"People who boast about their IQ are losers" Stephen Hawking

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Stephen Hawking, seen by many as the world's smartest person, never revealed his IQ score. It's not even known if he took an IQ test.

Hawking, a renowned theoretical physicist, died at the age of 76 on March 14 2018. He was a longtime sufferer of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which left him paralyzed for decades.

The scientist's book A Brief History of Time, which brought mind-bending theories of the universe to a mass audience, is one of the best-selling works ever.
He never allowed his condition—which developed in his early 20s and doctors said would kill him within months of diagnosis—to overcome him. Hawking lived a long and full life, becoming one of the most important scientists and public intellectuals of our time, if not all time.

Despite his undoubted intelligence, Hawking was modest about his gifts. When asked in a 2004 interview with The New York Times what his IQ is, Hawking gave a curt reply: "I have no idea. People who boast about their IQ are losers."

The interviewer pressed him on how the world could know if he really is a genius physicist, as was often said.

"The media need superheroes in science just as in every sphere of life, but there is really a continuous range of abilities with no clear dividing line," Hawking said.

"Are you saying you are not a genius?" asked the interviewer.

"I hope I'm near the upper end of the range," Hawking replied.

https://www.newsweek.com/what-stephen-hawkings-iq-score-late-physicist-called-people-who-care-losers-843895

He's saying what we're all thinking.

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@izzythepush,

I never thought of Hawking as that smart really — real geniuses spend their time playing WoW, denouncing the Democratic Party on social media, and defending their god-given right to fondle pistol-gripped firearms. Sorry, Sir Stephen, genius is as genius does.

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@izzythepush,

We know Stephen, oh God do we know. RIP

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@hightor,

Who cares about black holes 'n that when you can repeat the same pat phrases over and over again?

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I don't think IQ means anything in the context of a discussion forum.

1. The way you get your IQ is to take a test. But, there are many versions of this test. There are two that are taken the most seriously are the Stanford-Binet and Weschler. They return different numbers. If someone says "I have a 170 IQ"... what they really mean is "I took this unspecified test at some random time under some unknown conditions and the answer was 170".

2. Different IQ tests return different results.

3. If you are wealthier, you will get a higher score on the "accepted" IQ tests.

4. If you are paid to take an IQ test, you will get a significantly higher score.

5. If you practice taking the IQ test, you will get a significantly higher score.

People who understand science would never claim that a random IQ score from a unspecified test means anything. If someone said they scored 170 on a Stanford-Binet test taken in a formal setting ... that might mean something.

But it doesn't mean anything about someone's ability to tell fact from opinion.

1 Reply

I’ve never taken an IQ test either. They’re not common over here you’d have to actively seek them out. I’ve never had the inclination. Outside of A2K I’ve only met two people who claimed to have Mensa level IQs. Both of them left school at sixteen and neither of them had much in the way of qualifications, but they had membership of Mensa, and didn’t they go on about.

I always thought that if they were really that smart they would have got themselves a proper education.

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@hightor,

hightor wrote:

I never thought of Hawking as that smart really — real geniuses spend their time playing WoW, denouncing the Democratic Party on social media, and defending their god-given right to fondle pistol-gripped firearms. Sorry, Sir Stephen, genius is as genius does.

Too funny and very droll.

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@izzythepush,

Quote:

if they were really that smart they would have got themselves a proper education.

How? I mean since they are geniusy all, any schooling would be a dreadful bore to them and so far beneath them that they'd likely be ridiculed.

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@Sturgis,

They were ridiculed all right. One of them was a real short arse who wore platform shoes and used to spike his hair up.

He didn’t look too short next to me like that but my best mate is 6ft 6in and he really resented him for his height.

It wasn’t his height that attracted ridicule, it was the pitiful attempts he made to hide it.

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@izzythepush,

Being on the shorter side at 5 '5" ( although doctors keep insisting it's 5 '4 & 3/4" ), it only bugged me briefly growing up (when amazingly I was even shorter...weird, I know). A friend suggested I stand on a crowded street for an hour. It worked, lots of people shorter. Lots taller.

My height never concerned me again. PLus, I have a shorter distance to fall if I plan to test the hardness of concrete with my head!
Never put lifts in my shoes or got into platform shoes.

Not sure what my IQ is or my blood type.... Must mean I ain't a genius.

(and I defy anyone to point out where I said I knows my current waist measurement!)

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@Sturgis,

The individual in question had a lot of issues, his height was just one of a multitude.

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@izzythepush,

That happens sometimes. They might have benefited from a few years of mental health therapy.

... Or maybe a self -acceptance guru would do it.

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@Sturgis,

He definitely needed something.

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"When a true genius appears in this world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."
-- Jonathan Swift, Thoughts on Various Subjects, Moral and Diverting

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izzythepush wrote:

what we're all thinking.

Well there's your problem right there. All you low IQ people shouldn't be trying to think for yourselves. You guys just aren't any good at it.

Had you guys gotten help from your betters, we could have helped you understand that when you bring up the subject of someone else's intelligence, that doesn't count as them boasting about it.

I'm not saying that I never bring it up. It's not like I'm ashamed of it after all. But 99.99999% of the time it's you guys who bring it up.

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@Sturgis,

Interesting how Oralloy sees the word loser and immediately thinks Stephen Hawking is talking about him.

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@izzythepush,

That's another one of your lies.

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@oralloy,

What wit, what repartee, one could be forgiven for thinking they’re conversing with Oscar Wilde.

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@oralloy,

This is another example of you losing your ongoing struggle with the English language. I made an observation based on your behaviour. That’s not lying, it’s postulation, now you could disagree with my deductions, maybe say something like you don’t think Stephen Hawking was talking about you specifically, that loser was more of a general term that you’re known by.

Or it could be something else.

Nobody mentioned you specifically at all.

I don’t anybody thought you were being series when you claimed to have a high IQ, we thought you must be joking because you’re such a nerk.

1 Reply

I like car rides

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"People who boast about their IQ are losers" Stephen Hawking

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