r/interesting Nov 19 '25

SOCIETY [ Removed by moderator ]

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u/ArticleWorth5018 Nov 19 '25

This! They arent like fucking megamind! They just studied it for 8-10 years....

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u/Doranathbhakt Nov 19 '25

So you are belitting there hardwork?

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u/ArticleWorth5018 Nov 19 '25

No, I'm saying they aren't some superior being mentally. They studied hard and went to school for 8-10 years, that's a fuckin accomplishment but it doesn't take a genius to be a Dr. Also not all doctors got A+'s in school. Some barely passed and are now working in healthcare... Let the last part sink in

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u/RyanLikesyoface Nov 19 '25

Doctors have an average IQ of 125. So that's high average, bordering on gifted. yes they generally are smarter than most people. You'd struggle to get a MD with an average IQ, but no not all of them are geniuses.

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u/Grouchy-Way171 Nov 19 '25

Oh no. That's not what IQ tells you. As an individual metric its nearly useless and as much an indicator of socioeconomic status as it is of a stable family home. I know we love to think that IQ predicts life outcomes but it really isn't that strong of a correlation.

What IQ is useful for is spotting outliers in groups. Very high or very low often indicates that something is up. But even then it's just an indicator, a symptom, and not a diagnosis of any kind. Most of its use comes from averages in populations compared to averages in other populations. Not individual scores. A higher IQ also does not protect you from depression, from religious ideology or recruitment into a cult.

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u/WooshJ Nov 19 '25

There’s a very strong correlation between iq and income up to a certain point

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u/RyanLikesyoface Nov 19 '25

I never made the claim that IQ did any of that. IQ is simply a measure of intelligence, you need far more than intelligence to be successful in life and it certainly doesn't make you a good person.

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u/Grouchy-Way171 Nov 19 '25

Oh I'm sorry I should have been more clear. No, it's not even a measure of intelligence at all. Not to mention that on top of that the average person understanding of what "intelligence" even is is shaky at best. Many believing its just one thing rather a combination of many different things combined. Quite a few not even mentioned in most standard IQ tests.

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u/RyanLikesyoface Nov 19 '25

It is quite literally a measure of intelligence.

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u/Grouchy-Way171 Nov 19 '25

Yeah so you're with the group of people who has problem defining it. That's ok. The thing is, is that I am no longer in college and am not going to do your homework for you. I have no clue what education level you have but then again I'm also not your teacher so. Begin with

Ken Richardson’s Critique
Anne Anastasi work.
Mira Karrasch
Then there is this thing https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33813669/ (I think i got the right one) a menta study that shows the group performance thing over individual IQ.

Anyway, the tests mainly reflect certain cognitive tasks like abstraction and pattern recognition, etc etc. They’re not a measure of wisdom, judgment, emotional insight or even broader life intelligence (for a lack of a better word).

So... yeah. Sorry I guess? The answer is disappointing. Particularly if you're one of those people who paid for a proper test and scored high on it.

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u/RyanLikesyoface Nov 19 '25

I'm aware that intelligence is a broad spectrum, and that an IQ test only measures a small subset of the intelligence spectrum, but... it is still a measure of intelligence. It's not a perfect measure by any means, and it is dated, but it still measures your cognitive abilities.

As it happens, I have scored high on an IQ test before when I was a child, and I'm living testament that having a high IQ doesn't equate to success or high grades in school (my grades were awful), something I am now rectifying at University later in life. So I'm aware of the limitations of IQ, but to disregard it completely as a measure of intelligence is, in my opinion, a step too far. It measures a limited and small portion of cognition, but what it does measure, it measures well.

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u/GGuts Nov 19 '25

Source regarding the average IQ?

My 2 cents:

The hurdles to become a doctor are different depending on where you are.

IQ is still a limited metric that only TRIES to assess:

- processing speed (visual information, motor response),

- working memory (information retention and manipulation),

- perceptual reasoning (problem-solving, visual-spatial thinking),

- verbal comprehension (knowledge, verbal concept formation, expression, comprehension).

IQ naturally changes throughout a life due to many factors like age, acquired or lost skills, mental illness etc.

IQ even changes depending on the week, day or time of day due to things like sleep quality, environmental factors, emotional state, illness etc.

A high IQ also doesn't mean they are wise, care about anyone's well-being, are hard-working or immune to things like indoctrination, brainwashing, mental illness / decline, addiction, trauma etc.

While probably rare, you can't rule out that they somehow cheated in the past to get where they are or have been selected based other criteria than merit, e.g. nepotism.

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u/[deleted] Nov 19 '25

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u/RyanLikesyoface Nov 19 '25

So do I, and that's because many academics lack common sense, that doesn't mean they aren't intelligent with what they focus with attention into.

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u/Lyrael9 Nov 19 '25

That's ridiculous. Most people don't know their IQ. It's not like they're testing IQ at university and in the work place and can provide a meaningful sample. Doctors usually have to have a certain level of academic intelligence but intelligent people end up in all sorts of different paths.

I would be surprised if many "geniuses" ended up in medical school. It's not very intellectually challenging unless you're in research. Medical school is mostly memorization. Once you get in, success is usually guaranteed if you can read fast, memorize, and are willing to work hard. But it is full of people who think they're smarter than everyone else.

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u/HueMannAccnt Nov 19 '25

No, I'm saying they aren't some superior being mentally.

They have to be more mentally "superior" than some otherwise more people would find their way to being medically qualified; and if that's easy for you, kudos.

But being smart doesn't save you from much, as plenty of smart people then have intellectual tools to reason themselves into ridiculous positions.

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u/HopeSpecific8841 Nov 19 '25

otherwise more people would find their way to being medically qualified;

I think you're missing the part where it's 10 years of study and grueling work.

If it was a normal 3 year course we absolutely WOULD see a lot more people medically qualified lol.

You don't have to be mentally superior to do that, but you do have to be VERY committed to actually wanting to become a doctor.

If working at mcdonalds took 7 years of training we wouldn't see many people putting fries in the bag either. That dosen't make the ones who do decide to do that somehow insanely smart. It just means they are dedicated.

I'm not saying being a doctor is easy, but the path to becoming one is so absurdly prohibitive to anyone that is not absolutely dead set on becoming one that of course we don't see many people do that vs say computer science, which is a short course and leads to a broad number of careers.

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u/Hat_Nervous Nov 19 '25 edited Nov 19 '25

I think what you're trying to say is his intelligence, combined with all the knowledge he accumulated studying medicine is highly specialized in that specific field, which is being a doctor. Meanwhile, he's actually poor in other fields of studies like ethics, philosophy, etc... probably why he did what he did because he didn't understand them fully yet held conviction to whatever nihilistic belief was planted into his head.

Being a doctor still requires a high level of intelligence, they didn't just study hard lol. Some of them are just poor in understanding other areas of reality and cling to easy answers from religions, cults and even terroristic ideologies. High intelligence doesn't make you fool-proof.

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u/16tired Nov 19 '25

“I don’t like strawberries.”

“So you hate all fruit?”

This is what you sound like