# Lifestyles & Discussion > Family, Parenting & Education > Books & Literature >  The Curse of the High IQ

## timosman

https://pjmedia.com/drhelen/2016/03/...f-the-high-iq/





> MARCH 6, 2016
> 
> I am reading a fascinating book by Aaron Clarey called The Curse of the High IQ. At first glance, I was a little taken aback thinking, "Is a high IQ really a curse?" But after reading the book, it got me thinking in a whole new way about the dangers of being smart in a dumb world. From the description:
> 
> Society, by statistical necessity, needs to focus on the majority. It needs to be built and designed for "the average." Society, by moral necessity, also needs to focus on the disadvantaged and disabled, helping those who cannot help themselves. But while the majority of society's resources, attention, and infrastructure is dedicated to average or below-average intelligent people, little-to-none of it is paid to the abnormally intelligent. And while having a high IQ is an overall net benefit in life, being an statistical intellectual freak is not without its drawbacks. Welcome to the "Curse of the High IQ." Whether you fall asleep during class, constantly ram heads with your boss, can't understand why people watch the Oscars, are an alcoholic, or are accused of having "ADD," having a high IQ can be a maddening experience. What you see as the obvious solution is what the "normies" will fight against tooth and nail. Those D-'s you keep getting in English? Your superior mind being held hostage by the boring and inferior mind of your teacher. And you'd like to start a family? Good luck finding an intellectual-equal for a spouse. And so while the world obsesses with their own problems or (rightly so) the problems of the disadvantaged, no one is paying attention to the problems of the abnormally intelligent. However, that all changes now with "Curse of the High IQ." "Curse of the High IQ" is the first book specifically written for abnormally intelligent people. It identifies and addresses a litany of problems intelligent people face, as well as analyzes them and provides solutions. But more importantly it aims to bring sanity to those who struggle with abnormal intelligence, especially those who are unaware they have it. So if you're constantly at odds with society, are suffering from depression or ennui, can't find any reason or agency in life, or just plain can't find any friends, consider purchasing "Curse of the High IQ." It's guaranteed to make your life a little easier.
> The book makes the point that high IQ people have a harder time in the world since much of society is set up for the average. Those with a high IQ end up wasting a lot of time because the average person wants to buy lottery tickets with a check or doesn't seem to mind standing in line or wasting time. Because of this, a high IQ person's time is wasted since they spend much of it waiting or being annoyed by those who are average. Friends are hard to make because high IQ people have fewer people statistically to choose from. And marriage or partnership? Clarey says it is difficult. For example, abnormally intelligent men face two unique problems when it comes to dating:
> 
> 1. Very few equally-intelligent women to choose from
> 2. Not caring because their hormones are rendering their massive IQs completely useless.
> ...



http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01BG9VV1U/

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## Ronin Truth

A lot of truth there.  But 'society' is merely an abstraction.  Everything, is both a blessing and a curse.  Think about it.

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## Ender

High IQ usually is accompanied by anxiety and bi-polar tendencies, as well.

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## Ronin Truth

> High IQ usually is accompanied by anxiety and bi-polar tendencies, as well.


FWIW, not that I've particularly noticed, over the years.

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## angelatc

My biggest issues is that people with high IQs seem to want power.  They're smart, so they want to run the world.

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## pcosmar

> High IQ usually is accompanied by anxiety and bi-polar tendencies, as well.


ignorance is bliss.

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## pcosmar

> My biggest issues is that people with high IQs seem to want power.  *They're smart,* so they want to run the world.


Naw,, just evil.

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## fisharmor

> Naw,, just evil.


Yep.  They do things regularly that leave even people just to the right of the bell curve's peak able to classify them as either evil, or stupid.
And you don't get a law degree if you're stupid.

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## dannno

> My biggest issues is that people with high IQs seem to want power.  They're smart, so they want to run the world.


If they were _really_ smart they would know they can't.

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## luctor-et-emergo

> My biggest issues is that people with high IQs seem to want power.  They're smart, so they want to run the world.


