# Lifestyles & Discussion > Science & Technology >  Top 12 People with Highest IQ in the World ........ FWIW!

## Ronin Truth

*Top 12 People with Highest IQ in the World*

2 years ago
Titli Basu

All of us have come across the term IQ in schools and colleges and in almost every sphere of life. The toppers in our classes were generally termed as “geeks”, “nerds”, “people with high IQ levels” etc. So what exactly is this IQ? Intelligent quotient? We did not ask for the full form. IQ is nothing but the marks that a person scores after appearing for one of the many standard tests to measure intelligence level of individuals. The general score of 95% population from these tests ranges between 70 and 130. There are a lot of factors that come into play when a person’s IQ is in question. Factors like mortality, morbidity, parental social status, biological parents’ IQ play an important role in determining a person’s IQ. There are a wide variety of methods used in determining a person’s IQ level, like visual tests, verbal tests, abstract reasoning problems, while some tests are based on arithmetic, reading, vocabulary and general knowledge. All said and done, let us now focus on the smartest people in the world whose IQ levels have created records time and again.
*
Here are 12 people who have the highest IQs and brightest minds in the world.*

*12. Sharon Stone (IQ level- 154)*


This sexy seductress actually is alleged to have an IQ of 154. She has been nominated for several prestigious awards and even received many awards. Who thought the bold and confident actress in Basic Instinct could actually have an IQ that would put many men to shame? She was always an academically bright student and entered second standard at the age of five. She accepted a scholarship to Edinboro University of Pennsylvania when she was just 15years old. She accepted the scholarship and went there to study creative writing and fine arts.
*11. Paul Allen (IQ Level- 160)*


This business magnate is best known as the co founder of Microsoft alongside Bill Gates. The deal between Microsoft and IBM was Pau Allen’s sheer brilliance and smartness that made IBM believe that the just founded five year old Microsoft actually had a Disk Operating System that worked on Intel chips, even though it didn’t. That deal created history and Paul went on to become the 53rd Richest Man in the World. He scored a perfect 1600 in the SAT, even ahead of Bill Gates. He was also awarded the highest honor of the Washington State University. A man of his stature truly deserves this!
*10. Stephen Hawking (IQ Level- 160)*


Despite of being diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) which has paralyzed him completely, his brain had recorded an IQ of 154, which took the world by surprise. He has made major and remarkable contributions in the field of general relativity. This versatile paralyzed man showed the world that physical conditions have got nothing to do with fulfilling dreams. He is a theoretical physicist, cosmologist, author and the Director of Research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the Cambridge. After being diagnosed with the disease, he declined to accept a Doctorate. Surprisingly enough, Hawking survived more years than he was expected to!
*9. Albert Einstein (IQ Level 160-190)*


Now this man surely needs no introduction. He is the one behind most of the chapters in Physics. He was the one to develop the theory of relativity. He is a Nobel laureate who is best known for the discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect. He also extended his views and laws to the gravitational fields. Einstein was affiliated with the Institute for Advanced Study in New Jersey. His brilliance and achievements were so immense that even today we relate brilliance and “Einstein” together.
*8. Judit Polgar (IQ Level- 170)*


She is the greatest female chess player according to many. Judit Polgar also became the youngest Grandmaster at the age of 15 and still holds that record. She is the only woman in FIDE’s Top 100 list, where she ranks number 63 on the list. This genius had defeated a reigning world number one player and ten other world champions in different tournaments. She created history in 2002 when she defeated the world number 1 Garry Kasparov in a match and that match went on to become a remarkable event in her career.
*7. Garry Kasparov (IQ Level – 190)*


This Russian man is considered to be the greatest chess player of all times. He was ranked world no. 1 for 225 times. This genius man in 2003 played against a chess computer that could calculate 3 million moves per second. The match was draw and Kasparov obliged his fans with his unmatched brilliance. Kasparov was the youngest undisputed World Chess Champion just at the age of 22. He has a world record for most number of consecutive victories and most number of Chess Oscars. Apart from being a chess player, this man is also a writer and political activist.


