“Conspiracy Theorist”: Another name for Intelligent People
FALSE STATEMENT: You are a conspiracy theorist
RESPONSE: What you call a “conspiracy theorist” is actually a misnomer for people capable of pattern recognition:
Pattern recognition was key to the survival of our Neanderthal ancestors, allowing them to identify poisonous plants, distinguish predator from prey, and interpret celestial events. Today, pattern recognition plays new, but just as important roles in diagnosing diseases, inspiring new ways to safeguard data, and discovering new planets.
“The best thing we have going for us is our intelligence, especially pattern recognition, sharpened over eons of evolution,” (Neil deGrasse Tyson, 2015). Pattern recognition according to IQ test designers is a key determinant of a person’s potential to think logically, verbally, numerically, and spatially. Compared to all mental abilities, pattern recognition is said to have the highest correlation with the so-called general intelligence factor (Kurzweil, 2012). The ability to spot existing or emerging patterns is one of the most if not the most critical skill in decision-making, though we’re mostly unaware that we do it all the time (Miemis, 2010).
Because the brain is wired to recognize patterns, everyone has the potential to be pattern smart, but, in different ways. People who are numbers smart, for example, can predict from a series of numbers what the next number will be. Those who can recognize a species of bird from its flight pattern are nature smart. Do you perceive what funny jokes have in common and can you create one? If you can, you are word smart. People who can visualize an object in three dimensions are visually smart. The questionnaire that follows tests if you are people smart. How many of these can you check yes?
[See the World Through Patterns, Robert C. Barkman, PhD, Psychology Today; https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/singular-perspective/201801/see-the-world-through-patterns]
Therefore, thank you for telling me I’m actually intelligent and for inventing another word for it that is less flattering. How does it feel to be so insecure about your own ability and intelligence that you have to insult others for theirs in the hopes that they will feel ashamed of being smarter than you.
