Most people are not smart, they're average.

Only 1-2% of people are genius--the rest are of average intelligence. And above-average still has the word average in it. Unless you're in the 99th to 100th percentile of intelligence, then you have no business calling anyone stupid and certainly no business on any high horse.

People like saying that millennials are entitled, and I'm not one to disagree with that. Entitlement is delusional.
--As is overestimating your intelligence. If you are a genius, you already know that you are because it was either so obvious as a child that you were made to take a legitimate IQ test (like the Terra Nova. One that is recognized by MENSA) or you found out through a similar route via standardized testing, also at a very young age--and you have the papers to prove your score.

Genius is also relative--some are prolific, others not-so-much. But most people don't even know what genius even looks like. So that's why I get irritated when I hear or see people talking about 'stupid people' when they, themselves are comparably stupid. When you're a genius, you can't relate to anybody. You're an anomaly. It is incredibly lonely and you are always treated like you're special because you actually are. And that alienates you even further. Plus, you're also met with a lot of resistance from idiots--not because they're trying to be mean, but simply because they are not intelligent and can't help themselves.

On ATS, it seems that people like to pretend that they're special. I will say that I believe there's a higher concentration of geniuses here than, let's say, on facebook, but even still the total % of ATS members who are geniuses is certainly well-under 10%. That just makes sense. 10% is probably way too generous. I was naive for wanting to believe that ATS would be different. Perhaps it is I who am in the wrong for expecting too much from people by holding them to the same high standards that I hold myself.

So, this is a general message to everyone: if you're not one, then why don't you get off your high horse and try to learn something instead of thinking that you know everything? Even geniuses don't know everything. Not by a long shot. Stop calling people sheep when you're a sheep yourself. It's very frustrating. If you want to pretend that you're a genius, you might want to start acting like one. Calling people sheep or telling people that they're idiots for believing in God is literally the definition of ignorant. Check your entitlement at the log-in please. Can't we all work together to deny ignorance? I hate how it seems like there's this lack of cohesion recently on ATS.

I apologize for being frank. And I realize that I shouldn't hold others to my standards. I realize I should give up on people and not cast pearls before swine. But I am a fool because I want to try, anyway. Just to see for myself, perhaps, if it's true that it's futile. To date, as far as I can tell, it definitely is. Please change my mind. Is it really that rare to be self-aware/honest with oneself? Is everyone really living in their delusion of reality?

I wish I could. Heck, if I could I probably wouldn't hate myself.

a reply to: rukia

Unless you're in the 99th to 100th percentile of intelligence, then you have no business calling anyone stupid and certainly no business on any high horse.

I can't get on one. I'm a short guy. I don't like heights, either. Or do you mean the other definition of "high", like maybe it had something extra in its feed? That would be fun to ride, maybe.

Plus, you're also met with a lot of resistance from idiots--not because they're trying to be mean, but simply because they are not intelligent and can't help themselves.

I don't know if I fit into this category. I am doing this because I just can't help myself though.

I apologize for being frank.

At least you're not being Dave or Marcia.

Is everyone really living in their delusion of reality?

I must be delusional. I actually think I'm funny.

Heck, if I could I probably wouldn't hate myself.

Don't do that. I'm sure there's plenty to like about you.

ETA: I was actually being serious about that last one. Don't hate yourself.

I imagine a few are in shock now. What you say is so true. I would not make any apology however. What you exhibit is human nature, the propensity for kindness. I think most of us do, it's only as we become jaded with societies failures that our hearts harden, perhaps a defense mechanism.. My Brother is in fact a genius, and is difficult to understand, the method to his madness is quite stunning. So I find myself being patient understanding him, as I know he tempers his patience with a certain aggravation no doubt with my intelligence deficit. I am average, and content, never the less quite aware of my surroundings...

a reply to: Plotus

Why do you think they call it average? Certainly not because it is uncommen.

The OP is correct, to a degree.

In fact, if intelligence is laid out diagrammatically it's a typical distribution curve. While there are few very smart people on one end, there are also so serious thickies on the other. In the middle is where most people exist.

On ATS, it seems that people like to pretend that they're special.

