I watched too many people bitch and moan about vaccines and masks during a pandemic… I dont think I’m smart, the bar is just too low.

People always tell me I’m smart. And I definitely have some things I’m good at. But I’m pretty dumb about a lot of stuff, but I think that’s pretty normal.

Honestly, I try not to think about people in terms of smart/stupid. Everyone has a complicated set of strengths and weaknesses that are slowly changing all the time. Just labeling someone as smart or stupid is overly simplistic.

Smart enough to get into a phd program but dumb enough to think doing a phd was a good idea.

I’m a programmer. Sometimes I solve a really hard programming problem in a clever way with very few lines of code, and I feel like I’m the smartest person in the world. Other times I can’t solve a really simple problem and I realize that I’m actually a moron that gets lucky sometimes.

I had to sit down and accept I am more intelligent than the majority of people by virtue of the fact that I read and paid attention in school, and I had to after watching the political situation in the U.S. deteriorate.

It deteriorated because people refused to learn to read and write correctly, leaving them unable to examine primary sources or fully comprehend what they read in the news, online, everywhere.

It deteriorated because people refused to learn math and science, meaning they can no longer verify factual claims charlatans make to them, or figure out when their bosses are ripping them off, or budget, or make their own stuff.

It deteriorated because people outright rejected the notion of critical thinking and logical debate on principle, preferring instead to force people to submit to their paper-thin view of the world and to accept certain assumptions that lead people to accept authoritarianism in turn.

And it’s sad to see. It’s sad to watch people so hopelessly fucking stupid and dependent on the system that they’ll fight to protect it, and it’s even sadder watching them flip the fuck out when you tell them their economic woes are partially their own fault because they refuse to be educated or to use their education.

It’s a sad thing to have to accept but it’s the truth.

I am very smart in a single field of study and very dumb in normal life. Yay neurodivergence…

I‘m stuck in a dunning-Kruger-loop. I think I’m kinda smart so that must meant I’m actually kinda dumb but then if I think I’m dumb that must mean I’m actually smart but if I think im smart it must mean I’m really kinda dumb…

I could be smart or I could just be surrounded by a lot of dumb people leading me to think I’m smart 🤔

deleted by creator

Both. Years of evidence. I’m probably autistic, extremely impulsive and have substance abuse issues. So, no matter how intelligent I can be I make a lot of bad decisions. Also, being hungover or high really lowers your ability to be smart and make good decisions.

I feel like there are too many types of intelligence for words like “smart” to have much meaning. I must be pretty smart is some areas being that people are willing to pay me plenty for what I know how to do, but I’ve been around people that make me feel dumb, and I know my brain sucks at certain things. Like that toy where you put the shape into the correct shape whole? that is not so easy for me and I make mistakes.

I really don’t think I’m able to judge myself on that scale. All I know is I’ve made some really smart and some REALLY stupid decisions in my life. So… ehh… it evens out?

About average. I have a master’s in maths, and am pretty competent at tech stuff. Also do a lot of music. Those are just interests though, really. It’s easy to get caught up on the idea that being good at the skills society deems as “valuable” or “smart” means you’re in some way objectively smarter than other people. I’ve just found that isn’t remotely the case though. People have different interests, I’ve heard “dumb” people passionately talk about things they love, going into complex inner-workings that I would have to also spend hundreds of hours trying to wrap my head around. Also, a lot of the “smartest” people I know are utterly clueless at anything social. Sure they may end up as maths researchers but they can’t pick up on nuances of social interaction.

Some people would argue that the metric for smartness is a little more set in stone, usually the same people who think that IQ is anything more than an ego-trip to justify MENSA charging people money for a shitty magazine and “proof” that they’re smart. It’s never felt that simple to me though, there are so mant facets of life to be understood and everyone has different understandings of them

Told frequently I am smart, all evidence available when really considering the question points to actually being of average intelligence, and in some areas phenomenally dumb.

Rambling follows, feel free to ignore or read on if bored.

Something my father told me comes to mind here. I was complimented frequently on being a bright student when I was younger, so with all this flattery in mind I took an online IQ test. It was a pretty good score, though I don’t remember what it is (and can’t speak to its accuracy - I was a kid, tf did I know about test standards). I rushed up to my dad and told him about it. He sat me down and said “IQ is just a measurement of potential - that’s it. It’s what you actually do with that potential that’s important.”

I have not really done much with that potential, if I’m honest with myself. Sure, I got good grades in school, dean’s list in university, all that stuff. But when I look at my day to day life - my work, my interests, etc. - I’m struck with this sense that it’s the kind of life designed for people who authority figures like to call smart, but only as an appeal to ego to serve the aims of other people. Smart takes on the same meaning as a good boy - you obey the rules, don’t make too much trouble, come up with clever solutions to other people’s problems, and don’t neccessarily put much thought into your own. And where you recognize these problems, they are personal failures - always - that only you can solve, alone. Smart people don’t need help - it’s 100% false, but it’s an hard idea to shake off, simply because the answer I usually got when asking about any problem is “You’re smart - you’ll figure it out”. And I did, mostly - but what about those I couldn’t, and still haven’t?

The danger here is that being “smart”, by dint of repetition more than tangible evidence, becomes a cornerstone in my sense of self. But all those people calling me smart and reinforcing this idea - what did they actually mean? Did they mean I am innately intelligent? Did they mean I was compliant? Did they mean I would do well as a nice little cog in a larger system? Or did they mean I actually had the potential to change something worthwhile?

Over the years, I’ve come to dislike the term smart given all of the above. I like to sub in clever in most cases, because you don’t have to be smart, overall, to come up with a clever idea or solution. The idea of being smart, accepted uncritically, can be a prison. And most of the time it isn’t true in any meaningful sense.

Smart, dumb - just try and do cool shit you find interesting. Be kind to other people. Do new things, and be willing to look like an absolute dumbass once and a while. Don’t let your sense of intelligence become a complex - no matter who are, you’re probably wrong about a lot of shit, go test that as often as you possibly can. You’ll probably learn something, no matter how “smart” you are.

I’m smart. I work a smart person job with a lot of really smart people, which makes me feel not smart at times because a lot of my coworkers are smarter than me. I’m also insane though.