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emind

Depressing Truths: Iq Is Static...(question For Life Purpose)

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It has been widely and thoroughly proven that intelligence (as in general intelligence constrained to logic, math, and verbal reasoning) does not change throughout ones lifetime. I have always been a very intellectual person in the sense that I enjoy deep discussions about science, philosophy, etc. I read a lot, and am always updated with whats going on around the world. However, being informed, and knowing many things youve read in books is NOT equivalent to intelligence. I have never measured my intelligence, and deeply fear doing so, for fear of not being as smart as I thought I was. I dont care if you somehow define intelligence differently (as creativity, emotional, etc.) this does not concern me. My goal has always been to excede academically at the highest levels, and having a high IQ is necessary for that. So, for people who will try to sell me fairytales, please dont deny the science, and dont give me a different definition of intelligence because even if it exists, it does not concern me here. Im sorry if I sound a bit harsh, but, what is the best way to deal with this? What if Im just not that smart, and Im not meant to succeed in academia? I dont see myself enjoying any other purpose than a rigorously logical one. 

Advice?

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@emind You're pretty vague about your ambitions. What do you want to do in academia?

What does exceeding academically mean to you? Are you trying to prove your smartness, or are you trying to contribute something?

If you're making your life purpose about the former and doing it to gratify your ego, you're going to be very miserable.

Also, have you considered the possibility that IQ is stable the vast majority of the time but perhaps there are fringe cases of people who do improve that get dismissed due to being outliers? I'm not saying it the case, but it might be worth looking into.

Sadhguru has claimed that people who have undergone his extensive yoga training perform at levels that would expected to be impossible for their IQ. I didn't look too much into the claim, but it might be worth researching.

Richard Feynman had an IQ of 125; he won a Nobel prize in physics and was one of the most prominent scientists of the 20th century.

Also, have you looked at Cal Newport's work on success in knowledge work?

Even if you're limited by your IQ to some extent, you have no shortage of things to work on that can improve your capability.

 

 

What's your history? Are you academically unsuccessful? 

 

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Throughout highschool I was a straight A's student, Im currently undertaking my undergrad in a non scientific field and also have good grades. But having good grades is not necessarily representative of a keen intellect, and this is my fear. The reason why I feel like I need to be smart is because I want to contribute  whatever field I end up working in with new and thought provoking ideas. However, if my judgement is not sober, and Im not sharper than the average joe, my contributions will not be worth anything, and wont bring anything new to the table. My fear is ending up being an average professor at an average unversity. 

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@emind What are your plans? What do you want to go into?

Grades aren't everything, of course, but at least you have a good track record. 

Did you take a look at the site I linked?

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I dont know my exact plans yet, but  I want to do something intellectual/rational. Ill take a look at it right now, thanks!

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@emind Np. You should probably work on making concrete goals first. From first blush it seems like you're getting too caught up in your self-image and desire for greatness rather than being motivated by the work itself. You don't need to be exceptional to contribute.

 

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@emind IQ is irrelevant and a stupid metric. Just forget it exists.

Watch out for your stubbornness and your logic. That's a recipe for a miserable life.


You are God. You are Truth. You are Love. You are Infinity.

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@Leo Gura Saying that IQ is irrelevant you don't mean that intelligence doesn't exist? You just mean that IQ doesn't represent it? 

Like IQ is too one dimensional in a multi-dimension attribute (like intelligence), right?

Edited by Socrates

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Your iq does not matter, if you don't give up you can do whatever you want.

It's an advantage, just like being naturally muscular is, but I doubt Bruce Lee cared about that, he was still kicking everyone's ass despite being ectomorph ...

You maye think that Einstein had a really high IQ, but nothing proves that, and one of his famous quote is:

 

quote-it-s-not-that-i-m-so-smart-it-s-ju

 

Right now your mind is just creating some good excuses as to why you can't do x y z, because it knows it can do it, and is just fucking lazy.

You can tell yourself the contrary, if you want, but that's just being a coward in disguise.

Edited by Shin

God is love

Whoever lives in love lives in God

And God in them

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personal i haven't found any solid evidence that iq is what people say it is or that it is even real how ever mostly the reason people get the results they get to me seems most likely is about *how* people do what they do for example how well you do when learning something deepend on how intensly you concentrate on what you are learnig on and also maybe how bored you are(due to attention residue) i highly recommend reading deep work by cal newport he argues that focus(and that it is also a skill) is the new iq(a lot of famous thinkers for example had to concentrate in isolation to get their best work done even people like einstein, issac newton and richard feynman) an other example that it matters how you do it is for example in personal development i have read that a good way to overcome fears is to fully fell the emotion without restance but if you do resist chance are you won't get the same result you would have got that if you fully feel the emotion so i think how you do what you do(and i think your self image also plays a role) is probably most important to get the result you might want and that your iq is probably irrelevant as leo said  

 

an other thing that might be interesting is that the most likely reason some peolpe was really good at something was because they didn't just pratice but that they did delieberate pratice which is a good way to become really good at something compared to if you don't do delieberate pratice so an other example that it matters how you do what you do

Edited by BjarkeT

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@emind so much ego! so much pride! give up already. we don't have to be better than anyone else to be happy. happiness is something else.

if you're not willing to stop feeding your ego, don't even get started. the way of ego is an endless hole of agony and unsatisfactory.

Edited by ajasatya

unborn Truth

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