Even though you are talking about a small group, that is a major generalization. I do however think you don't often hear about or read about high IQ individuals who don't want to run the world. They either are doing their own thing or they may be very principled individuals who are completely lost in this world. Lost because they were pushed around in a system where they were not appreciated. Maybe they had good intentions but lost all motivation because their high IQ gave them an inner struggle about the uselessness. Maybe it is because a lot of high IQ individuals are actually depressed and some even commit suicide because they have these kinds of struggles. So yeah, you might not hear about them. Trust me though, I know a few. It's hard if nobody understands.

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## Suzanimal

> The Curse of the High IQ


There's one curse I managed to avoid.

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## Brian4Liberty

> 1. Very few equally-intelligent women to choose from


Ah, the voice of inexperience. Per the premise of the article, this desire would severely limit your options. Second, be careful what you wish for, you might just get it.

Your best bet is to seek someone you are compatible with (some shared interests is also important). Everything else is secondary in the long run. Two people who are both intelligent tend to bump heads too often, and both will always believe they are right. Better to have a couple that is a combination that is complimentary. If one is overly intelligent, maybe it's better to have a mate who has good common sense.

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## Ronin Truth

> My biggest issues is that people with high IQs seem to want power. They're smart, so they want to run the world.


The world is run by C students, and it really shows.

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

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## MelissaWV

> Naw,, just evil.


That's mean 

As for ruling the world, most high IQ people wouldn't want to.  You do see some high IQ folks running for office, but that's mostly because of a correlation between business/political ladder-climbing and higher than average IQ.  The tests focus a great deal on patterns and manipulation, and (at least they used to) a little bit of bullshittery.  

Brian - I don't think I could deal with someone absolutely flat-out dumber than I am.  I think you hit on something close to comfort, but not quite, when you mentioned finding someone compatible.  The key for me is finding someone whose intelligence makes up for areas where I have little to no experience, and around whom I can relax.  I did try to be with someone who was supremely intelligent in the same areas I was, and that didn't work out too well at all.  I even made that mistake twice.  I suppose that would work with super genius types, too, but I'm not one of those so I'm just guessing

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## heavenlyboy34

> The world is run by C students, and it really shows.
> 
> Why?  Because there's so damned many of them.


+rep

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## Danke

I don't want to dumb girl, but I don't want to girl that can figure out I get paid twice a month not just once.

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## Suzanimal

> Ah, the voice of inexperience. Per the premise of the article, this desire would severely limit your options. Second, be careful what you wish for, you might just get it.
> 
> Your best bet is to seek someone you are compatible with (some shared interests is also important). Everything else is secondary in the long run. Two people who are both intelligent tend to bump heads too often, and both will always believe they are right. Better to have a couple that is a combination that is complimentary. If one is overly intelligent, maybe it's better to have a mate who has good common sense.


Mr Animal has a high IQ. He says he married me because he finds me entertaining and my mom is hawt. He's hoping I'll age well, too.

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## Brian4Liberty

> I don't want to dumb girl, but I don't want to girl that can figure out I get paid twice a month not just once.


You joke, but there is some truth there. When two people have the same area of expertise and interest, let's call it finance, they can and probably will butt heads hard on it. I've know unsuccessful couples where they both attempt to control the finances and they fail spectacularly. Better to have one who does the finances, and one who knows that they are not as good at it. And I can't say I've seen this be a male or female dominated thing either.

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## Brian4Liberty

> Brian - I don't think I could deal with someone absolutely flat-out dumber than I am.  I think you hit on something close to comfort, but not quite, when you mentioned finding someone compatible.  The key for me is finding someone whose intelligence makes up for areas where I have little to no experience, and around whom I can relax.  *I did try to be with someone who was supremely intelligent in the same areas I was, and that didn't work out too well at all.  I even made that mistake twice.*  I suppose that would work with super genius types, too, but I'm not one of those so I'm just guessing


There you go. Time to try something different.

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## Brian4Liberty

> Mr Animal has a high IQ. He says he married me because he finds me entertaining and my mom is hawt. He's hoping I'll age well, too.


He _is_ smart!

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## DamianTV

There are a lot of double standards that occur in society at any given time.

Smart people dont always want to run the world.  Some may, some may not.  The two are not mutually exclusive.

