what makes a genius?

[Ronald Zeeman]

Shepherd boys had a high incidence of mathematical savants. They all had to count, and number patterns were one of the few interesting things to think about.
"Talent hits a target no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one else can see."
- Arthur Schopenhauer.

Just a different way of thinking. Combined with unusually high intelligence.

 

[lovely_darlingprettybaby]

What exactly is IQ? Human intelligence quotient. One of the things my autism doctor did in all my testing was an IQ test. I've always known I had an average IQ, I know I'm not a genius. But this test that he gave me, one section had words and I was to choose the picture that best went with that word. But the last 5 or so words, I had never heard those words before in my life. Does that really measure my intelligence? I had no problem with patterns and sequences which involves thinking. The last section had to do with descriptions. He would give 3 descriptions and I would say what it was. The first one was kind of funny. He said "This melts, it burns and made with wax". My first response was chocolate. It does melt and burns if you cook it too long and it contains wax (or paraffin) . But I immediate said, "Oh, wait, you're looking for candle." Candle was the correct answer. But had I stuck with my original correct answer, it would have lowered my IQ? And because of the millions of words in existence and that I have not heard ALL the words, does that really lower my IQ? I wonder if he knows what paraffin is. He didn't know that chocolate had wax in it. So really?

This has always puzzled me. I'm not considered as smart as my sister (the attorney) who was considered genius according to her IQ test scores in school but she can't understand why someone might be mad at her after she has made fun of them. Seriously, she hasn't a clue. There have been times when she and I and my brother have been together and my brother would start talking about something from the Bible and we would get into a discussion. She would respond, "Where are you guys getting this stuff?" or "How do you know that?" She doesn't seem to understand that we're getting the information by reading it and studying it. She was the driver when we went to Utah together. She's climbing up a hill that's straight and the sign at the top says to slow down to 35 mph and has curved lines below the speed limit. She's going about 60 mph and not even thinking about slowing down and I'm telling her to slow down and that the sign is saying 35. She said, "Oh, they don't mean that. It doesn't mean anything." I said, "No, it means that on the other side of the hill you're going to be going down the side of a mountain with curvy roads and you better slow down to 35 or you're going to go off the edge." She did finally slow down when we got to the top and she seen that we were about to go down a curvy road down the side of a mountain. She actually slowed down pretty fast upon realizing this. Does genius get in the way of common sense? It gets in the way of safety.

I had another attorney friend. He could spout off law numbers like it was the alphabet and was so impressive when it come to these old this person vs that person cases and ordinance numbers and so on. It seemed like he had the entire law library memorized. But he and his wife would call me to come and help them when neither of them knew how to hang a curtain rod. I was over there once and they were both frazzled because it was almost Christmas, they had company coming and their new couch that was delivered yesterday had a spot on the cushion and there wasn't time for the store to replace it. They didn't want their guests to see the spot and they just didn't know what they were going to do. I suggested that, for now, they turn the cushion over so the spot wouldn't show. What a life saver I was to them that day, they would have never figured that one out.

I just don't understand what actually measures a person's intelligence. I may not know what the definition of buliga is (however, I would if I looked it up), but I know what side effects a medication might have by knowing what the medication is for. I know what the heart is doing during the Q R S T waves on a heart monitor. Why does knowing this certain word make you a genius but knowing that word does not? I know I can figure things out. I can do anything I set my mind to doing. That doesn't mean I will, just that I could. Just like we had so many trees in our yard in Georgia but my husband wouldn't cut any of them down and cut up the wood for firewood. Instead he bought those expensive firelogs. I'd try to explain that the purpose of the wood stove was to save money on the electric, but using those store bought man made logs cost way more than what the electric would cost. So one day I decided to go to Home Depot and buy a small chainsaw and I would cut some firewood. I could have done it, but I chickened out when I was reading the instruction manual and it started talking about kick backs. So I took the saw back to the store to return it. The lady asked if something was wrong with it and I told her, I didn't even take it out of the box, that I was reading the instruction manual and it scared me. She laughed and said if the manual scared me the saw was really going to scare me. She gave me my money back. So I'm not saying I WILL do anything, because if it scares me I won't. But I can figure out how to do things. My kids CD player was broke and I took it apart. I had no idea what I was looking for, but I figured I couldn't mess it up any worse by trying to fix it. I fixed it. I will get something in my mind that I want in my home, like I wanted to make a hanging shower curtain to go all the way around a tub. I told the man at Home Depot what I was wanting to do and he told me it was impossible. I found what I thought would work, went home and put it together and it was exactly what I wanted.

