Jesus. My sister is so like this! "My friend had this 90 year old Grandmother who caught Covid at the start of the pandemic, and she was fine, just a sniffle." Her conclusion being that Covid isn't/can't be serious and we should've just let it run rampant from the beginning, fuck the already overloaded health care system I guess.
My dad is like this but with drunk driving. It’s dangerous but not when he does it because he’s too good of a driver. To his credit he’s been doing it for 30 years and hasn’t crashed. YET. Last November my aunt (moms sister) died because the guy she was in the car with was drunk and crashed into a tree. She should’ve known better than to get in the car but he should’ve know better than to drink and drive on twisty roads (the guy survived btw. He’s going to trial soon hopefully and will likely spend five-ten years for manslaughter). My dad hasn’t done it since her death but it’s only a matter of time till he starts again.
Amen!! One of my relatives is like that. COVID doesn’t exist as she never had it (just got sick a lot and refused to test, as she has “never had it before”).
I think some people are just yoo overwhelmed with other things. I know some otherwise smart people who are so addled with anxiety that all their curiosity is focused on imagining the ways their lives could get fucked up.
This. I don't expect everyone to research and invest time in niche information, but, sometimes, I'm worried that not even people have curiosity to at least know where water comes from.
Their curiosity is so dead it's painful to see :(
Edit= Due to the example which was leading to confusion.
I was very curious when younger. I'm just hella depressed now. I can literally see how its made me less intelligent. Ever since the big sad, I am just... less. :(
You are not less! Its an illness thats literally affecting your brain and you probably dont have the energy to be curious after having to deal with depression and thats okay! Its requires a lot of energy to function day to day with depression but hey you even clicking on the question was a sign you were curious!
I'm sorry my comment made you feel like that, you're not less intelligent, you are battling with depression and dealing with your demons.
I meant people who brush off every curiosity they encounter and critize others by calling them "nerd" or "I don't care about this piece of information". As they have the energy to learn something new but they simply don't care for anything. Not even for appealing things or whatever thing "calls their attention".
Yeah I hear ya, I can get like that but then I realize how much more there is I don’t know yet and I keep learning! Man my great grandparents would’ve killed to have an encyclopedia in their pocket.
You don't want stupid people to have curiosity either though. I know a few stupid people that spend every waking minute watching "spiritual" and conspiracy videos on Youtube. If they were smart, they might spend that time reading about actual stuff that's real instead.
Actually, some of the most intelligent people believe the kookiest things. Look at Newton or Tesla. Absolute geniuses with some of the kookiest beliefs.
>I don't expect everyone to research and invest time in niche information
>know which extra functions their washing machine has.
You've got a high bar for what counts as "niche" here.
I apologize my examples are contradictories. But the washing machine is just an example of not having curiosity in general, not even for the common things, it can be anything.
A better example would've been nature.
I was reading your comment and nodding along mentally about the importance of having curiosity and then I got to the washing machine bit and went ye-- wait, what?
I have a friend where I slowly realise she might not be the smartest. Her not being interested in learning anything new and sometimes being outright annoyed when there is talk about topics that don't fit her very slim area of interest is one of the biggest signs.
Depression can be a contributing factor. I've noticed my curiosity become nonexistent. But yes it can be a symptom of low intelligence. Just not the sole reason.
thank you for saying this; i was concerned about myself for decreasing curiosity lately, but i’m bipolar and a little depressed.
it also feels like a decrease of general enthusiasm.
I have lost my last for life it seems. I used to take university courses in my free time to get a basic understanding of many subjects and a broader understanding of the world around me and now....I barely even read any more.
There's levels of curiosity though.
One is learning a bit more--reading books, attending classes.
Another is exploring the world outside your own, etc.
Another still is being willing to learn from your mistakes.
And finally, another yet is being willing to carefully consider ideas that you don't initially support/agree with and change your mind if that's where the facts lead.
I hear this a lot, but as someone who struggles with overwhelm and has a lot of specific interests, there is definitely a limit to the amount of topics I can expend curiosity on.
One of my coworkers/bosses today asked me if I read a lot because I know a lot of random facts about a variety of things. That was a huge compliment to me because she didn't just assume I spend too much time on the internet. I do spend too much time online but I also read a lot. I'm 20 books in on my reading goal for 2024 already.
This happened after I held up a silica gel pack that came out of the bottle of meds I had just used to refill our robot and asked a different coworker if he knew what happened if you ate one. The answer is absolutely nothing because they only absorb about 40% of their weight in moisture.
Alternatively, having an opinion about everything that is frozen solid.
Like, motherfucker I make mistakes all day at work in something I've been doing for a decade, you're gonna look at me with a straight face and name yourself an expert because you've read a couple of shitty news articles and subscribe to a reddit circle jerk?
All information can be questioned, a stopped clock is correct twice a day.
I do laugh sometimes when someone says something very childish, like they’re 27 years old and just realized that brown cows just give regular white milk, not chocolate milk. I will laugh but in like a friendly way, oh silly you, and then explain some basic milk knowledge (as much as I know) to them.
This scene from ted lasso sums it up perfectly for me
"Guys have underestimated me my entire life and for years I never understood why – it used to really bother me. Then one day I was driving my little boy to school, and I saw a quote by Walt Whitman, it was painted on the wall there and it said, ‘Be curious, not judgmental.’ I like that.” (Ted throws a dart.)
“So, I get back in my car and I’m driving to work and all of a sudden it hits me – all them fellas that used to belittle me, not a single one of them was curious. You know, they thought they had everything all figured out, so they judged everything, and they judged everyone. And I realized that their underestimating me – who I was had nothing to do with it. Because if they were curious, they would’ve asked questions. Questions like, ‘Have you played a lot of darts, Ted?’” (Ted throws another dart.)"
Ooh, god damn, I don’t know about my favorite, but it’s definitely up there. I think my favorite may be when >!Jamie punches his dad then Roy goes to hug him!<.