*6. Philip Emeagwali (IQ Level- 190)*


This man is an engineer, mathematician and geologist who used the Connection Machine supercomputer to analyze petroleum fields. Though he left school at the age of 13 to be a part of the Nigerian-Biafran war but that did not deter him from completing school through self study and earning his degree in Mathematics. His achievements do not end here. He earned three Master’s degree in Mathematics, Environmental and Marine Engineering from various universities. This Nigerian writer also appeared for his PhD at the University of Michigan but he was denied his degree on grounds of racial discrimination and he sued the University for the same. Nevertheless, he will always be a hero to his countrymen and to the rest of the world!
*5. Christopher Michael Langan (IQ Level- 195)*


This man has been described as the “smartest man in America”. Langan began talking when he was all of six months and he taught himself to read when he was just three and was skipped ahead at school many times. This genius scored a perfect score in SAT even thought he slept his way through the exam. He dropped out of the Montana University stating that he could teach his professors more than they could teach him. Now this statement requires serious self confidence. Hats off to this man!
*4. Kim Ung-Yong (IQ Level- 210)*


Kim Ung-Yong could speak fluently when he was just six months old and was a guest student in Physics at Hanyang University at the age of 3. He wrote poetry and two short stories by the time he was four years old. Do we need to say more? He left NASA at the age of 16 and though he was offered enrollment at Korea’s most prestigious university, he rejected the offer and instead decided to pursue PhD in civil engineering. Right now, he serves as a faculty in the Chungbuk National University.
*3. Christopher Hirata (IQ Level- 225)*


Born in 1982, Christopher Hirata had recorded an IQ of 225. He is an outstanding example of child prodigy who had already completed his college level courses by the time he was 12. By the time he turned 16, he was working on a project with the NASA. He was the first one to win a gold medal in international Science Olympiad at the age of 13. He began attending classes for his PhD in astrophysics when he was just 18.
*2. Terence Tao (IQ Level- 225-230)*


Another child prodigy yet again. This genius taught arithmetic to a 5 year old when he himself was all of 2. He attended mathematics courses of the university level when he was just 9 years old. At 14, Terence Tao attended the Research Science Institute. At 16, he received both his Bachelors and Masters degree and by 20 had received his Doctorate as well. He remains the youngest winner till date of all the three medals in Olympiads. By 24, he was the youngest ever professor at UCLA.
*1. William James Sidis (IQ Level- 250-300)*


Sidis had exceptional mathematical abilities. At 6, he went to a grammar school and in 7 months he had graduated. He attended Harvard at the age of 11 and mastered over 40 languages. He was threatened by some fellow students in Harvard so his parents assigned him on a teaching job in Texas. But soon he left the job and started concentrating on a political career.
Do you think some one else should be included in this list of people with super high IQ? Let us know below in comments.

http://listovative.com/top-12-people-highest-iq-world/

<SHRUG!> Mensa has millions of members and additional non-member qualifieds.

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## angelatc

> 8. Judit Polgar (IQ Level- 170)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> She is the greatest female chess player according to many. Judit Polgar also became the youngest Grandmaster at the age of 15 and still holds that record. She is the only woman in FIDE’s Top 100 list, where she ranks number 63 on the list. This genius had defeated a reigning world number one player and ten other world champions in different tournaments. She created history in 2002 when she defeated the world number 1 Garry Kasparov in a match and that match went on to become a remarkable event in her career


.


If you're bored, look up her up-bringing.  She and her 2 sisters were basically an experiment.  

I first learned about them from a character named Sam Sloan who crossed paths with her sister. He's a bit eccentric, and used to post in Usenet a lot.  Insisted that missionaries stole his baby, and that Susan Polgar was sending out fictitious Usenet posts and emails to damage his reputation.

Both of those things ended up being true.

He is also the last person without a law degree to argue a case before SCOTUS.  After his appearance, they changed the rules so it couldn't happen again.  He won, by the way.

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## Danke

Missed one.

