How can you tell if someone is highly intelligent?

What sort of things do you think are traits of high intelligence?

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Comments ( 18 )
  • Boojum

    It seems to me that clear signs of intelligence are having a good idea of how much one doesn't know, not being afraid to admit those limits, being willing to admit when one is shown to be wrong, and being able to shift one's opinions in the light of new evidence.

    Intelligent people understand that life is complicated and that apart from scientifically-proven facts, most things are shades of grey. So if you ask them a question, they'll tend to begin their reply with, "It depends on...", "I suspect that..." or "As far as I know..." If you're talking to someone who's absolutely convinced they're right about something, they could be someone who has looked into the topic in depth and come to well-informed conclusions, but it's far more likely they're a dumbshit who's regurgitating crap that was shoved into their heads when they were a kid, spewing gibberish they've gathered from their preferred social media echo chamber or just bullshitting because they believe you're even more ignorant than they are.

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    • LloydAsher

      Pretty much.

      I would add that being highly intelligent doesnt cause people to become atheistic. In fact the more one learns about the universe the more likely you are willing to accept the concept of something greater.

      People who believe that we are in the matrix are people who believe that theres someone who created this simulation thus God.

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      • hauntedbysandwiches

        Interesting. Most studies indicate higher intelligence is actually associated with being Atheist

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        • LloydAsher

          I assume you mean the Richard Dawkins version of atheism in which it's really more of a form of agnosticism than actual atheism.

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          • Correction

            Agnosticism and atheism aren’t mutually exclusive. Richard Dawkins himself says he’s as agnostic about leprechauns and the tooth fairy as he is about god. That’s absolutely atheism. Agnostic atheism, maybe, but definitely a form of atheism. The vast majority of atheists would probably describe themselves that way.

            Either way, the point still stands that the more intelligent a person is, the less likely they are to believe in god. That’s why I wasn’t surprised to learn just today that atheists/agnostics are the most vaccinated group in the country, especially after they voted overwhelmingly for Clinton in 2016 and Biden last year.

            Oh, and fun fact: most atheists actually know as much or more about the Bible than most Christians! Which makes sense, obviously intelligent people are going to gather as much information as they can and make an informed decision(hence having many different news sources and voting for Biden), whereas the not so much intelligent are going to believe what they’re told without questioning anything(hence only watching or reading a handful of fringe news that they know are going to tell them what they want to hear and confirm their preexisting beliefs, and voting for Trump).

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            • LloydAsher

              Oh yeah that was a smart decision voting in biden. Sure shows use peasants that we are just dumb rock eaters.

              Intelligence isnt everything and what we use to measure inteligence might be testing in areas that those who follow religion are less receptive to but it doenst strictly imply that they are any less inteligent than someone is atheistic. It's about what the inteligent test actually tests for as inteligence isnt a strict set of variables. You can only test for certain variables which may be plagued with biases as there are more than one way for someone to be inteligent.

              I say again that inteligence isnt everything as someone who may be classically intelligent Is just as susceptible of following the wrong person for the wrong reasons. Under the guise of being "the inteligent decision"

              In my perspective trump was both the safer and more effective president for the current problems effecting the country and it only took a media apparatus slamming trump constantly while ignoring biden for his obvious corruption.

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  • 1234tellmethatyoulovememore

    One thing about truly intelligent people, they never boast about their intelligence.

    Every wise man knows himself to be a fool.

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  • SwickDinging

    You really can't tell

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  • RoseIsabella

    Awkwardly ask to see an official transcript of their IQ test score?

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  • Chap

    You can't

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  • DADNSCAL

    I’ve noticed that people with deepset eyes are more intelligent.

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  • 1WeirdGuy

    You can just tell by how much they know on different subjects. Really smart people can go indepth into a wide range of topics.

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  • donteatstuffoffthesidewalk

    they have a profound hatred of squirrels

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