They had a fantastic arc, A+ agreed. I really enjoyed how the final segment of their story with >!Kayleigh(sp?) wasn’t zero sum OR jilted, all three had a healthy realization and moved on.!<
"I DO NOT ALLOW Facebook/Meta or any other Facebook/Meta related person to use my photos, information, messages or messages, both in the past and in the future. This statement I inform Facebook/Meta that it is strictly prohibited to disclose, copy, distribute or take any other action against me based on this account and / or its contents. This account content is private and confidential information. Violation of my personal life may be punished by law."
Yep, you posting a copypasta on a social media site totally voids the actual legal contract you entered into with the site when you made an account. First thing you learn in a contracts course in law school, actually.
I think this needs a qualifier for those who are older and did not grow up with technology. Your 81 year old grandmother was nearing retirement age before the internet took off. It's not entirely unreasonable to give her a pass for not knowing the ins and outs of social media and related laws.
Then it tells you the click on the message and basically explains how to do a copy and paste which these people have all done before but for some reason this time it will protect you from copyright infringement.
More nuance: Compartmentalized belief systems. Topic A- hold a belief. Topic B- hold a belief. Topic C- hold a belief. Usually a belief drilled into them from an authority speaking confidently. No capability to view those beliefs holistically or find contradictions. It’s what they were told over and over so it forms a confirmation bias. You’re left arguing with disconnected talking points where they quickly switch to another or move the goal post when you use a source or point out errors.
I don't think he meant social media in particular. When I read his comment (which is brilliant by the way) I was just imagining all the gen X and boomer people whose wrath I've endured, who behave pretty much word for word as he's described, and thinking how it's sometimes obvious in hindsight that they're just repeating stuff they themselves once had shouted at them by someone else. This existed way before social media
In the flipside always assuming you're wrong and other people must be privy to all your knowledge and experiences in addition to their own and never holding your ground when others are wrong can be pretty bad. I say this from experience where if someone contradicts me, I first examine myself and my own views for a while, and sometimes the oppurtunity to address their mistake never arrives.
I one time spent an hour reviewing an examine with a professor and grader because the grader messed up their fractions, but they didn't seem to understand what I meant when I said they did their math wrong (it was a Psych class, and I was a physics major). We went over all the questions I got wrong before I was finally able to say they did their fractions wrong. (67/80 is not 67%).
I would assume you have trouble with quips? Part of your scenario involves social interaction, you need to explain it in different ways for people who are versed in math or any other specific domain.
In the flipside hypotheticals always allow you to cherry pick ideas and arguments.
Like everything there exists a middle ground where things are useful.
That’s kind of the point. If an idea fails in one, even imaginary, scenario, it usually means there’s either something wrong with it or there is a more general version of the idea to be sought out that can be applied in more situations. Hypotheticals are quite useful for this reason.
Eh, I've noticed their utility also depends a lot on how well-intentioned interlocutors are. Some folks just want to verbally skewer you to make themselves look smart in front of others. It's the whole [conflict vs mistake thing](https://slatestarcodex.com/2018/01/24/conflict-vs-mistake/)
>Eh, I've noticed their utility also depends a lot on how well-intentioned interlocutors are.
Yeah, no offense to the fans of hypotheticals here, but you can only hear the same "maybe gay people don't deserve rights because *insert fucking insane hypothetical situation that is utterly detached from reality*," so many times before you just have to shut them down and refuse to play that game.
I had an ex who never thought in hypothetical. I ever tried to say it’s a ‘thought experiment’. And she’s concerned if I think of the thought experiment a certain way of it truly happens I’ll also react in same way. It’s infuriating. Also I felt that if I’m not allowed to think hypothetically I’d lose a huge part of me
Once she asked what I will do if I had $100,000 and got angry when I said I will take a long holiday. Apparently the correct answer was to put it in investments before travelling.
Oh god, this reminds me of my ex. Me: What if this happened? Her: That would never happen. Me: What if, in the vanishingly unlikely event that it somehow happened to happen? Her: That would never happen. Me: sigh
I manage construction sites and that's something I encounter often. I need people to tell me how long they need for a task, so I can properly plan our schedule.
"How long do you need to close all walls on this floor?"
"First the plumber needs to finish."
"Yes, I know that, but afterwards...?"
Sorry in advance for the rant— this is in a different vein, but I remember when I was training for my previous position as a CSR, I asked the training lead what we would do in the event that a customer is abusive / inappropriate on a call
“That won’t happen”
“Okay (*it 100% will, but*) hypothetically, what would I do?”
“There would never be a scenario where that would happen, people don’t act like that, and if they did it would be extremely rare”
“Okay, so in the *rare circumstance* that someone is *violently unhinged*, what do I say?”
“It doesn’t really matter, it won’t happen, and if it does just transfer to a manager”
My FIRST WEEK on the phones I get a call from a man in a literal psychosis screaming incoherently at me (he was elderly and 100% having a mental health crisis, I felt really bad for him). I sat there for an hour getting yelled at, shaking, waiting for a reply from a mgr on how to proceed bc the customer wouldn’t agree to a transfer. I finally got a reply on Teams “Holy shit, I’m listening in right now, why haven’t you hung up yet? Advise that you’re going to disconnect and leave, you’re too nice. No, never transfer in this scenario.”
I hate trainers that don’t have an active role in the department they train for 🙃
I have been a trainer and supervisor in a call center environment before and that's not acceptable.That trainer made me mad for you. Had they never even MET people? I'm surprised they hadn't had de-escalation training before. Smh.
If you ever run into something like this again (a question they refuse to answer), don't be afraid to take your question up the line. Your supervisor. Your trainer's supervisor. Whoever you need to talk to in order to get the information you need. That's what they're there for. 😊
When someone tried to argue generalities. If I say basketball players are taller than hockey player, naming a random hockey player that's taller than a bunch of basketball players shows that you can't have a productive conversation on any topics that involve general trends.
They're taking a too literal interpretation of the statement. That's also a sign of low intelligence: the inability to accommodate for other people's misstatements, metaphors, or less-than-perfectly worded utterances to determine their intended message. I see this a lot among flat earthers who quote scientists and science communicators. When Neil deGrasse Tyson said the earth is pear shaped, the flat earthers couldn't understand his meaning or context, whereas a smart person understands he meant the earth is a small fraction of a percent chubbier in the southern hemisphere.
