DUers: How smart are you?

No false modesty necessary. Compared to the other folks on this board, where do you see yourself intellectually?

I'm curious to see how it turns out.

and I know when I don't know.

Then of course there are still those who don't know they don't know.

I could be wrong, of course...

But that's my thought...

FWIW!

:shrug:

A-duuuuuuuuuuuuh......

The time I thought I was wrong but it turned out I was right so I was wrong.

what one has made the most of their native intelligence--many highly gifted people (high IQ) have gone on to dubious lives while others with a lower (overall) IQ have made the most of what might be a modest gift and gone on to greater lives.

I believe mine has been dubiously greater than my IQ had in store.:)

I was a classical case of a true underachiever in school--mediocre sometimes, making it through without any passion or real application. I had a high IQ, but I just never did the work while I was in school. Surprisingly, I made it through, but without any true effort.

On the other hand, I've known people who succeeded in school who doggedly and stubbornly did their best, even if it was more difficult. Their desire to make something of themselves was strong, and they found a way to sure they excelled in their classes and work.

I did not do the work, except in English, and found some things actually came instinctively to me--I've been writing since I was about 10, and that alone gave me something to work with. I wrote stories, poetry, commentary and more. My other passion, photography, could never be taught where I went to school, but I was (and still am) a fairly competent photographer. If my school had had more such classes, I would have garnered the kind of knowledge I would have needed to succeed, but they concentrated purely on courses for college entry, and not on the many areas of creative energy and application.

He didn't exactly use it!

:thumbsup:

Obviously I'm in the top ten percent. I'd be in the top one percentile if you'd fine grained the poll enough, but I will make do. It is the load us geniuses must carry.

I know that I'm smart enough no to even consider such a question

:thumbsup:

But I am interested to see how this turns out.

Therefore proving that false modesty is pretty rare around here.:P

:dunce:

:silly:

I sling my oo'n poo :silly:

like top 3% nationwide score on the SATs kind of smart. I have done shit with that smart so I think the only fair thing to say is that IQ is meaningless.

Granted, I just woke up 10 minutes ago... :P

life would be completely different...and much better

that there are far too many ways to parse "smart" for this to be a viable poll.

for me to rank myself.

I love how most of the votes are in the top 10%.

:D

I can't vote on this. I think everyone here must be pretty smart, at least we aren't repuglycans.

:D

:spray: :spray: :spray: :spray: :spray: :spray: :spray: :spray: :spray: :spray: :spray: :spray: :spray: :spray: :spray: :spray: :applause: :patriot:

I tend to score high on intelligence tests (in the 135 -145 range on IQ tests, 98-99 percentile on others), but I also have said more than my share of stupid and/or misinformed shit. Frankly, I don't care if I am as smart as someone else as long as we can communicate. I also know that there are many types of intelligence, and that I tend to guess well, so those scores do not necessarily mean anything at all.

I don't really care about intelligence as much as willful ignorance - the people who refuse to ever consider new information and who never apologize when they are wrong. I will admit it if someone calls me out on something I say which is wrong, and even if it is something which is more subjective I will agree to disagree. I'm more than willing to learn new things and to readjust my thinking if given enough information to convince me that I was not seeing the whole picture on whatever issue.

I also think some people tend to argue for the sake of arguing, and not in a good way.

Why even bother with this poll then? :eyes:

:rofl:

high enough option for me on this poll.

jk, I think DU as a whole is more intelligent than most other places on the net. After all, Liberals ARE more intelligent than Conservatives.

:P

nice.

because I was not referring to you as "jk" "jk" is shorthand for Just Kidding...

:rofl:

:rofl:

considered 'average', then I have no clue.

Democratic Underground, where the men are strong, the women are good-looking and the posters are above average.




(Apologies to Garrison Keeler and Lake Woebegon)

per Keillor, anyway...

:popcorn:

the far right.

I guess I could choose a point in the scale, but who is to say that's where I belong?

There are many people here that are more of political encyclopedias, though.

Enough to get me into Mensa, if I didn't think that would be a total bore. But I'm probably only in the top 50% of DUers. We have some really smart people here!

Wow I didn't expect the Lake Wobegon effect to be so pronounced.

that should count for something!

MENSA.

And just for the purpose, I bought myself a mental mirror.

This poll is hilarious by itself, but even funnier next to the one about UFO's and ghosts.

All that probing by aliens must really enhance the IQ... :rofl:

Yet, here at DU, I see a dozen folks every day who are smarter than I am.
Shows you what them tests is worth, knowhutImean?

I voted "top 10%", because I honestly think I'm around the 90th
percentile here at DU. On my GOOD days, anyway. :)

that is all

:hi:

I can't compete with the nearly 65% of the respondents who are in the top 20%. I must be at the bottom.

Some group therapy is in order -- 80% of the people here figure they're either smart as hell or dumb as hell.

When I first joined DU, back in late 2002 or early 2003, I was definitely a political neophyte. But I've gotten quite an education since then, thanks to the incredible wealth of knowledge here and the plugged-in folks on DU, and have since managed to even impress myself with what I've learned since then...:D

Thanks DU!:hi:

a high percentage of Loungers may actually be smarter than 90% of the rest of DU. For best results, this should be posted in other forums or at least in GD.

For some reason your post brought this quote to mind:

Life is a tragedy for those who feel, and a comedy for those who think.
- Jean de la Bruyère

So what about those of us who consider life to be a Tragic Musical Comedy?

but this estimation of intelligence does the exact opposite of a bell curve. No idea what that means, but it's kinda interesting.

:patriot:

talking about her theory that we are suffused with narcissism as a culture today. Everybody truly believes that he or she is in the top ten percent.

I find these results hysterical.

That puts me in the upper 50%.

That's what I wanna know!

Bake

I submit exhibit A:

Usually said by someone of lesser intelligence to someone of superior intelligence who has just demonstrated the first person's inferior intelligence, as in "If you're so smart, why aren't you rich?" (with an implied "neener neener neener").

Nevermind.

Bake

...something comes along to make me realize I don't know shit.