# I know someone with a fairly high IQ (149) who is like wrong about everything. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 19, 2015, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-someone-with-a-fairly-high-iq-149-who-is-like-wrong-about-everything/728286 "2015-08-19T21:30:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Nylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Mr.Nylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Nylock)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2015, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-someone-with-a-fairly-high-iq-149-who-is-like-wrong-about-everything/728286/1 "2015-08-19T21:30:56Z")
Well, not _everything_. But copious amount of salt must be taken with the statements this person makes. Examples include telling me the Jared guy is a child molester, minimum wage is $15, 911 was an inside job; and, worst of all, we are completely out of master links! Out of master links!!! How are you gonna put a chain on without a master link!?!?!??!?! I think it stems from some sort of strong negative bias and having a highly reactionary personality. ---
**Author:** ![jayrey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/47e85d/32.png) [@jayrey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayrey)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2015, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-someone-with-a-fairly-high-iq-149-who-is-like-wrong-about-everything/728286/2 "2015-08-19T21:42:33Z")
I am acquainted with a man with a fairly high IQ who is a dyed-in-the-wool, to-the-bone conspiracy theorist. He spends hours every day writing eloquently in support of the CT-of-the-day, be it chem trails, the invalidity of the IRS, the “Richest 100” who are going to take over the world, or government plans to round up “truth-tellers” like himself, and all manner of complete and utter nonsense in between. Sorry, but there is no corollation between intelligence and belief. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2015, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-someone-with-a-fairly-high-iq-149-who-is-like-wrong-about-everything/728286/3 "2015-08-19T21:56:41Z")
[Ted Kaczynski](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Kaczynski) ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2015, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-someone-with-a-fairly-high-iq-149-who-is-like-wrong-about-everything/728286/4 "2015-08-19T22:16:53Z")
Hate to break it to you, but he’s right about Jared! > **[Former Subway spokesman Jared Fogle to plead guilty to child pornography charges](https://fox59.com/news/indycrime/former-subway-spokesman-jared-fogle-to-plead-guilty-to-child-pornography-charges/)** > > UPDATE: Court docs: Former Subway spokesman Jared Fogle accused of paying for sex with minors, distributing child pornography INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (Aug. 18, 2015)— FOX59 has confirmed Jared Fogle, th… ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2015, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-someone-with-a-fairly-high-iq-149-who-is-like-wrong-about-everything/728286/5 "2015-08-19T22:21:18Z")
According to [Jared’s plea bargain](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/jared-fogle-ex-subway-spokesman-plead-guilty-child-porn-charges-n412316), your friend is right about that. Some places have a [$15 minimum wage](http://time.com/3969977/minimum-wage/), so you have to give your friend partial credit. When it comes to 9/11, though, he’s just full of shit. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2015, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-someone-with-a-fairly-high-iq-149-who-is-like-wrong-about-everything/728286/6 "2015-08-19T22:25:16Z")
I’ve known plenty of people who are highly intelligent, educated, etc. whose lives are completely messed up. Intelligence does not equate to common sense, and high levels of intelligence have actually been correlated with a greater incidence of mental illness as well. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Nylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Mr.Nylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Nylock)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2015, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-someone-with-a-fairly-high-iq-149-who-is-like-wrong-about-everything/728286/7 "2015-08-19T22:37:33Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > According to [Jared’s plea bargain](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/jared-fogle-ex-subway-spokesman-plead-guilty-child-porn-charges-n412316), your friend is right about that. > > Some places have a [$15 minimum wage](http://time.com/3969977/minimum-wage/), so you have to give your friend partial credit. > > When it comes to 9/11, though, he’s just full of shit. He wasn’t basing his opinions on any of this information; that’s more to the point. The article he showed me on minimum wage said nothing about minimum wage currently being 15 in our area - it was an article about a proposal to raise the minimum wage to !5 in 3 years getting over one hurdle. He didn’t base his opinion on the Jared thing on a guilty plea - just an article that only remotely hinted at his involvement. And we do have master links - he was definitely wrong about that. ETA: Your min. wage article says nothing about it currently being $15 anywhere. Jared! Say it ain’t so! ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2015, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-someone-with-a-fairly-high-iq-149-who-is-like-wrong-about-everything/728286/8 "2015-08-19T22:52:58Z")
When creating a new character, Intelligence and Wisdom are categorised as different abilities, and so have separate dice rolls. It’s possible to have someone with the maximum Intelligence of 18 and, at the same time have the minimum Wisdom of 3 (and vice versa). The two axes of Alignment (Lawful-Neutral-Chaotic and Good-Neutral-Evil) are not rolled for and instead are chosen by the player. ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2015, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-someone-with-a-fairly-high-iq-149-who-is-like-wrong-about-everything/728286/9 "2015-08-19T22:54:11Z")
People with high IQ’s wind up on opposite sides of debates. Many people with high IQ’s have joined religious cults. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2015, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-someone-with-a-fairly-high-iq-149-who-is-like-wrong-about-everything/728286/10 "2015-08-19T23:30:37Z")
