Bitcoin Forum

not to know all the technical details inside out, because few people can do that.

just understand the basic concepts of different parts of the bitcoin system, and how they relate to each other.

what is the minimum iq needed, and what % of world population is below that requirement?

That's a good question
I reckon that at this point you need slightly above average IQ to get comfortable (my guess would be that around a third of the world's population fit the bill)

As time passes, arguably the experience will need to get dumbed down to the point that even a complete imbecile can acquire, secure and spend coins

Big ask if you break it up that way!

Anyone can understand bitcoin if it is properly explained. The core issue is that most people have a deficit when it comes to understanding how money itself works. Thus the leap to Bitcoin is problematic. Like computers, the internet, smart phones and many other innovations, it's just going to take patience and time to see the masses adopt and understand Bitcoin. The good news is that Bitcoin isn't going away and the network is worth over 12 billion dollars now. 

I once heard a schoolkid on bus ask his mates "What does IQ mean?" One replied: "I think it means 'Intelligence Quiz'" I lol'd pretty hard.

if scammers can understand it anyone can  :D

Scammers are some of the smartest people around.

That's actually true, a lot (not all) of con artists and scammers are Genius level, especially complex scams not the "you won the lottery" crap.

Hasn't anyone here watched Catch me if you Can ?  ;D

Some scammers are smarter than some people around them. Fixed.

Great question! Definitely "Above average" intelligence is required to understand and appreciate the fundamental value of Bitcoin and Crytography (Early adopters i.e. everyone here to date).

Which means your IQ will have to be at a MINIMUM of:

110–119 IQ

Only 16% of the population are within the "above average" IQ range, the Vast majority of humanity are at much lower levels.

I think the minimum IQ is 102.02103041

You feel me?

you don't need to count to use a calculator

By definition, 50% of people has an IQ at or above 100, which is average.

Not just 16% has above average IQ.

The IQ chart is a normalized probability chart with a standard deviation of either 15 or 16 depending on the test, and an expected value of 100. This means that most people fall within 15 or 16 IQ points measured from 100. (So between 85 and 115 or 84 and 116) 65% of the world population has an IQ within this range. The further you get away from 100, the more rare it becomes. An IQ of 140 is already within the 1% of highest IQs (and often coupled with autism)

An IQ of 110 is common at college/university level and is within the top 25%

119 is within the top 11%

huh... 42? :)

People won't care as long as they can use it.
Try and explain the basics of current money system, many do not understand and many will not believe its true it works lhow it does.

Make spending bitcoins easy and people wont ask nor care

Above average intelligence in Bitcoinland?  Hummmm, I don't know. How many people here have fallen for scams like Pirateat40 pulled even with other people screaming at them "it's a scam you fucking idiot"?

I don't think you need above average intelligence at all but basic computer aptitude helps. Understanding basic coding concepts helps even more. I've met some coders that were one step below Rainman on the IQ scale but they were good with computers just like Rainman could count cards. LOL

People can be academically smart, but socially naive or stupid and make poor decisions etc. I know some pretty slack people who've got degrees.

This
Took the words right out of my post.

But actually, this "holier than thou" approach to understanding btc is pointless and masterbatory. There's no point in doing it other than making yourself feel good. Most people don't understand bitcoin not because "their IQ isn't high enough" (which is an outdated and arbitrary way of testing someone's intelligence as it does not take into consideration a number of variables...but I digress) but because they simply do not care enough to take the time to learn it. Yes some of the coding principles are complex for your average kindle user, but you don't have to understand how advanced cryptography works to understand the foundations of bitcoin. It's like saying you need to understand how the paper that the dollar is printed on is made in order to understand paper money.

There are a few good videos and explanations which should be understandable by almost anyone.

I think today the only prerequisite would be to be able to generally use a computer. I'd say if you spend any hours a week on facebook, you can probably figure out how to use bitcoin. That said I wouldn’t recommend someone who isn't fairly technically competent to out much money into bitcoin. Right now it's too easy for the average joe to get scammed or lose his bitcoin. 

If one thinks that they can get infected by a computer virus, don't expect them to be able to understand bitcoin.

