Explaining Ted Kaczynski's inflated childhood IQ and his mediocre WAIS-R IQ

[Horatio Alger]

Ted Kaczynski took the Stanford-Binet IQ test in 1952

Ted Kaczynski - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

In 1952, three years after his brother David was born, the family moved to suburban Evergreen Park, Illinois, and Ted transferred to Evergreen Park Central Junior High School. After testing scored his IQ at 167,[15]

The Stanford-Binet still used the mental age scale and ratio IQ instead of Weschler's deviation IQ back in 1952

Stanford–Binet Intelligence Scales - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

When Terman died in 1956, the revisions for the third edition were well underway, and Merrill was able to publish the final revision in 1960 (Roid & Barram, 2004). The use of deviation IQ made its first appearance in third edition, however the use of the mental age scale and ratio IQ were not eliminated.

He scored 167 which would equate to a deviation IQ of approx. 151 SD 15 (approx. top 1 in 3000 rarity) for Ted Kaczynski (I converted SD 16 to SD 15 for convenience)

Statistical Distribution of Childhood IQ Scores

Ratio IQ​	Sare's predicted rarity​	Normal (s.d. 16) rarity​
210​	1/2,730,000​	1/278,000,000,000​
200​	1/532,000​	1/5,870,000,000​
190​	1/109,000​	1/93,300,000​
180​	1/72,000​	1/3,490,000​
170​	1/5,040​	1/167,000​
160​	1/1,170​	1/11,500​
150​	1/286​	1/1,140​
140​	1/80​	1/161​

And this chart here (DIQ, or Deviation IQ has an SD of 16 here, so Ted Kaczynski has a Deviation IQ of 154.7 SD 16):

Ratio IQ​	MA/CA​	ln(MA/CA)​	sigma​	DIQ​
​ 167​	​ 1.67​	0.51282​	3.41882​	154.7​

Since it is reputed he took the Stanford-Binet at the age of 10, which is the age IQ stabilizes at according to Herrnstein and Murray, and Pumpkin person showing the correlation between childhood and adult IQ being 0.84, his adult IQ should regress towards the mean since, by definition, most people are normal and move closer to the average on a second sampling.

Regression toward the mean - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Furthermore, since even the best IQ tests are imperfectly correlated with g and with other IQ tests as well (correlation 0.8??? btw dif IQ tests), the correlation between his childhood and adult IQ should be 0.84 × 0.8 ≈ 0.67 using different tests at each age

Expected adult IQ of someone 51 points above the mean in childhood (deviation IQ 151) is 51 × 0.67 ≈ 34 points above the mean which is 134 IQ

His adult IQ is 136 SD 15 on the WAIS-R, which almost perfectly matches what regression to the mean predicts

Psychological Evaluation of the Unabomber: Theodore Kaczynski (continued)

The WAIS-R results were Verbal Score of 138, Performance Score of 124, and Full Scale Score of 136. The split between Verbal and Performance IQ is large, but not significant, in that there is no impairment in the performance score and no specific deficits in any subtests. His scores reflect a very strong verbal ability level, with a lower, but still above average performance ability.

TLDR: The Unabomber had a childhood Deviation IQ of 151 SD 15, and had an adult Deviation IQ of 136 SD 15, which is perfectly explained by the statistical phenomenon of regression toward the mean

 

[Grodd]

Your father IQ mogs him

 

[Horatio Alger]

@pedrolopezwasright @DarthBurritoBastard @HeinzKell @Diddy @Fantasea

 

[Horatio Alger]

Your father IQ mogs him

By more than a standard deviation

 

[Horatio Alger]

@Eremetic @Allah (Real)

 

[Horatio Alger]

@Eremetic

The guy you relentlessly meatride has a much lower childhood AND adult deviation IQ than you think

 

[Hoor Al-Ayn]

actual high-iq thread.

I heard about his supposed IQ and his deeds but when I read his manifesto I wasn't impressed tbh.
don't get me wrong, his real IQ is still quite a bit higher than mine, but that IQ is more in line with what I've read from him.

