50 Pics Of Very “Smart” People Embarrassing Themselves That Will Stay On The Internet Forever (New Pics)
Interview With Expert
As Charles Bukowski famously said: “The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence.”
Despite the fact that we have infinite knowledge at our fingertips with the internet, it appears that being online has only made some of us dumber. Or it has at least allowed us to showcase our stupidity in front of more people than ever before!
We took a trip to the I Am Very Smart subreddit and gathered some of their most hilarious posts down below. Enjoy scrolling through these examples of people believing they’re much smarter than they actually are, and keep reading to find a conversation with Scott Carter, CMHC!
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Murdered By Words
Show Me Your Words Per Minute And I'll Show You Mine
Said He Had An IQ Of 150
To learn more about the phenomenon of people feeling the need to assert their intelligence online, we reached out to Clinical Mental Health Counselor Scott Carter, who was kind enough to have a chat with Bored Panda.
“I find that most people aren't nearly as aware or conscious of their own actions or behaviors as they ought to be,” Scott shared. “They assert themselves as experts, partially because they're failing to exercise sufficient enough awareness to realize that they aren't an expert, but it's more than a lack of awareness. It goes well beyond that.”
“Humans can easily be pulled into their own individual ego's need for superiority. People are always looking for ways to be better or look better than other people, but it's all rooted in the insecurities that they aren't willing to acknowledge,” the therapist continued.
Clearly This Man Studies
Ah Yes, *now* I Understand
So Nerdy UwU
“Deep down, they feel inferior, and this can seem like an obvious way to overcome that inferiority when it's not. It's a misnomer. People compensate for their deep-rooted insecurity and inferiority in many ways,” Scott explained.
“It might seem like the solution to insecurity and inferiority is for others to view us as smart or having expertise but again, it's a misnomer. When you speak as an expert to things that you know nothing about, you only deepen your own inferiority because you're creating a greater dissonance between what you think you know or making it look like you know versus what you actually do know.”
Ah Yes, Family Guy, The Smartest Show Yet Written
Dude Claims He Settled For His Wife Because He Can’t “Find A Woman At His Level”
"I am a very smart twat. My wife is very understanding about it - sometimes my highbrow condescension gets on her nerves but she deals with that by cheating on me whenever she feels like it." - There... I fixed it.
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What makes this pretentious twaddle even funnier is "for her sex". The general consensus is there is no statistically significant difference between male / female IQ scores AND when a difference is noted - it usually gives a very slight edge to the females. So stating it like being female means her expected IQ is lower just displays his ignorance as well as his s****y attitude.
Women generally have better memories. That's a huge advantage.
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Awww...he invests time and patience to communicate with his "dumb" wife. The day the "dumb" wife serves him with divorce papers is going to be a real shocker.
Yeah, I'm sure her patience with him is about to run out. What a complete tool.
Maybe the fact that he's a misogynistic little worm and think his wife is an inferior creature contributes to the communication difficulties? The fact that he could write this garbage shows he has a negative emotional IQ. Every couple has communication difficulties at time, because people learn different life lessons at different speeds, men seem to learn those basic life lessons slower.
This made me put my coffee down. “this is the best I could do”? Eff you. “with love and patience we make it work”?!? Are you effing kidding me? Please shut up you are a tragedy.
he speaks about this wife (about whose existence i have doubts) as though she were a different species, like me trying to understand what my dog or cat wants when they're trying to get my attention
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not only are you twat, as Brindle Nutter noted so very astutely, you are also a complete luddite. wanker.
My wife's IQ is one point above mine, and she never lets me live it down...
I'm in a mixed intelligence relationship, my husband is way smarter than me, that's something I love about him. He is also very kind and loving and would never admit that he is smarter because he is not a douche like this guy.
Would anyone get mad if I actually murdered this guy? IDK I just have a very strong... urge... to stab something into him
The kind of woman who will marry this guy will downplay her intelligence and defer until she's holding the cards.
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What he does not realize, is that his wife has probably, and rather smartly, taken out a life insurance policy with high death benefit payout on him. Because, she knows that one day her husband is most likely to be murked by somebody else, because he decided to "prove" how much smarter he was to them, in a bar. At which point the offended individual, proceeded to use her husband as a cross between a crash test dummy x pogo stick x punching bag.
TBF, he didn't specify who is the patient and loving one in the relationship.
