Wasted Intellect

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In my opinion intellect is only proved by doing something noteworthy with it; until that point it's only hypothetical

I've got little time for IQ tests - they just prove you're good at IQ tests, not much more

Applying your intellect to real life situations is the test

It's clearly the capitalist system which does not make full use of its human resources. There are probably a lot of intellects like yours going to waste because private employers and the system are allowed to make decisions for superficial reasons.

I think the experience of "wasted intellect" is a symptom of the brainwashing that societies undertake in order to convince otherwise content citizens to overproduce/enslave themselves to work. Most of the endeavors that require "intellect" are wholly unnecessary to the sustenance of life, and, depending on how they are practiced/enforced, harmful to it. People who use a great deal of "intellect" at their jobs spend long hours away from loved ones getting fat and developing carpel tunnel syndrome in front of computers, constantly having their minds taxed with deadlines, greedy employers who care not one wit about them, and impossible co-workers. They build, design, and maintain various sorts of widgets, most of which no one actually needs, but that spoiled citizens of wealthy countries want, working for corporations that rape the environments of other countries for raw materials that could be used to actually build useful things, like homes. They destroy forests worth of trees writing reams and reams on obscure topics that the vast majority of the Earth's inhabitants cannot understand or even put to practical use. Useful to keep capitalism running? Yes.

In fact, any sort of "intelligence" is all but destined to be wasted, in the sense of not put to service in the creation of something useful, because it takes very little intelligence to survive. At best, the concept of "wasted intellect" poses the question of what "wasted" or "useful" means. Advanced math, computer programming, engineering, and all sorts of other things that are commonly thought of as the product of intellect are mostly recreational. We don't need them to survive, we don't need them to be happy, so in what sense is the mind wasted if it is not used to understand or work at them?

Of course, this is all ignoring the fact that "intellect" and "intelligence" are extremely vague concepts.

Considering my years of homelessness and drug abuse, i'd say it was intellect wasted.

A lot of.people seem to be replying to this tjread as though wated intellect is in any way related to the corporate job enviroment. I was.speaking in intrinsic terms mostly because i feel i have more potential.than i have actually had the confidence to display.

I think that high IQ is high potential for intellectual accomplishment, but whether or not intellectual accomplishment occurs depends on many factors.

Regarding confidence, I think that intelligence gives me confidence in many situations, because I know that my brain will be there to figure things out for me.

Nope.

The majority of people lead boring, pointless lives, and die as anonymous, unsung members of the lowing herd. 99% of the collective brainpower of humanity gets flushed down the cosmic crapper in the grand scheme of things.

P.S.

Pessimism is just a higher form of optimism. Expect nothing from the world, and you'll go through life being pleasantly surprised.

Regarding the fellow artists here, I can relate. As a kid I would mostly copy/draw comic book characters or copy photographs from encyclopedias or books/magazines into drawings. I was definitely into highly detailed drawings. I only used graphite or pen/ink or charcoal. Unless I was in school, I just didn't use color. I also scoffed at any artwork that weren't cartoons, Renaissance art or surrealism/photorealism. It wasn't until I hit 30 that something clicked in my brain--I decided I didn't need to be so perfect anymore. I could actually be highly imperfect and that was perfectly OK. That's when I started experimenting with color, abstract art, impressionism, etc. A whole new world opened up to me. You see, I *knew* what perfection was, but I didn't have to adhere to someone else's ancient, staid idea of what "real art" was. I began to not care if anyone liked what I made or not. I decided to create my own semblance of perfection. After 30 years, I broke out of my "shell". I grew in other ways as well. I started to see the world a little bit differently. I began to see how the boundaries of things were not just hard lines, but soft edges blending into each other. My brain and my whole perspective on life changed. My brain did a major evolution. If I had more time to myself I would actually love to create much more than I do. Art is truly much more than a picture.

I feel it's a waste and so does my dad. I'm 5 points short of being a genius I had no idea, maybe I can move up 5 points.
If I had a better upbringing and current (stable) adult social life things would be different.

Yep. I test out on the high end of the charts. (Which proves I know the material on the tests.)

I am winding down to retirement age now, and feel like there could have been so much more I could have contributed. But because I was socially oblivious, I never managed to negotiate the various social systems necessary to be able to even get the kind of training I'd have needed for entry level work - I'd have been a great researcher, maybe a good scientist....

When I finally got to college I spent my free time, what there was of it, reading in the library, becoming a subject matter expert. I did not have a clue how to let anyone know what I actually had in my head, and the jumps forward in logic I was able to make. And without decent enough skills to make the connections one needs to get ahead (letters of reference, etc.) I have ended up my working career as a secretary. It wasn't that I wasn't a hard worker, that I didn't put in the sweat equity (so to speak). I simply could not get from point "A" to point "B".

I wish someone would let kids know that the stuff they teach you in the classes in college is only about 1/3 of what you need to get out of college to be successful.