 

[Horatio Alger]

@WorthlessSlavicShit

 

[Julius1]

I heard about his supposed IQ and his deeds but when I read his manifesto I wasn't impressed tbh.

Beliefs are merely aesthetics and all his cope beliefs came due to his shit life. Does chad care about muh nature, muh industrial revolution, muh soyciety is fucked up

 

[Horatio Alger]

actual high-iq thread.

I heard about his supposed IQ and his deeds but when I read his manifesto I wasn't impressed tbh.
don't get me wrong, his real IQ is still quite a bit higher than mine, but that IQ is more in line with what I've read from him.

Most prétendu and/or soi-disant High IQ people regress precipitously towards the mean because

A. They cherrypick their best IQ score from multiple tests they took

B. They report their childhood ratio IQ scores, which is what most IQ tests were scored by in the early twentieth century
High ratio IQ scores are much more common than high Deviation IQ scores, which are normed to your age group and not based on mental/chronological age calculations

 

[psyop]

sigma​

​

 

[Hoor Al-Ayn]

Beliefs are merely aesthetics and all his cope beliefs came due to his shit life. Does chad care about muh nature, muh industrial revolution, muh soyciety is fucked up

don't forget he also got MKULTRA'd by the feds

i wouldn't dismiss his ideas based on that though. it doesn't really matter if he got mindfucked, fucked by life, and isn't a genius. but unfortunately his manifesto on its own merit left me unimpressed at the time; or so I remember feeling.

 

[theanty]

I've always wondered what my IQ is.

 

[Horatio Alger]

Beliefs are merely aesthetics and all his cope beliefs came due to his shit life. Does chad care about muh nature, muh industrial revolution, muh soyciety is fucked up

Ted Kaczynski was arguably chadlite to chad in his prime, if the photos provided by @pedrolopezwasright are of him

Thinking all chads are mindless r-selects is black and white thinking. There are always exceptions to the rules

 

[Hoor Al-Ayn]

Most prétendu and/or soi-disant High IQ people regress precipitously towards the mean because

A. They cherrypick their best IQ score from multiple tests they took

B. They report their childhood ratio IQ scores, which is what most IQ tests were scored by in the early twentieth century
High ratio IQ scores are much more common than high Deviation IQ scores, which are normed to your age group and not based on mental/chronological age calculations

correct me if I'm wrong but old tests aren't equivalent with more recent ones either due to the flynn effect or rather the adjustments made because of it.

 

[Julius1]

Ted Kaczynski was arguably chadlite to chad in his prime, if the photos provided by @pedrolopezwasright are of him
View attachment 1480560View attachment 1480561

Thinking all chads are mindless r-selects is black and white thinking. There are always exceptions to the rules

Brutal, born with all the great genetic packages just to get raped by feds into anti-social recluse

 

[Horatio Alger]

correct me if I'm wrong but old tests aren't equivalent with more recent ones either due to the flynn effect or rather the adjustments made because of it.

If you took the old test when it was first normed, then it is valid since IQ is merely your ranking inside your own age cohort

 

[Hoor Al-Ayn]

If you took the old test when it was first normed, then it is valid since IQ is merely your ranking inside your own age group

yeah ik, i meant more like 150 iq recorded in 1950 is not equivalent to 150 iq recorded in 2025, or?

 

[poorenglishcel]

Eye q

 

[Horatio Alger]

yeah ik, i meant more like 150 iq in 1950 is not equivalent to 150 iq in 2025

Of course, I'm probably smarter than 170 IQ Bill Gates in absolute terms since not only intelligence declines with age, but since I had access to more nutrition and education than those born in 1950

In relative terms, I'm dumber than 170 IQ Bill Gates was among his fellow 1950s cohort than 150 IQ I am among my fellow 2000s cohort

 

[WorthlessSlavicShit]

@WorthlessSlavicShit

Thanks for the tag, interesting thread. From what I've seen of his writings, it definitely struck me as not as complex as I'd expect somebody with such a massive IQ to write, though obviously, that doesn't automatically mean that his beliefs were wrong.

don't forget he also got MKULTRA'd by the feds

i wouldn't dismiss his ideas based on that though. it doesn't really matter if he got mindfucked, fucked by life, and isn't a genius. but unfortunately his manifesto on its own merit left me unimpressed at the time; or so I remember feeling.

