Well bite this then: First off, F's tongue was not in his(?) cheek, and that wasn't what I'd call a troll attack - because they were genuinely challenging my post, albeit in a somewhat provocative manner. That's OK - this is the Soapbox after all, what do you expect? Personally, I felt he and I came to a sort of understanding in the end - and think that you and Richard both are just being dicks for no good reason. Even given that this is the Soapbox, it never ceases to amaze me how juvenile and idiotic supposedly clever people are. Grow up, for goodness' sake. Chomp.

"I'm never quite so stupid as when I'm being smart." - Linus van Pelt. "If you were as smart as you think you are, you wouldn't think you were so smart!" - Charlie Brown.

I thought you were smarter and better than this, Richard.

"I'm never quite so stupid as when I'm being smart." - Linus van Pelt. "If you were as smart as you think you are, you wouldn't think you were so smart!" - Charlie Brown.

What are you going on about? I know perfectly well what irony is and fail to see why you think I don't.

"I'm never quite so stupid as when I'm being smart." - Linus van Pelt. "If you were as smart as you think you are, you wouldn't think you were so smart!" - Charlie Brown.

Define "Moon shaped"... New - no pool? Crescent Quarter Gibbous Full - circular pool. [edit] then again... OK, so I'm slow... never cared for Radiohead anyway. A "meh" band, if ever there was one.

"I'm never quite so stupid as when I'm being smart." - Linus van Pelt. "If you were as smart as you think you are, you wouldn't think you were so smart!" - Charlie Brown.

I was just going by the initial reports I'd seen - who knows, maybe he will turn out to be part of something larger, but at first look it seems he's just a loner who's a few sandwiches short of a picnic. But my "urgency to dismiss the matter" was solely a response to the OP's "urgency" to attribute it to terrorism, when it seems it most likely wasn't, not really. As you say, time will tell.

"I'm never quite so stupid as when I'm being smart." - Linus van Pelt. "If you were as smart as you think you are, you wouldn't think you were so smart!" - Charlie Brown.

The incidents are not even remotely comparable. I have no interest or intent in being an apologist for terrorists or sexual aggressors, from wherever they come, so you can stop trying to put words into my mouth.

"I'm never quite so stupid as when I'm being smart." - Linus van Pelt. "If you were as smart as you think you are, you wouldn't think you were so smart!" - Charlie Brown.

If you can't see the difference between someone with mental problems going on a wild rant and a well-organised terrorist group undertaking a planned attack for a specific agenda then you really are sleepwalking....

"I'm never quite so stupid as when I'm being smart." - Linus van Pelt. "If you were as smart as you think you are, you wouldn't think you were so smart!" - Charlie Brown.

What terrorist attack? Can't se anything on the news here about any such. There's been someone killed at Grafing, but by all accounts that was just some nut. [edit] ok he was shouting some political crap - but I gather he was known as someone with mental health issues, rather than part of an organised terror plot.

"I'm never quite so stupid as when I'm being smart." - Linus van Pelt. "If you were as smart as you think you are, you wouldn't think you were so smart!" - Charlie Brown.

B is lower down the page, under "Other semantic errors". Maybe another "error" to include is "Didn't RTFM" :)

"I'm never quite so stupid as when I'm being smart." - Linus van Pelt. "If you were as smart as you think you are, you wouldn't think you were so smart!" - Charlie Brown.

What do you - others - expect? The world hasn't changed, so obviously the former punks / hippies / whatever have... it's easy to laugh and say "sell out!" but at least they tried, and did something and, for all that they never caused a revolution, nevertheless they changed some attitudes and entertained people. And it's tiring being a "rebel" - very, very few people have the energy to keep it up once the energy of youth wanes - and we all grow older. Time wastes us all, in the end. Good on 'em, is all I can say.

"I'm never quite so stupid as when I'm being smart." - Linus van Pelt. "If you were as smart as you think you are, you wouldn't think you were so smart!" - Charlie Brown.

But if this lack of caring has catastrophic consequences, as climate change could do, then from a species point of view, the actions that led to it can not be called intelligent. The short term gain of the few at the expense of the species - even if not terminal decline, at least a heavy price - is not very smart, really.

"I'm never quite so stupid as when I'm being smart." - Linus van Pelt. "If you were as smart as you think you are, you wouldn't think you were so smart!" - Charlie Brown.

