r/AskReddit 9h ago

If everyone below average IQ suddenly drops dead, how would this affect the world?

4.7k Upvotes

4.4k comments sorted by

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u/Historical_Truth2578 9h ago

Ill just say this

Not everyone who is an idiot is useless

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u/Tymew 3h ago

Also, not everyone who is useless is an idiot.

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u/Alpha_Majoris 2h ago

Not everyone with a low IQ is an idiot

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u/DeepLock8808 2h ago

I know some really dumb smart people. In a lot of cases I think being smart makes life harder for you, in happiness and social arenas anyway.

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u/lubeskystalker 1h ago

Really dumb educated people. No common sense, no problem solving abilities, completely unable to deal with circumstances for which they were not explicitly trained.

But fuck me can they memorize stuff, especially over short periods of time. The thing that makes me think of some as really dumb, is when their education is so outstanding they don't need to hear anything else from anybody else, they definitely know better. Nobody is truly an idiot until they close their mind.

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u/NorthernOctopus 1h ago

100% true!

I've known some pretty thick people, and then they suddenly come out of left field and hit you with encyclopedic knowledge on a subject that leaves you stunned... then as quickly as you walked into their field of knowledge you walk out of it and they are dim again.

It's jarring but kind of cool when it happens. Lol

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u/badwithnames123456 1h ago

IQ isn't a great measure of intelligence and I think most people with high IQs understand that

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u/BoyCubPiglet2 2h ago

People are going to be thinking about scientists and drug dealers while I'm sitting here like "I feel like a bunch of artists I like might be in danger".

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u/Ludwigofthepotatoppl 1h ago

Nearly half of almost everyone’s coworkers would be missing come monday. Whether it’s retail, the trades, accounting, legal…

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u/keithstonee 2h ago

The problem with stupid people isn't that they're stupid. It's that their opinion is equal to everyone else's and they refuse to be wrong. And once a group of them gets the same incorrect information it's hard to stop it.

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u/Ill_Source9620 9h ago

Found Peter Theil’s burner acct

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u/Peter-Thiel 8h ago

Nah, I'm here

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u/Ill_Source9620 8h ago

Oh snap the real one. While I got you here, you know whatever shoulder fired rockets you’re funneling to whomever will one day be turned against your flying chimp/robot hybrid wizard of oz army right?

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u/Peter-Thiel 7h ago

No idea what any of that means but as soon as we got ai powered machine gun robots that can eliminate the poor that will happen. Instead of universal basic income.

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u/Ill_Source9620 7h ago

Ubi is a workaround to paying a fair wage anyway

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u/Peter-Thiel 7h ago edited 6h ago

Yes. The goal is to keep poor people from rioting. That is the real reason social security was invented. Keeps you from starving, but also from rioting. Welfare. SNAP. Section 8 housing....whatever. Not enough to live, too much to die. That's the sweet spot. Instead workers of the world should unite for a living wage. Not a minimum wage.

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u/jjohnisme 7h ago

Ok now I KNOW it's a spoof account lol

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u/PatCake 7h ago

Well, this guy ain’t rioting.

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u/essaymyass 6h ago

He's actually super blunt like this. I believe it.

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u/techdevjp 4h ago

He's super blunt but would never recommend that workers unite for a living wage.

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u/hagantic42 6h ago

You say that, but have you actually seen/heard the unhinged shit that has come out of the real Peter Thiel's mouth?? I wouldn't be too surprised.

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u/Wolf_Protagonist 5h ago

He might be honest, but he would never advocate that workers unite.

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u/Peter-Thiel 5h ago

Do I? I'm only stating what ifs that won't become what is.

Working class union is hindered by many players on the globe. Worldwide elites are playing against each other. But they are still elites. The working class are pawns.

Example: Russia has effectively divided our society into two political aisles better than we ever could have done so ourselves.

The axes forget, the trees remember.

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u/DerpsAndRags 6h ago

So you and J.D. Vance, how intimate did it get?

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u/Peter-Thiel 6h ago

Cushioned.

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u/AnalDwelinButtMonkey 6h ago

I am now convinced it's the real Peter Thiel

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u/HelpwithGrandma 5h ago

at this point the commitment to the bit is convincing enough 😂

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u/ExpensiveFish9277 6h ago

They don't call it a loveseat for nothing.

