Freedomain with Stefan Molyneux 6338 War is a Battle of INTELLIGENCE! Listener Questions
Mar 25, 2026
51:46
Philosopher Stefan Molyneux unpacks Iran's real average IQ near 84 via Richard Lynn's data, shattering online test myths, political censorship and ideological fury to reveal intelligence's raw grip on civilizations.
Questions:
"Would you say your love for the music of Freddy Mercury is the primary factor that has unconsciously influenced you to repeatedly make false claims on X that the average IQ of Iran is 104-106. Firstly Stef, I’m a man who is deeply fascinated by the topic of IQ. And having said that I know that the IQ of Iran is roughly 84. I of course am not an IQ scientist/researcher myself but I have several sources from the top IQ experts some of which you probably have heard of (or maybe even interviewed on your show!). Now data from the most prominent IQ scientist Richard Lynn confirms the average IQ of Iran to be 84 (Citation 'The Wealth of Nations (2002), pg.133'. Which conversely is not only 20 points lower than your outrageous 104 IQ claim but is also even lower than Iraq which is 87. Now of course in a country of 90 million people you might have a million people with an IQ of 104 and let’s say 90,000 people with an IQ of >129 (See Normal Distribution charts attached below). So you will have some very smart people in Iran, but these people are an extreme minority generated by the bell curve of genetics being thrown 90 million times!, so as a whole on average most of the 90 million Iranians are borderline intellectually disabled. Now Stef back to your claim. Your claim is OUTRAGEOUS! You claim the IQ of Iran is 104-106, which is complete nonsense. I mean Stef think about what you’re saying Stef. Your saying the IQ of Iran a dysfunctional country majority populated with brainwashed borderline mentally dysfunctional people is the same as a highly industrious, innovative and merit based futuristic tech megalopolis like Japan. I mean spend one day in Japan and spend one day in Iran and I imagine the experience would be like worlds apart, yet you Stef claim that the IQ of Iran is the same as Japan??? WHATTT???? Does randomly firing missiles every so often like a child having a tantrum prove anything but the government of Iran is full of low IQ dysfunctional people. Now I know the IQ of the government is not necessarily the same as the general population. BUT, if the IQ of the general population was really that much higher than the governing leaders, then those moronic leaders would have been deposed of by the people a long time ago. Yet they weren't, so we should infer the general population isn’t in fact that much more intelligent than the government’s. Stef, in the West you might encounter Iranians who are very smart, but it goes without saying this sample is a very biased sample. What is particularly strange about all this, is you Stef are a man with a very high knowledge about IQ’s effect on national wealth and civil decorum and functionality, yet despite Iran being a highly dysfunctional nation at practically any level you can look at, you Stef echo a claim that the IQ of Iran is the same as Japan and even higher than Western Europe! How ABSURD! Which brings me back to my initial question. (Continued...)
"@freedomain (Continuing on ->) So Stef, when otherwise rational people act out of character and push fake news based on data that is from a biased sample (or is possibly even data that has been manipulated and propagated as a psy-op by the Iranian government) when they otherwise wouldn't ordinarily do so, one naturally has to ask WHY??? In my opinion, I think I know the answer. Stef, the only thing that explains this BIZARRE behaviour of yours (tweeting unverified claims about IQ), is you Stef have a bias in favour of Iran which I think stems from your love of Freddy Mercury music. Would you agree Stef?
"(*** Stef you did tweet out a Youtube video of a Freddy Mercury song at about the same time you made your Iran IQ tweets, so I think the evidence is clear Stef, Freddy Mercury was on your mind, when you made those fake news Iran 104 IQ tweets.)
"Now, lastly Stef you might be asking, why putting out a FALSE tweet falsely claiming the IQ of Iran is 104 even matter's that much? To that I would say it matters a whole lot because IQ of course matters a whole lot, including in regards to military objectives and war. Like ask why would invading Iran be any different from Iraq? Did Trump invade Iran because he thought it would lead to a different outcome because Trump views the population of Iran to be quote 'high IQ people'? (as Trump even said so as much in the last 24 hours.)