I think anyone with decent cognitive abilities could understand bitcoin.  It just takes someone to fully explain it to them.  It's not a concept that needs a high level IQ, it's a concept that needs a lot of study (to fully understand how it works).  I'd say 99% of the population have the means to be able to learn it.

I've explained it to some people, from my results less than half understood what it is.

Bigot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Harbisson

Scams can be absolute genius, but a lot of scammers are just as stupid and as naive as their victims. These multi-million $ Bitcoins heists and long-cons are not pulled off by plebs. As much as I hate them, they kinda have my respect in some ways.

very true, a while back i've read up on research that proves this, some people with very high IQ 130+ have been found to fail at a basic social level (naivety, poor decisions, not questioning the status quo, etc).

ITT: people thinking IQ is a comprehensive measure of intelligence.

^thank you

It's true; just look at modern banking.

It's not a matter of IQ. It just requires a quite large background knowledge, if you don't have those information you just need some time to understand all the subsystems involved. Knowing them, it becomes really simple and easy to understand how Bitcoin works.

The question should be: What is the minimum days of learning before an average computer user can protect his bitcoins from theft and loss  ;)

It depend on several factors (which client, which device, which OS..). However in general it's just simple as choosing a safe password for the wallet and periodically saving a backup somewhere else (for example multiple USB storages) that will be kept in separate places.

However this is far to "understanding Bitcoin on a basic level".

I say 120.  90% worldwide below that.

I doubt the majority of people even understand decimals enough to differentiate between .1 and .01.

That bitcoin is irreversible probably won't sit well with most regular people either.

IMO probably only a small segment of the population will end up utilizing cryptos but among those few it is still revolutionary with endless possibilities.

Intelligence Quotient is BS man; It was a university entrance exam at the turn of the 19th century... how much can you gather from that? It's not absolute.

To understand Bitcoin require a wealth of knowledge, I consider myself a pretty educated guy but it took me a whole year of delving deep into Bitcoin to begin to understand it. If it is anything at all it is hard work and a good web of knowledge... if they don't have the right fundamentals to understand Bitcoin they have to buildup the knowledge, cryptography, computers, networking, psychology, sociology, cognitive systems, etc, without these fundamentals doesn't matter how smart you think they are, they are going to stumble... but if they are hard workers, perciever through it all, or love the idea they'll master it.

and IMHO most scammers are dumb, so dumb they don't even know the value of what they have... I would have sold what I had for a cool couple million and let someone else carry on; they just don't see the posibilities, they'd rather rob you then listen.

yeah, intelligence is relative.. this is what i've come to realize. there are many different levels off intelligence. you could be street smart but not book smart, or book smart but not street smart. some people associate good memory with intelligence, but memory is not everything.

i think understanding bitcoin is not for the common person though. it's too confusing and takes too much time. most people could probably understand how bitcoin works, but it's too time consuming so they dont bother with it.

0!

Just read up and you'll be fine!

Apparently not very much considering most of the posts I see on this board...

This.

One needs to know among other things:

 -What is money, (I was talking to a guy about this and he went into an infinite loop explaining back to me how he is legally entitled to a 1 dollar bill upon producing a 1 dollar bill at the bank because it has "I promise to pay the bearer 1 dollar" written on it.)
 -What is the current monetary system, fractional reserve banking, central banking, Hows, whys and whats of QEs, etc etc
 -Cryptography, at least the idea that some things are hard to make but easy to verify.
 -Decentralisation, the blockchain, why bitcoins cannot be forged or printed.

I don't mean to brag here but I just wanted to post my stats so other people can compare intelligence vs understanding bitcoin

I got into bitcoin in november 2012. I did my research and did not understand it fully until april 2013 when i bought in at $60 each (i still hold all of them). even from april 2013 to today i am constantly learning a lot of material.

as for stats:

iq i usually test 125-130 but no idea how true it is since it is all online.
i type 111 wpm with 0 errors
i can build computers
bs in accounting (but remember university doesn't mean shit, you can learn shit on ur own)
i do calculus 3/accounting/finance homework and online exams for $200 a pop on the side
i work in the it making around 50k a year gross.
can play piano (like bedrock, titanic etc)

do have weaknesses. i'm introverted and not a very good or charismatic speaker. i am not good at explaining things even tho i myself understand it. that is a different area of str in my opinion.