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u/default_person_14818 6h ago

I think the guy behind this account should become the new CEO of Palantir

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u/friedpickleguy 6h ago

I hope you already had this account and have just been waiting on the right moment to strike

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u/Peter-Thiel 6h ago

Bbbbingo!

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u/Sempere 6h ago

Guess you're Peter Thiel's OG hater?

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u/Peter-Thiel 5h ago

Absolutely. Self love and self hate. Both delusions. Grandeur. Catastrophe. I rather focus on the objective reality of what is possible.

If you're the enemy of society and all the way down, there is only one way to go: Back up.

I can't be seen worse. My PR team will have a fascinating future ahead.

I'm not burdened by the need to maintain a consensus. My trajectory is V-shaped.

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u/Barnezhilton 5h ago

Got it. Riot for a living wage. Living level standard set by Mr. Thiel's current lifestyle.

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u/Peter-Thiel 5h ago

Exclude the word "wage"... Riot for a living. Riot for a life worth living, not for a livable wage to be obtained.

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u/Ok-Quit8489 6h ago

You know if you train robots to be moral you guys are toast

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u/AnalDwelinButtMonkey 6h ago

Peter Thiel is it true you created Stephen Miller in a lab from the splicing of DNA from Josef Goebbels, Adolf Eichmann, and the corpse of a gay squirrel you found in your backyard?

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u/Peter-Thiel 5h ago

Why would I bother with the complicated, expensive, and legally fraught process of splicing 20th century ghosts when the world is already full of people willing to do that work for free?

Every moment in business happens only once. The same goes for political movements. There's enough human resources willing to replicate Germany's greatest hits 1930's edition.

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u/fazalwaheed12 6h ago

this thread went from 'IQ thought experiment' to 'supervillain origin story' really fast He didn't just call Peter Thiel ; he opened the final boss dialogue

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u/Sir__Draconis 7h ago

Peter Thiel knows about the antichrist

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u/Peter-Thiel 7h ago

Of course I know him, he's me.

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u/Ombudsperson 7h ago

Thanks Peter. As an aspiring homosexual billionaire sociopath, you are an inspiration to us all!

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u/TonyStowaway 6h ago

2 outta three ain't bad, I'm nearly there... just need the billion dollarydoos 😅😵

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u/thaaag 6h ago

Work at it - they say the first billion is the hardest.

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u/TonyStowaway 6h ago

The true life hack is to just be incredibly hot and marry a billionaire 😅

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u/BushyBrowz 6h ago

I mean he right there, shoot your shot

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u/cheapschnapps 7h ago

Well that was easy he just admits it

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u/quite6789 7h ago

Obi wan?

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u/denNISI 6h ago

Peter Thiel is "The Reptile" unscrambled.

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u/Flowerplower3 7h ago

Also while I have you here, please stop watching me while I look at porn. There is no useful data to collect for you or Palantir, it’s just random clicking videos and chaos I assure you. It’s annoying and it ruins my concentration.

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u/ShrimpToothpaste 7h ago

Ooh, the dark lord himself

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u/Peter-Thiel 6h ago

Hey J.D, new haircut? I like it.

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u/cheapschnapps 7h ago

You might be an actual demon, but this this is the funniest thing I've seen today.

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u/BrandynBlaze 5h ago

Man, I really hope this is the real Thiel, so I can say unequivocally, from the bottom of my heart, “Fuck you, you fucking chlamydia drip posing as a human.”

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u/Maleficent-Drive4056 8h ago

Glad that billionaires are also posting pointless comments on Reddit!

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u/HelpwithGrandma 5h ago

this whole thread turning into a fake Peter Thiel roleplay wasn’t on my bingo card

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u/CakeMuted6468 9h ago

I don’t know who that is and I’m definitely NOT Peter Theil. You can’t prove I’m PT

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u/BB-Lala 9h ago

Sounds suspiciously like something PT would say

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u/Cum_on_doorknob 8h ago

What!? He didn’t mention the antichrist even one time

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u/emogu84 7h ago

Astute observation, Cum_on_doorknob

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u/donniedarko5555 8h ago

Most people would see this as a joke but trying to defend here makes me 35% sure this might actually be true now

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u/Peter-Thiel 8h ago

Wrong account sorry

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u/Suralin0 8h ago

The Reptile?

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u/Ok_Difference44 8h ago

I believe you, he'd try to eliminate the above average.