"BUT … Mr. Trump, what if Iran isn't populated by high IQ people, what if Mr. Trump you were misled by fake news that Mr. Molyneux negligently tweeted rather than read the actual source material. (Lynn, 'The Wealth of Nations' (2002) IQ of Iran = 84). Well, Mr. Trump if you believed the average IQ of the population of Iran was 104 then you Mr. Trump might have assumed that all you had to do was take out the authoritarian government and then the high IQ population will swiftly bring about peace and democracy. But Mr. Trump, what if the average IQ of Iran is not 104? What if the top IQ scientists such as Lynn were right and the average IQ of Iran is in fact 84? Well then Mr. Trump, then your dealing with a very low IQ population, who will be frankly impossible to deal with, they will inevitably vote for another dictator and you Mr. Trump will find yourself in another forever war. That is why national IQ matters and that is why putting out false unverified and unsubstantiated tweets about IQ is a great error of judgment. Lastly to conclude, I believe in the great predictive power of IQ like you Stef, which is why I think it would be incumbent upon you to put out a correction unless you have verified sources from other top IQ researchers that support your OUTRAGEOUS Iran 104 National IQ claim."
"Hi Stef! when communicating philosophy or philosophical ideas to the average person, and they respond with confusion or indifference, how do we know whether we have failed to adequately relay the ideas or if it is just too complex a language for them to grasp? I know everyone is capable of understanding philosophy on some level even if they’re lower IQ, so could the disconnect come from the disparity of time spent in the subject?"
"Your Sunday (3/15) show was incredible. As a Catholic, that opening monologue challenging today's Christians to answer with clarity what Jesus commands via the Good Samaritan parable, especially when it comes to the specific child abuse scenario you laid out, it left me with a deep sense of sorrow for what you endured, and my own sense of frustration with the leadership of the Church.
"The reality that not one, no church leaders, Anglican or not, lay or religious influencers; no one has tried to dialogue with you to address these essential issues, when you have been pointing them out for decades is more than disappointing to hear.
"(Not as disappointing as some of the immediate live caller responses yesterday... the second woman was out of line, and the gentleman who landed on the idea that if you had not been abused, we wouldn't have received your philosophy gifts was hard to stomach.)
"Nonetheless, if one (myself) was going to try to reach out, share your 3/15 show and try to coordinate a dialogue just to deal with the Good Samaritan and cold abuse topic, is that something you would be comfortable with?
"second question
"a few days ago, someone asked about how you feel about the Shroud of Turin, maybe you missed it but there has been renewed interest in the Shroud the last few years when a new photo 'negative' that appeared in 2024 along with new studies that for many was very compelling ... from a reason and evidence standpoint... to the image being impossible to reproduce.
"I could be wrong but I felt like your answer lumped it so quickly with other things ... I believe u mentioned people of faith like Aquinas have searched for 'proof' for centuries. And you found that people of faith who are seeking proof to be an interesting paradox.
"are you able to revisit this topic and assess what authenticating (if we are to believe the new reporting) that specific historical artifact could mean for at least establishing how the image came to be on the cloth?
"again appreciate all u do to improve the world via philosophy and advocating for objective morality."
"America in WW2 has burned down some and bombed all the major cities in Japan, even using the atomic bomb to create a glimpse of hell never before seen on earth. Yet today, the alliance between US and Japan couldnt be friendlier. In the middle east, we’ve also bombed them to next week and back for 30 or so years. And they still, understandably, hate the US. What do you think causes this difference in point of view between the countries? Is it religion/culture? Could it be IQ? Forgive me if this is too politcal or naive a question. Thank you!"
"My martial arts club have a Hazing ritual that I believe is immoral and useless. I trying to get it banned.
"Whats your opinions on hazing? Is it for example always immoral?"