That sounds like my clue to steal yo girl. It's gonna be easy too since she's used to dating a complete tôsser
....aaaannnd ask his wife what she thinks about him and his poop emojis...
Someone send a screenshot to his wife so she can divorce him and end his suffering.
It’s wonderful. She’s obviously a magnificent caregiver since you are an utter and complete MORON!
Sounds like she's gonna be the one who needs the patience to put up with his arrogant, sexist a*s.
There are certain people you hope catch their private parts in a car door.
He's very likely lying , and actually sits alone in his room, (probably still lives with his parents) telling himself how marvellous he is.
"Mixed intelligence relationship"???? Man, the human race is so f*cked up.
must be loads of love and patience on her part; it's the only thing I can think of that's kept her from kicking your @$$ to the curb long time ago.
Well it’s probably not too difficult to be 15-20 IQ points higher than your blow up doll.
Must be true...a smart woman never would have wasted her time with him
Communication is sometimes difficult because he's such a douche nugget.
Why do they hide these dill holes’ profile face? It was a public post afterall
The percentiles are virtually identical; IIRC, there's a little more variation among males, but the variation is declining steadily, is not found universally among various cultures, and occurs only in certain types of test, indicating that the variability gap lies in testing, not intelligence. If he has difficulty in communication, it's probably because he's less intelligent.
This Was Their Response To "Treat Women Like People"
“But what else should we expect from a culture that is obsessed with hierarchies?” Scott asks, noting that status is everything these days. “Without status, we can't justifiably care about ourselves or see worth or value in ourselves, right? That's how it seems, anyway. Most of us fall for this illusion,” he continued. “That status equals importance, and importance equals respect and love. Making oneself look like an expert seems like an easy way to acquire status.”
Not Mine, But Her Name's Not Maria
Scary Fact: He's Delusional
"I'm An Engineer"
The therapist went on to note that people do tend to do this in real life as well, but it’s been accelerated by the internet. “There's a strange phenomenon in which the least qualified and most biased people are the loudest and most aggressive about their perspectives,” he told Bored Panda.
“It's not necessarily that they think they're an expert, it's that their lack of awareness prevents them from seeing that they should probably just say nothing. The ability to be anonymous on the internet though really emboldens some people,” Scott added. “The anonymity of the internet is so much safer, it gives people something to run and hide behind when things get messy.”
Only The Truly Superior Minds Can Understand Italian
My Man Can Count
Guy On Facebook Whining Because His Words Are “Too Intellectual" For People To Understand
I'm not saying dumb down or talk down to people but it is a skill to be able to communicate differently so people can understand you
Scott went on to note that he’s spoken to many young people who have built and engineered an entirely different identity for themselves online. “They can easily lie about their age, their money, their status and anything else like expertise with little or no consequence,” he shared.
“If you remove accountability and consequences, it emboldens people to do some really nasty things and there isn't much nastier than deception. They are seeking status, and they are sometimes willing to say or do whatever is necessary to get there.”
They Only Teach One Thing In Business Schools
Elon Musk Is Too Smart For Chess
I Didn't Reject The Trad Life, The Trad Life Rejected Me
When someone brags that they’ve had a lot of sex, I believe they have not had any.
We also asked the expert if he had any advice for people who feel the need to prove their intelligence online. “Each person should learn to ask themselves, honestly, if they have any ability to speak about an event or an issue, and they should also examine whether or not they have any experience with that situation,” Scott shared.
“When the conflict in Israel popped up recently, I saw a meme that said, ‘I'm no longer an expert on Ukraine because now I'm an expert about Israel,’ which I thought was incredibly accurate,” he continued. “I have no doubt that many of the people who have been vocal about these issues could find these places on a map. But everything that I've suggested so far still requires some awareness and insight which has become a rare and precious commodity these days. We first have to ask people to look at themselves, honestly, in the mirror.”
Will Anyone Finally Date This Intellectual?
And Then Everyone Clapped
"Silly Woman, You Can't Use Mathematical Terms Figuratively!"
Am I silly that exponentially makes perfect sense to me? It’s not a 1:1 relationship like 5 more girls than boys… it’s like five times the amount of girls than boys…which isn’t even, gosh idk. I realize I sound like these douches but my little brain has been out of school too long. How about I end with her phrase provides a more accurate picture of the discrepancy. Nah… still douchey… sorry!