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## MelissaWV

Not arguing specifically for/against Ender, but I'm willing to bet there are a number of people whose IQ is high enough to wedge into that list.  Some test decently as kids and just never get tested again.  Some don't really want to take time out and test themselves in a regimented environment, which means any score will be discounted out of hand.  Some test when they are very young and the test has a ceiling on the high score.  Some were schooled at home or otherwise received non-traditional educations that didn't expose them to IQ tests.

I'm happy with where I'm at, but I have to wonder sometimes.  Every IQ test I've seen or taken has a lot of questions that are not as cut and dry as the administrator of the test wants you to believe.  You can argue your response as correct until you are blue in the face, but they will assert the correct, institutionally sanitized and approved answer every time.  It has always left me with the impression that IQ is just a shortcut to avoid evaluation of intellect when it comes to the situation in question.

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## angelatc

Marilyn Vos Savant:




> Savant was listed in the _Guinness Book of World Records_ under "Highest IQ" from 1986 to 1989[8] and entered the Guinness Book of World Records Hall of Fame in 1988.[8][9] Guinness retired the "Highest IQ" category in 1990 after concluding IQ tests were too unreliable to designate a single record holder.[8] The listing drew nationwide attention.[10]
> 
> vos Savant cited her performance on two intelligence tests, the Stanford-Binet and the Mega Test. She took the 1937 Stanford-Binet, Second Revision test at age ten.[4] She claims her first test was in September 1956 and measured her mental age at 22 years and 10 months, yielding a 228 score.[4] This figure was listed in the _Guinness Book of World Records_; it is also listed in her books’ biographical sections and was given by her in interviews.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marily...e_and_IQ_score

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## Ronin Truth

Mensa membership qualification is top 2% of IQ. 

How many is 2% of ~7 billion? (Rhetorical question)

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## MelissaWV

> Mensa membership qualification is top 2% of IQ. 
> 
> How many is 2% of ~7 billion? (Rhetorical question)


Right, but 7 billion don't take a real, administered IQ test.

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## Ronin Truth

> Right, but 7 billion don't take a real, administered IQ test.


Nor do the top 2%.   <shrug!>

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## Henry Rogue

List is missing Marilyn Vos Savant – IQ 190
http://www.therichest.com/rich-list/...stoy/?view=all




> *Top 12 People with Highest IQ in the World*
> 
> 2 years ago
> Titli Basu
> 
> All of us have come across the term IQ in schools and colleges and in almost every sphere of life. The toppers in our classes were generally termed as “geeks”, “nerds”, “people with high IQ levels” etc. So what exactly is this IQ? Intelligent quotient? We did not ask for the full form. IQ is nothing but the marks that a person scores after appearing for one of the many standard tests to measure intelligence level of individuals. The general score of 95% population from these tests ranges between 70 and 130. There are a lot of factors that come into play when a person’s IQ is in question. Factors like mortality, morbidity, parental social status, biological parents’ IQ play an important role in determining a person’s IQ. There are a wide variety of methods used in determining a person’s IQ level, like visual tests, verbal tests, abstract reasoning problems, while some tests are based on arithmetic, reading, vocabulary and general knowledge. All said and done, let us now focus on the smartest people in the world whose IQ levels have created records time and again.
> *
> Here are 12 people who have the highest IQs and brightest minds in the world.*
> 
> ...

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## Jan2017

> . . .  7 billion don't take a real, administered IQ test.





.

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## Zippyjuan

Left out Rick Rosner at 192.  I went to school with him. Yeah- he is also a bit nuts. He went to three more high schools after graduating at the same one I did because he felt he "missed out" on something.   http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...y-useless.html

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## Suzanimal

> Left out Rick Rosner at 192.  I went to school with him. Yeah- he is also a bit nuts. He went to three more high schools after graduating at the same one I did because he felt he "missed out" on something.   http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...y-useless.html


You have an interesting friend there, Zippy.