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Questions:
"Would you say your love for the music of Freddy Mercury is the primary factor that has unconsciously influenced you to repeatedly make false claims on X that the average IQ of Iran is 104-106. Firstly Stef, I’m a man who is deeply fascinated by the topic of IQ. And having said that I know that the IQ of Iran is roughly 84. I of course am not an IQ scientist/researcher myself but I have several sources from the top IQ experts some of which you probably have heard of (or maybe even interviewed on your show!). Now data from the most prominent IQ scientist Richard Lynn confirms the average IQ of Iran to be 84 (Citation 'The Wealth of Nations (2002), pg.133'. Which conversely is not only 20 points lower than your outrageous 104 IQ claim but is also even lower than Iraq which is 87. Now of course in a country of 90 million people you might have a million people with an IQ of 104 and let’s say 90,000 people with an IQ of >129 (See Normal Distribution charts attached below). So you will have some very smart people in Iran, but these people are an extreme minority generated by the bell curve of genetics being thrown 90 million times!, so as a whole on average most of the 90 million Iranians are borderline intellectually disabled. Now Stef back to your claim. Your claim is OUTRAGEOUS! You claim the IQ of Iran is 104-106, which is complete nonsense. I mean Stef think about what you’re saying Stef. Your saying the IQ of Iran a dysfunctional country majority populated with brainwashed borderline mentally dysfunctional people is the same as a highly industrious, innovative and merit based futuristic tech megalopolis like Japan. I mean spend one day in Japan and spend one day in Iran and I imagine the experience would be like worlds apart, yet you Stef claim that the IQ of Iran is the same as Japan??? WHATTT???? Does randomly firing missiles every so often like a child having a tantrum prove anything but the government of Iran is full of low IQ dysfunctional people. Now I know the IQ of the government is not necessarily the same as the general population. BUT, if the IQ of the general population was really that much higher than the governing leaders, then those moronic leaders would have been deposed of by the people a long time ago. Yet they weren't, so we should infer the general population isn’t in fact that much more intelligent than the government’s. Stef, in the West you might encounter Iranians who are very smart, but it goes without saying this sample is a very biased sample. What is particularly strange about all this, is you Stef are a man with a very high knowledge about IQ’s effect on national wealth and civil decorum and functionality, yet despite Iran being a highly dysfunctional nation at practically any level you can look at, you Stef echo a claim that the IQ of Iran is the same as Japan and even higher than Western Europe! How ABSURD! Which brings me back to my initial question. (Continued...)
"@freedomain (Continuing on ->) So Stef, when otherwise rational people act out of character and push fake news based on data that is from a biased sample (or is possibly even data that has been manipulated and propagated as a psy-op by the Iranian government) when they otherwise wouldn't ordinarily do so, one naturally has to ask WHY??? In my opinion, I think I know the answer. Stef, the only thing that explains this BIZARRE behaviour of yours (tweeting unverified claims about IQ), is you Stef have a bias in favour of Iran which I think stems from your love of Freddy Mercury music. Would you agree Stef?
"(*** Stef you did tweet out a Youtube video of a Freddy Mercury song at about the same time you made your Iran IQ tweets, so I think the evidence is clear Stef, Freddy Mercury was on your mind, when you made those fake news Iran 104 IQ tweets.)
"Now, lastly Stef you might be asking, why putting out a FALSE tweet falsely claiming the IQ of Iran is 104 even matter's that much? To that I would say it matters a whole lot because IQ of course matters a whole lot, including in regards to military objectives and war. Like ask why would invading Iran be any different from Iraq? Did Trump invade Iran because he thought it would lead to a different outcome because Trump views the population of Iran to be quote 'high IQ people'? (as Trump even said so as much in the last 24 hours.)
"BUT … Mr. Trump, what if Iran isn't populated by high IQ people, what if Mr. Trump you were misled by fake news that Mr. Molyneux negligently tweeted rather than read the actual source material. (Lynn, 'The Wealth of Nations' (2002) IQ of Iran = 84). Well, Mr. Trump if you believed the average IQ of the population of Iran was 104 then you Mr. Trump might have assumed that all you had to do was take out the authoritarian government and then the high IQ population will swiftly bring about peace and democracy. But Mr. Trump, what if the average IQ of Iran is not 104? What if the top IQ scientists such as Lynn were right and the average IQ of Iran is in fact 84? Well then Mr. Trump, then your dealing with a very low IQ population, who will be frankly impossible to deal with, they will inevitably vote for another dictator and you Mr. Trump will find yourself in another forever war. That is why national IQ matters and that is why putting out false unverified and unsubstantiated tweets about IQ is a great error of judgment. Lastly to conclude, I believe in the great predictive power of IQ like you Stef, which is why I think it would be incumbent upon you to put out a correction unless you have verified sources from other top IQ researchers that support your OUTRAGEOUS Iran 104 National IQ claim."