with all that said, it took me 5 months to understand bitcoin and am still constantly learning new things. i would imagine a person with a background in computer science or programming would understand bitcoin quicker than me.

again this isn't to brag but for you to compare what strengths you have and the amount of time it took you to grasp bitcoin.

edit: also wanted to add i passed border patrol, immigrations, and cdcr prison guard exam with over 80 without studying. i know a lot of ppl who have failed those exams while putting a lot of hours into studying that.

while i'm not very smart, in my mind i have been ruminating over the idea of money (for a few years now), how its basic functions work and the like.. more recently, i've been learning a lot more about it.

i think it has more to do with your desire to learn about how money drives the world, than it does about what your IQ is.. at least for the average person.

With an IQ of 110 you can do it.
You need to spend a year or two learning C++ with a good textbook. I would recommend:

Learn Professional Programming Skill in C++ Programming Language by Adalat Khan
and
Object-Oriented Programming in C++ by Nicolai M. Josuttis

If you master these two books you will be fine regarding C++ but you may need a bit more knowledge regarding networking programming, and concurrent programming with threads, for understanding p2p technology, namely discovering network nodes using IRC, sockets, etc.

To score very high in a Mensa IQ exam you need an entremely good vocabullary, which you don't need to master C++ coding and you need to be good with pattern recognition and brain teasers that although may tell a lot about how sharp and fit your brain is, how quick, focused and able to memorize you are, and for that matter how intelligent you are, will not actually be decisive in your ability to understand bitcoin and its code.

What you need is the chance of getting to know the best resources and to dedicate enough time to them.

First you need to understand bitcoin, generally.
1) Watch "United Colors of Bitcoin" on youtube a few times,
jotting down notes, until you get it. Five times may be enough.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6sOFXHlhuE
2) Consolidate your knowledge with a more detailed and technical
explanation with the video: How Bitcoin Works Under the Hood.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx9zgZCMqXE
Watch it also as many times as necessary, after you are confident
you did understand quite a lot of the previous video.
3) Then you need to understand the code.
Buy these two books on amazon: Learn Professional Programming Skill in C++ Programming Language by
Adalat Khan and Object-Oriented Programming in C++ by Nicolai M. Josuttis
Focus on the first book. Dedicating two hours of reading it a day, for a few months.
If you dedicate two hours a day, by March or April your C++ will be fine to grasp the
code.
In the meantime print the 12,222 lines of code of the original
client code http://www.scribd.com/doc/189139502/Bitcoin-12-222-lines-of-code
(files: base58.h, bignum.h, db.cpp, db.h, headers.h, irc.cpp, irc.h, key.h, main.cpp, main.h, market.cpp, market.h, net.cpp, net.h,
script.cpp, script.h, serialize.h, ui.cpp, ui.h, uint256.h, util.cpp and util.h) and get familliar with it, having a mental picture of it and of the line numbers - as clearly as possible.

The different pieces of the puzzle will start to couple and in a year or two you will understand it all. And you don't need a high IQ. With a 110 IQ you are fine.

IQ is irrelevant here, computer to its root is just some switches that even a child can understand, but when it reaches a high level of complexity, only those who are continuously working in this area can follow the development. I think most of the people don't understand how IP protocol and internet works, but that does not stop them from using it

If you don't understand how bitcoin works, you can still use it, but there is a big concern that you might lose your wallet, that is serious. So as long as people can make sure that their bitcoins are safe, the rest of the details are not important

In a traditional model, people rely on banks to protect their money, so they don't really bother how fiat money works either, as long as they can safely deposit and withdraw their money with banks

For beginner, I think blockchain.info wallet with two-factor authentication is enough good, since the wallet is backed up by the server and only user have the encryption password to the wallet

IQ is normally irrelevant here. You are just required to ask right questions.

If you need an index seriously, I think 95 (with understanding how natural number can be calculated), then should be okay.

This

and/or remotemass's answer (no 42!)

Ah, ah, 42! the answer to life, universe and everything
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aboZctrHfK8 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aboZctrHfK8)

Not really similar.

42! is an incredibly large number, not anywhere near 42.

42! = 1405006117752879898543142606244511569936384000000000

Douglas Adams would be proud