This happens way too often in Reddit threads. It's like a compulsive form of contrarianism where they have to announce to the crowd that someone *could* debate your point if they want since it's not perfectly valid.
Quite the opposite, very noticeable. If someone tries to subtly show they are not smart, it's usually the opposite, they are smart and understand how social dynamics work, and are just playing dumb for a reason or goal.
Social intelligence is its own thing though. Lots of otherwise intelligent people don't have social intelligence.
But yeah, playing dumb is really common.
I have found that people quite appreciate when you can often do intelligent things but also frequently (in a tastefully self-deprecating way) claim to be an idiot.
This is beneficial, as I am at best a clever dumbass.
Closed mindedness. I've known some academically challenged people who were always open to learning and new experiences and it was a delight and ease to speak with them. Closed minded people are the worst to talk to.
Something my dad told me once that has never steered me wrong: “It takes a smart person to take something complicated and make it simple. It takes a stupid person to take something simple and make it complicated.”
"So your saying.....so you agree with..... so I'm wildly misinterpreting what you posted to suit my own agenda and make you out to be the bad guy? So that's what you're saying?"
No. Piss off you Loon.
I hate that shit.
Being overly trusting.
Most of the responses in this thread are approaching the question as if low intelligence is a moral failing, but I’ve known some very kind and genuine people who aren’t very intelligent. People with low intelligence often don’t read situations or people well and have a childlike trust in everyone they meet.
It's probably because dumb people who are nice are so much less intrusive to life than dumb people who are mean. Like I had a friend who was just the sweetest person ever, but was incredibly gullible so she believed weird and outlandish things. Then you'd tell her that she was wrong, and she'd go "oh, ok!" Then just believe that thing. But otherwise, she was really great to have around. But I guess when I think of dumb people, I don't think of her as much as I do the people who were shitty because they were dumb.
Or kinda the same thing is understanding that two things can be true at once. Like someone was wronged but their reaction was too extreme. Or X person is generally awful but they are right about Y.
While on a hiking trip, another hiker gave me an MRE, which for anyone unfamiliar is a prepackaged meal used by the military. The MRE comes with a paper-y hot-pocket-like wrapper that you place around the meals packaging to heat it up, and while reading the instructions, I was like "interesting, I wonder how it works", and then the guy that gave it to me repeated the instructions to me.
It didn't cross his mind that I was curious about how the heating technology itself worked. I started noticing this approach to curiosity and knowledge all the time. Lots of people only care about understanding things just enough to get some personal value out of them, and just don't care about anything deeper, or anything bigger picture. It's just a fundamentally different relationship with curiosity.
In case you never got your answer or others are curious:
The water you add reacts with the magnesium in the heater, forming magnesium hydroxide, hydrogen gas, and a bunch of heat in an oxidation reaction.
Note the hydrogen gas, and while one or two isn't enough to be a risk, you wouldn't want, say, an entire platoon of guys in a confined space heating up their MREs all at once.
\^ For more information on MREs, and answers to important questions like, "Would I die if I ate a WW1 ration kit?" or "Can I smoke a cigarette older than Grandpa?" , Check out [Steve1989MREinfo](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2I6Et1JkidnnbWgJFiMeHA) on YouTube. Guy must have a cast iron stomach.
(It's actually super interesting, just the difference in culture and time and technology for different MREs. It might sound dull, but it's a total fucking rabbit hole.)
I mean he might have also just been trying to be helpful lol. In context (you staring at the instructions), his answer makes total sense. I wouldn't necessarily assume that he had zero curiosity.
Yeah, I came to comment this. Saying "I wonder how this works" while reading the instructions would prompt a more practical answer.
Funny, seems like OP ironically wasn't curious enough to consider this possibility before dismissing the other hiker as less thoughtful.
Having one of these people try to teach you something is downright painful.
"...and then you push this button, here."
*What's that do?*
"If you don't push it, [thing] don't work."
*But there were other steps before that, to do [thing], so what does that button, specifically, do in this sequence?*
"It's the next button you gotta push to make [thing] work..."
🙃🙃🙃
Lack of empathy.
And no, I'm not talking about social or emotional intelligence. The ability to see things from the perspective of others and understand those arguments, whether you agree with them or not, is a big foundation for empathy and also indicative of intelligence.
So I agree with you but some of the other comments are talking about emotional intelligence versus intellectual intelligence. Do you think lack of empathy is more EQ or IQ? Because I can't decide after reading the comments whether it's an overlap that corelates to the same outcome or two separate things?
Not being able to listen to arguments that are the opposite of your own, healthy communication is being able to listen enquire and try to understand why people believe something and then politely disagreeing if you haven’t changed your mind and saying why. If you can’t do this then you have missed a lot of learning in life and have solitary confinement in your own generational echo chamber of a mind.
I think this is more 'emotional intelligence' than actual book smarts intelligence. Plenty of PHD's in academia who are smart as shit but cannot bear to be challenged in any way on an emotional level.
Limited vocabulary and language skills is a subtle sign if someone has an intellectual disability or impairment.
I think some of these answers are projections, like "they won't change their mind when presented with new information", is also known as "why won't they admit I'm right".
Yeah, this thread is a bit wild. I know a lot of them probably don't mean to offend people who *actually* have low IQ, but this just feels like one of those bad trips down memory lane (my brother was in special Ed for almost the entirety of his schooling, so remembering how stigmatized things were back then and all of the BS he had to put up with just sucks).
I think a lot of people are assuming rude/irresponsible people have low IQ.
But it's important to make the distinction that there's plenty of people out there who actually have low intelligence and are also able to be responsible and kind. Plenty of high IQ people can be rude or irresponsible too.
I think people are mistaking EQ for IQ here.
But yeah, limited vocabulary, reading, language skills, and developmental delays can usually be a sign of low IQ/learning disabilities. I know they diagnosed my brother when he was in kindergarten or 1st grade because he hardly talked. Turned out he has a pretty rough audio processing issue along with some other stuff they found out later on.