Many people do have an over-inflated sense of their own intelligence. However, I find many people on ATS to have very closed minds and are unable to apply critical thinking. That's not a feature of intellect per se, just an observation.

Me, well I think that I am intelligent enough to get by and experienced enough to recognise when people have closed minds.

a reply to: rukia

You consider yourself to be of genius level iq,not so? Iirc,you mentioned that in a thread of yours not so long ago.Now i may not be a genius,i have no clue what my iq is-but i am wise enough not to hate myself.And i am wise enough to know that in a community like ATS, Everyone's opinions and thoughts are valuable.I have heard more common sense and wisdom from average people who hack very difficult,sometimes brutal lives than from people who are of genius iq-and especially more than from people who have an inflated ego.From your threads and posts on this site,i have to tell you honestly,you have some nerve lecturing others from your own high horse.Give the poor thing a break already and get off it for while,its back must be screaming mother mary and sonny jesus by this time.

Not another "I am a genuis, bask in my glory" type threads. Or possibly I'm lonely at my desk and drank a few too many threads. Not quite sure.

And calling people stupid that call others stupid...only moral pony's available?

And it's safe to say you are not a genuis. Anyone analysing the way you construct your thought processes can observe that.

a reply to: rukia

It doesn't take a genius to spot an idiot.

a reply to: paraphi

For me it is all about how you use critical thinking and ability to look outside the box as a tool to show how wise you are. If we call intelligence the CPU you can still run very unwise small minded programing on a very high CPU and if it does not run self awareness programs it will not arise out of the matrix/society. Some people might not have a CPU hardware that is extreme but run programs that are very advanced and can do very much with that little.

Feeling dualistic separated from the crowd and becoming introvert instead of extrovert happens naturally when you are living in a grouping that is not good for you and you are self aware to see more objectively how the connections is not a benefit for all involved. And then we have the spiritual rabbit hole where some people play around on the surface with faith and some dive all the way down to see what they find. And that gives you even more tools for awareness especially body awareness.

I have myself found that on some level I can connect more to dogs than humans if we exclude the advanced empaths from the equation that are rarer.

a reply to: rukia

The 80 -20 (or 90 -10 as some say now) rule applies to humanity the same as it applies to anything else. E,g 90% of worlds population is not white, less and 10% of the worlds population own or control more wealth then the other 90%, etc.

originally posted by: Azureblue
a reply to: rukia

The 80 -20 (or 90 -10 as some say now) rule applies to humanity the same as it applies to anything else. E,g 90% of worlds population is not white, less and 10% of the worlds population own or control more wealth then the other 90%, etc.

Maybe it is getting late, but your post made no sense to me in the context of the OP. I will try reading it again in the morning.

a reply to: Azureblue

Isnt that a mathmatical law? I know I have heard of it somehwere before ....

originally posted by: GemmyMcGemJew
Not another "I am a genuis, bask in my glory" type threads. Or possibly I'm lonely at my desk and drank a few too many threads. Not quite sure.

And calling people stupid that call others stupid...only moral pony's available?

And it's safe to say you are not a genuis. Anyone analysing the way you construct your thought processes can observe that.

What is your definition of genius when you are analysing the construct of thought processes?

Is the language and how you inform others of the information really important to show the meta picture/idea.

1 The information in meta picture/idea form can already have been processed so that you can see the step by step thinking of the argument where you can at each step see if there is a leap that is not valid.

2 You can have a jumble of arguments from different showing the same meta picture/idea that is not processed and make you have to work to see what the parts of the the meta picture/idea is.

You can still have the same awareness understanding in both but the way is not prepared for you in the 2nd. I would call the difference preparing the way being a teacher but it does not remove the awareness of being able to describe the picture.

a reply to: DeviantMortal

Yes, but misused by Azureblue to illustrate nothing. It's mainly based on business and not demographics, so the example cited is problematic. It is the pareto principle, which is cause and effect. For example, 80% of something is caused by 20% of something, as in 80% of my problems are caused by 20% of these people.

a reply to: paraphi

Thats not the one I am talking about, I watched some youtube video about it a long time ago. Something about numbers that seem to correlate but in reality have nothing to do with one another. I cant even remember what the examples were that were given. Oh well, my opinion is very simple, most of us are dumber than we think we are. The sooner you accept that you sooner you can grow as a person and open your mind beyond all beliefs you once held as fact and would not even entertain the notion of questioning.

a reply to: rukia

There is much to what you say, but I feel that your assertion that geniuses, everyone who has a genius IQ, has been nourished from an early age, had their capabilities recognised by the state or other educational institutions and has had their mind fed in a way that cultivates rather than crushes their intellect, is absolutely flawed.