Well.. I'm not sure we aren't imploding.... >We seem to be muddling along quite nicely with most people arguably happy with their lives "Most people"? From a global perspective, most people lead pretty desperate lives though, like grass growing in cracks in the pavement, it's amazing how many people manage to smile though it. There's little even "quite nice" about much of what's going on in much of the world. And even in the West, freedom and democracy (the limited form of it we have) is facing some real threats, to which it may well succumb. And most of these threats are ones we have brought upon ourselves - not so smart, really. And have we, as a species, got what it takes to deal with the global issues such as climate change - the effects of which could be quite enormous? I am far from convinced that we have.

"I'm never quite so stupid as when I'm being smart." - Linus van Pelt. "If you were as smart as you think you are, you wouldn't think you were so smart!" - Charlie Brown.

Yeah but... you (and just about everyone else) is answering the wrong question - it isn't that I asked the wrong one, though perhaps I could have put it better. However, your point > Average intelligence is probably pretty good for doing most things humans need to do (or we would be extinct by now) is a good one - and begs a question close to what I was originally asking: is it still good enough for the modern world? Yes, we were smart enough to crawl out of the caves and build a technological world and grow it to a population of 7 billion and growing.... But are we smart enough to survive it?

"I'm never quite so stupid as when I'm being smart." - Linus van Pelt. "If you were as smart as you think you are, you wouldn't think you were so smart!" - Charlie Brown.

Why? No real reason - I wasn't trying to start a scientific debate, just a conversation.... we humans like to think we're smart, and some of us are (many a good deal smarter than I - I am not trying to blow my own trumpet here), I just got to wondering: how smart is the average person, really? And I suspect the (totally unscientific) answer is: not very, or certainly not as smart as we like to think.

"I'm never quite so stupid as when I'm being smart." - Linus van Pelt. "If you were as smart as you think you are, you wouldn't think you were so smart!" - Charlie Brown.

Yes, I know all this... it wasn't the question though! Please see my previous answers above...

"I'm never quite so stupid as when I'm being smart." - Linus van Pelt. "If you were as smart as you think you are, you wouldn't think you were so smart!" - Charlie Brown.

Oh yes.. The Peanuts crew knew all about this (see my sig) :) Not to mention old Will: >The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool

"I'm never quite so stupid as when I'm being smart." - Linus van Pelt. "If you were as smart as you think you are, you wouldn't think you were so smart!" - Charlie Brown.

Yes, I know all this - but I wasn't asking for a definition of intelligence, nor was my question dependent upon it. See my answer to loctrice[^] above. It was never meant to be a science question...

"I'm never quite so stupid as when I'm being smart." - Linus van Pelt. "If you were as smart as you think you are, you wouldn't think you were so smart!" - Charlie Brown.

Well indeed - but see my answer to loctrice[^] above

"I'm never quite so stupid as when I'm being smart." - Linus van Pelt. "If you were as smart as you think you are, you wouldn't think you were so smart!" - Charlie Brown.

>application to university VS gaining a univerity degree which is why my question as: how would they fare (do) in a university application? Would they get in or fail? Same with the other questions: eg >someone with below then average intelligence (based around IQ test) could be a commercial pilot if they cover the skills needed for being a pilot. would an average person be able to cover the skills required to be a pilot?

"I'm never quite so stupid as when I'm being smart." - Linus van Pelt. "If you were as smart as you think you are, you wouldn't think you were so smart!" - Charlie Brown.

Well, indeed... I've often argued that there are two necessary "components" to intelligence: a brain that is good at "connecting the dots", and lots of "dots" - i.e. information. Either one without hew other renders you, effectively, not very smart. You could have the brain of Einstein, but without a decent memory it'll do you little good. (This is my excuse anyway, and I'm sticking to it!) Conversely, you could be like that girl in your school... All of which is, though interesting, all slightly beside the point, or the question, I was asking. Which is how smart is average? Intuitively we think, well, average is average, so... but I suspect that actually average is pretty stupid. I know the question is kind of meaningless - like asking how red is red? - but maybe put it his way: compared to chimpanzees, how smart is the average (IQ-100) human? I suspect the factor, though large, is not as great as we'd like to believe.

"I'm never quite so stupid as when I'm being smart." - Linus van Pelt. "If you were as smart as you think you are, you wouldn't think you were so smart!" - Charlie Brown.