 

[pedrolopezwasright]

Ted Kaczynski took the Stanford-Binet IQ test in 1952

Ted Kaczynski - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

The Stanford-Binet still used the mental age scale and ratio IQ instead of Weschler's deviation IQ back in 1952

Stanford–Binet Intelligence Scales - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

He scored 167 which would equate to a deviation IQ of approx. 151 SD 15 (approx. top 1 in 3000 rarity) for Ted Kaczynski (I converted SD 16 to SD 15 for convenience)

Statistical Distribution of Childhood IQ Scores

Ratio IQ​	Sare's predicted rarity​	Normal (s.d. 16) rarity​
210​	1/2,730,000​	1/278,000,000,000​
200​	1/532,000​	1/5,870,000,000​
190​	1/109,000​	1/93,300,000​
180​	1/72,000​	1/3,490,000​
170​	1/5,040​	1/167,000​
160​	1/1,170​	1/11,500​
150​	1/286​	1/1,140​
140​	1/80​	1/161​

And this chart here (DIQ, or Deviation IQ has an SD of 16 here, so Ted Kaczynski has a Deviation IQ of 154.7 SD 16):

Ratio IQ​	MA/CA​	ln(MA/CA)​	sigma​	DIQ​
​ 167​	​ 1.67​	0.51282​	3.41882​	154.7​

Since it is reputed he took the Stanford-Binet at the age of 10, which is the age IQ stabilizes at according to Herrnstein and Murray, and Pumpkin person showing the correlation between childhood and adult IQ being 0.84, his adult IQ should regress towards the mean since, by definition, most people are normal and move closer to the average on a second sampling.

Regression toward the mean - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Furthermore, since even the best IQ tests are imperfectly correlated with g and with other IQ tests as well (correlation 0.8??? btw dif IQ tests), the correlation between his childhood and adult IQ should be 0.84 × 0.8 ≈ 0.67 using different tests at each age

Expected adult IQ of someone 51 points above the mean in childhood (deviation IQ 151) is 51 × 0.67 ≈ 34 points above the mean which is 134 IQ

His adult IQ is 136 SD 15 on the WAIS-R, which almost perfectly matches what regression to the mean predicts

Psychological Evaluation of the Unabomber: Theodore Kaczynski (continued)

TLDR: The Unabomber had a childhood Deviation IQ of 151 SD 15, and had an adult Deviation IQ of 136 SD 15, which is perfectly explained by the statistical phenomenon of regression toward the mean

IQ regression here can be explained by "regression toward the mean", however I wouldn't say regression is a general trend

 

[theanty]

but since I had access to more nutrition and education than those born in 1950

Well modern nutrition is shit, and Bill Gates came from a pretty well off family

 

[pedrolopezwasright]

For example: I had childhood IQ of 124 with SD 15. Which is 1.6 deviation above the mean. During my teen years I got tested again and haven't gotten the score. Psychologist conclusion was "(my name) fluid iq is decidedly above the mean" which would equate to 2+SD above the mean and likely near the test top ceiling. It can be explained in two ways 1) My IQ stayed the same, but I got more neurotypical (as neurotypical individuals are less likely to be underestimated on IQ test) 2) My IQ increased. Which would anecdotally contribute to conformation of hypermale brain theory (IQ correlated with increased exposure to androgenic compounds during youth)

 

[Horatio Alger]

Well modern nutrition is shit, and Bill Gates came from a pretty well off family

Bill Gates' parents were merely upper class. Not much more than top 1%, which is quite common (top 1% in IQ is merely 135 SD 15)

Besides, even Third World Elites in countries with comparable living standards to mid twentieth century America suffer from malnutrition

 

[Horatio Alger]

IQ regression here can be explained by "regression toward the mean", however I wouldn't say regression is a general trend