Theres a big issue with dumb people as well.  The thing I run into most often is that dumb people are so dumb they dont even know they are dumb.  People that do have quite high intelligence often try to rate themselves more realistically than a dumb person would.  Funny thing is that the dumb people (legitimately dumb) think they are actually smarter than the smart people.  Dumb people rank their abilities as being skyhigh while the very smart person would consider themselves to be average, which places them much lower than the dumb person.

Next big problem is Government Interferece.  As is the case with so many of our problems, govt solutions to problems tend to be worse than the problem itself.  You cant fire this person because technically, they did nothing wrong.  A smart person is usually able to perform their job with a high degree of competency.  A dumb person will make a ton of mistakes, and far too often, the only way to get rid of the dumb person is to promote them to positions of management.  Smart people that are recognized as being exceptionally smart are viewed as a threat by dumb people.  Not always, but far too often.  Im sure a number of things may be covered in the book, but my personal experience has been that smart people are treated very differently, and often excluded, held to higher expectations, and those things would cause any smart person to experience a myriad of issues, such as distrust, and, as mentioned, anxiety and bi-polar issues.  One needs to dig deep enough to find the real cause of the issue.  It isnt the intelligence, its the way society treats smart people.  That and how many of our "mental disorders" are bs that has been dreamed up by big pharma?

*Idiocracy*


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unoMMru4-c0

There are so many issues at play that it is exceptionally difficult to point the finger directly at smart people.  We have an education system that instead of promoting critical thinking instead promotes obedience as its primary lesson.  We have a system that rewards people for being lazy.  We glorify human stupidity.  We live in a society where any who express critical thinking and question the decisions of those in power who were elected by selfish people trying to justify taking from the haves are shunned and rejected, which is what happens to many Libertarians.  Our society places exceptional levels of peer pressure on those that think to blindly accept whatever they are told as long as those speakers maintain an illusion of authority.  I have a certifiable 146 IQ, and as a result, have always challenged the ideas as they are presented to me.  It isnt intended to undermine the the idea itself, but to have a more complete understanding.  Yet, people look at me very cross when I try to understand both sides of any situation.  Thinking itself it seems to be under the heaviest attack.  Listen to what your advertisers tell you and buy what you are told to buy and think what you are told to think.  This lets others do your thinking for you.  It is merely a choice between what is right and what is easy.  Thinkers can not help but to think, and when they do, often receive the same treatment as I've received when they express their thoughts and ideas while not representing the status quo or holding some illusion of authority.  Asking a thinker to not think is like asking a person who enjoys working out to not work out.  But for those that have taken the easy path and allow others to do their thinking for them, they seem to tend to shun any who are not just like them.

Its difficult to try to hide intelligence.  I try to do so by cracking some really dumb and bad jokes on purpose as a means of disarming people.  But I always seem to mess it up and say something that reveals that Im not thinking what Im told to think.  I can only imagine other smart people do the same thing.  Its not all about the intelligence either.  I look for things that will benefit honesty and hard work, yet, those seem to be at the very core of what stupid people feels threaten them.  They want the easy way out.  They want the welfare and government handouts and taxes on those who succeeded by honesty and the virtues of their efforts.  Perhaps it may be better to say that instead of smart vs dumb, we could instead suggest honest vs lazy.  Of course, the terms are not mutually exclusive to being smart and honest, and lazy and dishonest.  There are plenty of honest and dumb, and smart and dishonest people too.  Could it be the social safety nets that are encouraging irresponsible behavior?  In order to answer the dilema of "The Curse of the High IQ", I think we need to dig much deeper than just focusing on IQ as being the sole determining factor in the way smart people are treated.  Its much more in depth than I think can be answered with a single forum post.  But if we really wanted to throw a monkey wrench into the thinking, replace smart with black and dumb with white.  That ought to cause a lot of contention, but that isnt my intent, but may be worth debating also.

