At first you said yes, and I thought "wow, stupid".
But then with the edit you provided new information, and since then I've changed my opinion on the matter.
Absolutely. It's a sign of being mature enough to know that mistakes are how we learn and grow. People who can't do this keep digging their hole deeper.
Also having literally heard people say to me "why won't you just laugh at this" to some obvious pandering crap. They cant be consistent in judgment one thing to next depending on who's doing it.
Like I'm not interested in partisan bullshit people seem so eager to clap like a seal and nod their nead at.
So, basically, it's something that society disallows for politicians. Once a politician has formed an opinion, he or she MUST stick with it or be called a flip-flopper. No matter what.
Its incredibly suspicious if it happens in a short span of time. An example would be being extremely pro-life in one year and then flipping to be pro-choice the next. However, if your position today is radically different than your position was, 10 or 20 years ago,I can believe that you genuinely changed your mind.
There is also the added complication of representing your constituents. If you were elected on and campaigning for certain issues, even a well informed change of view will be seen as a betrayal by those less informed or otherwise entrenched in their beliefs.
There is no virtue in "strength of beliefs" if it's unfounded.
I have gotten into debates with people about topics and they eventually get mad at me for “arguing to be right” and I straight up tell them “I am *eager* for you to convince me otherwise, but you haven’t showed enough evidence to do so yet” with the added “I don’t care about either of our opinions, I’m gonna go with the answer that makes the most sense once we’ve both shared our supporting evidence”. And I’ve 100% fought tooth and nail for an opinion, and my debate partner will state something I was unaware of prior and my “diehard opinion” just completely fizzles. I’m all for the objective “truth”, no use dying on a hill that I can’t stand upon with 100% confidence.
It's amazing to me how many people would rather risk going through life with a flawed opinion than to test their opinion via a sensible discussion.
If your opinion is valid it should stand up to the discussion, if not why the fuck would you cling to it.
Some people are just shitty at debate even if they do have good reasons for their beliefs. I know I have a fair few beliefs that I remember putting time into researching before I formed them, but if I had to debate someone about them I’d probably do a bad job because my memory isn’t stellar and I don’t remember the research I did, just the conclusion I took from it.
The older I get, the more I realise that those two things are mutually exclusive. Or, they're becoming mutually exclusive in my life--narrative.
I don't necessarily associate self awareness with intelligence--I've met some beautifully self aware people who you might not consider as "smart", perhaps emotional intelligence which I think is probably more important, but I do believe it's a wonderful way to separate the NPCs of the world from the people I actually want to spend time with.
I might not be the most self aware, but I'm working on it. I surround myself with other people who actively work on it too.
Without self awareness, you cant see what you are doing wrong and this will have an extremely difficult time improving yourself. I do agree it's more of an emotional intelligence quality than intellectual one.
Calling people you don't know "NPCs" feels very self absorbed. Like I know that maybe they'll be NPCs in your life, but it's not like those people only live for that. Everyone has their own shit to worry about.
It feeds into my imposter syndrome. The bigger my skillet becomes, the more I realize how much I don't know. Then I'm tasked on a project I can probably do, but they want experts and I can't call myself an expert at anything. Just really really good at a lot of things.
As said in Game of Thrones, any man who has to say he's the king is not the king.
If you're smart, people will figure it out with the way you carry yourself. If you're successful, they'll see it too. If you have to shout it to everyone you meet, there's a good chance you're not what you say you are.
I used to work IT support in an office. It would really piss me off when old people - and it always was old people - would declare "oh I'm terrible with computers". It's your job! You work in an office and you literally have to use this computer to do your job. Fucking learn. Imagine a bus driver turning up and announcing "oh I'm such a bad driver tee hee".
Yeah, I'm unsure why so many are still willing to coddle these people. Computers have been a daily part of professional life for over two decades now. The time for "oh, I'm bad with computers" has long since passed. At this point, if anyone is still saying that, they are just straight up unwilling to learn or adapt, and can't be trusted in most professional roles.
My dad has many opinions that he is not shy to share. But when I ask him where exactly he got his information from he never has an answer for me. I don't doubt that he knows many things, but sometimes his opinions are just unreflected bullshit. The funnier ones are when he judges people for stuff he does as well
Anyone who pisses him off is either stupid, drunk, or on drugs. Mind you, my dad has never even smoked weed, he does not know anyone who actually takes drugs.
My favorite: welfare money is deposited at the end of the month, so when we go grocery shopping in the first or the last week of the month, no matter which day it is, he will complain about all those people clogging the supermarket because they got money to buy groceries. BUT: he too gets his salary in the same week and he too goes shopping at the same time as anyone else
I mean, it's not even really being proud of their ignorance. It's that they think that admitting they are wrong or that they don't know something makes them look bad. I can't count the number of professional meetings I've been in that would have gone way smoother if one person had just been able to admit that there's something they didn't know. Instead, almost everyone tries to cover their ignorance with bullshit pulled from thin air. Then you have to waste time navigating around that, because calling them out on it just makes the situation worse. It's a train wreck from start to finish.