> The former TV writer and bouncer instead spends his time developing theories, working on a book, and visiting some five gyms per day, aided by cocktail of medical supplements.
> Rosner, who revealed the routine to Business Insider, listed a staggering array of substances, ranging from coffee and aspirin to an *experimental pill designed to remove protein from the brain.*
> Speaking to MailOnline about his routine, Rosner said he takes the pills because: '*I'd like to remain healthy and live for as long as possible.*


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz44obVSyFD 
Follow us: @MAIlOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

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## Zippyjuan

In college, he wanted a job as a bouncer in an 18- 21 bar (split drinking age at the time- a bar could serve 3.2% alcohol if you were 18).  They said they weren't sure he was tough enough.  So he went out into the parking lot and gave himself two black eyes and went back in.  Don't remember if they hired him or were scared of him.  He heard chicks dig scars so he dug some large cuts into his chest.  They didn't scar enough so he did it again.  Still had troubles with the ladies for some reason (he then took Women's Studies in college- that didn't help much either though he is now married).

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## Suzanimal

> In college, he wanted a job as a bouncer in an 18- 21 bar (split drinking age at the time- a bar could serve 3.2% alcohol if you were 18).  They said they weren't sure he was tough enough.  So he went out into the parking lot and gave himself two black eyes and went back in.  Don't remember if they hired him or were scared of him.  He heard chicks dig scars so he dug some large cuts into his chest.  They didn't scar enough so he did it again.  Still had troubles with the ladies for some reason (he then took Women's Studies in college- that didn't help much either though he is now married).




Mr Animal took ballroom dancing to meet girls. I thought that was weird but he's got nothing on this guy.

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## oyarde

Having a fat IQ never got me anywhere .In the line of work I settled in eventually , it was even less helpful.

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## tod evans

I'm not qualified to post in this thread.........

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## luctor-et-emergo

I do not envy these people.

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## Ronin Truth

> I'm not qualified to post in this thread.........


Perhaps not, but you are still welcome.

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## Ronin Truth

> The general score of 95% population from these tests ranges between 70 and 130.


So the average IQ, from the tests, is 100. 

The world is run by C students.

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## luctor-et-emergo

> So the average IQ, from the tests, is 100. 
> 
> The world is run by C students.


IQ is based on a standard deviation model. One standard deviation is 15%. 

So an IQ of 150 is 10 standard deviations from the average. Or in English, pretty $#@!ing rare.

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## Ronin Truth

> IQ is based on a standard deviation model. One standard deviation is 15%. 
> 
> So an IQ of 150 is 10 standard deviations from the average. Or in English, pretty $#@!ing rare.


So dividing the remaining 5% by 2, for both the top and bottom 2.5% of the total world population, is indeed pretty rare.  

(Assuming the standard Bell curve)

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## luctor-et-emergo

> So dividing the remaining 5% by 2, for both the top and bottom 2.5% of the total world population, is indeed pretty rare.  
> 
> (Assuming the standard Bell curve)


I bet my post makes as much sense to you as it does to me now. I must have been distracted by something because I don't understand what I wrote there. It's 15 points and 150 is not 10stdev from the average. Obviously.  

But essentially yeah, 150 and up is pretty rare by any means. Now the more interesting discussion to me is the validity of test (results) and or the entire theory behind the 'IQ'.

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## Ronin Truth

> I bet my post makes as much sense to you as it does to me now. I must have been distracted by something because I don't understand what I wrote there. It's 15 points and 150 is not 10stdev from the average. Obviously.  
> 
> But essentially yeah, 150 and up is pretty rare by any means. Now the more interesting discussion to me is the validity of test (results) and or the entire theory behind the 'IQ'.


From day to day IQ can vary +/- 20 points.  So good timing for the test taking can be a significant factor in the final outcome.  

Poor (low) scores can be misleading and deceiving.  Consistently high repeated scores does tell you something(s) pretty interesting about those folks.

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## Todd

Too bad for Sharon Stone that she' more famous for what she has between her legs than between here ears.

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## Ronin Truth

> Too bad for Sharon Stone that she' more famous for what she has between her legs than between here ears.


Don't just about all of the gals have the very same thing between their legs?

