u/bishoppair234

Since someone recently asked if there was a way you could tell if someone was intelligent, (most likely meaning they would qualify as members of Mensa) I thought I'd ask how you could tell if someone was only average or slightly above average in intelligence. Please note this not intended to disparage people of average or slightly above average intelligence. I simply wanted to read how others perceive those who fit the description above as objectively as possible. I'll go first.

1. They're overly pedantic

2. They're incapable of understanding that their thinking may be flawed or that that they have cognitive bias.

3. They write in purple prose thinking that is how intelligent people write.

4. Most of their opinions are low-effort, tired takes on topics that either lack substance or have already been discussed ad nauseum by most people.

5. They lack a sufficient amount of intellectual curiosity that would allow them to either become a true expert in a particular field , or a genuine polymath, meaning they not only lack the ability to become polymaths, but have no natural inclination to become one anyway.

6. They are not introspective enough to learn from their mistakes in any meaningful way.

7. They misrepresent philosophical positions by presenting a distorted caricature of a given position instead of steel manning the position and understanding its actual complexity.

8. They are not aware that they are guilty of number 8, and even if someone were to explain to them what they were doing, instead of considering that they may be misrepresenting another person's philosophy, they double-down and adamantly defend their view.