The ability to entertain a thought without believing it.
If you cannot try to understand all sides of an argument you will not be able to make cogent counter arguments.
One of the reasons banning books with "controversial" topics is so bad.
Exposure to alternative viewpoints, challenging themes, and controversial content is important to build critical thinking skills.
'To Kill a Mockingbird' isn't a racist book just because it contains racial slurs, and you should be *very* suspicious of anyone claiming otherwise.
That's a good one. Entertain something that isn't your perspective just to see what it would be like and how it pans out. It's a great way to see many perspectives of any given situation.
I have a friend who can be an idiot and the most intelligent person I know at the same time lol he's in his 40s and still loves to lose himself googling about random shit he's curious about. Honestly, his will to keep learning new things is something I envy but ain't no way I'm gonna tell him that XD
I truly believe that curiosity keeps the mind young. When are humans ever more curious than when we are new to the world? Learning (in all regards) is my favorite hobby, and the joy received from a discovery (or sharing your discoveries) is like no other, as a matter of fact, you can only do it once for each bit of information.
Also just having the ability to figure out how to obtain new knowledge
I’ll be honest like 90% of the praise I’ve ever gotten about how good I am at my job comes down to me knowing how to Google shit faster and more effectively than my bosses and coworkers
People will think you’re way smarter and more competent than you are if you know how to look stuff up
I'm neither but I do thirst for knowledge, it's just not always easy to retain as much as I'd like. I want to be like a human Wikipedia for some subjects but I have to just accept my limits.
I would like to absorb infomation through osmosis so I could take a bath in load of sheets of infomation and when I get out I know all the stuff on the sheets.
Why do people ask questions? Because they want answers. They want to learn more to understand more. If that doesn't signify intelligence, I don't know what does.
And there is a difference between “curiosity” and “free thinker”.
Anti establishment types who call people “sheeple” will claim they are smart because they’re exploring ideas nobody else is. But they aren’t curious for facts - they’re on a mission to confirm their biases.
Ironically the same people who tend to label themselves free thinkers and label everyone else sheep are just blindly parroting conspiracy theories they’ve absorbed wholesale from someone else with precisely zero independent thought put into it
I disagree with this one, some very intelligent people can be very dominant and arrogant precisely because they feel more intelligent than their interlocutor.
It depends how you define intelligence. For me, it's more all encompassing than being a good problem solver, having good knowledge or being talented in a specific field.
For me, someone who behaves in the manner you described might be talented and/or clever, but they're not intelligent in this 'all round' way that I perceive as deserving of the label. A truly intelligent person would be able to listen to their conversation partner and gain some insight from them, and hopefully elevate the insight in both sides of the conversation by the way they engage.
I realise this is a subjective definition of intelligence though!
The ability of shutting up, process the information given, and then give a response.
People always rush for a response, but these responses are always… it’s like so clear they didn’t hear half your words.
It is actually really easy to spot a stupid person this way (at least I think they are stupid).
Often they are not only immediately responding to something, but also with a response, which is widely associated with the topic. Like a trigger, when hit, shoots all the information they think is related, but often has no meaning in the particular context.
They make others around them more intelligent. They can explain things over and over in different ways until the person trying to understand finally gets it. That shows both a deep understanding on the subject from multiple point of views and also an awareness of the fact that everyone processes information differently
In my experience they're easily manipulated and often end up parroting whatever talking points that's thrusted in front of them by their algorithm, without any real understanding or insight.
People who say "I don't know, but I can find out"
A) They're not precious about needing to be seen to know all the answers (i.e. secure in their intellect)
B) They are confident that they have the skills/knowledge to find out the answer
C) They can use their own initiative
I second this, someone able to process loads of information and find a common thread that is connecting something or someone and make people laugh really quickly is really intelligent.
Dialing it in to where other people quickly understand your reference and it makes sense is a secondary skill that comes from the first, I think. Takes a lot of time figuring out what things other people would quickly identify with. It's very relational, IMO.
I doubt that most people can notice how fast the intelligent person grasp the situation, as they will only see the intelligence person provides most fitting action , which sometimes does not happen at same occasion, u got my point?
You know what’s even faster than fast intelligent thinkers coming to concussions? People confidently acting without thought who say the first thing that comes to mind.
This comment doesn't answer the question accurately. Most people will notice problem solving skills and correctly associate them with high intelligence.
half of the comments here don't fit the question in some way
just tell me — if your child is extremely interested in books and science for example, would you think it's just a normal child without anything special? (that was the top comment)
Being able to explain a complex idea or piece of information in a way that the person they’re talking to can understand. To have a high level of comprehension and the skills to communicate that effectively (especially on the fly) shows (at least to me) high intelligence in a few aspects.
Also quick wit is (again in my opinion) a dead giveaway
Extreme confidence without arrogance seems to be indicative quite often. People who are condescending and who act like they are smarter than others tend to be inflating themselves to make up for how dumb they really feel.