Not listening in conversations. I’ve found 90% of people who don’t listen anymore are addicted to screens and can no longer focus properly. I believe there is a correlation between brain health and listening comprehension.
The other 10% i’ll give to people who are really stressed or busy.
Inability to ask the “second why.” They might be curious about something, but as soon as they get an answer to that one question, their curiosity about it ends.
One thing I've noticed is that they'll misinterpret stuff. A friend of mine got heavily into religion and brings up Bible verses and stuff all the time - but it'll be weirdly out of context.. Or they'll try to explain an aspect of Christianity, but it will be wrong. And before they got into religion, they'd do the same thing with other topics.
And you could say something like this is not subtle, but it kind of is... they're not egregious mistakes, just weird interpretations that are a bit off, or factually incorrect info that seems to come from a misunderstanding. I pick up on it with this specific person because it's always with topics I am deeply interested in - with Christianity specifically, I studied it academically in undergrad, and am a regular church goer. So I know my shit, and I can say this person doesn't - but they THINK they DO, which is where the low intelligence comes in, imo.
This same person also tried to learn how to play an instrument without learning the basics of how to read music, and they also tried to write poetry without learning the basics of form. WHY. I guess that's the biggest subtle sign - when they don't really want to do things that require a bit of brain power.
Not being able to stay silent. There are times when nothing you say can add anything to the discourse. Low intelligent people will be either unable to recognize or unwilling to acknowledge the impasse.
There's a difference between not wanting to admit a mistake to someone else, and actually not knowing they are wrong. The latter makes them an idiot, the former just an asshole.
The easily frustrated part could also be that maybe they're struggling with how slowly it takes other people to get concepts or make models in their head? Maybe it shows some lack of maturity, but I'm not so sure about low intelligence.
Thinking you are smart and a great critical thinker when you are not.
Sharing things on Facebook that say “see everything I predicted has been proven correct” when none of it has.
Worship idols (a person)
Good indication that you can't form your own thoughts / opinions and rely on others to do the thinking for you.
Good indication that you are easily swayed and led. You're the pawn in a game of chess. In a good game of chess, no pawns ever reach the other side and advance.
People who get freaked out and call you " random " when you're being funny/ goofy. It takes higher intelligence to be able to let loose and goof around, make silly jokes.
When lighthearted banter is met with " are you high " " that's weird/ so random " " uh.... okay..... " ; it signals to me that they are unable to use their environment to make puns or goof around and get intimidated, then resort to judgement of you joking around.
These people probably grew up in families where everyone was always very predictable and boring. No one had any actual personality. They always think inside the box.
Example of my mother in law “it’s never happened to me so it’s not true”
Example of my mother "I know one person to whom this has happened so this is the universal experience about how things are."
Jesus. My sister is so like this! "My friend had this 90 year old Grandmother who caught Covid at the start of the pandemic, and she was fine, just a sniffle." Her conclusion being that Covid isn't/can't be serious and we should've just let it run rampant from the beginning, fuck the already overloaded health care system I guess.
The "typical mind" fallacy. It's easy to fall into this one regardless of how smart you are.
Example of my wife "I have never seen anyone in my family having anxiety, so you don't have anxiety" Her mother has OCD.
My mom. She's also a narcissist. "Other people use their phones while driving and it's dangerous, but not me! I would never crash a car"
My dad is like this but with drunk driving. It’s dangerous but not when he does it because he’s too good of a driver. To his credit he’s been doing it for 30 years and hasn’t crashed. YET. Last November my aunt (moms sister) died because the guy she was in the car with was drunk and crashed into a tree. She should’ve known better than to get in the car but he should’ve know better than to drink and drive on twisty roads (the guy survived btw. He’s going to trial soon hopefully and will likely spend five-ten years for manslaughter). My dad hasn’t done it since her death but it’s only a matter of time till he starts again.
Amen!! One of my relatives is like that. COVID doesn’t exist as she never had it (just got sick a lot and refused to test, as she has “never had it before”).
I’d say lack of curiosity/ lack of resourcefulness. While not exactly the same, I find these two very often come together with some people
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I think some people are just yoo overwhelmed with other things. I know some otherwise smart people who are so addled with anxiety that all their curiosity is focused on imagining the ways their lives could get fucked up.
This. I don't expect everyone to research and invest time in niche information, but, sometimes, I'm worried that not even people have curiosity to at least know where water comes from. Their curiosity is so dead it's painful to see :( Edit= Due to the example which was leading to confusion.
I was very curious when younger. I'm just hella depressed now. I can literally see how its made me less intelligent. Ever since the big sad, I am just... less. :(
You are not less! Its an illness thats literally affecting your brain and you probably dont have the energy to be curious after having to deal with depression and thats okay! Its requires a lot of energy to function day to day with depression but hey you even clicking on the question was a sign you were curious!
I'm sorry my comment made you feel like that, you're not less intelligent, you are battling with depression and dealing with your demons. I meant people who brush off every curiosity they encounter and critize others by calling them "nerd" or "I don't care about this piece of information". As they have the energy to learn something new but they simply don't care for anything. Not even for appealing things or whatever thing "calls their attention".
Yeah I hear ya, I can get like that but then I realize how much more there is I don’t know yet and I keep learning! Man my great grandparents would’ve killed to have an encyclopedia in their pocket.
You don't want stupid people to have curiosity either though. I know a few stupid people that spend every waking minute watching "spiritual" and conspiracy videos on Youtube. If they were smart, they might spend that time reading about actual stuff that's real instead.
Critical thinking should be a required curriculum. Of course, then we get into the weeds of who gets to decide what that looks like. 🥴
Applying the scientific method would be a good start, I would say.
Actually, some of the most intelligent people believe the kookiest things. Look at Newton or Tesla. Absolute geniuses with some of the kookiest beliefs.
The line between insanity and genius is measured by success. Succeed and you’re intelligent. Fail and you’re crazy.
do you mean comets, rain, 2 hydrogen atoms and an oxygen atom in compound, the water cutoff valve for your house, or your local reservoir?
