![[Blank Bell Curve Meme.JPG|400]] An empty bell curve meme template. [IQ Bell Curve / Midwit | Know Your Meme](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/iq-bell-curve-midwit): > **IQ Bell Curve,** also known as **IQ Distribution Curve** and **Midwit**, refers to a series of [memes](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/memes) that use the IQ distribution diagrams to mock one of the three main groups represented by the diagram, most often targeting the largest group of people representing the average intelligence. The concept of IQ Bell Curve memes utilizes the horseshoe theory, implying that the groups with low intelligence and high intelligence often chose to follow the same goals while being guided by different reasoning. Those who possess average intelligence are referred to as "midwits." I like seeing this one pop up, a really psychological, funny, and durable meme format. It’s argumentative. I love seeing when bell curve memes advocate for returning to enlightened simplicity after overcomplicating things. Or two sides of the same idea/subject. Something can be stupid simple, overwrought, and enlightened in different mindsets. [Rival Voices #️⃣ on Twitter](https://twitter.com/nosilverv/status/1730571639954313315): > Why does this meme work so well? > Part of the reason is the symmetry. There's something both topwit and bottomwit share that midwit doesn’t. But what is it? It’s not knowledge. He has that. > What they share is *self?-knowledge. Both the bottomwit and the topwit know what they do and don't know. The midwit knows what he knows but doesn’t know what he doesn’t know. > The midwit is foolish. That's the deep memetic payload of this meme: it carves out and illustrates the difference between intelligence and wisdom. This one frames [[Small talk]] as stupid and meaningful:  This one makes fun of the [[Overmanaging has diminishing returns|managerial overhead]] that comes from over-engineering a complex productivity tool system: ![[Productivity Tools Bell Curve Meme.jpeg|400]] And this one makes fun of the people who make fun of managerial overhead, or making fun of the presumptuousness of the meme itself. It’s “midwit”-ing the act of critiquing what tools people use: ![[Meta Productivity Tools Bell Curve Meme.jpeg|400]] This one takes it further by midwiting the act of midwiting other people at all through this format: ![[Meta Bell Curve Meme.JPG|400]] ## More examples [MIKE SUNDAY on Twitter](https://twitter.com/OPEN_SUNDAY/status/1788663428594200726) (see also [[Critiques of design processes]]): > [#DesignThinking](https://twitter.com/hashtag/DesignThinking?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)  [Miranda Nover on Twitter](https://twitter.com/miranda_nover/status/1790531524175315348): > :)  ![[bell curve meme about learning curves.jpeg]]   ## See also - [[Visual motifs distill complex ideas into modular forms]] #memes #motifs