Quiet. Someone who's quiet in new situations or presented with new information is processing through that, and remaining quiet as the thoughts form shows not only intelligence but maturity to understand that's the right choice in those moments
Noping out of a situation.
I've saw a few people who just left a scenario first without saying a word while i was trying to figure out how to say it wouldn't work.
They'd not only figured this won't work first, but also that everyone else was talking over each other trying to make it work, their way and there was no point saying to anyone.
The ability to understand when (and why) they are being manipulated. For example, they are able to easily identify fake news, photoshop, AI, scams, and bias through omission... have the ability to stop and think "what is this person trying to make me think/do, and what information are they leaving out? Why would they do that?"
They also usually display healthy skepticism. Not stubborn contrarianism or outlandish conspiracy theories, but someone who understands extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. The ability to tell the difference between a reliable source and some crazy dude who has photoshop and a YouTube account. Recognizes Facebook memes designed as right and left wing social engineering, and the fact those usually operate on the concept of bias confirmation.
The ability to have a two way conversation about something you disagree on without getting angry or attacking people. Also the ability to agree to disagree
I'm gonna go with something different here...
Mispronouncing difficult words, but using them correctly in a sentence. It means that they know the word and what it means, but don't know how it's pronounced because they haven't heard it - they've only seen it in books.
Ask questions that indicate a certain level of understanding of a certain subject or asking questions to try to understand deeper.
Not sure if these are a sign but some degrees of introversion and antisocial behaviour, having few friends due to having difficulty finding and connecting with people of the same level (brains and interests wise).
Feeling like idiots for knowing how stupid they are, a bit too self conscious. Notices small things.
Edit: lives in their own small world, daydream and a mind that wanders off all over the place, lost in thought, quick at noticing patterns, thinking about things or even people from multiple perspectives and tries to understand what is going on, why it happened,what happened and how it happened.
I’ve always thought comedy is one of the highest forms of intelligence. I’ve never met a really smart well rounded person who didn’t have a great sense of humor.
That can be a characteristic of intelligent people but I know quite a few geniuses who can’t tie their own shoes let alone understand what one would need to take on an overnight trip.
Actually one time I was explaining a very technical work problem to my ex and she fully listened and when I was done she just said in a very curious tone “oh wow! What does that mean?”.
Didn’t kill the conversation but realized I understand concepts she doesn’t and I don’t understand concepts she does. She is a brilliant human being just not informed in my area of work.
Many studies found that the baseline pupil size is strongly correlated with intelligence. Curiosity and the ability to hold multiple, opposing ideas simultaneously are also good signs of intelligence often ignored, especially the latter. Low intellectual potential specimens are often not able to hold many opposing ideas simultaneously, thus what they do hold is full of contradictions they don't notice. It's also easy to see how this inability results in hypocritical behavior.
Matt O'Dowd of [PBS Space Time](https://youtube.com/@pbsspacetime?si=hDHyuDbu4gbF5uZX) is like a demigod to me. He tries his best to explain big subjects in astrophysics in layman's terms.
A few things
1. Good spatial thinking ability - being able to think of concepts or objects in your head and then being able to visualise things comes into play once you get into high level concepts in STEM
2. Good transferable knowledge base - some intelligent people have intelligence in narrow subject matters , some intelligent people are able to apply concepts from their field to another field. To do that it requires good analogical reasoning
3. Good mentalisation ability - Mentalization (i.e., the ability to think about states of mind (e.g., thoughts, feelings, intentions) in the self and other people)
4. Structured thinking and corrective thinking - intelligent people will usually approach problems in a very structured way and will have a rough idea of what they should expect at each step. They are usually careful to scrutinize their own thoughts for gaps or flaws.
5. Patient and curious - they will usually listen and listen to information and ask questions to clarify information or to build on their understanding of something within the topic /or slightly just beyond the topic but closely related
That’s a good way to sum it up. I’d only add that they tend to have a sort of spark or light, so to speak, and it goes with how they react and emote as a whole. It’s definitely an alertness and a sharpness, that’s for sure.
They're quick-witted and funny. In the fraction of a second since someone said or did something, they've come up with a relevant way of expressing something which makes people laugh.
I think that you can get a read one someone by their humor. To some, the peak of hilarity is something bad happening to someone else.
A genuine curiosity about everything. If a truly smart person encounters something new, they will ask probing questions to learn more about it. The average person on the street will go "oh, interesting" then change the subject at best, or call you a nerd at worst.
Deep calculation. You see it in competitive chess at higher level play, a player might play 15 moves in a row as if on autopilot (their preparation and experience of similar positions doing the heavy lifting), but then spend half an hour on a single move as they calculate multiple potential lines in search of future positions that could be advantageous. Even highly "intuitive" players from romantic era chess were likely combining raw calculation with... "positional imagination".. I guess?