Scott also wants people to accept that it's okay to not know everything. “It's okay to say you don't know, and it's okay to shut up and listen to those who know about it,” he shared. “It's okay to yield to the experts. It doesn't make you less of a person. In fact, admitting that you don't know and you're there to listen and learn is the real strength and the real virtue.”
“The bottom line piece of advice is simply this: For people to practice their own awareness and be honest with themselves,” the therapist noted. “Become more conscious and more aware of your actions, don't just mindlessly do whatever and don't just follow any and every impulse that pops up. Learn how to be more intentional and deliberate about your actions and learn to ask yourself the hard questions. ‘Am I one of those people? Should I take a step back here? Do I really know what I'm talking about?’”
Me Just Trying To Help A Customer On Our Website Chat Today
Internally Rolling My Eyes
Ruining Friendships With Facts And Logic
“Intelligence doesn't mean that you know everything. In fact, the most intelligent people that I've known have realized that they know next to nothing and aren't afraid to admit it,” Scott added. “Now that's being smart. The smartest people are also the people who exercise their awareness. Being aware of one's own actions is a sign of true intelligence. A truly intelligent person freely admits when they don't know something.”
Guy Talking About His Experience With Women
I think, perhaps, if you were to be a bit less of a phantom-snob, and simply enjoyed talking to someone about these fascinating facts, you may have more luck. Instead of being a brash, faux erudite, simply be curious, and respectful about others' experiences. Also, don't be a wanker. It's common sense & common decency, really.
You Cant Make This Stuff Up
Good In Math = Better Human
Are you feeling much smarter after scrolling through this list, pandas? Even if you don’t know much more than these people, at least you know not to broadcast your stupidity online! Keep upvoting the pics that give you secondhand embarrassment, and then if you’re interested in checking out even more photos from I Am Very Smart, you can find Bored Panda’s last article featuring the group right here!
He Was Saying That Women Inherently Had Lower IQs And This Was His Response To Me Calling IQ Tests Pseudoscience
A Real Baby Genius
Even Plugged The Autobiography
Pretty Sure Most People Got The Reference...
This Guy Definitely Thinks He’s Will Graham (Hannibal)
Trying To Appear Smart By Being A D**k To His Mom On FB
Laughing In The Face Of A Vengeful God
Enjoying Music Is For Stupid People
Look, I Know Words
"I Am The Smartest Person I Know Of"
Xray Vision
King Ashurbanipal Of Assyria (685 Bc - 631 Bc)
Not Just A Genius But A Model As Well
Too Big Brain For Tinder
On A Meme About Getting Better Grades On Online Tests
“I Realised How Much Of A Nerd I Am”
Looks Like He Didn't Understand The Assignment
On A Reel About Einstein Blah Blah Blah
Being 14 is hard and brings out the d.i.c.k. in many, so I am willing to let that slide for now (I believe a lot of people don't realise the d.i.c.k.ish things they did as a teenager, because of the lack of a big picture at that age). However it is very much something people should grow out of.
This Quora 13 Year Old
Wish Him Good Luck Guys
Better Remind Everyone Of My Phd On A Video That Visualizes The Pythagorean Theorem
Tired Of The Cycles Of Life
Someone Has Figured Out Pretty Privilege
Note: this post originally had 67 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.
The person who thought injecting "Bored Panda recommends" into just about every comment thread should fired "for reason". Way to ruin the flow, BP.
Thank you! It is so annoying, distracting, and overstimulating. I may have to take off several weeks just to clear my brain.
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I managed to get through the whole thing, but holy gods do I need a lie down now.
I had to leave it, my head hurts from all the cringe this post generate
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I don't know what my QI is. I don't even need to know. I'm dumb af. I forget to do things WHILE I'm doing them. And somehow, I'm not as dumb as half the people in this list.
Where is everyone getting these IQ tests w***y nilly?! I'm considered intelligent but I have no flipping clue what my IQ is cause the official test is an annoying process and costs money. Are they using free quiz type IQ test they find on Google or something? I know they are lying about even taking it but, I mean, who actually takes IQ tests as an adult? Hmm maybe people that want to get into Mensa?