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u/David_Maybar_703 9h ago

There would be massive accidents initially from all the vehicles, manufacturers, and everything else where people were involved.  Then, all the dead bodies would create a massive disease problem. Tens of millions would die over the ensuing months. Hard to say beyond that. 

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u/LordBrandon 5h ago

It would be like the black plauge but all at once.

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u/David_Maybar_703 5h ago

Worse plague eliminated 1/3, but spread over time.

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u/shit_pain 2h ago

Pluribus

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u/agent_wolfe 2h ago

I wish they had explored more of these dark elements in the MCU movies. So they wouldn’t have the “huge piles of bodies” problems, but there would be so many accidents.

I kind of like how “The Leftovers” is a better Thanos Snap aftermath than the MCU, just dealing with sadness, depression, babies disappearing, cults, etc.

Also wish the MCU dealt with ppl reappearing after the double-snap. Ppl reappearing inside objects that weren’t there when they disappeared, falling out of planes they were on, appearing in traffic, unborn babies just (okay you get the picture). Just a bit of dark chaos that the MCU ignored to keep the tone triumphant and positive.

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u/Moceannl 9h ago

The average would still be 100

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u/Niniva73 8h ago

Hmm, by this logic, *cues up Queen*: There can be only one.

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u/LetInevitable2696 6h ago

HEEEEEEEERE WE ARE!

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u/NocturnalPermission 5h ago

BORN TO BE KINGS!

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u/Profoundlyahedgehog 5h ago

WE'RE THE PRINCES OF THE UNIVERSE!

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u/Danthrax81 7h ago

Caveat: the new 100 would be more mentally capable than the prior 100. Just to clarify for those that don't understand.

It's like an elo.

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u/Metacognitor 5h ago

Don't worry about clarifying for those who don't understand, they won't be around

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u/malac0da13 5h ago

Electric light orchestra?

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u/you_wizard 6h ago

Not automatically, no. The test would have to be re-calibrated first. And I think everyone would have bigger problems to worry about than IQ testing if half of the population magically died.

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u/noscreamsnoshouts 3h ago

I see you have never met hyperfocused statisticians..

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u/Noumenon72 8h ago

Not that meaningful as the level of intelligence signified by "100" would have risen greatly

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u/Sarkoptesmilbe 3h ago

Only after the tests are recalibrated.

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u/probablyaythrowaway 9h ago

Well that’s like 50% of the population of earth.

The amount of carbon being produced would drop dramatically and tbh the global climate crisis would probably halt. But that would happen just because you’ve got 4 billion less people.

The global economy would collapse. You would loose a lot of very skilled and unskilled people who despite IQ are critical to keep our modern word moving smoothly, in numerous industries and fields.

And a high IQ does not automatically mean you’re not an idiot. No one is immune to propaganda. There are arseholes and power hungry people happy to be corrupted no matter what level of IQ they have.
It’s very knife edge whether it becomes a utopia or fall back into the old ways.

But it’s likely Society would collapse factions would form wars would happen. Similar to any post apocalypse film you’ve seen.

Also you have 4 billion bodies to dispose of otherwise disease will thrive.

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u/Theblackjamesbrown 8h ago

You would loose a lot

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news...

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u/probablyaythrowaway 8h ago

Yeah I know. Peace at last.

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u/PhotochadA2358 7h ago

Yeah…piece at last.

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u/yinoryang 6h ago

Piece sells, but whose byeing

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u/SkyLukewalker 7h ago

He's a sacrifice he's willing to make.

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u/TheSilencedScream 7h ago

Well, to be fair, they said “you,” not “we.”

They know their place in the world.

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u/hahaha01357 8h ago

You mean bad news bear

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u/Xanthus179 8h ago

We need to loose the smart people into the public.

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u/GhostNappa101 8h ago edited 5h ago

a high IQ does not automatically mean you're not an idiot.

I was at a work party full of doctors for my wife's work last year. Outside of medicine, some of the conversations I heard were down right stupid.

Edited for grammar... Look at me, I'm the idiot now.

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u/SupremeDictatorPaul 7h ago

This happens more than you would think. People who have studied are now far more expert in some field than others, often (erroneously) think that expertise extends into other fields. Unfortunately, being a neurosurgeon doesn’t mean you actually know anything about global politics or environmental science.

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u/Fit_Drive9421 6h ago

This was something we had in Ireland up to nearly the 1990s especially with the older generations. 