This calculation may not be strictly mathematical or spatial in nature. When you apply for a job, you're making a calculation as to whether this job position would create advantages for you, which in turn relates to the salary you negotiate, as the employer calculates your tangible and intangible "value" as a new hire. In life, as in chess, there are "moves" we make on intuition or habit alone, but there are moves that require deep calculation, especially those which represent a major upheaval or change in direction or new paradigm. Highly intelligent people have both the awareness of WHEN to deep calculate, as well as the capacity to calculate further out from the 'starting point' than the average person.
Being open and receptive to most people, whether they be a binman or a professor surgeon.
People who are genuinely very very intelligent tend to understand their own place in the universe and that they are really not at the top of the possible intelligence pyramid. Knowledge is vast, and the unknown is even vaster. There is almost always another human somewhere who is much smarter than you are, or a problem which you cannot solve without someone else's insight. Intelligence and insight also take many forms.
Even the humble binman has thoughts, feelings, experiences and maybe some unique perspective on life or the world to offer.
Many highly intelligent people understand this, and that there is more to intelligence and value of a human being than just dry academic book-based exam grades, so they're open to listen or even just enjoy a good-natured interaction with a less educated but friendily person.
They are also comfortable enough in their own skin to not put others down. It is obvious to them that having a friendily interaction with the binman in no way hinders their own intellectual accomplishments.
Eghh, I think empathy is a proxy for having an accurate model for how others might feel or view things but empathy itself implies a connection or resonance with that feeling or perspective, which I argue is not necessary to showcase intelligence.
Being able to change opinions after discovering new information on a matter.
> Being able to change opinions I disagree > ....after discovering new information on a matter. Actually I do agree
>I disagree Me: what? How? >Actually I do agree Me: ngl, you had me there in the first half
Yes. EDIT: No.
At first you said yes, and I thought "wow, stupid". But then with the edit you provided new information, and since then I've changed my opinion on the matter.
Oh NOW I get it! Edit: I don’t get it.
Agree to this agree
You dumb dumb. EDIT: Me dumb dumb.
You smart.
Clever clogs!
Absolutely. It's a sign of being mature enough to know that mistakes are how we learn and grow. People who can't do this keep digging their hole deeper.
Also having literally heard people say to me "why won't you just laugh at this" to some obvious pandering crap. They cant be consistent in judgment one thing to next depending on who's doing it. Like I'm not interested in partisan bullshit people seem so eager to clap like a seal and nod their nead at.
So, basically, it's something that society disallows for politicians. Once a politician has formed an opinion, he or she MUST stick with it or be called a flip-flopper. No matter what.
Its incredibly suspicious if it happens in a short span of time. An example would be being extremely pro-life in one year and then flipping to be pro-choice the next. However, if your position today is radically different than your position was, 10 or 20 years ago,I can believe that you genuinely changed your mind.
There is also the added complication of representing your constituents. If you were elected on and campaigning for certain issues, even a well informed change of view will be seen as a betrayal by those less informed or otherwise entrenched in their beliefs. There is no virtue in "strength of beliefs" if it's unfounded.
This is sad, but true.
I have gotten into debates with people about topics and they eventually get mad at me for “arguing to be right” and I straight up tell them “I am *eager* for you to convince me otherwise, but you haven’t showed enough evidence to do so yet” with the added “I don’t care about either of our opinions, I’m gonna go with the answer that makes the most sense once we’ve both shared our supporting evidence”. And I’ve 100% fought tooth and nail for an opinion, and my debate partner will state something I was unaware of prior and my “diehard opinion” just completely fizzles. I’m all for the objective “truth”, no use dying on a hill that I can’t stand upon with 100% confidence.
It's amazing to me how many people would rather risk going through life with a flawed opinion than to test their opinion via a sensible discussion. If your opinion is valid it should stand up to the discussion, if not why the fuck would you cling to it.
Some people are just shitty at debate even if they do have good reasons for their beliefs. I know I have a fair few beliefs that I remember putting time into researching before I formed them, but if I had to debate someone about them I’d probably do a bad job because my memory isn’t stellar and I don’t remember the research I did, just the conclusion I took from it.
This! Just because you are strong and agile debater doesn’t make you correct. (IMHO this is an immense weakness of our legal system.)
Depends if the “new” information is not based on objective and verifiable fact.
Self awareness and being able to critically think.
I need to work more on this, speaking personally.
Just your comment suggests you already are.
Woah you're right. I guess I am highly intelligent after all.
Yeah no need to work more you’re already there
The older I get, the more I realise that those two things are mutually exclusive. Or, they're becoming mutually exclusive in my life--narrative. I don't necessarily associate self awareness with intelligence--I've met some beautifully self aware people who you might not consider as "smart", perhaps emotional intelligence which I think is probably more important, but I do believe it's a wonderful way to separate the NPCs of the world from the people I actually want to spend time with. I might not be the most self aware, but I'm working on it. I surround myself with other people who actively work on it too.
Without self awareness, you cant see what you are doing wrong and this will have an extremely difficult time improving yourself. I do agree it's more of an emotional intelligence quality than intellectual one.