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## Suzanimal

> Don't just about all of the gals have the very same thing between their legs?

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## Brian4Liberty

> Having a fat IQ never got me anywhere .In the line of work I settled in eventually , it was even less helpful.


Yeah, it doesn't guarantee any results in school or life. There was a gifted program in one of my schools, and it was amazing how many people in that program got into drugs or dropped out of school. They still had the same basic curriculum as everyone else. There was no accelerated program at the time. Boredom sets in. And bumping them up a few grades doesn't work, because of maturity level. One size fits all education doesn't work well for everyone.

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## CPUd

The problem with gifted programs is a lot of places they are not consistent from year to year (due to grants/funding), and that they eventually have to put the kids back into regular classrooms .  This usually happens during the transition to middle or high school.  It happened to me somewhere during middle school (note: this was during the 80's and 90's).  Instead of being with them most of the day, it became a 1 or 2 hour class, and we went to other classes at the same grade level.  In elementary school, I remember being in there most of the day, but for reading and math classes we would go to 3rd or 4th grade when we were officially 1st or 2nd grade.  

One year they would take us to the high school where we had a room with 1 permanent teacher, and several HS teachers/academics who would come in throughout the day.  It was not at all like regular class, there weren't rows of desks, but a couple large round tables.  Instead of many small problems, there was usually 1 big one.  It was like ordered chaos, they would give us the day and ask us to try and make sense of it.

After that year, it changed to where we were in split classes with the higher grade for part of the day, and in the room for the rest.  Eventually you run out of higher grades to split with, for at least 1 year in middle school, there wasn't a gifted program, though I do remember meeting with some of the old teachers and being interviewed.  I honestly remember 0 about the regular classes in middle school, except for some of the kids I met and hung out with all the way through high school.  What got me through middle school was definitely introduction to music, plus "industrial arts", which was taught by an old rodeo guy with a handlebar mustache who wore his jeans way too tight and walked funny because of all the broken bones he had suffered.  But in that class we used a compass and other drafting tools, so I learned a lot about geometry while also got to draw some cool pictures. 

During high school there was 0 gifted program, but I did have opportunities through AP/college prep classes to be in the room with kids 1 or 2 grades ahead, doing stuff that was more my speed.  By the 2nd and 3rd year, most of the freshmen and sophomores coming in were my age that I knew from outside of school.  Sophomore year I was having sort of a revolt from the advanced classes and took the regular classes, it was dreadful.  Those classes have a high concentration of kids with issues (usually caused by their parents) and could at any moment do something to get suspended.  I would definitely want to quit school if I was forced into classes like that.  It actually came close to happening, because by my senior year, there were no next-level classes to take, so I would be forced into regular classes.  I got around this by exploiting the student worker rule, I had the credits to graduate, and got a job so I could leave school at 11AM.  Several of the other kids in the gifted program did quit school and got into drugs because they couldn't take it anymore.  

The irony of the whole thing is I'm actually not a very good student, but I am often able to get high enough grades and test scores to make me look like one.  About halfway through high school, the concept of class ranking started to form, so I was attracted to the gamesmanship of it.  I did go to college straight out of high school, that didn't end well at all.  About 10-12 years after that, I went back and got my undergrad- the big difference was that the first time, I didn't know what I wanted to do.  The scholarship/admissions game was not a game I liked, or was good at playing, especially when I realized this same game repeats itself over and over throughout life.  That's the kind of game kids learn how to play when they are in the regular classes, and I eventually learned the hard way.

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## heavenlyboy34

> Don't just about all of the gals have the very same thing between their legs?


IDK. I'm going to get a gov'ment grant to study this.

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## Ronin Truth

> 


Last I heard 'Bruce' is still a guy from the waist down. EWWWWWWW!   Where's the real change commitment?

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## Ronin Truth

> IDK. I'm going to get a gov'ment grant to study this.


And more than likely you'll get it.

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## Ronin Truth

> Having a fat IQ never got me anywhere .In the line of work I settled in eventually , it was even less helpful.