"Hi Stef! when communicating philosophy or philosophical ideas to the average person, and they respond with confusion or indifference, how do we know whether we have failed to adequately relay the ideas or if it is just too complex a language for them to grasp? I know everyone is capable of understanding philosophy on some level even if they’re lower IQ, so could the disconnect come from the disparity of time spent in the subject?"
"Your Sunday (3/15) show was incredible. As a Catholic, that opening monologue challenging today's Christians to answer with clarity what Jesus commands via the Good Samaritan parable, especially when it comes to the specific child abuse scenario you laid out, it left me with a deep sense of sorrow for what you endured, and my own sense of frustration with the leadership of the Church.
"The reality that not one, no church leaders, Anglican or not, lay or religious influencers; no one has tried to dialogue with you to address these essential issues, when you have been pointing them out for decades is more than disappointing to hear.
"(Not as disappointing as some of the immediate live caller responses yesterday... the second woman was out of line, and the gentleman who landed on the idea that if you had not been abused, we wouldn't have received your philosophy gifts was hard to stomach.)
"Nonetheless, if one (myself) was going to try to reach out, share your 3/15 show and try to coordinate a dialogue just to deal with the Good Samaritan and cold abuse topic, is that something you would be comfortable with?
"second question
"a few days ago, someone asked about how you feel about the Shroud of Turin, maybe you missed it but there has been renewed interest in the Shroud the last few years when a new photo 'negative' that appeared in 2024 along with new studies that for many was very compelling ... from a reason and evidence standpoint... to the image being impossible to reproduce.
"I could be wrong but I felt like your answer lumped it so quickly with other things ... I believe u mentioned people of faith like Aquinas have searched for 'proof' for centuries. And you found that people of faith who are seeking proof to be an interesting paradox.
"are you able to revisit this topic and assess what authenticating (if we are to believe the new reporting) that specific historical artifact could mean for at least establishing how the image came to be on the cloth?
"again appreciate all u do to improve the world via philosophy and advocating for objective morality."
"America in WW2 has burned down some and bombed all the major cities in Japan, even using the atomic bomb to create a glimpse of hell never before seen on earth. Yet today, the alliance between US and Japan couldnt be friendlier. In the middle east, we’ve also bombed them to next week and back for 30 or so years. And they still, understandably, hate the US. What do you think causes this difference in point of view between the countries? Is it religion/culture? Could it be IQ? Forgive me if this is too politcal or naive a question. Thank you!"
"My martial arts club have a Hazing ritual that I believe is immoral and useless. I trying to get it banned.
"Whats your opinions on hazing? Is it for example always immoral?"
GET FREEDOMAIN MERCH! https://shop.freedomain.com/
SUBSCRIBE TO ME ON X! https://x.com/StefanMolyneux
Follow me on Youtube! https://www.youtube.com/@freedomain1
GET MY NEW BOOK 'PEACEFUL PARENTING', THE INTERACTIVE PEACEFUL PARENTING AI, AND THE FULL AUDIOBOOK!
https://peacefulparenting.com/
Join the PREMIUM philosophy community on the web for free!
Subscribers get 12 HOURS on the "Truth About the French Revolution," multiple interactive multi-lingual philosophy AIs trained on thousands of hours of my material - as well as AIs for Real-Time Relationships, Bitcoin, Peaceful Parenting, and Call-In Shows!
You also receive private livestreams, HUNDREDS of exclusive premium shows, early release podcasts, the 22 Part History of Philosophers series and much more!
See you soon!
https://freedomain.locals.com/support/promo/UPB2025