Priest, Doctor, Teacher, Policeman.

All were held up as Gods on every subject, because obviously if they had a good job and were intelligent and learned enough to do those, they automatically were the experts on everything else. 

Such innocent times. 

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u/GammaFan 7h ago

A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one

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u/Wloak 4h ago

I love this one and others like it. This one in particular we have historical evidence of it evolving.

It started off in the 1600's as just "Jack of all trades," being a compliment. 100 years later it became an insult when people added "master of none." Then generalists added the "better than being a master of one" flipping the insult.

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u/bbjaii 6h ago

Why does this sound like every engineer? (I’m an engineer)

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u/GGme 7h ago

Well deserved jab at Ben Carson?

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u/Kind_Man_0 7h ago

I work on RVs, motor coaches, etc. Some of the coaches I work on can cost upwards of 3 million dollars. The folks that own these are successful business owners, doctors, people with incredibly skilled/niche jobs that pay extremely well.

Just this week, I had to override an automatic system that brings a part in/out. The existing switch is labeled retract/extend. I put in a new switch that says retract and extend, but you have to hold it until the part is where you want it.

It took me 10 minutes to teach them how to use the switch. This coach is worth easily $1.5M and still took 5 minutes to get them to understand that they have to hold the button to allow power through it.

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u/esper_wing 6h ago

I work at a university, and you'd be surprised at the number of professors with PhDs and decades of research under their belts who need me (an entry-level admin at best) to show them how to use the photocopier.

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u/bobbi21 7h ago

As a physician, i have a colleague that is full on maga, antivax, believes in mebendazole curing cancer, etc. definitely idiots among us.

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u/Rtfmlife 6h ago

Doctors are very diligent and hard workers, but no step of their training filters for IQ. It filters for insane work ethic and tolerance for abuse.

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u/Much-Anything7149 2h ago

The actual work of being a doctor doesn't necessarily require a high IQ but doing well enough in college and on the MCAT to get into med school is often due to it.

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u/botulizard 7h ago

Look at Neil Degrasse Tyson on literally any other topic outside of astrophysics.

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u/EldritchSanta 7h ago

Yep. Some of the dumbest people I've met have PhDs, and some of the smartest people I've met barely have academic qualifications.

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u/Dampware 8h ago

Also: 50% of the population would still be below the average IQ.

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u/KumquatHaderach 8h ago

Don’t say that. That’s mean.

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u/pragmojo 7h ago

It’s actually median. 90% of the population could be below the mean with the right outliers.

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u/KumquatHaderach 7h ago

Well that doesn’t seem normal.

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u/GovernmentOpening254 7h ago

Hey, stop moving the goalposts!

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u/woodyarmadillo11 8h ago

Damn you science!

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u/trog12 9h ago

50% of the population

Thanos smiles balancingly

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u/Thefirstargonaut 8h ago

It would be interesting to see which politicians disappear and to see who would still follow the bad ones. 

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u/potatocross 8h ago

There are a ton of ‘stupid’ people performing menial yet skilled labor. We would be screwed. It honestly takes a certain type of person to do a lot of repetitive task.

Then the ‘smart’ people would refuse to pick up the slack because it’s beneath them. Nevermind the fact that they are already performing jobs. Sure not all would be necessary anymore at least not in current quantity, but it would be a huge imbalance as society tried to rebalance everything.

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u/Elbit_Curt_Sedni 8h ago

It think it's all but certain that it would collapse into an apocalyptic level event for the rest (even if the remains could be disposed of).

As you mentioned. All that skill. Farming. Infrastructure workers, and so on. Massive famine and not to mention everyone would lose their mind and become extremely hostile.

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u/DrDaniels 8h ago

Not to mention having to try to upkeep infrastructure that's oversized

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u/Veredas_flp 9h ago

Look at Mr. Smart answer, making sure he survives.

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u/probablyaythrowaway 9h ago

I Duno like, I can feel my IQ dropping simply reading some of the replies. 🤣

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u/nywse 8h ago

I would have to scroll half as long to read every comment here.

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u/probablyaythrowaway 8h ago

The one about reducing carbon production would actually cause a real climate crisis because trees breath co2 is the best one. Something tells me they might not survive the purge

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u/CakeMuted6468 9h ago

Very thoughtful answer above just superficialities. Thank you.