There are a number of companies that won't hire folks with "too high IQ's".  AT&T is one of them, and has been for a long time.

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## cajuncocoa

Huh.  One of my twins tested at over 160.  He graduated from high school and college with honors, too.

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## Ronin Truth

> Huh. One of my twins tested at over 160. He graduated from high school and college with honors, too.


That's Einstein and Hawking territory. Good for him.

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## Ronin Truth

> I do not envy these people.


It's both a blessing AND a curse.

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## cajuncocoa

> That's Einstein and Hawking territory. Good for him.


Thank you!  I'm proud of both of my boys, but *that* one -- it's impossible to win a "debate" with him.  Even when he was a little kid, he somehow knew, not just "book" things, but also how to read people to get what he wanted.  He kept me on my toes, much more than his brother did!!

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## Ronin Truth

> Thank you! I'm proud of both of my boys, but *that* one -- it's impossible to win a "debate" with him. Even when he was a little kid, he somehow knew, not just "book" things, but also how to read people to get what he wanted. He kept me on my toes, much more than his brother did!!


Children usually get their brains from their Mom's DNA.

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## cajuncocoa

> Children usually get their brains from their Mom's DNA.


I have no idea what my IQ is, but I'm sure his is much higher than mine!!

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## Suzanimal

> Children usually get their brains from their Mom's DNA.




Well, that explains a lot.

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## Ronin Truth

> Well, that explains a lot.


Do I really want to know what's on his fingers?

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## PaulConventionWV

> List is missing Marilyn Vos Savant – IQ 190
> http://www.therichest.com/rich-list/...stoy/?view=all


I thought Bobby Fischer would be on the list, too.

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## PaulConventionWV

> So the average IQ, from the tests, is 100. 
> 
> The world is run by C students.


I don't know why you insist on perpetuating this myth.  The world is run by the smartest, not by those there are the most of.  It doesn't matter how the average outnumber the exceptional, the exceptional will still be exceptional.

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## Jamesiv1

> The world is run by the smartest, not by those there are the most of.


Include the scummiest, greediest, and most corrupt.

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## PaulConventionWV

> Include the scummiest, greediest, and most corrupt.


yep

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## Ronin Truth

> Include the scummiest, greediest, and most corrupt.


The world is run by C students, and always has been.  Can't you tell?

Why?  Because there's so damned many of them.

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## osan

Wait a minute - they want me to believe that 154 is one of the twelve highest IQs in the world?  Bull$#@!.  I took an IQ test my sophomore year and snuck a look at the report on my guidance counselor's desk when she excused herself for a moment.  152.  I am NOT that smart (wish I were), so either the valuation of 154 as being something special is way wrong or I just got _very_ lucky that day.

250-300?  The hell?  That is absurd.  Goethe is estimated to have been ca. 210.

Anyhow, I have always felt this whole IQ notion was a load of crap.

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## oyarde

> Wait a minute - they want me to believe that 154 is one of the twelve highest IQs in the world?  Bull$#@!.  I took an IQ test my sophomore year and snuck a look at the report on my guidance counselor's desk when she excused herself for a moment.  152.  I am NOT that smart (wish I were), so either the valuation of 154 as being something special is way wrong or I just got _very_ lucky that day.
> 
> 250-300?  The hell?  That is absurd.  Goethe is estimated to have been ca. 210.
> 
> Anyhow, I have always felt this whole IQ notion was a load of crap.


Ya , I thought the list was just picking some people in those ranges . Around 150 is about where you may want to be .Means you probably have some abilities to learn problem solving skills and you are not too crazy .

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## CPUd

It depends on the test, 250 on any system seems a bit self-masturbatory.

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## LibertyRevolution

Mine was 138 when I was tested in school 26 years ago..

I still can't spell worth a damn and I need a calculator to do simple math.
I used to tell them that spelling/grammar were not important to understand something in context.
Also told them that I don't need to waste my time learning simple math as I will always have a calculator.
(A bit prophetic seeing that auto correct now exists and I have a calculator on my cell phone.)

