If someone had an IQ of 150, what field should they go into to make the most of their brainpower?

peppa wrote:

They could be like Ted Kazinski and go into unabombing

Ted Kaczynski was my brother-in-law's Calculus prof at Cal before TK moved on to his bomber career.

I think one is better off not knowing their IQ. I don't think having a high iq is meaningless; in general it is helpful. But I find skills and abilities to be very "spiky". I am proficient in a narrow analytic area, and yes, it helps me make an excellent living. But my skills beyond that area are either mediocre or poor. In particular, I have very little mechanical ability and almost no practical skills. OK, I pay people to do these things for me but such is the peril of walking around thinking you are smart. My brother, a former D 1 All American and Econ Phd is very bright and over the top wealthy as his spiky skills apply to money management and investment - with an unparalleled 30 year record. Yet his practical skills too, are limited, and again, it is risky to walk around thinking you are smart. In any event, you are only as intelligent as the last thing you did, and in hindsight, some moves turn out to be rather dull. Do what interests you - work is a lifelong thing and doing something you do not like is very difficult and can take years off your life.

Become an academic. Work your way up through the system with the aim of becoming a subject matter expert about something with a real-world application. Then parlay this expertise into commercial work so you have the best of both worlds - intellectual stimulation and financial reward.

AI

My brother tested 155. He is a guitarist. So I’m going with anything you want.

Build a half decent Rojo bot.

eugenics

Economics

If I was that smart I would start a running news and forum website

Several of my family members have IQs over 150. All have had issues with depression. Here are some of the education and career paths taken:

Econ Degree->Lawyer. Did well.

Econ Degree->Accountant->CFO of major company (market cap in the 10s of billions).

Performance Artist -> Misc Clerical Jobs after that ended

B.A. -> Construction Contractor

B.Sc -> Teacher -> M.Sc (+ Teacher)

Dog walker is about the highest they should aspire to with that mediocre sh!t.

It just depends on what someone is interested in.

docLorna wrote:

Do something that truly challenges your IQ but still satisfies your EQ. Don’t do it to impress, do it for your happiness.

The only correct answer.

My small town graduating class of 200 had two classmates I know of that went on to make a fair amount of money in the 20 to 50 M plus range. Both were just average students. One went on to Harvard and then Wall Street. The other started and sold a business just before it tanked. For them it was all about motivation. Street smarts trumps book smarts most of the time.

Any

hypothetically speaking wrote:

Question in the title. To think about, there are some fields in which having a very high IQ does not give someone any more advantage over someone with only a moderately high IQ. Some fields off the top of my head would be things like nursing, counseling, wildlife biology, etc. I'm not saying being smart isn't an advantage in those fields, but having a genius intellect is not going to help one any more than having a moderately high intellect.

So, what fields allow someone with a very high intellect (let's say 150 IQ or greater) to fully use their mind and continually be challenged? Math? Writing? Engineering?

People with super high IQs should do what they want with that IQ. They have more opportunity available to them than people with average IQs, but they should not be pigeonholed into do anything in particular. Geniuses also have specific interests and wants. They are not machines.

Really whatever brings them joy. But a few thoughts:

I am in the medical field and am surrounded by some very smart people. However, I don’t think this is actually the best use of brainpower per say. Clinical medicine, while very important and challenging, often becomes quite routine and repetitive- especially with the endless documentation/ notes. I think the research side of medicine is where a lot of people gravitate towards if they find themselves a bit complacent with day in and day out care. I enjoy conducting research and providing care to patients. I don’t think I’ll ever go into private practice because part of my satisfaction stems from doing research, even though I take a pay cut for it.

However, I do think that sometimes medicine gives you some altruistic satisfaction that is hard to come by in other jobs.

Boston 18 wrote:

deydoodoodohdohdontdeydoo? wrote:

Probably working for Apple or such like, or coming up with a new social media simping system to feed female vanity such as Instagram.

This is why from 1905 to 1921 humanity progressed from the telegraph cable to radio to television, from horse and carriage to the aeroplane, and from 2005 to 2021 we've gone from the iPhone 1 to the iPhone 12, and from MySpace to Facebook.

Close to my response,-which would be to help sell targeted online advertising. The goal of the greatest minds of our generation.

Haha, that's actually me in a nutshell. And the sad truth is we probably don't bring much added value to the table. A completely futile exercise for all aside from the fact it's an easy way to make money. I put most of my earnings into biotech stocks so hopefully I am giving back something to human progress.

hypothetically speaking wrote:

Question in the title. To think about, there are some fields in which having a very high IQ does not give someone any more advantage over someone with only a moderately high IQ. Some fields off the top of my head would be things like nursing, counseling, wildlife biology, etc. I'm not saying being smart isn't an advantage in those fields, but having a genius intellect is not going to help one any more than having a moderately high intellect.

So, what fields allow someone with a very high intellect (let's say 150 IQ or greater) to fully use their mind and continually be challenged? Math? Writing? Engineering?

First I’d play baseball because women love baseball pants

Then I’d get into triathlon because that’s all the rage nowadays. I’d race for a team named for and sponsored by a company that makes complete bs products. #callmeLance