Most people seem to think that possessing exceptional cognitive talent would be “cool”, “a great laugh” etc. Yet many of those same people get frustrated or irritated when presented with such a person, wondering why they are that way, and why there are circumstances under which he or she doesn’t behave “normally”. In other words, it would be “cool” to have those qualities of mind as long as they can ace their exams or whatever. But what seems to be universally missed is that having a mind like that is not something that can be turned on and off at will.
There are other ramifications, which are bound sooner or later to impact on various areas of that person’s life.
I’m going to take you through an imaginary journey, just to provide a little personal perspective. Or, if you like, this is WHAT IT IS LIKE TO BE ME!
Imagine you are an average person, who borrows a gadget for a couple of weeks that will temporarily boost your IQ to stratospheric levels.
Suddenly, you find that nearly all the people you meet aren’t interested in the things that you’re now interested in, because they don’t understand them. On the other hand, you now feel bored and frustrated with the seemingly superficial stuff that your friends are into. Popular culture now looks rather odd to you. You may find you lose interest in the “expected” bodily pleasures like alcohol and sex. I bet you’re already running through in your mind what your friends are likely to think of that.
Thrill-seeking (in the usual sense of high-speed rides etc.) may seem like an extreme stimuli overkill. However, thrill-seeking in the sense of spending an invigorating afternoon studying something you were always curious about, or perhaps creating in the artistic sense, puts you on a personal high that lasts for hours, if not days.
You may find you have become sensitive to things that you never gave a second thought about before. Certain clothes are irritating – the labels are annoying, the collar is too tight, or the fabric itches against your skin, the garment whose sleeve got accidentally wet must be changed immediately, or it will simply continue to annoy until it dries.
You may find you are extraordinarily sensitive to the temperature and texture of foods, not just their tastes. Additives may be a problem. You watch your friends scoffing junk food and wonder what the appeal is of eating stuff that just makes you feel unsettled or ill.
Certain noises are now unbearable (loud amplified music for instance).
Well, let’s consider the reason for these sensitivities. You didn’t really think for a moment that a mind sensitive enough to spot logic patterns etc. that 99.9????% of the population can’t perceive wasn’t going to be that sensitive to other things, did you?
You may find your emotions become so sensitive you can no longer watch much of what’s on TV, and you are deeply affected by what people say.
Then there’s the burning intellectual insatiety – how do you cope with sleepless nights because your mind is driven to ponder and solve things that other people don’t even care about?
How would you cope with being a person stuck in a routine job, when you feel driven to constantly learn and grow? And then of course there’s the matter of careers and qualifications – the thought of studying the same university textbook for the entire semester is abhorrent to you (you could probably polish off such a publication in a matter of days), and your interests move on too fast for you to complete any official course of study, never mind stick it out long enough to forge a career. (Ever wonder why the very brightest people aren’t rich?)
In the absence of the company of university professors or other people who might understand your deepest ponderings, your only recourse for real discussions is to join one or more of the various high IQ societies. Yes, some people think it’s sad, but where else are you likely to go? The education system isn’t geared up for you, as it works towards harmonization and systematization, rather than being interested in your tailor-made education. The result tends to be a self-educated, but officially unqualified, individual. Most career paths aren’t geared up for you, being tied as they are to expectations of certain durations of “experience” before one is usually offered promotion. The result tends to be the person who is regarded as a butterfly.
So your interests move on as your extraordinary mind starts compelling you to reach for the next level of self-growth, and you drop out of that degree or that career that for you personally has served its purpose. Again.
And perhaps I should mention the social pressure, if word should get around that you are not the average bunny. Any mistake you make suddenly brings your entire BEING into question.
People develop the idea that you’re “stuck up” or “up yourself” even if you’re not. The fact that you are, for example, teaching yourself another language doesn’t bring commendations from others for being willing to improve, it becomes yet more “proof” that you’re just out to polish your medals.
Then there are the people who just want to bring you down, as described so eloquently by a comment on another site: “Yes, he’s very clever, but perhaps TOO clever for his own good, because HE’S ALSO SILLY! At least we the normal (barely sentient, low to mid IQ people) aren’t silly! We’re shrewd and streetwise, and those “intelligent” folks could never acquire our simple-yet-robust both-feet-on-the-ground-thinking (as-seen-on-Jerry-Springer) style.” Brilliant!
Despite all this, I wouldn’t trade my place out here on the far right-hand tail of the distribution curve. Not because I have had to learn to deal with the way I am, but because I have learned to deal with the way other people are about it, and all the overt and covert ways in which that is manifested.
SevenSigma Project 