They thought I had some learning disability in school, I think I was just bored, I knew more than the teachers on most subjects. 
I had read every book on physics, cosmology, geology, and history in both my high school and public library before I finished middle school. 
That is what I found interesting, just plowed through the sections one book after another just absorbing all of it. 

I have problems when dealing with the public, I feel that most people are mildly retarded...

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## osan

> I have problems when dealing with the public, *I feel that most people are mildly retarded*...


That's because they _are_.

I'd been called into Ms. Schneider's office about "the test".  I remember the somber face and the evasions - I was certain she just felt so uncomfortable telling me I was a blazing retard.  We never got to anything substantive and I was convinced there was something terribly wrong with me.  Didn't dare tell my folks, so I just shut up about it and despite Ms. Schneider's assurance that we were going to "do something special" with me, I never heard another word.  The only thing that happened was I did some special mathematics thingy for a few months with others who'd demonstrated above-average ability.  In hindsight I saw I'd fallen through the cracks once again as I always had before, completely forgotten... which suited me just fine.  Growing up as I had, attention was not something to be sought, but rather to be thankfully evaded.  

Years later I came to the understanding that it was believed in those days that a child's IQ score should never be revealed to them.  Looking at it today, this attitude was clearly a product of left-progressive architecture to prevent the dumbasses from having hurt feelings and the smart kids from flying to their full potential.  God forbid either case be made manifest, especially the latter.  EEKWALIDDY...  That's the ticket.  In hindsight, it has angered me that I grew up in a nation set so steadfastly to fostering the greatest degree of retardation in its citizens.

One of the great discoveries of my life, and I recall it having been sparked by something someone once said to me, was that school mattered no whit in terms of one's intellectual development.  It proved so true.  I took off and pursued knowledge the way Social Justice Warriors pursue their psychosis-spawne, anger-fueled, and bitterness-stoked ideals.  The one decent thing I did as an adjunct professor at CCNY was to transmit that little gem of someone else's wisdom to as many other people as possible.  It is an important detail in the salvation of the intellectual lives of young people, that they are responsible for their own development and that nobody can hold them back no matter how malicious or ignorant.  I taught my students _how to learn_ and many of them caught on in a big way.  It is one of the very few things for which I can be marginally proud - my way of spitting into the eyes of the tyrant... not that it made any real difference.

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## osan

> Ya , I thought the list was just picking some people in those ranges . Around 150 is about where you may want to be .Means you probably have some abilities to learn problem solving skills and you are not too crazy .


Yeah, the more I think on it, the more absurd this list appears in the context of how it is being sold.  I have known (and still do) several geniuses, and by "genius" I mean freakish intellects so developed and brutishly capable that when I am around them I wonder why I even bother.  My friend at Microsoft is a towering intellect, though a bit narrow along technical lines - typical of the type, it seems.  My friend Steve, who was once a Crayon (Cray employee) is staggering, having single-handedly written Cray's math libraries.  When he was 45 he took the MCAT on a lark.  His scores were so high, nearly twenty of the top medical schools in the nation offered him full scholarships.  He'd not cracked a book, even on topics he'd not considered since sophomore year in high school.  My dad's best friend and my honorary uncle, Zoli, was another freakish intellect.  His grandfather was Miksa Róth, a famous Hungarian glass artist.  Zoli suffered significantly under the socialist system in Hungary for the crime of having been born into an aristocratic family.  He drank heavily.  That aside, just sitting in the same room with him always made me feel smarter... as if it rubbed off.  In a way it did because I held him in such awe that I wanted to be like him in terms of smarts.

My point is that if a dope like me knows that many high-caliber intellects, there are far more than a dozen such people running about.  This internet-era phenomenon of casual, no-relent hyperbole taken to the nth-power is terribly wearisome, not to mention rankly boring.  It gets so that you don't want to pursue links for the prospect of yet another disappointment.  Once again we see how abuse of language leads to abuse of thought, leading to discounted and disparaged quality of life.

