Exceptionality in any domain poses challenges and problems, because the world is designed to accommodate those of average height, of average size and average intellect. Tall people find themselves squashed into airline seats made for those of average size, while short people may have difficulty reaching the overhead storage compartment for their luggage. Clothing stores offer a wide range of products for people of average size, but those of exceptional size must shop in specialty stores or be content with a smaller selection of options.
Similarly, those who are much more or much less intelligent than average are faced with a variety of challenges. Most books, movies, music and media target the average, because that’s where the greatest market resides. Those who are highly intelligent often have to wait a long time to find a movie of interest or a television program that offers some depth of thought. They have to look beyond the bestseller lists to find literature of interest to them. When Stephen Hawking wrote his book, “A Brief History of Time,” his publisher told him that every equation he included in the book would reduce his sales by 50%. Those who are highly intelligent, have to spend time researching books that speak to them at their intellectual level.
When we investigate the lives of geniuses in past eras, such as Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, we see people who were isolated, lonely and misunderstood. The long-running sitcom, *The Big Bang Theory*, caricatured the personality of the genius, in the character of theoretical physicist Sheldon Cooper who perpetually struggled to understand how average people see the world. Though the characterization exaggerated, for humorous effect, the difference between geniuses and those of average intelligence, it portrayed the isolation that geniuses experience from the rest of the world.When we look at the brilliant people of today, including Steve Jobs (founder of Apple and Pixar), Jeff Bezos (founder of Amazon) and Elon Musk (founder of Space X, Tesla, and Neuralink) we see people who were bullied as youngsters and misunderstood as adults. See: https://www.intelligence-and-iq.com/what-people-of-high-iq-should-understand/
High intelligence also brings a behavioral danger that Edward de Bono called “the intelligence trap.” Those who have a high IQ are accustomed to being right when most others are wrong–especially in their area of expertise. For this reason, they may tend to dismiss the opinions of others, even when outside their domain of expertise. However, a high IQ is not a valid substitute for knowledge, and those of high IQ who assume that superiority in their field transfers into areas outside their expertise often override the opinions of others who are more knowledgable. Indian astrophysicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, who won the Nobel Prize in 1983 described how a scientist may fall into this cognitive trap: ( Quote from Hammond, A. L. 1984. A Passion to Know: Twenty Profiles in Science . New York: Scribner. p.5.)
These people [winners of prestigious awards] imagine afterward that the fact that they succeeded so triumphantly in one area means they have a special way of looking at science that must be right. But science doesn’t permit that. Nature has shown over and over again that the kinds of truth which underlie nature transcend the most powerful minds.
High intelligence is, indeed, a gift that has the potential to offer substantial rewards, but it also comes with challenges and dangers. Without some measure of wisdom, high intelligence can be a liability.
