I was thinking about this. I went to university, and I worked in tech for decades. I met many assholes but I didn’t meet anyone that would fit on the left half of the bell curve (less than 100 iq).
Since I’ve been living in that bubble my entire life, I’m curious of your stories. Have you met someone who was actually quite dumb (not just having opinions you don’t agree with) and do you have an example situation you remember you can share?
Hopefully this becomes more funny than hateful since intelligence is not the value of a person, but it can be funny to read the stories.
That is a good analogy, esp as because intelligence changes over time. It is not a fixed value.
It’s more like a physical ability. The more you practice it, the easier and stronger it becomes. The less you do, the more it atrophies. And just like our bodies, it’s growth and it’s decline are largely linked to our aging processes.
I don’t understand why people are so insistent intelligence is this fixed property that is innate. If is, however, limited. Some folks have the gift of a life and environment which lets their intelligence flourish, others, do not. Same with athletics.
Not just aging, I would say intelligence is highly variable just on an individual level due to all sorts of factors. How much rest you get, the quality of said rest, current physical comfort level, distractions, stress, whether you’re hungry or have eaten recently, time of day, whether there’s a time constraint, etc etc etc. I wonder how many “stupid” people are genuinely that way even in the best conditions, or if the majority are just suffering from any of multiple detractors on them. Because of this I try not to judge, because I don’t know their lives.