this post was submitted on 08 May 2025
49 points (86.6% liked)

Asklemmy

47919 readers
914 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_[email protected]~

founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 hour ago

Depends on what you mean by "low." At a certain level low enough IQ is associated with intellectual disability, and a difficulty functioning in society. IQ is normalized so half of people have, by definition, an IQ lower than 100, and half have an IQ above 100. 15 points is a standard deviation, so about 68% of people fall between 85 and 115, and the remaining 32% fall within the "tails". I assume by "Low IQ" you would mean the ~16% of the population below 85 IQ, and probably the ~13.5% that fall in the range of 70-85, as below 70 is getting into intellectual disability territory.

Statistically, people in this band do worse in just about every metric for social success. Lower income, higher crime rates, higher rates of drug addiction, poorer health outcomes, etc. However, it is difficult to disentangle these impacts from poverty. Populations' IQs raise when they become less poor, and people regardless of income tend to be less poor if they have higher IQs. The cycle of poverty is deeply intertwined with IQ, and poverty causes a lot of the social issues associated with low IQ. There is a lot of evidence that as access to education and a more "intellectually rich" upbringing increase IQ, and such things are less available to poor people for a variety of reasons.

As for what it's like, from my understanding speaking to people I suspect are in this band the main things are a non-inquisitive world view, a sense of resignation around not understanding abstract concepts, and low self esteem associated with these perceived shortcomings. Society does not treat these people kindly as a whole, and I think that we could all stand to be kinder to one another. I also think that our economic system is geared in such a way that not only are low IQ people punished for that, but they are also made to feel that it is a personal shortcoming even though these things are defined statistically such that there is always a group of people at the bottom who are going to be left behind.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 hours ago

They will never get past the join lemmy page when it starts talking about federation. So there is no point asking that here.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

I'm not stupid stupid, but I'm a lot less intelligent now than I was as a child. Not sure if that's standard growing-up stuff or other factors. I think I'm average now, but I used to be really quite smart.

Whatevers to blame, it sucks. I struggle to remember names of people/things/processes, or things to do today. I go through the day based on vibes. I look at a page of information, or a tedious form to fill in, and it's physically uncomfortable to slog through it. I can feel my brain groaning, there's tension and anxiety in my body. Frustration that this should be so easy and instead I'm having to actually concentrate.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

I'll be honest man, this doesn't sound like "Low IQ", it sounds like maybe a mental disorder that you haven't been able to treat yet (ADHD is the first one to come to mind.)

I say that because I can relate a bit, but I have been formally diagnosed with ADHD. I would maybe look into the symptoms of that and others and you might be surprised to find that you relate to it.

You're not stupid because you can't concentrate, just my two cents 🤙

(I would also argue that a "Low IQ" individual wouldn't necessarily be able to recognize the issues you describe.)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 hours ago

It's great! You always have full confidence in yourself, your actions and your convictions.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Long Covid with ME has made me increasingly dumber. It sucks bad. I have difficulty finding words, following conversations, understanding long texts and just plain remembering things. It's devastating to be more stupid but knowing that you could do better.

Just a few minutes ago I said I couldn't play Leisure Suit Larry 7 because it's too hard. Sucks ass.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

I don't think brain fog is the same as being dumb though

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 hours ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 32 minutes ago

As a fellow sufferer of Covid Brain Fog, it is being dumb.

Even if it's temporary, which so far hasn't shaken out that way for me. I am currently the dumbest I have ever been.

The amount of things I used to do for fun that I now have had to quit or hire out to others because I can't do it anymore is deeply demoralizing and frustrating. It feels like a part of my identity has been stolen from me.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 hours ago

if you believe in IQ tests you're already an expert

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 hours ago

if it gets low enough that you dont understand how bad off you are, its apparently not that bad.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 hours ago
[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

What do you mean with "IQ"?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 42 minutes ago

Intelligence quotient. A bunch of people take a test and they’re compared to each other. Your result is your intelligence quotient.

Its origins were noble, because it was designed to identify students who needed extra help in school. The creator of the test knew that people could change their results with good instruction. However, that noble origin story was besmirched by what happened later. Eventually, IQ tests were used as a way to classify people in more brutal and rigid ways. The USA military used it as a cutoff for aspiring cadets. USA colleges use tests that effectively are IQ tests to let people in or not. The worst part is that bigots around the world injected pseudoscience into IQ and used it to decide who they think are worthy of life and who aren’t. It’s as awful as it sounds.

You may notice that helping struggling students sounds wonderful, and you may think that we should go back to that.

However, some people believe that tests aren’t useful at all to tell us something about anything. They believe IQ tests should be banished and never used.

Others people believe IQ tests are a snapshot of how a person answered the questions to a test in a given day. Additionally, these people notice that, in research, IQ scores are robustly associated with other things, such as quality of relationships, happiness, income, and other measures. These results suggest that learning to solve problems helps humans solve problems!