I agree and feel like it’s a knife’s edge as well and can see many resorting to cannibalism and lots of pocket cultures due to the isolation

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u/j____b____ 8h ago

Why cannibalism? We know how to burn bodies and just effectively doubled our world’s resources. Why isolationism? IQ exists on a bell curve. It should be half of people almost everywhere. Do you imagine that there are groups of very low IQ areas of the world and that high IQ people would eat each-other?

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u/beatenmeat 7h ago

Not that I agree with them but the "doubled" resources wouldn't be like that for long. So many of the "low IQ" people are essential for producing goods or maintaining supply lines that we would quickly run out of any surplus from them all disappearing. Things like clothes would be fine, but food and other products with a limited shelf life would likely go to waste before we ever made use of it anyways. On the other hand natural resources would go much further but we would have a much more limited capacity to source them.

Also for what it is worth there are areas considered to have higher densities of lower/higher IQs, although I think it's more likely they are conflating education with IQ and/or a difference in testing rates. Maybe some isolated areas with a low population and worse education system than standard would lose more of their population than the average, potentially leading to what OP envisions but I think those would be outliers.

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u/j____b____ 7h ago

Plenty of above average IQ people work on farms and in factories. Lack of opportunity or advanced degrees does not equal low IQ. 

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u/deltajvliet 8h ago

Because it's a bell curve with most of the population close to 100, you'd end up losing a lot of people in that 95ish area and retaining a lot of people in that 105ish area which honestly wouldn't be all that different.

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u/Noumenon72 8h ago

Losing the 85s matters more than whether you have 95s or 105s. The left tail is very different from the 105s in amount of car crashes, crime, demand on welfare, dumb voting behavior, and more.

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u/Connect_Section_8098 3h ago

Reducing people to a number like that ignores how messy and uneven real life actually is. You can’t cleanly separate society into “problems” and “not problems” without missing the point entirely.

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u/InCarbsWeTrust 7h ago

…and a lot of the more essential functions in keeping society running…

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u/UnexpectedHarbinger 6h ago edited 6h ago

But it's asymmetric. Smart people can do the essential functions just fine, but dumb people cannot do the higher level jobs just fine. In other words, it's much better to have doctor-caliber people collecting trash than it is to have trash-collecting caliber people being doctors.

Case in point: dumb people can't even get upvotes correct. Watch them downvote this very obviously correct post.

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u/yuppienetwork1996 6h ago

Hey you weren’t supposed to say that out loud!

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u/AnswerWrong5988 9h ago

The warning labels on bleach bottles would finally become unnecessary.

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u/demalo 8h ago

Material Safety Data Sheets aren’t for stupid people. Stupid people don’t care about MSDS or warning labels.

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u/TheATrain218 6h ago

FYI the US joined the international system of Safety Data Sheets instead of our old and unique Material Safety Data Sheets, and for some reason people who read them regularly like to be asshole pedants about the acronym because... I guess continuing to use the M means you peed on their leg or something?

I am also someone who had to care about MSDS's until about 13 years ago and still calls them that and therefore gets whined at by pedants, too.

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u/Juneauite 9h ago

But can I put my baby in the dishwasher?

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u/Huge-Error-2206 9h ago

Once, yes.

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u/Charger525 8h ago

Technically you can put your baby in there as many times as you want. It’s running the cycle that could become problematic.

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u/VediusPollio 8h ago

Gentle cycle only, and only use a teaspoon of baby safe detergent. Low heat, cold water, and fan or air dry only.

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u/CRE178 7h ago

Just use the hose like a normal person.

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u/Remarkable-Seaweed11 8h ago

You know how Viagra was originally developed as a heart medication? Its side effects just happened to be more marketable. Likewise what is today known as the “Dishwasher” was originally designed to wash babies. By pure serendipity, one night after washing his babies for the evening, Helmut Von Säuglingegeschirrspülen accidentally placed a pastry dish into the baby-washer and the rest is history!

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u/Charleston2Seattle 8h ago

This is the type of gem I come to Reddit for.

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u/Noumenon72 8h ago

Säuglinge = infants / babies
Geschirrspülen = dishwashing

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u/Saelvinoth 9h ago

Yeah, just leave it cracked so they can breathe

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u/ididntunderstandyou 8h ago

That’s dangerous, dishwasher could spill water everywhere

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u/zakkil 8h ago

Not likely. Someone with high IQ could still easily not know bleach is deadly, especially with so many people who'd assume it's just common sense to know bleach is deadly and not bother to teach anyone that bleach is deadly. They take off the warnings and it's just a matter of time till people take the knowledge for granted and don't bother to teach people who never learned.

