I appear incredibly smart when I get to flash my surface level knowledge about a, quite frankly, impressively broad spectrum of topics. But I always feel dumb as hell when people who really know their stuff about some stuff talk about the stuff they know so much about.

It seems most likely that I'm average, just like you.

My self-perception of my intelligence goes up the more I spend my time online, and down the more I spent it IRL. I should probably stop spending so much time online.

I could be smart or I could just be surrounded by a lot of dumb people leading me to think I'm smart 🤔

I'm either the dumbest smart person or the smartest dumb person. Depends on the day. Lol

Average. As a prior it just seems most likely and I'm not really up my own ass enough, nor do I trust myself enough, to fairly account for things that would prove one way or another

I have a typical smart people career, and my coworkers are pretty smart too. I therefore like to believe that I'm at least somewhat smart... but there's too much evidence to the contrary.

I'm average. Because that's most likely

Uninteresting average

Don't look very handsome or ugly. Just regular
White and screen tan
Work in IT
20 y/o
Not many hobbies. Tech like homelab, biking and ski. That's it.
Not wealthy.

I think I'm smart. Not because I have an internal metric, but because others will say that I'm smart.

My school IQ tested me. I'm a 90. So not that smart.

I'm as oblivious as a brick, but people around me say I'm intelligent, and I get good grades in school, so I must be good at pretending to be smart at least. I can't say if I am actually intelligent in any way. It is kind of hard to tell without being someone's too, if that makes sense.

Told frequently I am smart, all evidence available when really considering the question points to actually being of average intelligence, and in some areas phenomenally dumb.

Rambling follows, feel free to ignore or read on if bored.

Something my father told me comes to mind here. I was complimented frequently on being a bright student when I was younger, so with all this flattery in mind I took an online IQ test. It was a pretty good score, though I don't remember what it is (and can't speak to its accuracy - I was a kid, tf did I know about test standards). I rushed up to my dad and told him about it. He sat me down and said "IQ is just a measurement of potential - that's it. It's what you actually do with that potential that's important."

I have not really done much with that potential, if I'm honest with myself. Sure, I got good grades in school, dean's list in university, all that stuff. But when I look at my day to day life - my work, my interests, etc. - I'm struck with this sense that it's the kind of life designed for people who authority figures like to call smart, but only as an appeal to ego to serve the aims of other people. Smart takes on the same meaning as a good boy - you obey the rules, don't make too much trouble, come up with clever solutions to other people's problems, and don't neccessarily put much thought into your own. And where you recognize these problems, they are personal failures - always - that only you can solve, alone. Smart people don't need help - it's 100% false, but it's an hard idea to shake off, simply because the answer I usually got when asking about any problem is "You're smart - you'll figure it out". And I did, mostly - but what about those I couldn't, and still haven't?

The danger here is that being "smart", by dint of repetition more than tangible evidence, becomes a cornerstone in my sense of self. But all those people calling me smart and reinforcing this idea - what did they actually mean? Did they mean I am innately intelligent? Did they mean I was compliant? Did they mean I would do well as a nice little cog in a larger system? Or did they mean I actually had the potential to change something worthwhile?

Over the years, I've come to dislike the term smart given all of the above. I like to sub in clever in most cases, because you don't have to be smart, overall, to come up with a clever idea or solution. The idea of being smart, accepted uncritically, can be a prison. And most of the time it isn't true in any meaningful sense.

Smart, dumb - just try and do cool shit you find interesting. Be kind to other people. Do new things, and be willing to look like an absolute dumbass once and a while. Don't let your sense of intelligence become a complex - no matter who are, you're probably wrong about a lot of shit, go test that as often as you possibly can. You'll probably learn something, no matter how "smart" you are.

I'm smart in some ways and dumb in others. I'm not gonna say I'm smart with my qualifications because I have one of the worse social senses I have ever met and there are some topics I am abysmal at

Both. Years of evidence. I'm probably autistic, extremely impulsive and have substance abuse issues. So, no matter how intelligent I can be I make a lot of bad decisions. Also, being hungover or high really lowers your ability to be smart and make good decisions.

I really don't think I'm able to judge myself on that scale. All I know is I've made some really smart and some REALLY stupid decisions in my life. So... ehh... it evens out?

About average. I have a master's in maths, and am pretty competent at tech stuff. Also do a lot of music. Those are just interests though, really. It's easy to get caught up on the idea that being good at the skills society deems as "valuable" or "smart" means you're in some way objectively smarter than other people. I've just found that isn't remotely the case though. People have different interests, I've heard "dumb" people passionately talk about things they love, going into complex inner-workings that I would have to also spend hundreds of hours trying to wrap my head around. Also, a lot of the "smartest" people I know are utterly clueless at anything social. Sure they may end up as maths researchers but they can't pick up on nuances of social interaction.

