contemplating it, he exclaimed: “Oh ****, I’ve thrown away my car keys.”

you only have to look at MP’s to work out a mediocre degree or even Eton/Oxbridge doesn’t guarantee intelligence.

This is very true. It’s often a sop to the less able to suggest that the intellectually gifted “lack common sense”.

I think it’s partially that, and partially that it is often the case, moreso than you may expect (I know a lot of very academically smart people who aren’t all that ‘clever’/practical/useful), but it’s lazily evolved into being mildly insulting!

Realising you aren’t actually very intelligent…

I don’t like to boast but I noticed straight away

i have found in life people with loads of letters after theit names, dont have much common sense.

I don’t buy this at all. Sure there are some examples, like you can find for any sweeping generalisation you want to make, but it’s a myth reinforced by confirmation bias and a bit of crowing IMO.
If it exists at all it is a reflection of what people have previously spent their time doing and how they want to be spending it now. I’ve just got my PhD but, for example, I would have no immediate clue how to do even the most basic maintenance on a car. This isn’t because I’m some sort of stereotype scatty academic though, it’s because I’ve never owned a car, my family never had one, and consequently I’ve spent very little time peering under car bonnets and I’ve no particular inclination to start now. I’m sure some people would take that as a sign that I have no common sense though.

On the flip side to that, I certainly don’t believe that things like PhDs mean you are Brain of Britain. They largely just reflect different choices or different opportunities (although you probably wouldn’t get far if you were a total chump, obvs.)

I have lots of degrees, but really really wish I could be more of a handyman.

It just takes practice. Those people who are good at that stuff – they aren’t born able to do it. What they are born with is the idea that they can investigate, try things out, figure out why things didn’t work and improve.

I could knock you up a table in an hour using a saw, drill, pencil, set square and marking gauge. It wouldn’t look pretty and might warp, but it’d be solid. Only because I spent a lot of time in earlier years building things that were flimsy and rubbish, wanting to do better, and thinking about what was wrong with them. Extra intelligence in that instance might make that process quicker, but you don’t need to be intelligent. You just need to try, fail and learn.

I always try to ensure i’m the cleverest person in the room.

Mostly by locking myself in the toilet.

Are you Michael Gove?

It just takes practice. Those people who are good at that stuff – they aren’t born able to do it. What they are born with is the idea that they can investigate, try things out, figure out why things didn’t work and improve.

Hang on, isn’t this the nature/nurture argument?

I think you’re born with a certain amount of abilities that go toward this kind of stuff. 3d visualisation, coordination, etc. Obviously that can all be trained, but to differing degrees; in the same way I’ll never have the ability to be a stand up comedian, other people will never, ever, even with the best will in the world, be safe with a chainsaw.

in the same way I’ll never have the ability to be a stand up comedian, other people will never, ever, even with the best will in the world, be safe with a chainsaw.

Most would though. I’m not talking about brain surgery, just basic physical manipulation. 80% of people could do DIY and woodwork and suchlike, I reckon – if not the swift creation of a table without plans. When I see people making a pigs ear of things, it’s just inexperience, the same kind of thing I used to do. Difference is some people give up when they cock something up, instead of trying to figure out why they cocked it up and how to do it better next time. It’s a confidence thing I suppose.

It could be that it’s simply down to my own Dad doing all our DIY, it makes me think that DIY is something that a person should be able to do. Had he got people in to do things, I’d probably be reaching for the phone book too.

Passats?

I’m also well academically educated, yet capable of doing most practical things. Can even do a good line in English language and public speaking and thinking on my feet. Sadly lacking in emotional intelligence and general people skills. Oh and self confidence. Would happily trade.

I know very well the limits of my intelligence. That’s why I colour in pictures with felt tips for a living. Some nights I even remember to put the tops back on.

As Mrs Binners always says to me, a look of pity on her face, after i deliveri yet another monumentally stupid statement … ‘Aaaaaaah…. it’s a good job you’re so pretty’

I would reckon that I’m reasonably intelligent, got a 2.1 BEng in Engineering ferinstance.