If the noble origins of the test are a guide, poor performers would receive help. More people would get the benefits of a higher IQ, not because of the fear of being classified in a brutal and rigid way, but because a good education makes the mind curious, nimble, and open.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 hours ago
[–] [email protected] 2 points 12 hours ago

I don't know, every time I drink that much I forget.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 12 hours ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 hours ago

Too highbrow, gtfo smarty smart man.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 14 hours ago

Why are you asking us? You're the expert.

nyuk nyuk nyuk

[–] [email protected] 2 points 14 hours ago

Less likely to lose sanity points when confronting the mythos

[–] [email protected] 16 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

If you’re using IQ as a measure of intelligence, you probably already know.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 13 hours ago

They didn't ask about intelligence, they asked about IQ.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 15 hours ago
[–] [email protected] 7 points 15 hours ago (3 children)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago) (1 children)

Only if you're naïve about IQ and worship it like God. Here is wikipedia's second paragraph on IQ:

Scores from intelligence tests are estimates of intelligence. Unlike, for example, distance and mass, a concrete measure of intelligence cannot be achieved given the abstract nature of the concept of "intelligence". IQ scores have been shown to be associated with such factors as nutrition, parental socioeconomic status, morbidity and mortality, parental social status, and perinatal environment. While the heritability of IQ has been investigated for nearly a century, there is still debate about the significance of heritability estimates and the mechanisms of inheritance. Current best estimates for heritability range from 40 to 60% of the variance between individuals in IQ being explained by genetics.

None of that stands out to me as particularly controversial, certainly not pseudoscience. Emphasis on second sentence -- it's not a concrete measure of intelligence.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Great response.

The assertion that IQ is pseudoscience, is denying reality. While not an exact measure, it correlates with a lot of other measures of flourishing.

But higher IQ doesn't necessarily mean happier, or better in any way.

I know some extremely (academically) intelligent people. Some are arrogant pricks, others are really pleasant, others still are really awkward and difficult to talk to outside their specific interests.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 43 minutes ago

Well yeah, nothing is guaranteed. It's just a correlation -- higher IQ people tend to have more success. More success doesn't necessarily mean happier. But personally, I would take more success if given the option.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 13 hours ago

ChatGDT said I had a 135 IQ, does that mean I’m also a pseudoscientist?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) (1 children)

All psychology is.

Not saying it isn’t useful before a psych major jumps on me. But the entire field is basically explaining how to cope with a society that is hostile to human nature.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

The entire field isn't therapy.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

That’s about its only useful contribution.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

How to learn better? How to organize teams better? How to write text or make presentations so that it aligns with how the brain best receives information? How to evaluate candidates for a role while minimizing the halo effect and the bandwagon effect? How to nudge people into leaving public spaces cleaner? How to make spaces more attractive for people to spend time in? How to increase adherence to lifestyle changes such as diet and exercise after cancer treatment? How to increase the odds of achieving a task you want to do? How to make computer interfaces easier to use for people, including people with disabilities? You’re saying that psychology has not studied these nor contributed to them?

Yes, there are a lot of problems in the field. But there are also brilliant people cutting through the bullshit and using their findings to improve the world. I’d be more than happy to show you robust findings that the field has gifted the world.

[–] [email protected] 47 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

There was a guy on youtube once who uploaded a video talking about this who has the channel name "crazydumbsick".

Unfortunately I can't seem to find the video as it looks like he regularly deletes content, and it currently only goes back about a month on his channel at present.

Take everything below with a block of salt because this is from memory, and it was a few years back where I watched his video once, so I could be misremembering one or more things here.

If I recall correctly he has Schizophrenia, Crohns, and an IQ of ~45, hence his channel name. He talked a lot about how hard it was to live, particularly pertaining to his IQ. He said that he has a hard time with remembering things and therefore most of his meals are made from pre-made microwaveable packages as he is capable of operating the microwave without too much difficulty, and he found it generally easy to follow the instructional lists on the packaging.

He made note that operating any kind of machine much beyond a microwave or TV remote was largely beyond him, except his computer and camera which he had recently figured out well enough to be able to record and upload content - but outside of those actions, he really had no idea how to use them.

I believe he also said that due to one or more of his conditions, he could not drive, which largely compounded the difficulties of his life.

He talked about how finding work for someone in his situation is basically impossible and just as impossible to hold onto for very long. I believe he talked about a couple jobs he had been fired from and why, and while I don't recall the specifics, I believe he had talked about how he was not even entirely certain why he had been fired. I think he said that he had done some things incorrectly, and at the time, had some vague concept of them being incorrect, but despite this, he was unsure why he had gone ahead and done them anyway.

Overall, he seemed very sad in the video; he was terribly aware of how hard it is to live life being himself, and knew that there were basically no solutions to it.

Having said all of that, he continued to upload videos and there were some good events and some bad events. I believe at one or more times he discussed having tried to take his own life. Other times he seemed fairly upbeat and was trying to better himself - trying to read through a textbook on auto work for example.

Anyway, I think the original video I spoke about is one of the better videos I've seen uploaded to the internet. It was somewhat sad, but it was highly enlightening and certainly one of the most honest videos I've ever seen someone upload.

load more comments
view more: next ›