Some people would argue that the metric for smartness is a little more set in stone, usually the same people who think that IQ is anything more than an ego-trip to justify MENSA charging people money for a shitty magazine and "proof" that they're smart. It's never felt that simple to me though, there are so mant facets of life to be understood and everyone has different understandings of them

Dumb. Pretty dumb.

First, I often don't get jokes and sarcasm (/j and /s are here for me)
But most importantly, I don't know anything. I don't even know how to start learning any subject. There's so much information out there, and I know basically nothing. I can't even program, which everyone seems to be able to do.

There's so much I'd like to get into, but where do I even start with each thing?
I'll try to list some things. Sorry if they'll sound stupid, I am stupid.:
I'd like to better understand GNU+Linux. Get into networking. Currently that's only partially satisfied via CCNA courses provided by school, but Cisco != networking. Programming. C++ looks like a nice option. Learn Morse code. Currently I am doing that via cracked MorseMania app. Get some understanding in computer security by which I mean pen-testing area, and not by using existing scripts. RF electronics. Wouldn't it be cool to design my own RF filters, upconverters, downconverters, amplifiers, etc.? Antenna modeling. I don't want to remain stuck with a dipole forever. Learn using GNURadio. At least graphically using GRC, but C++ would be useful here. Digital Signal Processing. No idea where to start with that. I'd also love to actually understand various modern digital modulation techniques, not just acknowledge their existence. Math. For almost all of the above (and more) I need some better background in math. It should be easier if I could see the actual real world use cases.

But I have no idea where to start with anything. And lastly, there's the constraints of time. (And my smooth brain, of course.)

And lastly, social anxiety. I am afraid to speak with people my age. Especially women 💀. But, let's be honest, that definitely saved me from embarrassing scenarios a lot of times.

People say I'm really smart but I think I'm just average tbh. I think I just know how to learn things and I try to keep an open mind to everything.

Whatever I am I can't get anything done, so it's a moot point.

I have a strong inkling I'm an idiot, and a few around me have said the same. The only ones who have said otherwise are the kindest people I know, obviously I'm suspicious.

I perform well in areas I have interests in. Thus, by coincidence, I can appear capable in those areas. I'm also shockingly stupid in other areas. I've noticed a few things about how I learn: it has to be practical. Nothing theoretical will stick, unless put into practice. Thus, school was hell. I am also a devilish combination of a very slow learner who thinks differently about things. When a teacher taught things to the class, everyone got it immediately and I always somehow managed to come up with my own, weird, wrong interpretation of things. Once I have finally learned something, I am very accurate and precise, which is fairly useful in the fields I've worked in. I also have a flexible mind, which is great. I can usually reason outside of the confines most people think within. Which, see school, can be a blessing or a curse.

I've met truly intelligent people. Like, real freaks of nature types. PhDs in aerospace engineering, that sort of thing. Their universal intelligence is something else. It has shown and demonstrated to me beyond a shadow of a doubt that there are levels of comprehension, both in the uptake and subsequent processing of almost any information, that I will never reach.

But don't for a minute think that these were happy people.

I'd say I'm kinda smart sometimes, but kinda dumb sometimes. Supposedly I'm above average but I think it's a wash.

I'm incredibly stupid. Stupendously stupid. I've managed to take all the advantages a white dude from a lower middle class could have and squander them. I'm stuck as a worthless blue collar p.o.s in an open air ~~sweatshop~~ factory on the far end of an expensive island.

If I were smart I'd be making 100k+ working from home with literally all my friends from highschool that went on to study computer science.

That's always been a tough thing for me to define personally. To me, trying to determine whether you're "really smart" (or not) vs average requires context, I'd need a definition of who I'm comparing to, what subject/fields (or "types" of knowledge), etc.

As others have mentioned, I'm generally good at sensing what I don't know and determining that I need to read up on more about a subject rather than just blindly assuming that I do know it and trying to fix the wiring in my house for example (probably an extreme example, because there's no way I'm ever going to try to do that on my own - even with an infinite time of "research").

I'm a software developer, and my friends claim that this makes me really smart - but when I compare myself to other developers it doesn't feel like that. And yet for being "smart" I am terrible at math.

Maybe its not the simple answer you're looking for, but I guess I feel smart at some things, average in others, and not so smart in certain subjects/fields. I couldn't place myself in a "one-size fits all" answer.