It’s interesting to observe that another of my neologisms has gradually spread into common usage. It’s always fascinating to see what previously unarticulated concepts are found to be useful by others, and which are not, because the only reason I create them is for my own private reference in the absence of any existing term. There doesn’t appear to be much rhyme or reason to it; I personally think the distinction between the three aspects of science is considerably more useful than identifying the Sigma behavioral pattern, for example.
I created the term midwit to explain the phenomenon I was observing of individuals who, while not stupid by any conventional intellectual measure, nevertheless behaved like angry, retarded chimpanzees whenever presented with any concept or abstract thought beyond their ability to follow. They also exhibited what struck me as the bizarre tendency to attempt to lecture those who were not only their intellectual superiors, but also those whose knowledge, credentials, and experience considerably exceeded their own on the matter at hand.
As the midwit is more intelligent than the norm, albeit not significantly more intelligent, his IQ will generally fall somewhere in the 105 to 120 range. The midwit is therefore someone who, in his formative youthful years, is accustomed to thinking of himself as one of the smartest kids in his junior high school class, even though that is only statistically true of the upper end of the midwit range. But even at the low end, the midwit tends to be smarter than two out of every three people he encounters.
However, unlike the high school athlete who discovers he is unable to compete at the college level, let alone the professional level, the midwit never quite relinquishes the idea that he is, fundamentally, a Smart Boy who Knows Better than everyone else. It is the midwit, more than anyone else, who dictated the need to articulate Vox’s 1st Law.
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from insanity.
However, the midwit is even more inclined to claim that anything he cannot understand, and anyone who is observably more intelligent than him, is “stupid”. This is because the midwit relies upon a tautological syllogism.
- Major premise: the midwit is the smartest boy in the room
- Minor premise: the midwit does not understand something said by someone else in the room.
- Conclusion: what was said doesn’t make sense because it is stupid and so is the person who said it.
Those who understand the socio-sexual hierarchy will see that there is a strong correlation between the midwit and the gamma, although the two concepts are not identical. There are no shortage of Delta midwits, and the midwit illogic is not based on psychological issues or insecurity, but rather, ignorance and intellectual immaturity.
The midwit’s fundamental problem is that he is insufficiently intelligent to communicate with the most intelligent. The difference between the midwit and both VHIQ and UHIQ intellects exceeds the 30-point IQ communications gap, and the midwit’s pride in his intelligence prevents him from accepting his relative retardery enough to listen to the simplistic explanations he is able to follow.
Which is why midwits, like the poor, will always be with us.