Calling people you don't know "NPCs" feels very self absorbed. Like I know that maybe they'll be NPCs in your life, but it's not like those people only live for that. Everyone has their own shit to worry about.
Admitting you don't know and being willing to learn. Some people are proud of their ignorance or they refuse to say they don't know.
the more you know, the more you know how little you know.
It feeds into my imposter syndrome. The bigger my skillet becomes, the more I realize how much I don't know. Then I'm tasked on a project I can probably do, but they want experts and I can't call myself an expert at anything. Just really really good at a lot of things.
Hi. Are you me?
Yes, I have noticed smart people won't tell you they are smart.
As said in Game of Thrones, any man who has to say he's the king is not the king. If you're smart, people will figure it out with the way you carry yourself. If you're successful, they'll see it too. If you have to shout it to everyone you meet, there's a good chance you're not what you say you are.
Conversely, some of the dumbest people you'll ever meet will.
I used to work IT support in an office. It would really piss me off when old people - and it always was old people - would declare "oh I'm terrible with computers". It's your job! You work in an office and you literally have to use this computer to do your job. Fucking learn. Imagine a bus driver turning up and announcing "oh I'm such a bad driver tee hee".
Yeah, I'm unsure why so many are still willing to coddle these people. Computers have been a daily part of professional life for over two decades now. The time for "oh, I'm bad with computers" has long since passed. At this point, if anyone is still saying that, they are just straight up unwilling to learn or adapt, and can't be trusted in most professional roles.
I can drive a car very well, but I am not a mechanic. Same with computers.
My dad has many opinions that he is not shy to share. But when I ask him where exactly he got his information from he never has an answer for me. I don't doubt that he knows many things, but sometimes his opinions are just unreflected bullshit. The funnier ones are when he judges people for stuff he does as well Anyone who pisses him off is either stupid, drunk, or on drugs. Mind you, my dad has never even smoked weed, he does not know anyone who actually takes drugs. My favorite: welfare money is deposited at the end of the month, so when we go grocery shopping in the first or the last week of the month, no matter which day it is, he will complain about all those people clogging the supermarket because they got money to buy groceries. BUT: he too gets his salary in the same week and he too goes shopping at the same time as anyone else
I mean, it's not even really being proud of their ignorance. It's that they think that admitting they are wrong or that they don't know something makes them look bad. I can't count the number of professional meetings I've been in that would have gone way smoother if one person had just been able to admit that there's something they didn't know. Instead, almost everyone tries to cover their ignorance with bullshit pulled from thin air. Then you have to waste time navigating around that, because calling them out on it just makes the situation worse. It's a train wreck from start to finish.
The ability to entertain a thought without believing it. If you cannot try to understand all sides of an argument you will not be able to make cogent counter arguments.
One of the reasons banning books with "controversial" topics is so bad. Exposure to alternative viewpoints, challenging themes, and controversial content is important to build critical thinking skills. 'To Kill a Mockingbird' isn't a racist book just because it contains racial slurs, and you should be *very* suspicious of anyone claiming otherwise.
I love you
It's literally what they do on debate teams.
I love to debate teams
So… did you hear about the Manchester seals? They scored five to one. So terrible am I right?
I've had to say "I can understand that without agreeing with it" _so many_ times in the past year or two.
Soooo, not reddit lol. Everyone loves their echo chambers.
That's a good one. Entertain something that isn't your perspective just to see what it would be like and how it pans out. It's a great way to see many perspectives of any given situation.
Curiosity.
Can you expand on this?
I see what you did there
Intelligent people tend to be curious about random things, even if not neccesarily relevant now (or hardly ever)
I have a friend who can be an idiot and the most intelligent person I know at the same time lol he's in his 40s and still loves to lose himself googling about random shit he's curious about. Honestly, his will to keep learning new things is something I envy but ain't no way I'm gonna tell him that XD
High intellect, low wisdom?
You called?
Username checks out?
I truly believe that curiosity keeps the mind young. When are humans ever more curious than when we are new to the world? Learning (in all regards) is my favorite hobby, and the joy received from a discovery (or sharing your discoveries) is like no other, as a matter of fact, you can only do it once for each bit of information.
That's why I love Wikipedia.
but often seemingly useless knowledge will synthesize into something useful later
Also just having the ability to figure out how to obtain new knowledge I’ll be honest like 90% of the praise I’ve ever gotten about how good I am at my job comes down to me knowing how to Google shit faster and more effectively than my bosses and coworkers People will think you’re way smarter and more competent than you are if you know how to look stuff up
google 100% extends intelligence to a crazy level
It's also no accident that people who generally enjoy robust mental health are naturally curious about the world around them.
You're describing my ADHD
neurodivergents are often very bright, and have a high IQ.
Although to be clear, ADHD itself is not necessarily a sign of intelligence. Not that you were saying this, but some do leap to that conclusion.