He’s wrong about the richest 100. They have already taken over the world. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2015, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-someone-with-a-fairly-high-iq-149-who-is-like-wrong-about-everything/728286/11 "2015-08-19T23:31:59Z")
Through the years I’ve met a number of people who sailed through university, were members of Mensa and had IQ’s that were through the roof. In a number of cases I got the feeling the the more the IQ, the more it pushed out Common Sense. One of 'em (like the person Jay Ray knows) never met a conspiracy he didn’t like. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2015, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-someone-with-a-fairly-high-iq-149-who-is-like-wrong-about-everything/728286/12 "2015-08-19T23:50:47Z")
Does he by chance have schizophrenia, paranoid subtype, or schizotypy? Because [that is correlated with higher than average IQ](http://www.schizophrenia.com/sznews/archives/000607.html#). Many (though not all) paranoid schizophrenics are into conspiracy theories, and also into forming certainty based on very little information. I’d also question the 145 number. It’s not impossible, of course, but that would put him in the top one half of one percent of people in the US, 4 standard deviations above the mean. ---
**Author:** ![bobkitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c67d28/32.png) [@bobkitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobkitty)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-someone-with-a-fairly-high-iq-149-who-is-like-wrong-about-everything/728286/13 "2015-08-20T00:19:18Z")
> [@Doug\_Bowe](#): > > In a number of cases I got the feeling the the more the IQ, the more it pushed out Common Sense. This has been my exact theory since high school. More book smarts, less walking-around smarts. Totally inverse relationship. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-someone-with-a-fairly-high-iq-149-who-is-like-wrong-about-everything/728286/14 "2015-08-20T05:20:49Z")
OP, I would like to know what your perception of the IQ scale is like. 149 is WAY higher than “fairly” high. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-someone-with-a-fairly-high-iq-149-who-is-like-wrong-about-everything/728286/15 "2015-08-20T05:30:59Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > I’d also question the 145 number. It’s not impossible, of course, but that would put him in the top one half of one percent of people in the US, 4 standard deviations above the mean. 3 standard deviations. I assume most people know hundreds of people, so having one acquaintance in that range wouldn’t be at all unusual. If the OP is in a STEM field, then people are already likely to be in the ~90th percentile for IQ, and so knowing someone in the 99.7th percentile would be even less unusual. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-someone-with-a-fairly-high-iq-149-who-is-like-wrong-about-everything/728286/16 "2015-08-20T06:35:59Z")
I’d never heard of a “master link” before so I Googled, and apparently it’s just a little piece of metal. How could we be “out” of something so easy to manufacture? ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-someone-with-a-fairly-high-iq-149-who-is-like-wrong-about-everything/728286/17 "2015-08-20T06:37:10Z")
> [@romansperson](#): > > I’ve known plenty of people who are highly intelligent, educated, etc. whose lives are completely messed up. Intelligence does not equate to common sense, and high levels of intelligence have actually been correlated with a greater incidence of mental illness as well. It seems safe to me to operate on the idea that there’s no such thing as common sense. In the first place, no two people have had the same life experiences. Second is that he people I usually hear saying someone else does not have common sense are, in fact, simply saying that the other person has not done what the complainer supposedly would do in that situation. Of course, the complainer generally has more information about the incident because it’s almost always commentary in hindsight. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-someone-with-a-fairly-high-iq-149-who-is-like-wrong-about-everything/728286/18 "2015-08-20T07:31:30Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Second is that he people I usually hear saying someone else does not have common sense are, in fact, simply saying that the other person has not done what the complainer supposedly would do in that situation. I used to get told I had no common sense a lot when I was in my 20s, and yet I was sure I carefully thought through my actions in a logical manner. The fact that they didn’t turn out the way I predicted was hardly my fault, but I got blamed. It confused and frustrated me. I also decided that “common sense” was not a real thing. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-someone-with-a-fairly-high-iq-149-who-is-like-wrong-about-everything/728286/19 "2015-08-20T08:26:38Z")
> [@Mr.Nylock](#): > > . Examples include telling me minimum wage is $15,and, worst of all, we are completely out of master links This guy may have a high IQ, but he is _NOT_ intelligent. He may be good enough at math and solving Rubik cubes that he measures high on the IQ test. That just proves that the IQ test is a joke–it measures puzzle-solving skills, but it does not measure intelligence. If he believes in 9/11 conspiracy theories, then he is just weird. And if he doesn’t know how to google for the minimun wage, then he is both weird and stupid. And if he is both weird, stupid, and scores high on IQ tests, then he’s crazy. I wouldn’t trust him to feed my cat when I go on vacation. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-someone-with-a-fairly-high-iq-149-who-is-like-wrong-about-everything/728286/20 "2015-08-20T11:55:12Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I used to get told I had no common sense a lot when I was in my 20s, and yet I was sure I carefully thought through my actions in a logical manner. The fact that they didn’t turn out the way I predicted was hardly my fault, but I got blamed. It confused and frustrated me. I also decided that “common sense” was not a real thing. I can’t tell if this is a whoosh or not. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-someone-with-a-fairly-high-iq-149-who-is-like-wrong-about-everything/728286.md?page=2)