So I'm not a genius. Thank goodness I'm not a genius. I'm one of those people that likes to do EVERYTHING myself. Besides I'm not going to ask for help. I would endanger myself before asking for help. The only thing I know I can't do is use electric saws of any kind, so I might have to ask someone to cut a board for me. I will use a handsaw if the job is small enough though. I may end up with a few cuts on my hand, which is why I won't use electric saws - I would end up losing the whole hand. I'm not the safest with tools. I once put a hole in my eyeball with a screwdriver. I may not always do the best job, but I do it and if I were a what society considers genius I probably wouldn't be able to do any of these things.

IQ tests are so inaccurate because not everyone fits every type of intelligence or does well under testing.
I'm sure most people with really high IQs do not do well on them.
What makes a genius not IQ in my opinion but what you do with your IQ. So if you used it in some area of life even a small area then you are a genius, maybe most people with high IQs will be geniuses because they do find a way to use it they are that inquisitive and curious.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

Out of four brothers three of us are most likely Aspies, three of us actually applied for membership.to Mensa,
only one of us actually meet the requirements. the non-Aspie. Weirdly us Aspies now all older have significant real-life achievements that imply significant intelligence that was not easily measurable.

 

[SusanLR]

Driving in the right lane of a three- lane road, a city vehicle sitting on the side of the road had it's lights flashing.
My passenger, a retired cop, said I was supposed to shift to the next lane when an official vehicle is sitting with it's lights flashing.

I replied that I didn't know that.
He said ignorance of the law is no excuse and I would have been liable for a ticket.
I asked him where was I supposed to shift to when the middle lane by me was full of traffic?
If I had done that, it would have been a worse situation than a ticket!

So, if you're expected to know every law there is, and you're guilty if you don't,
that would be a genius.

 

[Progster]

Driving in the right lane of a three- lane road, a city vehicle sitting on the side of the road had it's lights flashing.
My passenger, a retired cop, said I was supposed to shift to the next lane when an official vehicle is sitting with it's lights flashing.

I replied that I didn't know that.
He said ignorance of the law is no excuse and I would have been liable for a ticket.
I asked him where was I supposed to shift to when the middle lane by me was full of traffic?
If I had done that, it would have been a worse situation than a ticket!

So, if you're expected to know every law there is, and you're guilty if you don't,
that would be a genius.

Ignorance might not be an excuse, but it's a darn good reason.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

Us Aspies have issues with statements that resemble contradictions. My favorite you cannot have your cake and eat it too.

 

[SusanLR]

Driving that same strip of road again today and there was a Sheriff car sitting on the side flashing!
Today the next lane over was open. Good for me.
He was questioning what looked like a homeless woman.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

Issac Newton's special interest was not physics but rather alchemy. that's genius physics just a minor sideline, very active mind.

 

[Outdated]

So, if you're expected to know every law there is, and you're guilty if you don't,
that would be a genius.

For quite a few years when I was living in the Northern Territory I grew my own tobacco.

There was an idea in the back of my mind that this was illegal but when I went through all the legislation for that state I could only find laws regarding the sale of tobacco, no mention of growing it. I searched federal laws regarding tobacco and once again only found laws relating to the sale of tobacco, no mention about growing it.

For many years I saved myself a small fortune and I gave seeds to others so that they could also grow their own. Then one day while looking up something entirely unrelated I came across another entirely different section of law. Customs and Excise law. There was the mention of growing tobacco.

Growing tobacco without a license carries a penalty of up to 35 years in jail. Licenses will not be granted to home growers.

You only get 12 to 15 years for murder.

