Sorta of Philosophical question

[Anonymous No.4674281]

So /sci/, i don't know where to discuss this and i choosed you because, as far as i'm concerned, /sci/ hosts some really brillant minds.

Do you think normal people understimate their intelligence?
I see a lot of people saying "oh, i can't remember that! oh, i can't prepare an exam in 1-2 weeks!", well i think that's totally bullshit, we completely understimate our level, what we are capable of. If someone can remember the number of a bill we instantly label them as "geniuses" instead of trying for ourselves, and that really pisses me off. Those are things that everyone can do, it's not something like "create a new mathematic formula" or shit.

tl;dr Are we really dumb or we just understimate ourselves?

[Anonymous No.4674328]

>>4674281
I think those same cliche statements like "there's no way I can do that!" or "omg! you're such a genius!" are just used in a social sense, similar to the other hundreds of cliche statements that we use everyday. Little to no thought is given as to the meaning of what comes out of people's mouths, as long as they say something appropriate or befitting to that situation. This is due to this irrational fear of that thing that people call an "awkward silence". At the end of the day it's difficult to generalize people's level of intelligence, that essentially comes down to the person. Besides, if the majority of people fit your understanding of intelligence, then your understanding is flawed. Intelligence by nature is relative, not average.

[Anonymous No.4674343]

I can't answer your question but underestimating is a lot better than overestimating.
Almost every single smart individual will doubt his intelligence some time or other in his lifetime, like Socrates said, "I know that I know nothing".

[Anonymous No.4674352]

>>4674343
Socrates did not underestimate anything; he just said that to prove that the humn knowledge is not an absolute obective truth. This is all subjective. That we could never see the universe without the eyes of apes. Later Nihilism cofirmed that...

[Anonymous No.4674370]

>>4674281
>choosed

[Anonymous No.4674403]

I think average people overestimating their own general intelligence is a lot more common than underestimation.

[Anonymous No.4674404]

Try to ask a better question.

[Anonymous No.4674412]

> /sci/, i choosed you

[Anonymous No.4674414]

>>4674412
Forgot related pic, that's what I thought reading op

[Anonymous No.4674417]

"Dumb" people do tend to overestimate themselves. As for underestimate, I'm not really sure, although I do see a lot of what you're pointing out, OP.

>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning-Kruger_effect
if you're interested (in the opposite), OP.