There are many articles on Quora about smart people thinking differently. Something similar can be found here. Since I have my own opinion on the subject, please allow me to share.
Things that work
People with very high intelligence will likely have exceptional education – formal or autodidactic. They will probably excel both in math and foreign languages. The social behavior will be either very charismatic or very shy, but rarely average. Intelligent people will probably read a lot. And this is probably the end of what we actually know. The rest is a riddle wrapped in mystery.
Some people with very high intelligence will have broad polymathic interests, while others will be experts – and both may score any level of success from luminary to complete failure. They will captivate journalists and scientists for millennia and yet nothing certain would appear.
IQ is not a sufficient measure
A word of warning, IQ is not a real measure of intelligence, but the best proxy available today. People who complete our courses often score an improvement of 20 IQ points when measured before and after. Those who consume cannabis may often measure 20 IQ points lower, and so on. As IQ grows, the measurement becomes less effective, often registering statistical variations instead. Since my IQ was slightly below 150 before taking any memory and speedreading training, I did not bother to measure it again. My reading and general knowledge improved with learning, but my math skills somewhat dwindled with age. In any case, I do not think my IQ changed much, but my thinking patterns changed significantly.
People with high IQs make fewer mistakes
The way IQ tests are structured, they often provide high penalties for trivial mistakes and lack of attention to detail. The common IQ tests are often biased for people who make painstaking preparations to pass the tests. For example, teachers of IQ preparation courses score incredibly high, well beyond their intelligence is judged by their peers.
Attention to detail and careful preparation are good qualities. IQ scores are correlated with lower rates of divorce, lower probability of major accidents, an overall longer lifespan, and higher income.
True creativity is not necessarily correlated with IQ scores
Nobel prize winners and important inventors often have high IQs, but usually not exceptionally high IQs. Professional mathematicians on average (!) have an IQ somewhere around 145, and most Nobel prize winners have an IQ in the same range. It feels that once a person can pass the gatekeepers of the relevant sciences, IQ does not really matter that much.
Many talented scientists have very focused skillset scoring very high in some disciplines while being mediocre in others. Some people are very good at solving logical puzzles and very bad at completing geometric progressions. Others have a lot of general knowledge and can win any debate, but consistently fail simple math exercises. Some see the big picture and miss the details, resulting in annoying minor mistakes.
A great artist, novelist, and even mathematician will not necessarily score high in a wide range of IQ tests. However, a person that scores high on IQ tests will probably choose a profession that provides an intellectual challenge and an exercise in creativity.
The great chess champion Gary Kasparov is extremely smart. Several sites claim their IQ score estimate is 180-190, which is merely an estimate and not a true test number. He really got 135 on a specific IQ test administered in 1987-88. This score was discovered during a legal test performed by the German magazine Der Spiegel in 1997.
The predicament of extreme IQ
People with IQs in the range between 120 and 140 will appear quite average, maybe more motivated and successful than average. Those with IQs in the range of 140 to 160 will often favor highly complex jobs and be easily bored otherwise.
When the IQ is above 160, scientists often notice antisocial behavior. Some individuals with extremely high IQs will try to teach or benefit others, which is socially acceptable. Others will try to manipulate less talented peers from positions of power. Yet others will try to avoid people, failing to understand and fearing less intelligent human beings. This can become absurd, to the point that some notorious brutes also have incredibly high IQs. Christopher Langan has IQ in the area of 200, yet he has zero academic success, operates a horse ranch, and develops strange conspiracy theories.
Terence Tao, the smartest man alive
Some famous mathematicians have IQs in the area of 220s. These people operate on a very different level of problem-solving, inconceivable by their peers. Usually, this level of intelligence is evident at a very early age and often is accompanied by other abnormalities like hyperfocus and synesthesia. This is how Terence Tao is perceived by his peers, quoted from Wikipedia.
Such is Tao’s reputation that mathematicians now compete to interest him in their problems, and he is becoming a kind of Mr. Fix-it for frustrated researchers. “If you’re stuck on a problem, then one way out is to interest Terence Tao,” says Charles Fefferman professor of mathematics at Princeton University.
British mathematician and Fields medalist Timothy Gowers remarked on Tao’s breadth of knowledge:
Tao’s mathematical knowledge has an extraordinary combination of breadth and depth: he can write confidently and authoritatively on topics as diverse as partial differential equations, analytic number theory, the geometry of 3-manifolds, nonstandard analysis, group theory, model theory, quantum mechanics, probability, ergodic theory, combinatorics, harmonic analysis, image processing, functional analysis, and many others. Some of these are areas to which he has made fundamental contributions. Others are areas that he appears to understand at the deep intuitive level of an expert despite officially not working in those areas. How he does all this, as well as writing papers and books at a prodigious rate, is a complete mystery. It has been said that David Hilbert was the last person to know all of mathematics, but it is not easy to find gaps in Tao’s knowledge, and if you do then you may well find that the gaps have been filled a year later.
The bottom line is: nobody understands how extremely intelligent people think and their success cannot be taught or duplicated.
Misattribution
People are captivated by their heroes, providing them with more credit than they deserve. Albert Einstein is often attributed with quotes that rightfully and arguably belong to others. Thomas Edison was significantly more successful as a patent thief and patent troll than as an actual inventor.
This misattribution is not new. Scholars that study scripture claim that Goliath was slain not by young King David, but by an obscure hero called Elhanan the son of Jaare-Oregim from Bethlehem.
The misattribution may become ridiculous. The theorem of Pythagoras was proven thousands of years before the Greeks settled in Greece, and there are written sources for this. Moreover, Pythagoras is such a semi-mythical figure, that scholars do not even know if the person existed, not unlike British King Arthur.
Thus we may attribute certain achievements and thought patterns to actual historical people, building farfetched theories without any real evidence.
How can anyone become smarter?
While we are likely to be puzzled by an actual genius, we can do several tricks to appear more intelligent to any observer, including IQ tests. These tricks are quite simple:
- Increase the level of general knowledge by reading voraciously on a wide range of subjects, even if this range is limited by your natural inclinations and needs. For example, Terence Tao reads about all kinds of math.
- Practice creativity by writing, building projects, and solving puzzles. The quality of the result is less important compared to trying different things. Eventually, something is likely to succeed.
- Socialize with smart people and leverage your personal strengths. We cannot be good in everything, but if we leverage our strengths we may appear of a great value.
- Practice critical thinking. Authors will write passionately about all sorts of subjects. Conspiracy theories often appear convincing. Magic tricks are mindblowing only before we understand how they actually work.
- Judge people not by their IQ or achievements, but by their skill and motivation. IQ is misleading and achievements are misattributed.