It could also be worth noting that it has nothing to do with intelligence at all, but a general distrust of those who refuse to blindly obey leaders.  There are plenty here among us who seek neither to lead, and are wise enough to not blindly follow.  The following excerpt quote calls these types of people Gammas.  Neither leaders nor followers.

http://www.hangthebankers.com/5-reasons-not-vote-2016/



> ...
> 
> A libertarian believes that individuals have a right to do anything that doesn’t impinge on the common-law rights of others, namely force or fraud. Libertarians are the human equivalent of the Gamma rat, which bears a little explanation.
> 
> Some years ago, scientists experimenting with rats categorized the vast major*ity of their subjects as Beta rats. These are basically followers who get the Alpha rats’ leftovers. The Alpha rats establish territories, claim the choicest mates, and generally lord it over the Betas. This pretty well-corresponded with the way the researchers thought the world worked.
> 
> But they were surprised to find a third type of rat as well: the Gamma. This creature staked out a territory and chose the pick of the litter for a mate, like the Alpha, but didn’t attempt to dominate the Betas. A go-along-get-along rat. A libertarian rat, if you will.
> 
> ...

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## HVACTech

> Even though you are talking about a small group, that is a major generalization. I do however think you don't often hear about or read about high IQ individuals who don't want to run the world. They either are doing their own thing or they may be very principled individuals who are completely lost in this world. Lost because they were pushed around in a system where they were not appreciated. Maybe they had good intentions but lost all motivation because their high IQ gave them an inner struggle about the uselessness. Maybe it is because a lot of high IQ individuals are actually depressed and some even commit suicide because they have these kinds of struggles. So yeah, you might not hear about them. Trust me though, I know a few. It's hard if nobody understands.


it can be fun you know. 

"yes, dear. what I found was an open circuit behind the control panel"  and I corrected for that. then I cycled and checked it for proper operation. 

what does that mean?  it was not plugged in. or the power was not on.   that will be $94.55.  

this is known as "creative, misinterpretation" 

Trump uses this a LOT!

rule #1. thou art shalt not piss off thy service tech. lest thou pay more!

and yes. this commercial service tech is pissed.  
now that we have struck out 3 times... *why* should I play nice again?

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## Mach

> High IQ usually is accompanied by anxiety and bi-polar tendencies, as well.


But those are not necessarily problems to a higher IQ person, their brains naturally flow faster than the average persons, or just say that, society's walls get in their way and they get frustrated at the stupidity of all of the people that can't even see how stupid they really are.... those terms are inventions of very manipulative structures. The boundaries created while logging average people become the guidelines for our _institutions_ and determine their definitions. 




========

I liked the video, no matter how intelligent you are you should appreciate the basic facts of life.







I too, have never even seen, a _Unicorn_.

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## oyarde

Well , let us examine it quickly ..... You will be surrounded by idiots . Which is , I imagine  no different than a person of avg IQ who has common sense .

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## DamianTV

How do you keep an idiot entertained for hours?
(Click here for the answer)

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## acptulsa

> My biggest issues is that people with high IQs seem to want power.  They're smart, so they want to run the world.


So of course that must be because we all have an identical amount of ambition.  And it couldn't possibly have anything to do with the fact that we get sick to death of watching one ship of fools after another piloted toward the iceberg.

And the majority?  They all want to believe they can be entrusted with power, no matter how unable they may be to handle all the variables and keep track of all the details--little details like individual human lives.  So, they hire an idiot and put him in charge, and bask in the glory of knowing that the person in charge is no smarter than they are, and never ask who is behind that figurehead doing his thinking for him.  They trust the figurehead, they detect no guile in the figurehead, so there must be no guile in the heads behind the figurehead either, though they, admittedly, have enough brainpower to actually be capable of guile.  And they never entertain for a moment that they might have picked the figurehead, rather than the reverse, because it's inconceivable that they could be content with the power and be uninterested in all the titles and glory that the figurehead gets.




> “As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people.  On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their hearts’ desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”


And intelligent people are supposed to be _happy_ to jump in the lifeboats after every predictable and avoidable disaster.  And to navigate for no pay, because from each according to his ability, to each according to his unbridled greed, and if the only person who can doesn't, who will?

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## specsaregood

//

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## Matt Collins

This is why I try and surround myself with people smarter than myself, but honestly that is hard to do sometimes. Those people are rare, especially fellow INTJs but fortunately the liberty movement has a higher than normal concentration.

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## Matt Collins

> My biggest issues is that people with high IQs seem to want power.  They're smart, so they want to run the world.


Yes, there is a lot of truth to that.

Of course some of us want to acquire power in order to diffuse it.

