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Are high-IQ people superior?

No. Flat no.

Standard IQ tests measure a trait that gives a person certain advantages. Lower-IQ people don’t get into medical schools and become doctors. More likely they sweep hospital floors (this janitor doesn’t count because he’s a fictional movie character).

“Well, my IQ is 180–and that’s in Centigrade, not Fahrenheit.”

But IQ tests don’t measure emotional intelligence (cartoon) or character. Many diabolical serial killers are highly intelligent. Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, and Mao were smart guys.

“Intelligent” and “smart” are often used interchangeably, as in the sentence above. But they’re really two different things. The world is full of stupid geniuses.

Anyone can acquire practical smarts, which are worth more in everyday life than IQ. The latter is positively detrimental when it causes people to go around with their heads in the clouds.

High-IQ people often have inferior social skills. They get less practice. They’re more socially isolated because it’s harder to fit in. A person with a high-speed brain may be oblivious to the people around him; or even worse, look down his nose at them.

Average people should be happy with their lot, because they live happier lives. Life is less complicated for them, because they don’t make simple things complicated. Less stressful, because they don’t have lofty expectations put on them. High-IQ people are more likely to be depressed (see article here).

What matters is not what you have, but what you do with what you have. Lots of highly intelligent people are perfectly useless.

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