4 ms·

The thing is I am without a doubt a person of average intelligence and what I don't "get" is how people whom I know are more intelligent that me doing the most

The thing is I am without a doubt a person of average intelligence and what I don't "get" is how people whom I know are more intelligent that me doing the most stupid things. I try to listen to as many different perspectives as possible, look up claims I hear being made, listen to experts in the respective fields and err on the side of caution. Back in March when medical experts said masks are unlikely to help I was like "okay well that sucks but they know much more about this kind of thing so I will just keep my distance, etc". Then when some data showed that actually masks do seem to help I didn't argue. I listened to the reasons for the change in advice and it all sounded, to me at least, perfectly reasonable. Yet I still hear people saying medical experts are "flip flopping" on masks as if changing ones advice based on new, scientifically backed information is a bad thing. Highly intelligent people I know have made comments to me about masks, 5G, Bill Gates microchip vaccines, "Plandemic" and all that kind of stuff. Sadly I have a (second) aunt that has been sucked into the QAnon madness. She honest to god believes the election was stolen from Trump. She isn't even American! She is a lamb farmer in Wales that still believes Brexit is going to be the best thing ever. But that is a conversation for a different thread. I am just mentally exhausted from it all. I miss the days of moon landing and what really goes on at Area 51 conspiracies.

everdrive 6y ago
Intelligence is pattern recognition, and the ability to understand and process complex ideas. Many other things inform decision making - emotion, tribal allegiance, ego, paranoia, perspective, etc. And so, a more intelligent person can definitely come to a worse conclusion. And can even do so selectively: they may come to an excellent conclusion on one topic, and a foolish conclusion on another.
imbnwa 6y ago
> The thing is I am without a doubt a person of average intelligence and what I don't "get" is how people whom I know are more intelligent that me doing the most stupid things. And here I keep getting told IQ is the measure of competence
- Siira 6y ago
  High IQ people probably still reacted better to covid on average.
Siira 6y ago
I have not seen much new evidence seen the super-early SSC mask review, which concluded that the masks probably help a tiny bit and are worth wearing but not game-changing. So the authorities did flip flop, and I suspect it’s because they needed some bullshit magic to sell to people to make them feel in control.

everdrive 6y ago

Intelligence is pattern recognition, and the ability to understand and process complex ideas. Many other things inform decision making - emotion, tribal allegiance, ego, paranoia, perspective, etc. And so, a more intelligent person can definitely come to a worse conclusion. And can even do so selectively: they may come to an excellent conclusion on one topic, and a foolish conclusion on another.

imbnwa 6y ago

> The thing is I am without a doubt a person of average intelligence and what I don't "get" is how people whom I know are more intelligent that me doing the most stupid things. And here I keep getting told IQ is the measure of competence

Siira 6y ago
High IQ people probably still reacted better to covid on average.

Siira 6y ago

I have not seen much new evidence seen the super-early SSC mask review, which concluded that the masks probably help a tiny bit and are worth wearing but not game-changing. So the authorities did flip flop, and I suspect it’s because they needed some bullshit magic to sell to people to make them feel in control.