For example: I had childhood IQ of 124 with SD 15. Which is 1.6 deviation above the mean. During my teen years I got tested again and haven't gotten the score. Psychologist conclusion was "(my name) fluid iq is decidedly above the mean" which would equate to 2+SD above the mean and likely near the test top ceiling. It can be explained in two ways 1) My IQ stayed the same, but I got more neurotypical (as neurotypical individuals are less likely to be underestimated on IQ test) 2) My IQ increased. Which would anecdotally contribute to conformation of hypermale brain theory (IQ correlated with increased exposure to androgenic compounds during youth)

Since most people are by definition normal, those with extreme scores tend to regress towards the mean on a second sample

To use a concrete analogy, lightning is unlikely to strike the same place twice. So scoring even higher than your previous extremely high score is very unlikely, with a lower score more statistically likely

 

[poorenglishcel]

Band anyone with IQ greater than 48

 

[pedrolopezwasright]

Since most people are by definition normal, those with extreme scores tend to regress towards the mean on a second sample

To use a concrete analogy, lightning is unlikely to strike the same place twice. So scoring even higher than your previous extremely high score is very unlikely, with a lower score more statistically likely

Ted Kaczynski can provided as one example of anomaly concerning intelligence. His parents were completely normal, the fact that he scored 3+ SD above the mean is already staggering.

 

[pedrolopezwasright]

@Horatio Alger By the way, how you estimated Mearsheimer IQ?

 

[Horatio Alger]

Ted Kaczynski can provided as one example of anomaly concerning intelligence. His parents were completely normal, the fact that he scored 3+ SD above the mean is already staggering.

It is fascinating that his parents were working class (low IQ background) and his brother was also somewhat smart

 

[Skelly]

Does a 10 point IQ difference even matter when youre already leagues smarter than the average person?

 

[Horatio Alger]

@Horatio Alger By the way, how you estimated Mearsheimer IQ?

+1 standard deviation over the likes of other distinguished academics like Stephen M Walt, Van Evera, and Francis Fukuyama

So IQ 155 SD 15 which is top 1 in 8,000, but I think he'll overperform on a Power test like the Mega IQ test which loads heavily on academic persistence, where he might score +171 IQ SD 15, or top 1 in a 1,000,000

 

[pedrolopezwasright]

It is fascinating that his parents were working class (low IQ background) and his brother was also somewhat smart

Each gene is created by combination of alleles. Lets say for one gene: Mom: Aa Dad: Aa (dominant), which could create recessive son's gene. And same thing applies to all genes. Of course intelligence isn't just one gene, therefore such combination is indeed rare

 

[theanty]

Bill Gates' parents were merely upper class. Not much more than top 1%, which is quite common (top 1% in IQ is merely 135 SD 15)

I wasn't trying to argue against your main point tbh

I doubt a top 1% American family in 1950 would struggle to eat.
Isn't modern corn syrup n other shiet known to impair learning?

Besides, even Third World Elites in countries with comparable living standards to mid twentieth century America suffer from malnutrition

Is this true? I would imagine Third World Elites would have more than adequate resources to acquire food. Maybe micronutrient deficiency?

 

[Horatio Alger]

Does a 10 point IQ difference even matter when youre already leagues smarter than the average person?

The IQ gap btw his ratio and deviation IQ is greater than a standard deviation

The gap btw I and my Father's Math IQ is similarly slightly larger than +1 standard deviation, and he can demolish Math Olympiad Problems that I get stuck on

 

[Horatio Alger]

Each gene is created by combination of alleles. Lets say for one gene: Mom: Aa Dad: Aa (dominant), which could create recessive son's gene. And same thing applies to all genes. Of course intelligence isn't just one gene, therefore such combination is indeed rare

I wish I had that sort of genetic luck JFL

I could have been smarter than Terence Tao with similarly lucky genetic recombination

 

[pedrolopezwasright]

The IQ gap btw his ratio and deviation IQ is greater than a standard deviation

The gap btw I and my Father's Math IQ is similarly slightly larger than +1 standard deviation, and he can demolish Math Olympiad Problems that I get stuck on

What do you think about Bobby Fischer? Reportedly had an IQ score of 190

 

[Castaway]

His performance IQ seems to be low, considering that he was a mathematical prodigy and was regarded by his colleagues as one of the greatest.

 

[lnceI]

IQs me