I have lost roughly thirty IQ points since I was ten years old, and I still test at between 126 and 128 depending on the test type. I know I have lost those points because my old score was in the mid one fifties. I lost those points because I was not nourished by the educational establishment, but crushed by it. It's one size fits all approach back in the day, had me forced to endure learning environments that made me feel like a pariah, just because I possessed uncommon reasoning abilities and highly advanced communication capacity when I was young.

It cannot be that I am the only individual who has become merely "of highly superior" intellect, as opposed to actual genius, by way of societal erosion of my faculties. I would have thought that there is an awful lot of wasted potential out there, people wandering the world who could have changed it, but were changed by circumstances themselves instead. And let's be realistic, even geniuses can be bloody stupid sometimes. Atom bombs... Bloody stupid idea. Clever kit, stupid idea. No forward thinking, no ability to discern possible futures involved.

No one can see the future, but a sufficiently skilled mind can infer the likely outcome of a given invention or discovery, and the highly intelligent people who made the atom bomb a possibility were indeed intelligent. That did not stop them having a fantastical lack of foresight, and completing the project despite its inherent idiocy.

originally posted by: DeviantMortal
a reply to: Azureblue

Isnt that a mathmatical law? I know I have heard of it somehwere before ....

yes thats right, first observed by Vilfredo Pareto, point being that many dmograhics or any other observations about humanity hollows this rule in general terms. The op's point is explained by this rule.

a reply to: TrueBrit

I enjoyed your post, and sadly beyond that have little to say about it. I see both wisdom and intellect in it.
The only other thing I can add, I have been told the mind is just like any muscle, if you dont use it, it will atrophy. And if you were that smart as a child, you would have to move mountains with it to even keep it in shape.

hey there, i understand your frustration ventilation.. thanks for sharing...

people are people.. most are still asleep, even the ones calling others sheep.. i'm not steping up on any horse when i say this, for this is my open opinion.. on a spiritual level, the highest truth is that we are all made from the same source, which is unconditional love.. everything else is a distortion of that truth in a sense.. So to me everyone is special, in their unique way and frequency/vibration complex which makes up their being which is seen much differently from the higher realms of creation.. Therefore, IQ is a linear measurement of intelligence.. it doesn't mean a person with a high IQ has high knowledge of self.. same goes for some of these millennial, starseed, indigo children, wanderers, etc.. we are all subject to roughly the same parameters here in this 3D incarnation on earth... we are all born with a veil over our true conscious selves here- some have their veil thinner/thicker than others, some can be predisposed to not being easily conditioned by society than others...

But with what ever knowledge people possess, are they using it in positive manners? do they embody the highest truth when speaking to their other-selves, or do they succumb to the battle of wits or info wars?

it's been very hard for me to get across to most of my friends on facebook- they immediately refute and insult me when i calmly bring up confrontational truths up for debate, mostly just to see where people's heads are at with alternative media.. oh how quick they are to label me some conspiracy theorist and refute objective info while insulting me before they even know my opinion... the best we can do is not to play into this back and forth bickering, especially when it's with people who will resort to negativity in defense of the system of lies and conditioning they grew up in.. be the example of stoic in the face of these ego impulses, exemplify more than just the mental and spiritual intelligence, but emotional intelligence too..

we gotta avoid discord and try to seek any kind of common ground with these people.. we need these people... i mean we are all just people.. right?? haha, peace and good luck to ya

originally posted by: rukia
And above-average still has the word average in it.

First off, the average is the average. It is not a fixed indication of intelligence it is a marker for current mean level of intelligence.

Secondly, saying above-average is still average because it has average in it is a stupid argument. The phrase above average means that it is not average, it is above it.

It's like saying something ex-girlfriend is still your girlfriend because it has the word girlfriend in it.