Quick – which is worse: being surrounded by Idiots or being surrounded by Morons?

There actually is an answer to this.  See an “Idiot” has an IQ of 0-25, whereas a “Moron” boasts an impressive IQ in the range of 50-71.  A person of “average” intelligence is in the range of 90-110.  So 20-30 IQ points means the difference between having a conversation with an equal and talking to a moron.

But then again what is the true value of IQ anyways?

Consider that two people who have arguably the highest IQ’s known – Marilyn Vos Savant and Christopher Langan – have done what exactly?

Neither invented anything truly awesome like a jetpack or large-breasted robotic sex-slave that has an internal crock-pot filled with Guinness beef stew (God that would be awesome.)  Neither cured any diseases, discovered anything truly mind-blowing…in fact the one thing they are most famous for is being very good at puzzles and quizzes.

So let’s play one:

This quiz – if Urban Legends are to be trusted – was written by Albert Einstein and according to him only 2% of the World’s Population could solve it.  It is actually a simple logic puzzle.

Who keeps fish as pets?

Facts:

1. There are 5 houses in 5 different colors
2. In each house lives a person with a different nationality.
3. These 5 owners drink a certain beverage, smoke a certain brand of cigar and keep a certain pet.
4. No owners have the same pet, smoke the same brand of cigar or drink the same drink.

Hints:

1. The Brit lives in a red house.
2. The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
3. The Dane drinks tea.
4. The green house is on the left of the white house.
5. The green house owner drinks coffee.
6. The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds.
7. The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill.
8. The man living in the house right in the centre drinks milk.
9. The Norwegian lives in the first house.
10. The man who smokes Blend lives next to the one who keeps cats.
11. The man who keeps horses lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.
12. The owner who smokes Blue Master drinks beer.
13. The German smokes Prince.
14. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
15. The man who smokes Blend has a neighbor who drinks water.

Now I don’t personally think Einstein made this riddle, but who cares.  What I do think though is that the LESS creative and curious of a person you are the more likely you will be to solve it.  It really isn’t hard at all – you just have to stay out of your own way.

Which is harder for smart people than dumber people – if you see more paths and more variables then decisions get harder not easier.  Frost’s proverbial road less traveled is harder to manage when you can comprehend or imagine thousands of paths rather than just two.

This is something that statistics from MENSA and other high-IQ societies back up.  Being VERY VERY smart, makes you somewhat less likely to be successful – at least as society defines such things.  The most successful people in our society tend to be of above average intelligence, but not highly intelligent, and certainly not geniuses.

“Just for the record – the Flyosopher has a genius level IQ.”

The Flyosopher

“People who boast about their IQ’s are losers”.

Professor Stephen Hawkins

“No!!! Losers are people who sit in their Spider-man underwear and play Xbox all day instead of writing a book or re-siding the house.  Awww Crap!!!”

The Flyosopher

Having a remarkable intelligence also, if studies are to be trusted, makes you less likely to be happy.

I think this makes sense.  If you have average intelligence (and also for the record the whole idea of the term “average” being an insult is mathematically foolish) then in the course of a day most of the people you talk to will be on your level, a few will be slower, a few will be smarter.  A genius – for the most part – is always relatively surrounded by idiots.  Instead of sharing thoughts and ideas with an equal, more often than not they have to explain them, sometimes to people who accuse them of “talking-down” to them – when they may in fact be doing exactly the opposite.  Marilyn Vos Savant with a 200+ IQ very smart people even some geniuses are as idiots to her (mathematically speaking.) This is a sobering thought.  The stereotypical lack of social grace among scientists and other nerds is really sad when you think about it, probably a lonely life all in all.  When one considers that many victims of suicide are highly intelligent, one has to marvel at the wasted potential.

So it’s a good thing I’m so damn pretty. I look like a movie star.

Actually looks and intelligence have a strikingly similar coincidence.  According to studies, the happiest people tend to be those with above average looks (7’s and 8’s.)  The truly beautiful (9’s and 10’s) are generally less happy.  Again I think this boils down to how society treats you.  A gorgeous person has a hard time proving he or she is anything but a pretty face, and I imagine this can be a hurtle to inter-personal relationships.  It is a fairytale cliché that one must see passed ugliness to the beautiful person inside…but it is also true and often more difficult to see passed surface beauty to the beautiful person inside.

“I don’t get it. I’m so cute. How could this be my fate? I should’ve married for money. Always had the bod, the arms, and God never made a nicer butt.”

Al Bundy

Naturally these observations can be applied to fly tying.

Have you ever noticed that after a fly has caught a few fish, say one of the eyes may be missing, half the material had been chewed off, yet the fly seems to work better than when it is brandy new?  Also, several ultra-realistic patterns that look exactly like the intended forage are not nearly as effective as a single puff of marabou.

When it comes to fly patterns: Damn Good is often superior to Perfect.

I think this applies to fly selection too.

Say you are fishing a perfect imitation of a spearing.  It looks good in the water and when stripped acts much like a spearing.  You have a perfect representation of one baitfish.  Compare that to a general baitfish pattern that doesn’t look exactly like any specific fish, but a little bit like all of them.  During a general fishing situation, often the non-specific pattern will work better.  This is hardly surprising.  However, say there is a massive school of spearing.  One may think that the fish key in to the bait and you need an exact match.  Often this is a mistake.  A perfect match can easily get lost in the crowd, where the one fly doing its own thing stands out and gets noticed. It is like in the Classic Monty Python sketch – in a town where everyone is Superman, the bicycle repairman is the true hero.

Just something to consider the next time you are rummaging through your fly box or tearing your hair out at the vise.  The quest for perfection is a fool’s errand.

Answer:  The German keeps Fish