Anyone else substantially smarter than everyone else in their family?

I find that I am the only sane person that I know and everyone around me is increasingly insane and punishing me for being sane and seeing reality.

Simple answer. Yes.

Dino Galaxy wrote:

-Also, example of less educated people who achieve great things like "Ross Perot". He was a multi-millionaire in 90's who ran for president but did not finish grade-school (I read a story about it somewhere_s).

Ross Perot graduated from the United States Naval Academy.

Good points. I have also wondered why they can't redefine intelligence to encompass other facts such as emotions. Alternatively, they can call it something more specific like "academic aptitude test". On the other hand, society should be careful in measuring success in life with finances.

As a keen observer I have noted that good test scores are good indicators of success in life, but they can be unreliable in many cases. For example, one can be the greatest genius in a field, yet cannot avoid abusing alcohol and drugs and therefore, their life falls apart. So, basically, something as simple as choosing whether to use a drug for recreation, or not to use at all can derail even a doctor/physician who studies these things (how ironic?). Another example is general street smarts. It doesn't matter what genius you are but if you cant don't hesitate when some guy summons you from the street to a dark alley at 2am.

I have observed two people with varying intelligence as young people end up with outcomes I could not have predicted. One performed better that anyone in anything he undertook, went to great college did hardcore sciences, and got job offers before he graduated. However, he became too intelligent for himself and over analyzes everything and has all these weird theories including conspiracies that seem reasonable but by the end of the day, he can't hold a job because he can't handle failure. He has become a very fragile person yet he bears intelligence of two people. The other guy was below average at school. It was actually predicted that he would probably fail in life. However, 20 years later, he is married with a small family, very stable job, and appears contented. Moreover, he and the wife are excellent money managers, so they have really stretched what would be considered a modest salary, to enter the upper middle class. Owing only a catastrophe, there is little likelihood that these people will be derailed. I try to reconcile these two cases and wonder whether these are examples of luck (good and bad) or is this the story of millions more people than we would want to believe?

Yeah, I'm with you on a lot of this, but... please? "whither" is an archaic term meaning "to place or state." the word you want to use is "wither" - "to shrivel, fade, decay; waste away."

Admittedly a little bit funny, in context?

You dug up a year old post to criticize someone's grammar? Wow! You really need to get a life.

How do you figure leg length doesn't contribute to stride length? That's ridiculous... look at the extremes. Does someone with 3 foot legs have a longer stride than a similar person with 6 inch legs? Yes, obviously, of course. Unless the 6 inch leg person does consecutive standing long jumps to walk around, and the 3 foot person drags their feet... What a ridiculous comment

Intelligence does not, necessarily, relate to being smarter, or vice versa. IQ is not an objective means of evaluating people's ability to learn or retain knowledge. Just the opposite; it's subjective. True intelligence is based on how intuitive a person is and what his/her passions are and the amount of experience or knowledge they have gained from fields of their endeavors.

Karl Fenske wrote:

Intelligence does not, necessarily, relate to being smarter

Clearly, your IQ is not very high

Oh, come on! Did you do that on purpose? There is a difference between typos and simply not knowing rudimentary English. You managed an apostrophe where none belonged, omitted an apostrophe where needed, misspelled definitely, and got the wrong "whose." If that was a deliberate troll, I commend you. If not, I can only wonder if you dropped out of school immediately after they identified you as gifted. Because the last time I would have made mistakes that obvious was in second grade.

Watch this:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D56ZAvcxN0Then reconsider.

D123 wrote:

How do you figure leg length doesn't contribute to stride length? That's ridiculous... look at the extremes. Does someone with 3 foot legs have a longer stride than a similar person with 6 inch legs? Yes, obviously, of course. Unless the 6 inch leg person does consecutive standing long jumps to walk around, and the 3 foot person drags their feet... What a ridiculous comment

Haile has a shorter stride even when running faster........

Except, of course, for that part where their feet strike the ground at exactly the same place and time. Then they had the same stride length.

:9493wooe wrote:

Haile has a shorter stride even when running faster........

I am by far the dumbest member of my family, nuclear and extended.

I spend my days working, studying, keeping up with current events in-depth, maintaining a near pinnacle fitness and health, and contemplating the policies, beliefs, incentives and opportunity costs of our government and society - frequently taking less popular and controversial perspectives.

Plenty of my family work hard but they are significantly more 'loose' with their cognition and leisure time. And by 'letting go' (or never having, for that matter) some of the intellectual and zenith goals that define my life, they *seem* to enjoy their lives more and, by extension, are more intelligent in the criteria and metrics that truly demonstrate intelligent human life.

Tis a blessing and a curse.

the fact that this "I'm really smart, just ask me!" theme is so prevalent here on LRC is probably the biggest indication what losers we all are by spending any time here..

We all grew up in the same cicumstances- povery, no dad around, horrible school system. An identical controlled enviornment allows for the evaluation of genes on intelligence.

me, oldest- med school

sister- learning disability- Ds and Fs in primary and secondary school -

brother- average intelligence but lazy

baby sister- we will see

they all have the same dad, I have a different dad

My mom- slightly above average intelligence, never had a chance to go to college.

My dad- I don't know much about him, some guy who got my mom pregnant when she was in the military back in the 80s. Mom says he was smart.

My siblings dad- below average intelligence, convict, gambling problem, lazy loser

The wording was *substantially* smarter.

Interesting question. Though my wife and I probably totaled ~300 in IQ at one point (I was half of that), she's a substance abuser and may be at a somewhat lower level now. OTOH her parents (now in their late 80s and both as sharp as tacks) are prominent academicians, esp. her father, and her brother is literally a rocket scientist--so if we're including in-laws, no way I'm "substantially" smarter.

My only remaining sibling was at a level similar to mine (she was val of her HS class, NM Scholar, etc.), but was seriously messed up in an auto accident quite a while back (two weeks in coma, yada) and currently survives on Disability, has difficulty leaving the house, and so on. She's still well above average, but may have lost 20 points of IQ (or more) via brain damage in the accident.

My kids? Only one was tested for IQ: she scored 14x, despite the test's not being scored to take her dyslexia and ADD into account. But she's a classic procrastinator/perfectionist who dropped out of college during her first year, and I doubt she'll ever have more than menial employment--so how smart can she be? The other, though never tested for IQ (as near as I know), did score 800s on her SAT; but she has some emotional problems (related to her mother's substance abuse) and may never achieve a whole lot in work or academics. Does all that mean the two kids aren't "smart"? How do we define the term?

To me, smart is as smart does (and can be distinguished from "intelligent"). By that criterion, except (perhaps) for her father, my wife is the smartest: she makes the most bank.

Probably already been said, but you're likely adopted (or at least have a different father than your other siblings).