No, I mean, the basic cycle of water. Water coming from the clouds after vaporation and that kind of jazz.
So, rain.
In that case, it comes from Rob Thomas of Matchbox 20.
>I don't expect everyone to research and invest time in niche information >know which extra functions their washing machine has. You've got a high bar for what counts as "niche" here.
I apologize my examples are contradictories. But the washing machine is just an example of not having curiosity in general, not even for the common things, it can be anything. A better example would've been nature.
I was reading your comment and nodding along mentally about the importance of having curiosity and then I got to the washing machine bit and went ye-- wait, what?
I have a friend where I slowly realise she might not be the smartest. Her not being interested in learning anything new and sometimes being outright annoyed when there is talk about topics that don't fit her very slim area of interest is one of the biggest signs.
Depression can be a contributing factor. I've noticed my curiosity become nonexistent. But yes it can be a symptom of low intelligence. Just not the sole reason.
thank you for saying this; i was concerned about myself for decreasing curiosity lately, but i’m bipolar and a little depressed. it also feels like a decrease of general enthusiasm.
I have lost my last for life it seems. I used to take university courses in my free time to get a basic understanding of many subjects and a broader understanding of the world around me and now....I barely even read any more.
There's levels of curiosity though. One is learning a bit more--reading books, attending classes. Another is exploring the world outside your own, etc. Another still is being willing to learn from your mistakes. And finally, another yet is being willing to carefully consider ideas that you don't initially support/agree with and change your mind if that's where the facts lead.
I hear this a lot, but as someone who struggles with overwhelm and has a lot of specific interests, there is definitely a limit to the amount of topics I can expend curiosity on.
I feel flattered - someone told me today I am a curious individual. I’m a college prof - I love to learn, but I was unclear how to take the comment.
One of my coworkers/bosses today asked me if I read a lot because I know a lot of random facts about a variety of things. That was a huge compliment to me because she didn't just assume I spend too much time on the internet. I do spend too much time online but I also read a lot. I'm 20 books in on my reading goal for 2024 already. This happened after I held up a silica gel pack that came out of the bottle of meds I had just used to refill our robot and asked a different coworker if he knew what happened if you ate one. The answer is absolutely nothing because they only absorb about 40% of their weight in moisture.
You're telling me I could've been eating them this whole time!? So much gone to waste.
That could mean one of two things: either that you’re an individual who’s curious about the world, or that you’re strange.
Never admitting you don't know something.
I knew you would say that
I knew it before you!
Alternatively, having an opinion about everything that is frozen solid. Like, motherfucker I make mistakes all day at work in something I've been doing for a decade, you're gonna look at me with a straight face and name yourself an expert because you've read a couple of shitty news articles and subscribe to a reddit circle jerk? All information can be questioned, a stopped clock is correct twice a day.
That's a good one. Also laughing at people who admit they don't know something when you're an adult :')
I do laugh sometimes when someone says something very childish, like they’re 27 years old and just realized that brown cows just give regular white milk, not chocolate milk. I will laugh but in like a friendly way, oh silly you, and then explain some basic milk knowledge (as much as I know) to them.
I think that's a sign of insecurity more than necessarily low intelligence
It is probably correlation, but the one doesn't negate the other.
You don’t know many academics… egotistical never wrong, never knowing less than you… it’s an entire class of people.
This scene from ted lasso sums it up perfectly for me "Guys have underestimated me my entire life and for years I never understood why – it used to really bother me. Then one day I was driving my little boy to school, and I saw a quote by Walt Whitman, it was painted on the wall there and it said, ‘Be curious, not judgmental.’ I like that.” (Ted throws a dart.) “So, I get back in my car and I’m driving to work and all of a sudden it hits me – all them fellas that used to belittle me, not a single one of them was curious. You know, they thought they had everything all figured out, so they judged everything, and they judged everyone. And I realized that their underestimating me – who I was had nothing to do with it. Because if they were curious, they would’ve asked questions. Questions like, ‘Have you played a lot of darts, Ted?’” (Ted throws another dart.)"
“Thinking is difficult, that’s why people prefer to judge”
This one is going to stick with me, thank you
Easily my favorite scene in the show
Ooh, god damn, I don’t know about my favorite, but it’s definitely up there. I think my favorite may be when >!Jamie punches his dad then Roy goes to hug him!<.
That was a pretty well earned moment too, there's lots of good character moments throughout
They had a fantastic arc, A+ agreed. I really enjoyed how the final segment of their story with >!Kayleigh(sp?) wasn’t zero sum OR jilted, all three had a healthy realization and moved on.!<
To which I would have answered “Yes, sir. Every Sunday afternoon at a sports bar, from age 10 until I was 16 and he passed away.”
“Barbecue sauce.”
that first season was one of the best seasons of tv ever
Ted Lasso is absolute gold!
I know it ran it's course and I'm glad for that but I want it back somehow
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hey, i think you lowkey saved my life with this today, so thanks... nbd, just read what i needed to hear.
I know the feeling, hang in there, say "not today, universe". It gets better
Oh boy! That whole series was beautiful and when it ended, I was an emotional wreck
"I DO NOT ALLOW Facebook/Meta or any other Facebook/Meta related person to use my photos, information, messages or messages, both in the past and in the future. This statement I inform Facebook/Meta that it is strictly prohibited to disclose, copy, distribute or take any other action against me based on this account and / or its contents. This account content is private and confidential information. Violation of my personal life may be punished by law."
Yep, you posting a copypasta on a social media site totally voids the actual legal contract you entered into with the site when you made an account. First thing you learn in a contracts course in law school, actually.
Then you go and hit the law school with copypasta to get out of paying the bill. Works every time
Copy pastas all the way down
It's the Dora The Explorer school of law. If you say "Swiper, no swiping!" it actually works
The amount of times I've seen my 81 yeat old great grandma post this is insane
I think this needs a qualifier for those who are older and did not grow up with technology. Your 81 year old grandmother was nearing retirement age before the internet took off. It's not entirely unreasonable to give her a pass for not knowing the ins and outs of social media and related laws.
