People jump to conclusions when they hear you're smart.
If you're really smart, wouldn't you be making all the right choices, all the time? Wouldn't your decision making always be guided by something rational, and real?
As much as the world's collective head went up it's ass- basically overnight, I was disappointed to see that my best guesses on the human condition held true. People might suddenly have IQ which towered over my own humble number (a reliable 118.)
People could shit the breeze, banter with the highest, solve math and logic, but despite all of these things- they still did stupid and terrible things. People still shot one another, stole from one another, claimed religious motivations as they cut each others throats with sharpened metal.
People were still poor, still frustrating in their choices to support the short-term gains over the much more beneficial long-term, spending all their money early for their own fleeting satisfaction.
Suicide rates actually went up, when some people realized how bad they actually had it- and companies for highly selective companies realized in weeks that they could start to fire non-unionized workforces and replace them with people fresh off the street- because the general public had the mental capacity of hungry sponges, an they were still just as desperate as before.
So there I was, unprepared, and completely below par, as my IQ paled in comparison to the humans walking around me- bagging my groceries, picking up my mail. I was one of the stupidest people on the planet, below almost anyone I met- with the only benefit being hard protection and a low profile.
Nobody realized though.
In retrospect I think it makes perfect sense.
Growing up I saw the smartest people I know become ignored, their opportunities thrown to the dirt and stamped upon by privilege, luck, and over-qualified individuals. I watched as they settled, taking the careers they hated, things they didn't want- because of the bills they had to pay. The prisons they built around themselves.
I realized that it didn't matter if you were smart- as long as you were smart enough, and lucky.
As the economy continues to climb, onward- to unseen heights- and technology has begun a new curve of advancement not seen for decades; there are much better things to ponder than the intelligence of a quiet retired man and his ever-rising portfolio.
Years of living far below my means, saving in the safest investments I could rationalize, and forcing self-discipline into every step I took. These fuckers might be smarter than me, but money makes the world go round.
You all work for me now. We can discuss your test scores some other time.