Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi, I just stumbled across this site and found myself reading the discussions which are very interesting. I set up a profile which you’re welcome to ignore because I don’t really know completely what I’m on about but these are the half unformed thoughts about myself and my life that I have been wondering about.
How do you know if you’re just above average intelligent/academic or on the autism spectrum?
I might say something wrong while explaining this, I’m sorry if I have already, using wrong terms etc because I’m not deeply educated on it.
I’ve kind of been thinking isn’t it rational to shun socializing if you’re intelligent and not necessarily in an environment where you have connection with other intelligent people?.
Isn’t preferring objects to people rational for someone academic? Humans are quite silly and frivolous and unless you’re working at a top uni, not going to be highly intelligent. But does avoidance of them mean you’re arrogant or use your brain in a more productive way. Some people take drugs or drink so maybe they’re not going to be using their brain to its full capacity.
So isn’t it just a survival instinct that if you’re clever, you’re going to prefer to be alone rather than settle for averagely intelligent humans, which might look like there’s something wrong.
Isn’t it a fact that we live in an unaesthetic, Capitalist, Consumerist driven world that often makes the man/woman made world quite ugly, full of fake advertising and trash. So isn’t avoiding all that sensory disingenuous junk again rational?
Isn’t it rational to order the world around us, so isn’t keeping collections and cataloging the height of intelligence?
Doesn’t it just mean that you’re a good person if you like rules and like them to be followed?
Isn’t the best way to get things done during the day to have a repetitious routine? And not liking it when undisciplined people come along and try and tear you from your strict routine, just because they’re lazy and lack focus and are addicted to frivolous hedonism.
Might be utter junk coming out of my head, thank you
whos to say we are intelligent anyway?when i was a kid my parents had some person assess me for "learning difficulties" and that person said nothings wrong with me and im actually above average intelligence, ofcourse this was the issue in the 90s, anytime you had clearly something mentally wrong with you everyone just only knew the word learning difficulty and had you seen for that instead of anything else like a disorder or anything like autism. that was at that time, times moved on, i maybe below average intelligence for my age now if we tested intelligence again anyway. it doesnt stay the same. and not that intelligence matters as its actually knowledge we are tested by and whos to say the general knowledge we have is actually worthless while someone elses knowledge is more usefull?this is where intelligence is perhaps misunderstood or tested wrong. or perhaps it just doesnt exist, and all it is is memory and repetition. which makes us kinda virtually intelligence instead of actually intelligent, as we require input instead of coming up with things ourselves.
This is snobbish probably. And bias because I’m a creator and less of a consumer. But in my eyes intelligence is not just watching tv and accepting low quality entertainment. Like reading Hello magazine or something. I’ve been through times in my life where I’ve watched tv for hours of the day, chat shows and read rubbish magazines about celebs. So I include myself in that. But I also read books and watched quality films too.
I think misdiagnosis is rife in Psychiatry and it’s part Pseudoscience, although some conditions do exist. They just know something’s wrong and attach any label they want but can’t admit that they don’t understand at that moment because they still need to get paid. So they have to tie up loose ends.
I was an avid, and eclectic, reader of books during my school years. That stopped when I became mentally ill. I'd always thought other people were like me, couldn't visualise characters and scenes from reading a book. That was shattered doing guided imagery ,via the mental health centre, to reduce anxiety. Others were finding it helpful, but it did nothing for me. Fast forward almost a decade later and I came across 'Aphantasia'. I have total aphantasia. Knowing that other people can imagine characters and scenes from books- and I can't-that has put me off reading fiction. Because I'm useless at a myriad of things I wanted to find something I was at least reasonably good at. That lead me, through my autistic interest in low to highbrow quizzes and tests, to high range IQ tests. I'm no way a genius, but have managed to get a few reasonable scores. I did fluke my way into being a member of https://president2205.wixsite.com/foursigmasociety/members, but quit after a short while . Why? Basically because I was taking the p*ss. I'd used an outlier of a score to join, and was nowhere near the intellectual ability of the other members. As for psychiatry, despite my less than positive experience(though 2017- has been fine) I'm 'critical of' but not anti psychiatry. I have little time for the Robert Whitaker's of this world.
How about an iPad for audible? You could read books on there too. I’m going to get my dad one. His phone is really basic too.
firemonkey said:I can never get the swiping right on a smartphone
Have you tried a stylus? My mother uses one as her fingertips are not picked up reliably on her smartphone or tablet (poor circulation seems to have that effect).
Something like this worked for her:
https://www.amazon.com/MEKO-Universal-Including-Computers-Acessories/dp/B08HCNHPS2/
Audiobooks would be good, but unfortunately I only have one of those very basic senior phones. I can never get the swiping right on a smartphone. My daughter says I'm heavy handed because of the 'dyspraxia'
Wow, what do you do with all these wonderful thoughts? Write them down? Make Art with them?
Have you seen The Witcher? I feel like that’s Game of Thrones with much more magic of the imagination added. There are parts that remind me of what you describe. Where whole scenes in rooms are just figments of a person’s imagination. Their fantasies made concrete.
I used to love fantasy books as a child, particularly The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blighton. Wow, imagining those lands that appeared up the tree, changing each time, was like heaven to me.
Could you listen to audio books? Or do you prefer real books? I have a big audiobook library on my phone. It saves space.
I was a perfectionist and obsessive with my homework at school, I think that got me through. Would spend 50 hours working on something. But then these other kids were naturally genius, not even having to try and getting A*s.
Sounds like 'hyperphantasia' The opposite to what I have.
blogs.exeter.ac.uk/.../
Nothing wrong with good non fiction. I've just not read any books for quite a while. Plus there's not much space in my 42 sq M flat for books. I have a very small bookshelf. I was fairly mediocre academic wise. A similar child nowadays to how I was, he/she would be labelled as 2e with EF difficulties. Back then though(1961-1975) there was nothing like the level of help and support available now.