Idiot Percentage

[thorme]

Seriously folks, what percentage of the population is made up of idiots?  I don't mean idiot in the sense of an otherwise capable fellow who occasionally fucks up.  I mean idiot in the sense of someone who cannot (or refuses to) understand simple concepts, is consistently foolish, or almost never has a genuine thought enter his/her head (this includes those MTV-junkie, slack-jawed mall rats).

[Saucemaster]

25-50.  I figure that under your definition of idiot, the percentage is definitely higher than one in four, but most likely not QUITE every other person.

This depends a little on locale, though.  Are we talking worldwide here, or like the panhandle of Texas?

[thorme]

Are we talking worldwide here, or like the panhandle of Texas?

Vote based on your personal experience.  If you're from the Texas panhandle - vote it.  Don't vote on what you think the worldwide number might look like.

[Saucemaster]

Actually, you know what, I think it's probably the same worldwide anyway.  So no offense intended to the Texas panhandlers of the world.

[Azhrei]

What's funny about this is that what we'll be able to see afterward is how smart TMD people think they are compared to everyone else.

I'm borrowing an example I've seen in multiple sources, but:

Imagine a true/false test where you have to be a genius to score well. Anyone else will get about a 50% based on just random guessing. A dog will also get a 50%, because it will also be choosing randomly. The average person, in this case, has as much intellectual capacity for achievement as a dog, but a dog will bring the genius his slippers without calling him elitist.

The smarter you are, the stupider everyone else seems. Mozart and Salieri, if you will-- Salieri was rather good, but compared to Mozart he was a stumbling buffoon. In a more tangible sense, a friend of mine has a six-figure salary, which I consider good money. Bill Gates would consider a six-figure salary an intolerable hardship. The more you have of something, the higher your bar of "not much at all" becomes-- even with brains.

[walkingdude]

I think we have fairly clear evidence at least 50% of the people in the US are idiots.  with 50% as a baseline we have to estimate how many people act sensibly for reasons that are fairly random. In a 2 choice situation about 50% should get it right by random chance. So all told I place the % of idiots in the U.S. as at least 75%.

[jpmeyer]

In general, I tended to think that most people were not idiots, but Something Awful's weekend web has crushed the conception.

[The Atog Lord]

One Hundred Percent. Myself included.

Almost no one thinks himself to be an idiot. But if you compare the amount you know to the amount that could be known, then, you'll realize just how little you know. There are so many questions I cannot answer, so many ideas I cannot understand. I know that in my entire life, there will be very little i will grasp, compared to the amount there is to be grasped.

[Azhrei]

One Hundred Percent. Myself included.

Almost no one thinks himself to be an idiot. But if you compare the amount you know to the amount that could be known, then, you'll realize just how little you know. There are so many questions I cannot answer, so many ideas I cannot understand. I know that in my entire life, there will be very little i will grasp, compared to the amount there is to be grasped.

Very true, but I think the true test comes in still trying to master all that is available to you. I may neverhave more than a cursory understanding of astrophysics, but there are things that I CAN comprehend at advanced levels to enrich and enhance my mind.

All that really matters is that you keep thinking and keep learning. The people who don't... well, they're the real idiots.

[Eastman]

I'd like to see the 'how many people are arrogant' poll that follows this.

[Dr. Sylvan]

I'd like to see the 'what percentage of humanity is more likely to kill someone over misuse of the word "elitist" than Azhrei' poll that follows this.

I suggest options ranging from 0% to 0.05%.

[Ric_Flair]

As a criminal defense attorney I have FANTASTIC idoit stories.

Story #1:  

Man has his license taking away for DWI.  Gets caught operating after suspension (driving after having his license taken away).  Drives to court for operating after suspension trial.

Story #2:

Man (different person) shows up to DWI hearing with a T shirt that reads: "Too drunk to fuck."

Story #3:

Man steals purse at Wal Mart.  Remains in store after police arrive.  ID'ed as suspect because he is the only man in the store carrying a purse.

Story #4:

Man on probation has a urinalysis test.  Test comes back positive for pregnancy.  Probably not his pee...whaddya think?

Story #5:

Man blows a .5 on his BAC, after the waiting period.

[st00mie]

You have to consider as well that around 50% of the people in the world are below average.

[Machinus]

You have to consider as well that around 50% of the people in the world are below average.

rofl

[Milton]

Most people are smart, rational individuals looking out for their own self-interest, just wanting to live their lives and be left alone.  Idiot and genius are a matter of perception.