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## Ronin Truth

> Yeah, the more I think on it, the more absurd this list appears in the context of how it is being sold. I have known (and still do) several geniuses, and by "genius" I mean freakish intellects so developed and brutishly capable that when I am around them I wonder why I even bother. My friend at Microsoft is a towering intellect, though a bit narrow along technical lines - typical of the type, it seems. My friend Steve, who was once a Crayon (Cray employee) is staggering, having single-handedly written Cray's math libraries. When he was 45 he took the MCAT on a lark. His scores were so high, nearly twenty of the top medical schools in the nation offered him full scholarships. He'd not cracked a book, even on topics he'd not considered since sophomore year in high school. My dad's best friend and my honorary uncle, Zoli, was another freakish intellect. His grandfather was Miksa Róth, a famous Hungarian glass artist. Zoli suffered significantly under the socialist system in Hungary for the crime of having been born into an aristocratic family. He drank heavily. That aside, just sitting in the same room with him always made me feel smarter... as if it rubbed off. In a way it did because I held him in such awe that I wanted to be like him in terms of smarts.
> 
> My point is that if a dope like me knows that many high-caliber intellects, there are far more than a dozen such people running about. This internet-era phenomenon of casual, no-relent hyperbole taken to the nth-power is terribly wearisome, not to mention rankly boring. It gets so that you don't want to pursue links for the prospect of yet another disappointment. Once again we see how abuse of language leads to abuse of thought, leading to discounted and disparaged quality of life.


A bunch of them are merely idiot savants, BTW. Curious phenomenon, I really wonder what's going on there.

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## TheTexan

Next President of the US Donald Trump is probably pretty high on that list

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## luctor-et-emergo

> It depends on the test, 250 on any system seems a bit self-masturbatory.


There's more to it but this is part of it; (wiki)



> On a related note, this fixed standard deviation means that the proportion of the population who have IQs in a particular range is theoretically fixed, and current Wechsler tests only give Full Scale IQs between 40 and 160. This should be borne in mind when considering reports of people with much higher IQs.[43][44]





> IQ scales are ordinally scaled.[38][39][40][41][42] While one standard deviation is 15 points, and two SDs are 30 points, and so on, this does not imply that mental ability is linearly related to IQ, such that IQ 50 means half the cognitive ability of IQ 100. In particular, IQ points are not percentage points.

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## Ronin Truth

> Next President of the US Donald Trump is probably pretty high on that list


Reportedly, IQ 156.  Very respectable.

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## erowe1

> The world is run by C students, and always has been.  Can't you tell?
> 
> Why?  Because there's so damned many of them.


If only that were true. We'd be a lot better off, I'm sure.

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## oyarde

> Reportedly, IQ 156.  Very respectable.


About the same as most serial killers , LOL

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## Ronin Truth

> About the same as most serial killers , LOL


Well he's now almost 70, no bodies (or parts) found yet.  

Can't say the same for Bubba, W or Barry.

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## luctor-et-emergo

> Reportedly, IQ 156.  Very respectable.


Reportedly . Is that from an article where the author guessed his IQ based on the college he went to ?

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## osan

> A bunch of them are merely idiot savants, BTW. Curious phenomenon, I really wonder what's going on there.


Not sure I'd qualify the savant part as "mere".  Being able to instantly multiply two 1000-digit integers is yet another clear demonstration of the inherently miraculous nature of this universe.  Phenomena like this renders the atheist's opinion all the more childishly nonsensical.

There be miracles everywhere one looks.

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## osan

> Reportedly, IQ 156.  Very respectable.



I bet Obama is in the 90s.  I'm serious.  He strikes me as very cunning, but also a _very_ narrow-band "intellect".  Her husband, Michelle, seems even duller.

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## Ronin Truth

> I bet Obama is in the 90s. I'm serious. He strikes me as very cunning, but also a _very_ narrow-band "intellect". Her husband, Michelle, seems even duller.



*Obama IQ
*
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...38.JI_IR5oNQao

FWIW, the SWAGs are all over the lot.

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## AZJoe

*World Global Average I.Q. is only 82*

According to updated dataset, the global average I.Q. is only 82.

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