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## FindLiberty

How can I best protect myself from this curse problem, or do some people posess a natrual immunity to the condition?

Are there any specific steps I should take now (or some sort of prescription medication available) to prevent this from ever happening to me?

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## acptulsa

> How can I best protect myself from this curse problem, or do some people posess a natrual immunity to the condition?
> 
> Are there any specific steps I should take now (or some sort of prescription medication available) to prevent this from ever happening to me?


Keep reading Collins' posts.  They'll dumb you right down.

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## timosman

> How can I best protect myself from this curse problem, or do some people posess a natrual immunity to the condition?
> 
> Are there any specific steps I should take now (or some sort of prescription medication available) to prevent this from ever happening to me?

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## PaulConventionWV

> Naw,, just evil.


Both... it's a dangerous mixture.

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## PaulConventionWV

> If they were _really_ smart they would know they can't.


I've never observed a correlation between high intelligence and correctness.  Some of the smartest people on the planet are delusional.  Delusions of grandeur can be a sign of intelligence.  Aside from that, desire also plays a big part.  If they have the desire to run the world, the knowledge that they can't will probably be brushed aside.

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## PaulConventionWV

//

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## PaulConventionWV

> The world is run by C students, and it really shows.
> 
> Why?  Because there's so damned many of them.


Honestly, I don't think that's how it works.  Smart people could be outnumbered a trillion to one and they would still probably rule the C students.  Of course, this is taking "C students" in the sense of intelligence, not actual grades.  If we look at actual grades, there are probably a lot of highly intelligent people making C's.

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## tod evans

> Of course some of us want to acquire power in order to diffuse it.

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## PaulConventionWV

I've definitely noticed this in my dating life.  I've had a lot of decent-looking women who I just couldn't stand because of their stupidity and some others who weren't as good-looking.  It never seems to last because I've yet to find anyone who lives up to my standards.

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## squarepusher

that article gave me cancer

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## Working Poor

10 Things you didn't know about high IQ

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## PaulConventionWV

> 10 Things you didn't know about high IQ


That list says atheists are more intelligent because of their "preference for logic and proof."  What utter bull$#@!.  You know, I'll even grant that that they may be smarter, on average, than religious people, but it's not because they dismiss superstitions.  When you really get down to it, the empiricist/humanist worldview is just as unfounded  as a religious one.  It's accepted on faith.  That said, people who are skeptical and intelligent may tend more toward a scientific worldview because of its empiricism, but then fail to realize that there is more to the universe than that.  In other words, they are smart enough to do science, but not smart enough to think outside the science box.  It's the truly smart ones who accept religious ideas based on reason rather than blind faith, which happens to be most people because there are just more stupid people than there are smart ones.  Given that the stupid people outnumber the smart ones, it stands to reason that they would bring the average down and make atheists appear to be the cream of the crop when, in reality, they are just amateur thinkers.

Of course, this is mostly conjecture, but you've got a solid case when you add to it the anti-religious propaganda that's being spread in the more well-off countries of Europe, Asia, and the US.  These countries have higher IQs in part because of their high standards of living, but combine that with the fact that they're all engaging in anti-religious propaganda and it's no wonder the countries with more atheists tend to be the smarter ones.

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## Ronin Truth

> Yes, there is a lot of truth to that.
> 
> Of course some of us want to acquire power in order to diffuse it.


*"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." -- Lord Acton*

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## Matt Collins

> *"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." -- Lord Acton*


One does not need absolute power to win back our liberty.

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## wmmonk

> One does not need absolute power to win back our liberty.


How did we get out liberty? And, how many votes will it take for us to get it back?

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## PaulConventionWV

> One does not need absolute power to win back our liberty.


That's right.  Just a little taste.  That's all we need, just a little taste and we swear we'll go off the stuff forever.  Won't we, fellas?

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## r3volution 3.0

> One does not need absolute power to win back our liberty.


Actually, that's precisely what we need.

Well, I shouldn't say "we," as that's rather nonsensical isn't it?

..._we_ having absolute power (absolute power is by definition undivided). 

_Someone_ (matters not who: anyone of modest intelligence and not insane will do) needs to have absolute power.

Proprietors tend to maintain their property: contra the tragedy of the commons.

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