Am I an idiot because I can't change my own transmission fluid?  The guy who changes my transmission fluid might think so, but I might think he is an idiot because he can't tell me the name of the Secretary of State.

Was Motzart a true genius?  He was at his craft, but he was certianly unstable and generally incapable of managing his finances or household.

I know this...  I thought I was smart and everyone else was dumb until I started to really learn that our world, and the human experience, is truly wide and vast.  The more I know, the more I really understand that I don't know much.

[Matt]

I know this... I thought I was smart and everyone else was dumb until I started to really learn that our world, and the human experience, is truly wide and vast. The more I know, the more I really understand that I don't know much.

Hear, hear!

However, I think the terms 'genius' and 'idiot' are not used to refer to a person's body of knowledge, but rather how easily they acquire new knowledge, and how readily they can connect new knowledge with other knowledge. You could certainly learn to change your transmission fliud faster and more permanently than your mechanic could learn the names and functions of the Cabinet.

[Machinus]

Well Matt, then I think it is obvious that those with true intelligence comprise a very small fraction of the general population.

However, "idiot" is usually reserved for people who do stupid or ridiculous things that are so dumb that they don't make any sense to people who see or hear about them. We use it more commonly than that just like we overuse words like "gay" or "retarded" but I think that idiots are also a pretty small part of the population. Just because you can't learn and process new information quickly and efficiently doesn't mean you are going to do really stupid things.

[jpmeyer]

"Idiot" actually I think refers to a specific IQ range.  If I can remember, I'll look it up in one of my medical reference textbooks next time I'm at work.

[dandan]

If you call a person an idiot if they have opinions about important matters that cannot be changed regardless of events and facts to the contrary or if they fail to understand that something is important and therefore take no action at all despite events and facts to the contrary.

Add up the percentage of people who recently failed to vote and a high perventage of those that always vote the same way. I'm pretty sure that adds up to more than 25%.

Personally I find it hard to imagine life if I had a brain that needed a calculator to work out 6x10 or 6+7, but I think people like that are the majority.

I believe that terms like moron and idiot were once defined as having the intelligence of an average X year old. Given the average, being an idiot means being significantly more stupid than the general population, a feat only a few can truly lay claim to. Therefore only a sad 5% or so are idiots but most of us are capable of idiotic acts (consider your track record with alcohol, sex, drugs and Magic play).

[Sylvester]

From http://members.shaw.ca/delajara/IQBasics.html.

Mental deficiency used to be more finely classified using the following technical terms that later began to be abused by the rest of society (5):

IQ Range    Classification
70-80    Borderline deficiency
50-69    Moron
20-49    Imbecile
below 20    Idiot
These are now largely obsolete and mental deficiency is now generally called mental retardation.  The following is the currently used classification of retardation in the USA (5):

IQ Range    Classification
50-69    Mild
35-49    Moderate
20-34    Severe
below 20    Profound
Moreover, "educable mentally retarded" is roughly equivalent to mild mental retardation, and "trainable" mentally retarded is roughly equivalent to moderate (5).  The DSM now requires an assessment of a person's adaptive functioning as an additional criterion for labeling someone retarded.  IQ is not enough.  Maybe the same sort of thing should be done for labeling somebody a genius.

Given that, at that time, they probably used something close to the origjnal Binet test, i guess an IQ of 20 was 5 SD below the average. That's very much less than 1% (95% of a normal distribution is within 2 SD of the average).

[Machinus]

So moron > idiot. Interesting. Less than 1% didn't get that many votes.

[dandan]

So Moron is now Mild and Idiot is Profound.

Stupid political correctness (or is that Profound political correctness?)

Next they'll start telling us to call Type I, Vintage and Type 1.5, Legacy!!!

[Saucemaster]

So Moron is now Mild and Idiot is Profound.

Stupid political correctness (or is that Profound political correctness?)

Next they'll start telling us to call Type I, Vintage and Type 1.5, Legacy!!!

I know your post was intended humorously, but I feel compelled to point out that, actually, moron-level intelligence is now "mild mental retardation" and idiot-level intelligence is "profound mental retardation".  It may be PC, but it's not like they're exactly sugarcoating it.  I think that whether you tell Billy he's an idiot or just "profoundly mentally retarded", he's going to cry himself to sleep later either way.  Assuming he understood what you said to begin with.

[dandan]

I did take it slightly out of context for purposes of humour although the classification IDIOT is now the classification PROFOUND.

The chances of an idiot understanding any of the words in profound mental retardation is pretty slim.