Especially when it comes to verifying “facts.”

"90%" doesn't feel very factual to me.

No, I don't feel (or think) that.

If 90% of the population was stupid there'd be no need to spend uncountable billions brainwashing them with propaganda at every turn, would it?

FYI... I once worked in the propaganda industry - propaganda doesn't work on the stupid (and I use that term lightly, since I'm not sure "stupid" is something that even really exists). The smarter you assume yourself to be, the more susceptible you are.

Most people just don't care enough in my opinion. When it comes to politics, all they want is to be left alone. They just look for the first piece of media that confirms their biases and be content with that. I think that's why conservative fearmongering works so well. All they have to do is to convince those persons that the left wants to tell them how to live and that is enough for those people to trust that conservative media.

If you "don't feel like I'm significantly smarter than most people" but view "90%" of people, which I think is well into "most" territory, are stupid then one can reasonably infer you're putting yourself into that category.

Additionally, what does stupid even mean? If I were to try to engage with the spirit of your question, I ironically find myself reflecting on a wise insight my uncle once gave me. Someone who would fall under "stupid" if I am to understand your question right. Anyways, my uncle once said that smart or dumb don't have an all-encompassing nature (IQ eat your heart out). Instead, one can be smart or dumb with respect to specific domains. My uncle knows a lot about guns, not so much about the internet.

So to answer your question, yes most people are "stupid" about most things, but are often quite smart in specific fields related to their life experiences. That's why we have experts in various fields of study. You and I are no different, and employing empathy seems to be the best strategy to bridging knowledge gaps with others, if that's your goal.

Well maybe not 90% but I do feel like smarter* than average but then again half of the population is so that hardly makes me special.

• By "smarter" I don't mean that I know more things than others. Just that I feel like I posses the ability to think more clearly and objectively that most other people.

Human intelligence is segmented and specialized. People who are smart at few things are usually very dumb at others. A person who can speak 9 languages can't do more than basic math. An expert computer programmer, who can't figure out how to keep a plant alive. Etc...

Polymaths are very rare. Very few people have advanced understanding and skills in multiple areas.

Yep. Wanted to ask the same thing a while back, but was afraid of backlash.

And it's well over 90%, I'd say like closer to 95, 96.

By what standards do you rank us? Half of us are stupider than average. We're all of very limited intelligence - the best we can do is to team together to function as one gigantic brain of humanity, drawing from the strongest qualities of all of us. That way the world can be brought forward by brilliant scientists who are completely stupid in their own way, and who would never survive a week on their own.

Politics are tricky, but I think it's more fruitful to think of people as brainwashed than stupid. The amount of propaganda we're subject to these days is unprecedented.

As for general stupidity, be charitable; judge people by what they're best at. Most people have one thing or another they are great at, and our differences is what makes humanity occasionally great.

I think a lot of it is that we all have topics which we are knowledgeable about. Common discourse then takes different topics, and some people will contribute to the discussion who don't understand the underlying stuff so much, they have different interests.

The problem is when you read a tech article as a tech worker, you laugh at how stupid the journalist and the commenters are. Then you read an article on some geopolitical event, or some natural phenomenon, and you take what is written as gospel, and even comment on it on forums, despite not having the same level of understanding as in your favourite topic. And you don't feel you're part of the stupid 90% then and there.

Yes, myself included.

I feel this, but more along the line of chosen ignorance rather than actual stupidity. Either a new topic us overwhelming or they worry\fear they'll get it "wrong". Also, being from the south, where so much has been politicized, they fear the tribal back lash of thinking for themselves. I don't know what's wrong with me, I was never the type to "go with it".

Thinking is hard work and with easy access to pre-cooked opinions online, they don't need to put in any effort.

Excuse me! I resemble that remark!

Well, that's the thing about average person. Half of them are below the average and other half is above.