People here seem smarter than the average population - is that the problem?

[lnlybnny]

I definitely agree and always think this to myself whenever I'm reading some threads

 

[Dot]

Arguably.
There is a study from 2022: High intelligence is not associated with a greater propensity for mental health disorders

But your statement is true on a population level (as opposed to individual level), at least if judging by the population of Ashkenazi Jews.

Yh if cld nt mke casul xenophobc commnts eithr tht wld b gr8 pls

 

[ijustwishtodie]

I think it's more so to do with critical thinking rather than intelligence. People here are less likely to accept life for what it is than the general population

 

[KuriGohan&Kamehameha]

There are certainly lots of intelligent, well-spoken people here, who are informed about many different things like pharmacology, religion, philosophy, and medicine. I have read really insightful and thought provoking essays on this forum, that I rarely come across anywhere else.

Though many users here also suffer from types of cognitive impairments impacting certain aspects of intelligence, so I'm not sure if IQ or general intelligence would be the best measure of these things. Objectively, I have an average/below average IQ, and struggle a lot with spatial reasoning and memory. Brainfog and issues with learning and memory are very common in those of us with a history of trauma, a common theme on this forum.

I think a lot of the older crowd here especially just have a certain level of life experience which imparts wisdom. That is not something I encounter in "the real world" as much, despite meeting some very highly intelligent people, including renowned academics. These people are brilliant in their respective fields, especially professors who have been constantly learning new developments and cranking out research for decades, but they do not tend to have much life experience outside of academia, I have noticed. Many successful people are successful because they have encountered fewer hardships or roadblocks in their path. Not always, but often.

There are lots of people I have met across my life who are far more intelligent and clever than me, yet don't even understand how the medication that they take works. I have dealt with many doctors and mental health workers who clearly have great memorization skills and can train themselves to pass exams, yet seem to struggle to apply knowledge or use critical thinking in situations where there is no clear and defined guidelines. Also, a marked lack of emotional intelligence in many situations.

So I would not say that this forum is a collective of elusive super geniuses or something, cause I certainly am not a smart whiz especially not in my current state, but people here have a lot of emotional intelligence that I think is absent in the average person who does not deal with long-term physical or mental illnesses.

What I see as a strong argument against it is that publicly known incredibly intelligent people seem to still be overwhelmingly pro life. However, maybe those are successful enough to actually habe a decent existence, while a slightly more aware person just has the worst of both worlds. Considering the higher level of depression in people with higher IQ makes me still pretty convinced about a correlation.

I'm repeating myself here, but I think a lot of genius or savant level people tend to have otherwise positive life circumstances that wouldn't lead them down a path where they'd be contemplating matters of suicide or more pessimistic philosophy.

I believe it was @LaVieEnRose (whom I consider a super intelligent person btw) who once shared an article about a psychiatrist who couldn't believe that his patients are suicidal, because his own life was so great. After seeing stuff like this, I do think it's a matter of life experience, when it comes to empathy and emotional intelligence.

Also, as someone who has seen how academia works from the inside, there is a shitton of corruption, hierarchies, and an emphasis on studying subjects and topics where the grant money lies. Health science is very much concerned with the majority, cost-saving measures, and averages. One size fits all approaches. Mental health research in particular is very bad for this.

I think many of the people on the inside so to speak don't realise how bad things are for suicidal people, because they are so far removed from the reality of it and lack awareness of how suicidal people often feel or think, often treating the population like a monolith and not a diverse and varied group. Academia is a gatekeeping institution, it's very rare for a sick or disabled person to work in a research setting, so there is a marked lack of insightful conversations or meaningful work being done because people in our camp are all assumed to be stupid and lacking insight.

Once in my degree, I was told that everything needs to be dumbed down, when you're writing a piece of medical journalism or something for the public, because "the average person is assumed to read at a grade 8 level" and "patients dont understand how things work." Hearing that was very eye opening, rather than educating others, they believe that people are just stupid and that you shouldn't even try to expose them to new knowledge.

