Ask Lemmy

In college I didn't hang out with my classmates much, I mostly hung out with townies. Obviously not all townies were dumb, but some were very dumb, nice though.

Does anyone know anyone who has ever admitted to getting below 100 on an IQ test?

I'm guessing the answer is no. In which case, presumably none of us can know whether or not we have. You would need to have to know someone who both scored below 100 and was willing to admit that to know for sure.

I mean, it's not like they carry a sign. Some actual mental handicaps can sort of get through the day with some supports. So, maybe you're just not looking hard enough. If you're going IQ you should use <85 or something, too, since <100 is literally half of the population.

On top of that, it's really hard to tell between weird behavior because they're dumb, they're not really paying attention or they're neuroatypical/mentally ill. I have better stories about supposedly intelligent people missing obvious things. (I star in many)

I've worked with a couple people who were slow learners and didn't seem to think very well. Everyone I've known like that thought they were smarter than everyone else and never stopped talking about how stupid other people are.

What part of tech are you in? If you interact with end-users ever, they're everywhere.

I have a few.

They arent necessarily hostile or mean. but there is a definite laziness to their intellect where they get super insecure if even minor challenged and refuse to admit to any learning disability or any level disability (and look down on those with a disability) and they believe because they are older = know everything.

One took it upon herself to explain walking poles to me....and i didnt even ask. Mainly because she requires to be explained to how to use basic functions of a toaster. So she believes she is at the intellect of everyone else around her by asserting herself to explain how to use even most basic of things only a very young child would struggle with and entirely gives up if the task entirely if it has any complexity. Such as just checking oil in the car. A stick in a hole. this is too hard apparently.

At first i thought she was just acting stupid like some women famously do this where they dampen their intellect around others but living around this person ive come to suspect a learning disability she refuses to accept about herself.

• Corrects people's pronounciation constantly incorrectly without anyone even asking her and sees this as 'helping'
• nods along agreeing but not listening to what she has agreed to.
• also laughs at things that are tragic stories because shes not listening or even looking. just tuned right out and i guess laughing is her basic npc response.
• doesnt have an emergency response and relies on other people's response. number of times ive had to rush to a problem someone has like a neighbor yelling then she shows up later after relying on my response. but then lacks ability to think through the issue and act. i will just do, she nods along. then she will be like 'I'll always be there for them' while shit just happens around her.
• has been in danger. hasnt responded to it. other people got her out of the problem and she just stands there and later tells the story like she had it entirely under control and calls others who would be worried as 'overeacting' or anxious.
• thinks things 'always work out' without having a plan.
• will get on a suspicious elevator without pre thought. elevator will break. will goofily say she should have listened to someone after calling them worried prior beforehand.
• not using basic observation to know when she has been around someone dangerous and just wants to lazily believe everyone else has her personal safety as their main interest. calls this 'believing in the best in everyone'
• thinks everything from the store is 'safe' and will not harm her to excuse any executive decisions as a consumer(believing its the capitalist who is responsible and magiclly culpable to do their homework and have her personally in mind to keep her safe)

A true dunning kreuger if i ever saw one.

Meanwhile she would give you the shirt off her back.

met a lot of these type in a conservative country town but occassionally i will run into one in the city.

i think the trouble comes from them thinking if having a learning disability means inlovable. which is in many ways sad and just really mean against those who have owned it and worked on their's.

Yes, some people are cognitively impaired.

i grew up in a 3rd world country, in some rural parts people get very short or no schooling at all, they would do terrible on IQ test's verbal and math sections, and possibly the other sections too. i just keep conversations simple.

What makes someone an 'actually dumb' person? Because everyone has a different definition of 'dumb.

An atheist might call religious people 'dumb' for believing in a 'Sky Daddy,' while a pro-vax person and an anti-vax person might accuse each other of being 'dumb' for not subscribing to their beliefs.

Yes. One person in particular comes to mind - very nice guy, but has some obvious learning disabilities. He mispronounces words very often and mistates stuff frequently (a lot of 'hims is', that kind of thing). He doesn't seem to have much of an inner life, though perhaps its more that he doesn't have the facility with language to express himself well. He also doesn't seem to understand a lot of things that people around him talk about.

But he's a kind dude - frankly, that's the important bit imo.

Most of the other folks I've met and considered dumb were seen only for limited duration and in specific contexts. They might indeed be, on the whole, dumb. But I've always felt those small interactions aren't enough evidence of that - after all, I've met objectively brilliant people that, in certain contexts, have done phenomenally dumb things. Heck, we all do (or rather, I sure as fuck have).