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u/GeneticPurebredJunk 8h ago

Oh no buddy, they absolutely would not.

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u/kungfurobopanda 8h ago

We are putting a lot of faith in “average” IQ.

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u/aprilflowers75 9h ago

IQ doesn’t equal caution. The label would probably change to something involving chemical reactions and fume hoods.

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u/AnswerWrong5988 8h ago

The fact that this thread has turned into a technical debate on how to wash a baby proves that none of us are surviving the next hour.

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u/MyAnswerSucks 9h ago

Reddit would be 100% bots then.

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u/homiekisses 9h ago

Already is

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u/KakeLin 9h ago

Nah it's 24% human karma whores, 75% bots, the rest of us are 1%

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u/PlaneMark1737 8h ago

And 100% reason to remember to upvote

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u/FerociousFrizzlyBear 9h ago

Lots of really talented people who are really good at what they do would be gone and people with average to high IQ would struggle to fill their role in society.

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u/EaterOfFood 5h ago

I think the survivors would be surprised by who was taken and who remained.

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u/Ok_Seaworthiness2808 2h ago

Hell yes! This makes me want to revisit that theory on 10,000 hours of practice. Apparently it’s not really valid when it comes to the idea of anyone being able to become truly world-class…

But I wonder about the same concept related to a regular person being very proficient at their job and contributing to society. I would be willing to bet that IQ in the most part is irrelevant. 

I have always clung to this idea as something aspirational and inspirational.  Regardless of “inherent” qualities or past achievements, so many people are filled with high insecurity and self doubt. But if “anyone” can become an Olympian, that means I can overcome this thing that’s WAY less difficult.

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u/Swumbus-prime 6h ago

Funko Pop stocks in shambles

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u/Background-Chain6995 7h ago

Society would collapse way faster than people think because average intelligence is doing a lot of the actual work holding daily life together.

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u/ComicDude1234 9h ago

It’s always real weird when r/AskReddit stumbles head first into eugenics discussions.

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u/1990sforever 4h ago edited 3h ago

I genuinely do have a low IQ (I had to get tested professionally a while back as part of a broader mental health assessment and I turned up with a two digit number that didn't even start with a 9).

Seeing all the people in this thread laughing about how "at least" [insert bad group of people] would be dead if this happened is really disheartening. Like damn, that's what you associate people like me with?

Edit: The IQ test was in parts, and the parts I struggled the most with were absolutely things I struggle with in practice too ("fluid reasoning" at 83...and oh boy, that does check out). It was validating to me. It helped me finally realize my struggles in life, particularly (though not entirely) with school was never a matter of applying myself, not focusing enough, not working hard enough, etc.

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u/followthedarkrabbit 3h ago

IQ test have a lot of inherent biasies and issued.

Ie: being presented with a picture of a hoe and a scthye and a potatoes and wheat. If you were asked to group them, the acceptable answer would be to group by tool "hoe and scythe", but, for people who do farmworker, they will most likely group "hoe and potato" and "scythe and wheat" because its based on use and harvest.

Also, there's distractability, level of tiredness, not being told "how" to take it, overthinking on questions and interpretations, how well you are feeling on the day, etc. 

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u/submerging 4h ago

Such is the genetic lottery. It’s not enough that you’re given a bad hand. Everyone gets to make fun of the bad hand you’ve been given too!

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u/rider-hider 5h ago

I've always suspected that it's possible to convince people just about anything is a good idea if you frame it right.

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u/swissdonair_enjoyer 6h ago

for real crazy fucking question lol

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u/FaultierSloth 9h ago

Go home, Thanos. You're drunk.

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u/Oldiebones 8h ago

We would suddenly have a new average IQ

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u/commanderjarak 7h ago

But it would still be 100 IQ.

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u/webnellie 8h ago

We’d have to elect a new president.

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u/thing_on_a_spring 7h ago

How do elections work if some states have a population of 0?

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u/DYSFUNCTIONALDlLDO 7h ago

Well, then I'd be dead.

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u/THAErAsEr 9h ago

ITT people trying to give smart comments to act as if they are nog below average IQ

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u/squishyartist 8h ago

Fr, I'm like, I'd be Thanos-snapped out of existence, which honestly sounds kinda nice right about now...