However, I’ve made some dumb decisions……

It could be that it’s simply down to my own Dad doing all our DIY, it makes me think that DIY is something that a person should be able to do. Had he got people in to do things, I’d probably be reaching for the phone book too.

Definitely think there is an element of that, my Dad was the same so when I bought a house just thought “how hard can it be?”

Passats?

It’s working perfectly now, thanks for asking 🙂 No thanks to those non-academic practical mechanics though!

What about lane discipline on a motorway – where does that fit with the whole intelligence debate…?

😉

It’s says something that I don’t even understand the context of teasels question ^^ :/

If you are really interested in this stuff Howard Gardner wrote a book on it…explains intelligence is not just academic
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_multiple_intelligences

If anyone ever played dungeons and dragons I always think people have more or less the same number of points and get to share them amongst the intelligences, we all know someone who has the brain the size of a planet but can’t work out how to cross town on the underground

DT78 – Member

If anyone ever played dungeons and dragons I always think people have more or less the same number of points

Congratulations, you just earned a charisma score of 1

I love my best mates (a paramedic) description of his older brother, who has more qualifications, and letters after his name, than is feasible, and works for the EU in Brussels ….

“He could calculate how many beans were in a tin, but he couldn’t tell you how to open the ****er!” 😆

I’m another one who would happily trade book learning intelligence for practical skills which would get me a job!! All the degrees in the world don’t qualify you to work in an office in Swindon it seems!

A few people have alluded to folk like this. I wonder what percentage of those being discussed are Aspie, that sounds like very stereotypical traits.

I worked in Eindhoven for 5 years which is apparently the ‘smartest’ place in the world – it also has one of the highest levels of autism.

Congratulations, you just earned a charisma score of 1

hehe, but an Intelligence of 99 🙂

Someone post a link to an iq test, I’m curious.

91 I’m a thickly. Although I’m by far above the age group average on quantative skills, whatever they are…

Someone post a link to an iq test, I’m curious

I’m intelligent enough not to voluntarily go near an IQ test 🙂

I’m intelligent enough not to voluntarily go near an IQ test

They’re really good at telling you how good you are at IQ tests.

At uni, my wife scored so low on an IQ test that she shouldn’t even really be able to tie her show laces. Although, now that I think about it, she does somehow tie them so that the loops both point in the same direction…

I did a test at school aged 5 or so. They showed me a picture of a ball and an orange, and asked me what the difference was between the two. Aware of the obvious answer, and trying to be a smartarse, I said ‘balls come in lots of different colours’…

DT78 – Member
If you are really interested in this stuff Howard Gardner wrote a book on it…explains intelligence is not just academic
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_multiple_intelligences

Thanks for that, that bears out exactly my theory on this sort of stuff, telling folk they are intelligent just because they can regurgitate stuff they’ve read or been told for exam purposes is bollox as I frequently tell youngsters put off by poor school results.

I know some very bright types that had a crap time at school that have since gone on to succeed in other walks of life beyond their wildest expectations.

I wish there was a bit more about the existential or ‘spiritual’ stuff and a serious scientific probe into folk who can tell the future or have that ‘sixth’ sense, we definitely have this function and I’ve had it proven to me on a couple of occasions but I’d love to know how it develops, if we stopped considering it as witchcraft/mumbo jumbo or suggest anyone discussing it is a nutter.

Thanks for that, that bears out exactly my theory on this sort of stuff, telling folk they are intelligent just because they can regurgitate stuff they’ve read or been told for exam purposes is bollox as I frequently tell youngsters put off by poor school results.

I know some very bright types that had a crap time at school that have since gone on to succeed in other walks of life beyond their wildest expectations.

Started well, then…

I wish there was a bit more about the existential or ‘spiritual’ stuff and a serious scientific probe into folk who can tell the future or have that ‘sixth’ sense, we definitely have this function and I’ve had it proven to me on a couple of occasions but I’d love to know how it develops, if we stopped considering it as witchcraft/mumbo jumbo or suggest anyone discussing it is a nutter.

🙄