I think many people have a keen underlying capacity for intelligence, but arrogant academics downplay this and see those assumed to be mentally ill as stupid and lacking insight, when I think many people here are insanely smart but are lacking the support, resources, and favourable circumstances necessary to be academic powerhouses. I have been told many times to give up.

 

[Nettles]

Definitely so. I remember seeing through the set up at 16 y I, still meet people who can't think outside the box. They've bought this shit existence, accepted it, made more slaves and so on ..

 

[Alex Fermentopathy]

Yh if cld nt mke casul xenophobc commnts eithr tht wld b gr8 pls

There was nothing xenophobic in my comment, just an interesting genetic phenomenon. It was based entirely on the scientific data, not on emotions and politics. I wish people think about the matter from different angles before accusing someone.
My grandgrandfather was a Jew from Odessa, if that makes sense for you.

 

[rozeske]

There are tens of thousands of people here, kind of hard to squeeze them all in to one criteria.

 

[Dot]

There was nothing xenophobic in my comment, just an interesting genetic phenomenon. It was based entirely on the scientific data, not on emotions and politics. I wish people think about the matter from different angles before accusing someone.
My grandgrandfather was a Jew from Odessa, if that makes sense for you.

Ok

If r commntng on specfc grps of ppl thn = prbbly bettr t/ clarfy or xpand on wht u r sayng bcse jst refrrng 2 Asknzi Jws w/o mre info cn gve th/ wrng impressn

 

[Sprite_Geist]

No. I do not think that I have above-average intelligence, but cannot speak for others either. I think that it is more a matter of having an online environment which allows people to express their thoughts on a stigmatized subject. Users of Sanctioned Suicide put more effort into their posts because - firstly - they have many, many thoughts to unload after a lifetime of being unable or unwilling to express themselves, but also they know there will (likely) be many other people who will engage them without hostility, so it is worth explaining themselves in their posts in more detail.

 

[jbear824]

There are many types of intelligence. Academic intelligence is only one kind and not better than any other kind.

Also not being well spoken is not an indicator of intelligence, poor or otherwise. Hell, the ability to speak is certainly not an indicator of intelligence, just look at conservatives, or most humans for that matter.

I have an IQ of 154 (yes, I was tested), and sometimes I can't talk or express myself for shit. But I also write the way I hear myself think. And that's not always eloquent or structured properly. And I was also an english major at that. My intelligence has not helped me improve my life one bit. It's not everything OP.

I am a very critical thinker, an overanalyzed. But I sometimes wish I could be one of those blissfully ignorant dumbasses lol.

 

[Alex Fermentopathy]

Also not being well spoken is not an indicator of intelligence, poor or otherwise. Hell, the ability to speak is certainly not an indicator of intelligence, just look at conservatives, or most humans for that matter.

It is an indicator of verbal intelligence which is typically taken into account when calculating IQ. And statistically, different types of intelligence (those measured by subtests in IQ test) correlate with each other. At least that was written in the book about psychometrics I have read.

 

[ThisGameIsOverrated]

Everyone likes to feel like they're "special" or different from everyone in some unique way and although this is objectively true for suicidal people it's really no different to how conspiracy theorists and religious people think they're the special chosen ones imo

 

[AveMori]

There are many types of intelligence. Academic intelligence is only one kind and not better than any other kind.

Also not being well spoken is not an indicator of intelligence, poor or otherwise. Hell, the ability to speak is certainly not an indicator of intelligence, just look at conservatives, or most humans for that matter.

I have an IQ of 154 (yes, I was tested), and sometimes I can't talk or express myself for shit. But I also write the way I hear myself think. And that's not always eloquent or structured properly. And I was also an english major at that. My intelligence has not helped me improve my life one bit. It's not everything OP.

I am a very critical thinker, an overanalyzed. But I sometimes wish I could be one of those blissfully ignorant dumbasses lol.