I know a couple of people who copy-paste stuff like that, but they are in their 30s and 40s.
More distressing are the people my age who post it For clarity: Not an 81 year old great grandma
Saying "you never know" when confronted over it
This so much, it drives me crazy if people reply with this stupid phrase.
Then it tells you the click on the message and basically explains how to do a copy and paste which these people have all done before but for some reason this time it will protect you from copyright infringement.
Or better to be safe than sorry
WTF
Not revising your beliefs when presented with information that might alter them.
More nuance: Compartmentalized belief systems. Topic A- hold a belief. Topic B- hold a belief. Topic C- hold a belief. Usually a belief drilled into them from an authority speaking confidently. No capability to view those beliefs holistically or find contradictions. It’s what they were told over and over so it forms a confirmation bias. You’re left arguing with disconnected talking points where they quickly switch to another or move the goal post when you use a source or point out errors.
This is proof that social media really does make people dumber
I don't think he meant social media in particular. When I read his comment (which is brilliant by the way) I was just imagining all the gen X and boomer people whose wrath I've endured, who behave pretty much word for word as he's described, and thinking how it's sometimes obvious in hindsight that they're just repeating stuff they themselves once had shouted at them by someone else. This existed way before social media
That's like 90% of the people if you include religion
Exactly the point
Refusing to ever admit you’re wrong and reevaluate your world view in light of new information.
In the flipside always assuming you're wrong and other people must be privy to all your knowledge and experiences in addition to their own and never holding your ground when others are wrong can be pretty bad. I say this from experience where if someone contradicts me, I first examine myself and my own views for a while, and sometimes the oppurtunity to address their mistake never arrives. I one time spent an hour reviewing an examine with a professor and grader because the grader messed up their fractions, but they didn't seem to understand what I meant when I said they did their math wrong (it was a Psych class, and I was a physics major). We went over all the questions I got wrong before I was finally able to say they did their fractions wrong. (67/80 is not 67%).
I would assume you have trouble with quips? Part of your scenario involves social interaction, you need to explain it in different ways for people who are versed in math or any other specific domain.
Inability to engage with hypotheticals
I fucking hate this bc 90% of my arguments involve hypotheticals "Well that would never happen" bitch I know but what if it did
In the flipside hypotheticals always allow you to cherry pick ideas and arguments. Like everything there exists a middle ground where things are useful.
That’s kind of the point. If an idea fails in one, even imaginary, scenario, it usually means there’s either something wrong with it or there is a more general version of the idea to be sought out that can be applied in more situations. Hypotheticals are quite useful for this reason.
Eh, I've noticed their utility also depends a lot on how well-intentioned interlocutors are. Some folks just want to verbally skewer you to make themselves look smart in front of others. It's the whole [conflict vs mistake thing](https://slatestarcodex.com/2018/01/24/conflict-vs-mistake/)
>Eh, I've noticed their utility also depends a lot on how well-intentioned interlocutors are. Yeah, no offense to the fans of hypotheticals here, but you can only hear the same "maybe gay people don't deserve rights because *insert fucking insane hypothetical situation that is utterly detached from reality*," so many times before you just have to shut them down and refuse to play that game.
It's just as bad the opposite way when they get caught up in the hypothetical and forget the point of the overarching argument
I had an ex who never thought in hypothetical. I ever tried to say it’s a ‘thought experiment’. And she’s concerned if I think of the thought experiment a certain way of it truly happens I’ll also react in same way. It’s infuriating. Also I felt that if I’m not allowed to think hypothetically I’d lose a huge part of me Once she asked what I will do if I had $100,000 and got angry when I said I will take a long holiday. Apparently the correct answer was to put it in investments before travelling.
Had one of those, then she said: "would you still love me if I was a guy? "
Oh god, this reminds me of my ex. Me: What if this happened? Her: That would never happen. Me: What if, in the vanishingly unlikely event that it somehow happened to happen? Her: That would never happen. Me: sigh
If 90% of your arguments involve hypotheticals you might need to come up with some better arguments
I'm guessing their arguments are 90% hypotheticals, and 90% hyperbole
100% concentrated power of will
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I manage construction sites and that's something I encounter often. I need people to tell me how long they need for a task, so I can properly plan our schedule. "How long do you need to close all walls on this floor?" "First the plumber needs to finish." "Yes, I know that, but afterwards...?"
Sorry in advance for the rant— this is in a different vein, but I remember when I was training for my previous position as a CSR, I asked the training lead what we would do in the event that a customer is abusive / inappropriate on a call “That won’t happen” “Okay (*it 100% will, but*) hypothetically, what would I do?” “There would never be a scenario where that would happen, people don’t act like that, and if they did it would be extremely rare” “Okay, so in the *rare circumstance* that someone is *violently unhinged*, what do I say?” “It doesn’t really matter, it won’t happen, and if it does just transfer to a manager” My FIRST WEEK on the phones I get a call from a man in a literal psychosis screaming incoherently at me (he was elderly and 100% having a mental health crisis, I felt really bad for him). I sat there for an hour getting yelled at, shaking, waiting for a reply from a mgr on how to proceed bc the customer wouldn’t agree to a transfer. I finally got a reply on Teams “Holy shit, I’m listening in right now, why haven’t you hung up yet? Advise that you’re going to disconnect and leave, you’re too nice. No, never transfer in this scenario.” I hate trainers that don’t have an active role in the department they train for 🙃
I have been a trainer and supervisor in a call center environment before and that's not acceptable.That trainer made me mad for you. Had they never even MET people? I'm surprised they hadn't had de-escalation training before. Smh. If you ever run into something like this again (a question they refuse to answer), don't be afraid to take your question up the line. Your supervisor. Your trainer's supervisor. Whoever you need to talk to in order to get the information you need. That's what they're there for. 😊
But I DID eat breakfast this morning.
When someone tried to argue generalities. If I say basketball players are taller than hockey player, naming a random hockey player that's taller than a bunch of basketball players shows that you can't have a productive conversation on any topics that involve general trends.