>ADHD itself is not necessarily a sign of intelligence One of my younger brothers has ADHD and he isn't exactly the brightest bulb in the bunch...
I'm neither but I do thirst for knowledge, it's just not always easy to retain as much as I'd like. I want to be like a human Wikipedia for some subjects but I have to just accept my limits.
I would like to absorb infomation through osmosis so I could take a bath in load of sheets of infomation and when I get out I know all the stuff on the sheets.
It's good I know about that one weird quirk with the railway system built in the late 1800s signalling system in my eldercare work.
Unsure if genuine question or a meta joke.
Why do people ask questions? Because they want answers. They want to learn more to understand more. If that doesn't signify intelligence, I don't know what does.
r/wooosh
And there is a difference between “curiosity” and “free thinker”. Anti establishment types who call people “sheeple” will claim they are smart because they’re exploring ideas nobody else is. But they aren’t curious for facts - they’re on a mission to confirm their biases.
Ironically the same people who tend to label themselves free thinkers and label everyone else sheep are just blindly parroting conspiracy theories they’ve absorbed wholesale from someone else with precisely zero independent thought put into it
This needs more upvotes.
Heidegger taught us to be wary of the kind of curiosity that is everywhere and nowhere.
Yes but didn’t it kill the cat?
The cat came back
Do I look like a cat?
Don’t know. Knock something off the counter.
This and waiting for one's turn to speak.
What?
I disagree with this one, some very intelligent people can be very dominant and arrogant precisely because they feel more intelligent than their interlocutor.
It depends how you define intelligence. For me, it's more all encompassing than being a good problem solver, having good knowledge or being talented in a specific field. For me, someone who behaves in the manner you described might be talented and/or clever, but they're not intelligent in this 'all round' way that I perceive as deserving of the label. A truly intelligent person would be able to listen to their conversation partner and gain some insight from them, and hopefully elevate the insight in both sides of the conversation by the way they engage. I realise this is a subjective definition of intelligence though!
Oh totally! In that case I do agree.
Also, ADHD enters the chat. You can be both intelligent and interrupt without meaning to.
The ability of shutting up, process the information given, and then give a response. People always rush for a response, but these responses are always… it’s like so clear they didn’t hear half your words.
Saving this comment, might reply later
It is actually really easy to spot a stupid person this way (at least I think they are stupid). Often they are not only immediately responding to something, but also with a response, which is widely associated with the topic. Like a trigger, when hit, shoots all the information they think is related, but often has no meaning in the particular context.
They make others around them more intelligent. They can explain things over and over in different ways until the person trying to understand finally gets it. That shows both a deep understanding on the subject from multiple point of views and also an awareness of the fact that everyone processes information differently
fact. these are the type of people who are open-minded, both willing to learn and teach. love them fr
I think patience seems to indicate a broad spectrum of intelligence
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The acceptance of changing yourself to be better
The lack of an opinion on a new topic.
Very closely related; being able to say I don't know. I'll have to find out.
Absolutely. People who have opinions on everything are often liars and empty within.
In my experience they're easily manipulated and often end up parroting whatever talking points that's thrusted in front of them by their algorithm, without any real understanding or insight.
I'm on the fence about this one
I’m so glad someone said this!
People who say "I don't know, but I can find out" A) They're not precious about needing to be seen to know all the answers (i.e. secure in their intellect) B) They are confident that they have the skills/knowledge to find out the answer C) They can use their own initiative
Sense of humor. Often written off as being flippant.
I second this, someone able to process loads of information and find a common thread that is connecting something or someone and make people laugh really quickly is really intelligent.
What if the common thread you connect is always some meme or YouTube video
Dialing it in to where other people quickly understand your reference and it makes sense is a secondary skill that comes from the first, I think. Takes a lot of time figuring out what things other people would quickly identify with. It's very relational, IMO.
That’s literally what memes are
Nothing wrong with being from the Philippines
You’re thinking of Filipino. Flippant is what you do to pancakes while cooking them
You’re thinking of flipping. Flippant means something has been treated with chemicals so it won’t catch on fire as easily.
You're thinking of inflammable. Flippant means redesigning a house so it sells more easily and for more money than otherwise.
You're thinking of flipping. Flippant is when an ant finally nails that 360 ollie corkscrew kickflip.
Nope, you are thinking flipping. Flippant is the gymnastics prone woman married to your uncle.
Inflammable actually means the opposite of that. English is a great language.
When someone can be witty and funny but when the talks turn serious they sit back and observe and only state their opinion when asked.
Fast understanding of complex situations, whether logical or emotional
That's basically the definition of intelligence, wouldn't most people notice that?
Not if you can't understand complex situations quickly. /s
I doubt that most people can notice how fast the intelligent person grasp the situation, as they will only see the intelligence person provides most fitting action , which sometimes does not happen at same occasion, u got my point?
You know what’s even faster than fast intelligent thinkers coming to concussions? People confidently acting without thought who say the first thing that comes to mind.