I didn't think intelligence improves life. I have a high IQ (yes, also tested) as well and am obviously doing terrible in life. I would probably have had a better time taking a major that actually suits my strengths, law definitely was not one of those and I regret not switching in time every day. However, even being successful would probably not make my life a lot better. My theory is more that maybe a certain degree of cognitive capacity in the sense of IQ makes it frustratingly difficult to be able to roll with the bullshit arguments society makes up to pretend everybody has the chance to experience life as something positive.
In the end, a good upbringing is probably the most important factor of all, but a mind that is powerful enough to create all sorts of dark pits of despair might be very dangerous as well.

 

[Alex Fermentopathy]

I didn't think intelligence improves life. I have a high IQ (yes, also tested) as well and am obviously doing terrible in life.

Statistically, people with high IQ tend to be healthier and wealthier.

law definitely was not one of those

As I understand it, law is a good career for people with high verbal IQ. And probably with low empathy, since there are studies saying that it is a popular profession among psychopaths.
Maybe your IQ is inclined towards verbal-spatial subtest. If so, you would be better choosing an engineering field.

 

[Davey36000]

No offense but this is just the usual wrong way of thinking (and verging on arrogance) "intelligent people suffer more because they are more aware".

Which is just not true, sorry. Everyone suffers and it's not difficult the understand a lot of the BS going on in our lives.

It's just that everyone chooses different ways of coping (or not) with that suffering.

Much to the surprise of literally nobody, high intelligence without 0 empathy leads to the usual shitshow we see in politics, for example.

And some would argue that that is just a very narrow form of 'intelligence', or not intelligence at all (the one devoid of empathy).

You can be smart as a fox but if that doesn't lead to the betterment of your community/the world, is that even useful or beneficial 'intelligence'?

 

[AveMori]

Statistically, people with high IQ tend to be healthier and wealthier.


As I understand it, law is a good career for people with high verbal IQ. And probably with low empathy, since there are studies saying that it is a popular profession among psychopaths.
Maybe your IQ is inclined towards verbal-spatial subtest. If so, you would be better choosing an engineering field.

I might be good at working in law, but I am just not good at memorizing and that is needed for taking the courses and the bar exam. So my grades and therefore career prospects were nothing special. Maybe I could still be successful in the long term, but I won't live long enough to find out.

No offense but this is just the usual wrong way of thinking (and verging on arrogance) "intelligent people suffer more because they are more aware".

Which is just not true, sorry. Everyone suffers and it's not difficult the understand a lot of the BS going on in our lives.

It's just that everyone chooses different ways of coping (or not) with that suffering.

Much to the surprise of literally nobody, high intelligence without 0 empathy leads to the usual shitshow we see in politics, for example.

And some would argue that that is just a very narrow form of 'intelligence', or not intelligence at all (the one devoid of empathy).

You can be smart as a fox but if that doesn't lead to the betterment of your community/the world, is that even useful or beneficial 'intelligence'?

Don't worry, I am not taking offense. I wouldn't ask, if I was not happy getting answers!

 

[Alex Fermentopathy]

You can be smart as a fox but if that doesn't lead to the betterment of your community/the world, is that even useful or beneficial 'intelligence'?

I have thought about it. Among two psychopaths this who is more cognitively-gifted will more likely win another (other things equal). And then likely passes his genes to next generation, the genes which might have given him a cognitive bonus (and do not necessary passes the genes that increased the probability of psychopathy). So there may be some benefit to the world even in this case, in a subtle way.

 

[Davey36000]

I might be good at working in law, but I am just not good at memorizing and that is needed for taking the courses and the bar exam. So my grades and therefore career prospects were nothing special. Maybe I could still be successful in the long term, but I won't live long enough to find out.

Don't worry, I am not taking offense. I wouldn't ask, if I was not happy getting answers!

Well now you made me look like the arrogant one, lol!

 

[Whiston72]

I agree. I imagine as well that many of us have had a link to religion and probably left it at some point as we search for meaning in a world of uncaring humans and boring mundanity.