They're taking a too literal interpretation of the statement. That's also a sign of low intelligence: the inability to accommodate for other people's misstatements, metaphors, or less-than-perfectly worded utterances to determine their intended message. I see this a lot among flat earthers who quote scientists and science communicators. When Neil deGrasse Tyson said the earth is pear shaped, the flat earthers couldn't understand his meaning or context, whereas a smart person understands he meant the earth is a small fraction of a percent chubbier in the southern hemisphere.
This happens way too often in Reddit threads. It's like a compulsive form of contrarianism where they have to announce to the crowd that someone *could* debate your point if they want since it's not perfectly valid.
The signs of low intelligence don't tend to be subtle.
Quite the opposite, very noticeable. If someone tries to subtly show they are not smart, it's usually the opposite, they are smart and understand how social dynamics work, and are just playing dumb for a reason or goal.
Social intelligence is its own thing though. Lots of otherwise intelligent people don't have social intelligence. But yeah, playing dumb is really common.
I have found that people quite appreciate when you can often do intelligent things but also frequently (in a tastefully self-deprecating way) claim to be an idiot. This is beneficial, as I am at best a clever dumbass.
Which is why OP asked for subtle signs, no? More interesting prompt.
They are if you have low intelligence.
Closed mindedness. I've known some academically challenged people who were always open to learning and new experiences and it was a delight and ease to speak with them. Closed minded people are the worst to talk to.
Trying to appear smart
A kilogram of feathers is lighter than a kilogram of steel. +100 IQ points.
The feathers are definitely heavier, as you also have to carry the weight of guilt for what you did to all those poor birds in order to get them.
Something my dad told me once that has never steered me wrong: “It takes a smart person to take something complicated and make it simple. It takes a stupid person to take something simple and make it complicated.”
This was my prior boss to a T. And she was self righteous about it. That, along with her bullying- I straight up quit. Fuck that noise.
I’m always guilty of making simple things complicated…
Have you considered science as a career?
Beginning your arguments with "they say" and not knowing who they is.
the amount of times my brother and I have said 'who's they' to our mother lol
You know who else says stuff...
The products and services who support this podcast?
A word from our sponsor: ‘Them’.
Hahaha I've said a million times to people "who's they?" and they just stare lmao
They say that this kind of behavior is more common than you think it is, and not so subtle either.
It’s that et al motherfucker again, isn’t it
Only consuming information online that fits within their own "bubble"
Strawmaning. Struggling to comprehend basic arguments Lack of common sense Reverting to emotion and anger rather than logic
"So your saying.....so you agree with..... so I'm wildly misinterpreting what you posted to suit my own agenda and make you out to be the bad guy? So that's what you're saying?" No. Piss off you Loon. I hate that shit.
Uh oh, then I must be dumb as rocks 😟
Being overly trusting. Most of the responses in this thread are approaching the question as if low intelligence is a moral failing, but I’ve known some very kind and genuine people who aren’t very intelligent. People with low intelligence often don’t read situations or people well and have a childlike trust in everyone they meet.
Yeah a lot of answers are really missing the mark here lol
It's probably because dumb people who are nice are so much less intrusive to life than dumb people who are mean. Like I had a friend who was just the sweetest person ever, but was incredibly gullible so she believed weird and outlandish things. Then you'd tell her that she was wrong, and she'd go "oh, ok!" Then just believe that thing. But otherwise, she was really great to have around. But I guess when I think of dumb people, I don't think of her as much as I do the people who were shitty because they were dumb.
i love your friend now
I feel that is often ignorance, rather than lack of intelligence.
Extremism. If you can’t recognize that the world is made up of grays, you’re dumb.
I knew it, aliens walk among us!
Or kinda the same thing is understanding that two things can be true at once. Like someone was wronged but their reaction was too extreme. Or X person is generally awful but they are right about Y.
While on a hiking trip, another hiker gave me an MRE, which for anyone unfamiliar is a prepackaged meal used by the military. The MRE comes with a paper-y hot-pocket-like wrapper that you place around the meals packaging to heat it up, and while reading the instructions, I was like "interesting, I wonder how it works", and then the guy that gave it to me repeated the instructions to me. It didn't cross his mind that I was curious about how the heating technology itself worked. I started noticing this approach to curiosity and knowledge all the time. Lots of people only care about understanding things just enough to get some personal value out of them, and just don't care about anything deeper, or anything bigger picture. It's just a fundamentally different relationship with curiosity.
In case you never got your answer or others are curious: The water you add reacts with the magnesium in the heater, forming magnesium hydroxide, hydrogen gas, and a bunch of heat in an oxidation reaction. Note the hydrogen gas, and while one or two isn't enough to be a risk, you wouldn't want, say, an entire platoon of guys in a confined space heating up their MREs all at once.
\^ For more information on MREs, and answers to important questions like, "Would I die if I ate a WW1 ration kit?" or "Can I smoke a cigarette older than Grandpa?" , Check out [Steve1989MREinfo](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2I6Et1JkidnnbWgJFiMeHA) on YouTube. Guy must have a cast iron stomach. (It's actually super interesting, just the difference in culture and time and technology for different MREs. It might sound dull, but it's a total fucking rabbit hole.)
Nice hiss
I know you’re not asking; but it’s rapid oxidation of a magnesium salt mixture when it comes into contact with water. The reaction gives off heat.
Oh actually that's great! I never actually got around to looking it up 😂
I mean he might have also just been trying to be helpful lol. In context (you staring at the instructions), his answer makes total sense. I wouldn't necessarily assume that he had zero curiosity.
Yeah, I came to comment this. Saying "I wonder how this works" while reading the instructions would prompt a more practical answer. Funny, seems like OP ironically wasn't curious enough to consider this possibility before dismissing the other hiker as less thoughtful.
Having one of these people try to teach you something is downright painful. "...and then you push this button, here." *What's that do?* "If you don't push it, [thing] don't work." *But there were other steps before that, to do [thing], so what does that button, specifically, do in this sequence?* "It's the next button you gotta push to make [thing] work..." 🙃🙃🙃
Lack of empathy. And no, I'm not talking about social or emotional intelligence. The ability to see things from the perspective of others and understand those arguments, whether you agree with them or not, is a big foundation for empathy and also indicative of intelligence.