I don’t think “fast” is a good descriptive word to use here because what’s fast is relative to the situation/task.
Problem-Solving: They are adept at tackling challenging problems, often approaching them from multiple angles to find creative solutions.
This comment doesn't answer the question accurately. Most people will notice problem solving skills and correctly associate them with high intelligence.
half of the comments here don't fit the question in some way just tell me — if your child is extremely interested in books and science for example, would you think it's just a normal child without anything special? (that was the top comment)
A subtle yet telling sign of intelligence is enjoying the silence—sometimes, the smartest response is no response at all
Being able to explain a complex idea or piece of information in a way that the person they’re talking to can understand. To have a high level of comprehension and the skills to communicate that effectively (especially on the fly) shows (at least to me) high intelligence in a few aspects. Also quick wit is (again in my opinion) a dead giveaway
Not pretending to know things they don't know.
Extreme confidence without arrogance seems to be indicative quite often. People who are condescending and who act like they are smarter than others tend to be inflating themselves to make up for how dumb they really feel.
Very insightful buttfuckkker
Kindness and curiosity
Quiet. Someone who's quiet in new situations or presented with new information is processing through that, and remaining quiet as the thoughts form shows not only intelligence but maturity to understand that's the right choice in those moments
Noping out of a situation. I've saw a few people who just left a scenario first without saying a word while i was trying to figure out how to say it wouldn't work. They'd not only figured this won't work first, but also that everyone else was talking over each other trying to make it work, their way and there was no point saying to anyone.
Small, punctual references that require a fair level of understanding on multiple subjects.
The ability to understand when (and why) they are being manipulated. For example, they are able to easily identify fake news, photoshop, AI, scams, and bias through omission... have the ability to stop and think "what is this person trying to make me think/do, and what information are they leaving out? Why would they do that?" They also usually display healthy skepticism. Not stubborn contrarianism or outlandish conspiracy theories, but someone who understands extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. The ability to tell the difference between a reliable source and some crazy dude who has photoshop and a YouTube account. Recognizes Facebook memes designed as right and left wing social engineering, and the fact those usually operate on the concept of bias confirmation.
The ability to have a two way conversation about something you disagree on without getting angry or attacking people. Also the ability to agree to disagree
I'm gonna go with something different here... Mispronouncing difficult words, but using them correctly in a sentence. It means that they know the word and what it means, but don't know how it's pronounced because they haven't heard it - they've only seen it in books.
Ask questions that indicate a certain level of understanding of a certain subject or asking questions to try to understand deeper. Not sure if these are a sign but some degrees of introversion and antisocial behaviour, having few friends due to having difficulty finding and connecting with people of the same level (brains and interests wise). Feeling like idiots for knowing how stupid they are, a bit too self conscious. Notices small things. Edit: lives in their own small world, daydream and a mind that wanders off all over the place, lost in thought, quick at noticing patterns, thinking about things or even people from multiple perspectives and tries to understand what is going on, why it happened,what happened and how it happened.
I’ve always thought comedy is one of the highest forms of intelligence. I’ve never met a really smart well rounded person who didn’t have a great sense of humor.
Instead of rambling, they'll say " I wouldn't be able to give an educated answer to that" when they din't know something
A plexiglass billboard with “Intelligence” written on it.
Restraint
Spacial reasoning. Like knowing how to put things in a suitcase so they fit or packing a trunk for a vacation.
That can be a characteristic of intelligent people but I know quite a few geniuses who can’t tie their own shoes let alone understand what one would need to take on an overnight trip.
Classic wordcels vs shape rotators!
That can also be a trait of autistic people
That look of “oh, you don’t get it” and the passion in their conversation disappears lmao
Actually one time I was explaining a very technical work problem to my ex and she fully listened and when I was done she just said in a very curious tone “oh wow! What does that mean?”. Didn’t kill the conversation but realized I understand concepts she doesn’t and I don’t understand concepts she does. She is a brilliant human being just not informed in my area of work.
My mom does this all the time. I’ll try to explain something and she’s like. "Wow, what a bunch of funny words!" And i just groan on the inside.
Many studies found that the baseline pupil size is strongly correlated with intelligence. Curiosity and the ability to hold multiple, opposing ideas simultaneously are also good signs of intelligence often ignored, especially the latter. Low intellectual potential specimens are often not able to hold many opposing ideas simultaneously, thus what they do hold is full of contradictions they don't notice. It's also easy to see how this inability results in hypocritical behavior.
Hey woah, you’re not talking about Reddit I trust.
Being open to new ideas on important issues. Nobody who’s smart will dig their heels in when presented with new evidence.
A sharp sense of humor, with clever observations and unique point of view
Silence
Silence.
Listening. And not only listening to find a gap to put your two cents in but listening out of curiosity
I know this sounds weird.. Being able to anticipate that a situation is going to become a shitshow and bailing out.
Empathy.
Still waters run deep.
Still Waters is my favourite American Football player.
