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Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 1, 2023

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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I'm just as smart as my dad, maybe even slightly smarter, and while I've never had a formal IQ test (only taking Raven's progressive matrices unofficially, which is a good test, but it's up to you how you want to weight it, getting a value of 130), I've literally scored 100th percentile in a prestigious international competition that tests your grasp of English, and usually get something around 99.9th, in more general aptitude tests that were widely administered when I was a kid.

So yes, I'm confident I'm around 130 IQ, but unlike my dad, who is an insanely hard worker, running a hospital while working as a Consultant, I am incorrigible lazy and have ADHD.

Put me in his shoes, starting off as a penniless refugee from Bangladesh arriving with his family as a teen, and I strongly doubt I could have gotten to where he has, becoming a comfortably wealthy consultant surgeon with modest but national renown. Maybe he'd be internationally famous if he spoke better English.

I feel like a car with a great engine but broken transmission, severely bottlenecked. I'd likely trade trade like 5 IQ points to go to merely average in terms of consciousness, because while I highly value and take pride in my intelligence, I have a hard time making the most of it.

It takes an enormous amount of energy and tenacity to run a business, especially in a corrupt and cut-throat environment like India. I have no wish to find out whether or not I can handle it myself, because I am doubtful that my dad passes away anytime soon, or at least not before AI makes even incredible cognitive talents in humans moot.

Having ADHD sucks, so I hope an extreme example illustrates your point. My dad has always been slightly disappointed that I don't apply myself the way he can, and it takes all my effort and meds to keep progressing in my career instead of being stuck where I am forever.