House S06E08

Throughout history, intelligence has arguably been one of the most divisive traits humans exhibit. On a gross scale, you have highly intelligent people looking down on less intelligent people for failing to think critically and acting like sheep, while less intelligent people look down on highly intelligent people for causing trouble and acting superior. I must say, though, the less intelligent seem to have the advantage of numbers. And it isn't just the two extremes battling it out. In the metaphorical locker rooms of schools for the "gifted," the numbers being jealously compared are not inches, they're IQ points and grade scores. It's especially lonely at the top, where the socially awkward don't often manage to stand in solidarity.

It's no wonder, then, that the genius in this episode of House liked living without the pressures of intelligence. As House explained to the man's wife, "He's smart compared to you. He's a moron compared to what he was." This couple managed to make it work despite a significant intelligence gap, but only so long as that gap was artificially minimized by the young physicist's drug use.

It can be incredibly difficult for people at opposite ends of the intelligence spectrum to get along. Brains that function so differently can't always communicate with each other. People with high IQs often find it frustrating to slow their thought processes enough to be understood, and may leave out important information because they assume it's obvious. People with low IQs, on the other hand, can get understandably upset by the rude treatment they sometimes receive if they don't immediately grasp what they're being told.

The only reasonable solution, as things stand, is for everyone to learn to be a little more patient.