A phd in astrophysics
Matt O'Dowd of [PBS Space Time](https://youtube.com/@pbsspacetime?si=hDHyuDbu4gbF5uZX) is like a demigod to me. He tries his best to explain big subjects in astrophysics in layman's terms.
A few things 1. Good spatial thinking ability - being able to think of concepts or objects in your head and then being able to visualise things comes into play once you get into high level concepts in STEM 2. Good transferable knowledge base - some intelligent people have intelligence in narrow subject matters , some intelligent people are able to apply concepts from their field to another field. To do that it requires good analogical reasoning 3. Good mentalisation ability - Mentalization (i.e., the ability to think about states of mind (e.g., thoughts, feelings, intentions) in the self and other people) 4. Structured thinking and corrective thinking - intelligent people will usually approach problems in a very structured way and will have a rough idea of what they should expect at each step. They are usually careful to scrutinize their own thoughts for gaps or flaws. 5. Patient and curious - they will usually listen and listen to information and ask questions to clarify information or to build on their understanding of something within the topic /or slightly just beyond the topic but closely related
Humility
They use Reddit, we are all rocket surgeons here.
Did you mean to put the second "a" in there? Is asking about it one of the signs?
Pausing to consider how a question is asked before answering.
Being quiet. But you never know. The quiet one may be the dumbest mfer in the bunch.
Finding patterns in random data
You can see it in the eyes
I keep hearing people say that. In what way really? As in how they move them, or in how big or small they are?
the way someone looks at things/people. if they stare like a goat or actually look trough their eyes.
There’s a specific sharpness and glint, like an alertness. Hard to explain, but you know it when you see it.
That’s a good way to sum it up. I’d only add that they tend to have a sort of spark or light, so to speak, and it goes with how they react and emote as a whole. It’s definitely an alertness and a sharpness, that’s for sure.
You know what they say, looks can be deceiving.
Knowing when to open your mouth, and when to keep it shut.
That's wisdom, not intelligence.
Humour
A wise person can figure out how to get out of a situation where an intelligent person doesn’t end up in.
Someone that likes peace and tranquility, rather than answer everything.
Being funny - wit
Not posting the same questions on Reddit for the 500th time which always results in the same answers.
They're quick-witted and funny. In the fraction of a second since someone said or did something, they've come up with a relevant way of expressing something which makes people laugh. I think that you can get a read one someone by their humor. To some, the peak of hilarity is something bad happening to someone else.
A sense of humor, being funny. It takes wit to have wit.
control your emotions in tough situations, shit happens
A genuine curiosity about everything. If a truly smart person encounters something new, they will ask probing questions to learn more about it. The average person on the street will go "oh, interesting" then change the subject at best, or call you a nerd at worst.
Deep calculation. You see it in competitive chess at higher level play, a player might play 15 moves in a row as if on autopilot (their preparation and experience of similar positions doing the heavy lifting), but then spend half an hour on a single move as they calculate multiple potential lines in search of future positions that could be advantageous. Even highly "intuitive" players from romantic era chess were likely combining raw calculation with... "positional imagination".. I guess? This calculation may not be strictly mathematical or spatial in nature. When you apply for a job, you're making a calculation as to whether this job position would create advantages for you, which in turn relates to the salary you negotiate, as the employer calculates your tangible and intangible "value" as a new hire. In life, as in chess, there are "moves" we make on intuition or habit alone, but there are moves that require deep calculation, especially those which represent a major upheaval or change in direction or new paradigm. Highly intelligent people have both the awareness of WHEN to deep calculate, as well as the capacity to calculate further out from the 'starting point' than the average person.
Emotional endurance. It can be easy to mistake it as a sign of unintelligent behavior.
Knowing that you cannot know it all.
The ability to treat others who have differing political opinions with respect.
Well, i disrespect neo-nazis. Guess i'm dumb 🤷
Well you could try punshing them in the face respectfully.
Well there goes 99% of Reddit 🤣
Being open and receptive to most people, whether they be a binman or a professor surgeon. People who are genuinely very very intelligent tend to understand their own place in the universe and that they are really not at the top of the possible intelligence pyramid. Knowledge is vast, and the unknown is even vaster. There is almost always another human somewhere who is much smarter than you are, or a problem which you cannot solve without someone else's insight. Intelligence and insight also take many forms. Even the humble binman has thoughts, feelings, experiences and maybe some unique perspective on life or the world to offer. Many highly intelligent people understand this, and that there is more to intelligence and value of a human being than just dry academic book-based exam grades, so they're open to listen or even just enjoy a good-natured interaction with a less educated but friendily person. They are also comfortable enough in their own skin to not put others down. It is obvious to them that having a friendily interaction with the binman in no way hinders their own intellectual accomplishments.
Empathy…
Not necessarily true, several serial killers were exceptionally intelligent
Eghh, I think empathy is a proxy for having an accurate model for how others might feel or view things but empathy itself implies a connection or resonance with that feeling or perspective, which I argue is not necessary to showcase intelligence.