Shame-faced reply. My ex-husband and I paid to take a Stanford-Binet test online as a bet to determine who was more intelligent. We had researched IQ testing and figured Mensa is actually designed to pull folks in by telling them they are smarter than they really are. He took the test sober and very focused. I took the same test a wee bit drunk because I wasn’t taking the bet seriously. I scored 10 points higher; he didn’t talk to me for a week. In theory, I’m a genius. In practice, there’s so much I know I don’t know, I feel like an idiot crawling through endless grey.
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I only got halfway through these. I had to stop for fear that my face would get stuck in a permanent cringe
The only thing IQ tests measure is how good the person is at IQ tests. People get better at them with practice so they cannot be a test of innate ability.
Those tests are a joke. I'm suspicious of anyone who flexes an IQ number.
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there’s this interesting graph called the dunning krueger effect, and i think it illustrates these situations well.
The only valid measure of your intelligence is what you accomplish with it.
Smart people are not immune to arrogance. People of many intelligence levels feel the need to try to put others down. But there are a lot fewer people who are both arrogant and highly intelligent, than those who are simply arrogant. :(
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People who feel the need to mention their IQ tend to be morons.
Bragging about having a high IQ - even if it is, in fact, high - is thoroughly unimpressive. Who cares? Plenty of highly intelligent people never do anything meaningful in life because they don’t develop social skills or can’t complete a task or think they’re above doing anything they arrogantly deem “menial.” It’s like bragging about being a Christian: if you have to tell me you are one, it isn’t apparent through your behavior.
Some people are so smart that they're stupid. If I ever had kids, I wouldn't want them to be at any IQ extreme.
A lot of these seem to confuse superficial theoretical knowledge with a muscular intellect. Maybe they'll find out as they grow up.
The person who thought injecting "Bored Panda recommends" into just about every comment thread should fired "for reason". Way to ruin the flow, BP.
Thank you! It is so annoying, distracting, and overstimulating. I may have to take off several weeks just to clear my brain.
Load More Replies... I managed to get through the whole thing, but holy gods do I need a lie down now.
I had to leave it, my head hurts from all the cringe this post generate
Load More Replies... I don't know what my QI is. I don't even need to know. I'm dumb af. I forget to do things WHILE I'm doing them. And somehow, I'm not as dumb as half the people in this list.
Where is everyone getting these IQ tests w***y nilly?! I'm considered intelligent but I have no flipping clue what my IQ is cause the official test is an annoying process and costs money. Are they using free quiz type IQ test they find on Google or something? I know they are lying about even taking it but, I mean, who actually takes IQ tests as an adult? Hmm maybe people that want to get into Mensa?
Shame-faced reply. My ex-husband and I paid to take a Stanford-Binet test online as a bet to determine who was more intelligent. We had researched IQ testing and figured Mensa is actually designed to pull folks in by telling them they are smarter than they really are. He took the test sober and very focused. I took the same test a wee bit drunk because I wasn’t taking the bet seriously. I scored 10 points higher; he didn’t talk to me for a week. In theory, I’m a genius. In practice, there’s so much I know I don’t know, I feel like an idiot crawling through endless grey.
Load More Replies... I only got halfway through these. I had to stop for fear that my face would get stuck in a permanent cringe
The only thing IQ tests measure is how good the person is at IQ tests. People get better at them with practice so they cannot be a test of innate ability.
Those tests are a joke. I'm suspicious of anyone who flexes an IQ number.
Load More Replies... there’s this interesting graph called the dunning krueger effect, and i think it illustrates these situations well.
The only valid measure of your intelligence is what you accomplish with it.
Smart people are not immune to arrogance. People of many intelligence levels feel the need to try to put others down. But there are a lot fewer people who are both arrogant and highly intelligent, than those who are simply arrogant. :(
Load More Replies... People who feel the need to mention their IQ tend to be morons.
Bragging about having a high IQ - even if it is, in fact, high - is thoroughly unimpressive. Who cares? Plenty of highly intelligent people never do anything meaningful in life because they don’t develop social skills or can’t complete a task or think they’re above doing anything they arrogantly deem “menial.” It’s like bragging about being a Christian: if you have to tell me you are one, it isn’t apparent through your behavior.
Some people are so smart that they're stupid. If I ever had kids, I wouldn't want them to be at any IQ extreme.
A lot of these seem to confuse superficial theoretical knowledge with a muscular intellect. Maybe they'll find out as they grow up.
