If you honestly think you’re dumb, get a full psychological evaluation (note: NOT a psychiatric evaluation—that’s something else entirely). This is an extensive series of yeasts that should take around 8 hours (often split over two days). That should settle the matter for you.

However, if you made it into a Ph.D. program, you almost certainly aren’t “dumb” in the sense that you have a below average IQ. While it is true that most of academic success is actually based on work (e.g. studying), IQ does place a limit on its ceiling.

I would suggest getting into therapy and only accepting therapists you deem to be smarter than yourself. Intelligence isn’t the most important characteristic in a therapist, but it matters. A good therapist will be able to help you tease out objective evaluations of your own intellect from insecurity-biased ones. A therapist with a solid background in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is a plus in this case.

I ended up in grad school trying to get a doctorate, as I was so stupid that looking for a job sounded insurmountable. […] Wonder if any of academia would even be left. Imagine my stupidity of not thinking ahead here.

I don’t think you’re dumb at all, you’d have to jump some serious hurdles to get into a doctoral program[1].

I would suggest you seem to lack confidence though. That’s relatively easy to fix. A timely comment I came across on Hacker News today seems pertinent. One quote in particular sticks out, which I myself have experienced:

my life got immeasurably better when I stopped trying to prove myself to everyone.

LLMs are stochastic parrots, they can really only repeat previously acquired human knowledge and apply it in rudimentary ways. True outside-the-box thinkers will always be required. An LLM is, and always will be a tool.

So anyway, how do I cure my dumbness and actually function as a normal person?

The want and willingness to learn, and the right attitude or mindset: relentless curiosity. If you have a passion, follow it. Don’t get into a field just because there’s huge dollar signs at the end of it.

If it weren’t for curiosity in understanding how something worked by tearing it apart, seeing its insides, then putting it back together, I wouldn’t have the foggiest of clues how to build and fix computers today. Despite my academic qualifications[1] and long career in an unrelated field I’m opting to do some basic trade skills training in Electronics, because it helps satisfy my relentless curiosity, and because it might be useful one day.

Skills and learning things don’t necessarily have to be academic. There are people infinitely smarter than me in their own fields who don’t have any academic qualifications at all. Intelligence is relative to the field it is being applied to.

As for finding friends, if you have a hobby find a local club or maker-space or something like that and go along. Interact with people but don’t go with the singular explicit goal of ‘making friends’. Friendship will flourish as you get to know people naturally through a shared hobby or cause.

[1] for what its worth, I hold two distinct bachelors degrees (not a combined double degree) and am currently studying a masters degree.

highkey same, I feel so dumb dumb stupid boy all the time

I feel way dumber now than 8 years ago, I wonder if long covid just thanos snapped the good parts of my brain

Smart people know how little they actually know.

how do I cure my dumbness and actually function as a normal person?

Make mistakes. Learn from them. Big ones, small ones, it doesn’t matter in the slightest. What matters is that you learn.

Be curious. Ask questions.
Critical: answer those questions from a reputable source. Not ai. Ask a librarian for a book that can answer it.

Go to therapy and work with someone who helps you find you. It’s not all depression, grief, or anger issues. You can go and talk.

Eating Reading a book is generally a good start.

For a more specific solution, we need more info on your dumbidity. Presuming that you are right, what convinced you that you’re dumb? And what type of dumb? Any chance you’re smart but just very unwise?

This quote is attributed to Einstein, but I think a lot of quotes falsely are.

Anyway, it goes, “If you judge a fish by it’s ability to climb a ladder, it will go through life forever thinking it is dumb.”

You are not dumb. I can tell by the fact that you use words like apocalypse, academia and correctly used the word too, instead of to. You have enough self introspection to realize you are dumb which as pointed out by someone else is a sign of intelligence. You got into grad school. There are other signs. My guess is you might work with people who are exceptional making you think you are dumb, not realizing that a large portion of the general population are waaaay dumber than you. Or your standards are just higher than most and failing to meet these elevated standards makes you feel dumb.

Or maybe you are just looking for compliments. In which, case…I really like those shoes.

Brevity.

Bruh you are underestimating yourself.

Most people don’t even know what academic papers or a doctorate are. So I immediately think you are way above average in intelligence and employability.

To make friends you just have to socialize more. Practice makes perfect.

Don’t tie your self worth to a collapsing system.

Watch educational documentaries of high quality to try to identify topics that interest you and then look for books on those topics to go deep.

But also, I’m just gonna level with you. Life is pretty hard. It sucks a lot of the time. But it’s also awesome at other times. I just want to remind you that it though you’re feeling bad about it right now, it won’t always be this way. You won’t always feel this way. Hope you feel better soon.

I mean I know there is grade inflation and issues with education but I kinda feel getting into a PhD program is going to put you at least one standard deviation above the norm on intellect. This seems very rediculous. Is it just to complain about the llm situation?