 

[GrownupGirl]

When I was a kid I had high reading, writing and artistic intelligence, but low math intelligence. And since it takes brains to be good at math while people of average or even below average intelligence can be good at reading, writing and even art, I must be of low intelligence, period.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

Many math geniuses are savants. many geniuses have skills other really bright people do not possess. Albert Einstein was a genius most of his contemporary colleagues in physics had higher intelligence then him they were all geniuses. but he had a skill none of them shared with him that put him at a whole other level.

 

[Tyer]

I never saw a high IQ as a sign of someone being a genius. I mean...society kinda sees it that way. And yeah they do have skills. No doubt.
But so do others.
There are many many forms of inteligence (Like EQ). And its really hard to measure such stuff. Thats why people are so into IQ tests, because this one is kinda testable. I mean...who doesnt want to have a proof of their "brains". It makes people happy.
The idea of saying one form of intelligence is better then the other, tho, feels really strange to me. Some are good in this area, some are good at this area, and so on. Actually its better if people can balance the others out, it helps managing life and survival.
So, with you helping others out, your intelligence totaly does save butts.
Logical thinking, mind of theory and common sense is the most usefull for everyday life. It can prevent issues and solves problems.
And thats what most of us humans actually want from life.


In my opinion a real GENIUS is not one who knows everything or can do everything. For me a genius is a person who knows how to solve a problem. Being able to find a solution. To find knowledge. Doesnt matter if that knowledge was something you forgot or didnt now yet. Just to know how to gatter it, thats the real deal.
Example:
You dont know what this 'thingy' means, dont worry, you know exactly how to find that out.
Being smart. Knowing how to get it done.
even if its not the best, as long as it still works. Ladies and gentlemen, between and beyond, we have someone with a very beautiful and usefull brain!
I present you A GENIUS!

(Every disagreeing with my opinion is acceptable, because its only an opinion and you can hate, ignore, or love it all you want.)

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

IQ has always been a misnomer developed to measure educational potential of children then extrapolated to adults.
either way I stated some of thoughts on IQ on an IQ thread a while.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

I would love to see Eric Weinstein debate Edward Witten, the brightest unknown person on the planet. even the brightest are afraid of him in the greatest genius in a community of genius's.

 

[Aspychata]

Critical thinking skills to me is not taking a fall for something through good actions, knowing when you shouldn't attempt to do something yourself, and during times of emergency, everybody looks at me to come up the answer, or some the same with something very problematic. And also knowing that you have no idea of what the answer is and still standing strong. But critical thinking skills aren't considered a genius attribute.

 

[RemyZee]

I've taken iq tests and three different times the result was that my iq was around 90. However the last one I took, this time as an adult, the psychologist explained that the number really had no bearing on what my intelligence actually was, because, (like other people mentioned,) in some areas I scored between the 90th-98 percentile, but in other areas, I l scored even below the 10th percentile. I just haven't worked certain parts of my brain almost at all (don't know if that's an autism thing), while I've almost over worked other parts . I get irritated at times, because I come across as kind of slow and words don't come easily-- and other people see me as slow. My high school teachers told my parents I would most likely never go to college....so I went and got two, almost 3 masters degrees. I loved it. I will say I like the way I think and what I think about. Too bad so many look to IQ as a true reflection of how genius a person actually is.

 

[Shevek]

I've taken iq tests and three different times the result was that my iq was around 90. However the last one I took, this time as an adult, the psychologist explained that the number really had no bearing on what my intelligence actually was, because, (like other people mentioned,) in some areas I scored between the 90th-98 percentile, but in other areas, I l scored even below the 10th percentile. I just haven't worked certain parts of my brain almost at all (don't know if that's an autism thing), while I've almost over worked other parts . I get irritated at times, because I come across as kind of slow and words don't come easily-- and other people see me as slow. My high school teachers told my parents I would most likely never go to college....so I went and got two, almost 3 masters degrees. I loved it. I will say I like the way I think and what I think about. Too bad so many look to IQ as a true reflection of how genius a person actually is.

There are also a lot of people who assume that academic credits and IQ are strongly linked. I went from Gr. 11, to the library, to lecturing to graduating engineers, and beating them out for prizes on a tiny budget.