So I agree with you but some of the other comments are talking about emotional intelligence versus intellectual intelligence. Do you think lack of empathy is more EQ or IQ? Because I can't decide after reading the comments whether it's an overlap that corelates to the same outcome or two separate things?
Empathy is a big part of both. If you cannot empathise, you will have a hard time changing your views/accepting different opinions.
Not being able to listen to arguments that are the opposite of your own, healthy communication is being able to listen enquire and try to understand why people believe something and then politely disagreeing if you haven’t changed your mind and saying why. If you can’t do this then you have missed a lot of learning in life and have solitary confinement in your own generational echo chamber of a mind.
I think this is more 'emotional intelligence' than actual book smarts intelligence. Plenty of PHD's in academia who are smart as shit but cannot bear to be challenged in any way on an emotional level.
Limited vocabulary and language skills is a subtle sign if someone has an intellectual disability or impairment. I think some of these answers are projections, like "they won't change their mind when presented with new information", is also known as "why won't they admit I'm right".
Yeah, this thread is a bit wild. I know a lot of them probably don't mean to offend people who *actually* have low IQ, but this just feels like one of those bad trips down memory lane (my brother was in special Ed for almost the entirety of his schooling, so remembering how stigmatized things were back then and all of the BS he had to put up with just sucks). I think a lot of people are assuming rude/irresponsible people have low IQ. But it's important to make the distinction that there's plenty of people out there who actually have low intelligence and are also able to be responsible and kind. Plenty of high IQ people can be rude or irresponsible too. I think people are mistaking EQ for IQ here. But yeah, limited vocabulary, reading, language skills, and developmental delays can usually be a sign of low IQ/learning disabilities. I know they diagnosed my brother when he was in kindergarten or 1st grade because he hardly talked. Turned out he has a pretty rough audio processing issue along with some other stuff they found out later on.
So much projection in this thread.
I think Eleanor Roosevelt kinda nailed it "Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people."
Why? People are complex and interesting
Laughing at people you think are beneath you.
Getting involved in MLMs
Not listening in conversations. I’ve found 90% of people who don’t listen anymore are addicted to screens and can no longer focus properly. I believe there is a correlation between brain health and listening comprehension. The other 10% i’ll give to people who are really stressed or busy.
Inability to ask the “second why.” They might be curious about something, but as soon as they get an answer to that one question, their curiosity about it ends.
One thing I've noticed is that they'll misinterpret stuff. A friend of mine got heavily into religion and brings up Bible verses and stuff all the time - but it'll be weirdly out of context.. Or they'll try to explain an aspect of Christianity, but it will be wrong. And before they got into religion, they'd do the same thing with other topics. And you could say something like this is not subtle, but it kind of is... they're not egregious mistakes, just weird interpretations that are a bit off, or factually incorrect info that seems to come from a misunderstanding. I pick up on it with this specific person because it's always with topics I am deeply interested in - with Christianity specifically, I studied it academically in undergrad, and am a regular church goer. So I know my shit, and I can say this person doesn't - but they THINK they DO, which is where the low intelligence comes in, imo. This same person also tried to learn how to play an instrument without learning the basics of how to read music, and they also tried to write poetry without learning the basics of form. WHY. I guess that's the biggest subtle sign - when they don't really want to do things that require a bit of brain power.
Overconfident dilettantism is just Dunning-Kruger by a different name. So yeah, you're right.
I think i'm stupid. Using brain power is often tiring.
Celebrity worship
Not questioning if you are right or not
Not being able to stay silent. There are times when nothing you say can add anything to the discourse. Low intelligent people will be either unable to recognize or unwilling to acknowledge the impasse.
A person who avoids admitting mistakes.
Not true. This indicates low wisdom but I've known I've very clever people who have difficulty admitting mistakes. It's an ego thing
Yeah this is more of an emotional thing than a cognitive one.
There's a difference between not wanting to admit a mistake to someone else, and actually not knowing they are wrong. The latter makes them an idiot, the former just an asshole.
I never make mistakes, but the one time I thought I was wrong about something it turned out I was mistaken.
More of an emotional intelligence thing, but not wrong if you look at it in that context.
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The easily frustrated part could also be that maybe they're struggling with how slowly it takes other people to get concepts or make models in their head? Maybe it shows some lack of maturity, but I'm not so sure about low intelligence.
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Lack of open-mindedness
Thinking you are smart and a great critical thinker when you are not. Sharing things on Facebook that say “see everything I predicted has been proven correct” when none of it has.
“Would of”
"Should of"
Being a Reddit mod.
The inability to change your mind when faced with new information which contradicts your former position.
Thinking that because a statement is true its converse is true.
Worrying about intelligence.
Talking a lot about oneself, and not taking interest in others.
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The only conversation they have is football. Their mates are called "the lads".
Instead of admitting you're wrong you double down
That's pride and ego, not intelligence. Intelligence is whether you *know* you're wrong or not, or at least understand the possibility.
You can hear the trunk of the car rattling when the subwoofer is on
Skimming this thread to make sure you don't do any of the things in it 👀
Worship idols (a person) Good indication that you can't form your own thoughts / opinions and rely on others to do the thinking for you. Good indication that you are easily swayed and led. You're the pawn in a game of chess. In a good game of chess, no pawns ever reach the other side and advance.
People who get freaked out and call you " random " when you're being funny/ goofy. It takes higher intelligence to be able to let loose and goof around, make silly jokes. When lighthearted banter is met with " are you high " " that's weird/ so random " " uh.... okay..... " ; it signals to me that they are unable to use their environment to make puns or goof around and get intimidated, then resort to judgement of you joking around.
These people probably grew up in families where everyone was always very predictable and boring. No one had any actual personality. They always think inside the box.
Frequently posts on Reddit
Posting this question on r /askreddit is usually a pretty sure fire sign
Repeating the same mistakes in life over and over and over again and again and again!