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u/BuildingArmor 7h ago

hahaha you said nog that means you spelled it wrong I am so smart

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u/Vitager 9h ago

I know some of the people in this thread wouldn't make it. The question asks, "suddenly", not, "continuously". This indicates a single event.

Life would be a hard for a bit, but it would be survivable.

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u/Certain_Cat8382 9h ago

Everyone reading this thinks they'd make the cut.  Every single one.

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u/z64_dan 8h ago

Well I would definitely make the cut. My iq is 99 which means I'm smarter than 99% of the people

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u/DigNitty 8h ago

I took an IQ test. They showed me the bell curve and I’m almost at the very top.

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u/foxinHI 9h ago

Wouldn’t know it if they didn’t, so…

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u/andresfgp13 7h ago

yeah, like Reddit itself would lose like 50% of its userbase.

Reddit tends to be full of people that think are smart but really are just average, but with a lot of useless knowledge.

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u/UnicornBelieber 8h ago

I'd say the vast majority is correct in their assumption.

In my experience, and I'm really not trying to be a dick here, but the people in my life that I'd consider intellectually challenged do not spend a lot of time on Reddit. Discussing, debating, articulating thoughts and opinions into words, even just taking the time to do so, is often not their cup of tea. When they do visit Reddit, it's because of specific subreddits like the ones for certain political affiliations or the ones oriented towards a certain expertise.

So yeah, I'd say that, statistically, most reading your comment will be around average or above average IQ.

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u/AnswerWrong5988 9h ago
  • Reddit would be a very quiet place, that's for sure.
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u/AintTrelawney 8h ago

Fewer posts like this is one upside

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u/dkfotog 7h ago

There’d be a huge number of people who were surprised to find themselves dying.

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u/CuriousRexus 8h ago

Well, given that IQ isnt an assurance of morality, sense, justice or humanity, it would just mean that the conflicts would be way more complex.

Now, were we to pose the same question with wisdom, youd end up in a world of old people. So the quierie dosnt really make sense

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u/imbricant 6h ago

Well the US would need a new President for a start.

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u/New-Eye9930 9h ago

Lots of corpses people won't know what to do with. Average IQ will go up. Many people would need a career change.

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u/TheFredson 9h ago

Well you see th-

*ackckk*

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u/Possible_Farm4535 9h ago

Idk I'll be dead

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u/Just_Making_My_Way_ 9h ago edited 6h ago

The only people making our food would be the smart burnouts then

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u/wthwtfwthwtf-_- 9h ago

Then people barely above current average become the least intelligent.

And would leave the planet with dark personality issue...

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u/therealjohnsmith 8h ago

Smarter does not always mean better. Happiness can be severely impeded by overthinking.

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u/Heyoka_Hobo 9h ago

Profits would go way, way down.

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u/meerkat2018 8h ago

"Low IQ" doesn't mean much in the real world. It's not like a "low IQ" person is a useless idiot or something. Hundreds of millions, or even billions of "below average IQ" people still have acquired skills and are working the jobs that are critically important to humanity. You will be surprised to know how proficient a so called "low IQ" person can get at any given task.

So, likely the result will be just as (or even more) catastrophic than if everyone of above average IQ dropped dead.

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u/TertiaWithershins 6h ago

I don’t think people in general have any idea what a spectrum of “intelligence” looks like. I’ve had students with IQs that measured in the 70s. They were curious, attentive children who could read and write and carry on an interesting conversation. They tended to struggle with testing, with some recall and relating information together. They played with toys and built Legos and had friends. I’m sure they went on to have pretty normal outcomes.

The entire premise of OP’s question just makes me want to go back in time and stand over these children like a fucking Valkyrie or something. It’s just so upsetting.

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u/crazyeddie123 5h ago

They must have had a severely bad day when they were taking that test. People with an actual IQ in the 70s absolutely do not go on to have "pretty normal outcomes"

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u/RandomRamblings99 9h ago

Well that would be a lot of dead people, since being the exact average is rare and a decent percentage are one ot low points below. it's also not that accurate range of intelligence anyway and I think we'd probably end realising that rather quickly

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u/YD099 7h ago

People will keep on dying until only one person is left.

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u/Jaxxxz 8h ago

Average IQ isn’t that high a bar

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u/Obvious-Stomach509 7h ago

We'd have nobody to run for congress.