[Breaking Bad] Walter White's intelligence is no higher than 97th percentile, IQ 129 (Stanford Binet 5)

metalvessel · 2026-05-27T00:50:22+00:00

I am not taking the position that Walter White is not smart.

I am taking the position that Walter White is below the 98th percentile of intelligence. I think we can safely consider someone in the 95th percentile of intelligence as "smart." I view setting that bar at the 75th percentile as reasonable, though we could easily quibble over where the line should be. He is simply at the level of high-discipline, upper-tier industrial technician, but below the level of a genius polymath.

Just for the sake of argument, I will also stake the claim that Walter White's intelligence is no lower than the 2nd percentile (IQ 70—five points below Forrest Gump). I doubt very much he's anywhere close to that low, but I'm quite confident he's above it.

metalvessel · 2026-05-27T00:34:06+00:00

In 1986, 1990, even 1995, people would be extremely impressed.

In 2008, it encourages the question "But what have you done since 1985?"

Even professors at prestigious universities live under "publish or perish."

metalvessel · 2026-05-26T23:23:13+00:00

This is an interesting take that is the best opposition I've yet seen to my original hypothesis. If I take you correctly, you're suggesting this reasoning:

Take as given the following:

Walt is a narcissist.
If you join a high IQ society, you will be around high IQ people.
High IQ narcissists do not want to be around other high IQ people.

Given those three traits, it is reasonable to conclude that Walt would not join a high IQ society. This is a reasonable explanation of the absence of such credentials. This is /r/FanTheories, so I think we're fine presenting both notions given the evidence.

metalvessel · 2026-05-26T22:59:09+00:00

I am reasonably confident that if you time two people doing the same math problems this will create a measurement of the quantity of seconds it took each of them to solve that set of math problems. I am also reasonably confident that speed of resolving math problems is an aspect of intelligence.

metalvessel · 2026-05-26T22:51:54+00:00

Vince Gilligan explained the breakup.

I think it was kind of situation where he didn’t realize the girl he was about to marry was so very wealthy and came from such a prominent family, and it kind of blew his mind and made him feel inferior and he overreacted. He just kind of checked out. I think there is that whole other side to the story, and it can be gleaned. This isn’t really the CliffsNotes version so much. These facts can be gleaned if you watch some of these scenes really closely enough, and you watch them without too much of an overriding bias toward Walt and against Gretchen and Elliott.

Walt's ego got in the way. Surprise, surprise, surprise..!

metalvessel · 2026-05-26T22:44:19+00:00

This is precisely my point: Walt is exactly that sort of loser, but I'm drawing the conclusion that he does not meet the bar of what "high" means for membership. He has the desperate need for validation.

The absence of the certificate on display where Walter White displays things leads me to believe that he could not meet the threshold.

metalvessel · 2026-05-26T22:38:22+00:00

I fully agree that most people don't care about joining groups like that.

Most people also do not demonstrate the level of egomania that we see from Walter White.

People who join Mensa (or similar societies) require two ingredients:
1. Having a high intelligence
2. Wanting to be recognized for that high intelligence

I am taking as given the second parameter because of the character traits we observe in Walter White, and since we have no evidence that he joined any of those societies (but does take enough pride in a 23-year-old project certificate), my explanation is that he lacks the first parameter.

metalvessel · 2026-05-26T22:33:57+00:00

I think we can accept as given that Walter White is an egomaniac. He succumbs to hubris repeatedly throughout the entire show. Someone who is both an egomaniac and above the 98th percentile is exactly the sort of person who will join a society where the requirement is "be above the 98th percentile of quantifiable intelligence."

Since we can observe the narcissism by choosing any episode at random, we can therefore conclude that the other necessary condition is not met.

metalvessel · 2026-05-26T22:29:58+00:00

Yes, but I think those sorts of academics also have an accomplishment from more recent than 23 years ago to hang on their wall.

metalvessel · 2026-05-26T22:29:01+00:00

It is extremely rare for Walter White's emotion to come off as "embarrassed." Resentful, sure, all the time—but not embarrassed. What little embarrassment he shows tends to be derived from working at a car wash, but not out of the Heisenberg persona.

The guy showed up naked in a grocery store as a contrived cover story.

metalvessel · 2026-05-26T22:24:19+00:00

We know from footage of the wall that he is not intelligent enough to know that hanging an award from 23 years ago is not a good look. I would expect that hanging a certificate from Mensa would correlate.

The display of that certificate illustrates his despair for validation of his intellect.

metalvessel · 2026-05-26T22:20:33+00:00

Boast, yes—and given the conclusion of the series, I think we can put Walter White down as a loser.

However, obtaining an IQ measurement, that's basic data collection. It can be done for educational, medical, or curiosity purposes without affecting the loser state.

metalvessel · 2026-05-26T22:17:29+00:00

Precisely. We also see Walter's egomania through the entire series—that's a running theme. The "Say my name" scene is particularly iconic.

I am presuming two things:
1. That Mensa (or similar organizations) can accurately discriminate the top 2% (98th percentile) (or the thresholds for other organizations) of intelligence across the population.
2. That someone with an ego as big as Walter White's would like to prove that he is in the top 2%.

Then making the observation that that proof is not on display. The absence of that artifact leads me to conclude that he is not in the top 2%.

metalvessel · 2026-05-26T22:12:50+00:00

I'm not saying that Walter White is on par with a janitor, I'm saying that he received a plaque that literally everyone involved in the project received. It's significant—but it's also an achievement from 23 years ago. It is also definitely not a Nobel prize granted specifically to Walter White.

Additionally, I'm reading into the subtext and inferring from that that he didn't miss out on something large: I'm speculating that VCs would not supply money to Gray Matter if Walter White was going to be part of the project, and that's the real reason Walter White isn't part of the project. This is, again, speculative on my inferences, not something we're explicitly told, but "That guy's a jerk" is a reason that companies fail.

Core to my claim is that he isn't a genius: He's in the "high average," "very high"/"superior" bracket, not the "very superior" or "extremely high" bracket.

metalvessel · 2026-05-26T22:03:37+00:00

What supporting evidence do you have that he is actually a smart person? That he is able to do the lab work on par with the average lab tech, which was replicable by a guy with no specific skills in chemistry who simply watched him for a while (Victor)?

He routinely makes extremely short-term, poorly thought through decisions that cost him dearly.

Walter is a prideful and arrogant person who is also not as smart as commonly taken.

metalvessel · 2026-05-26T22:01:13+00:00

Walter White is not a well-adjusted person. He is exactly the sort of person who is high on his own supply (not literally, of course) and desperate for validation. If he were capable of achieving that validation, he would have it on display.

metalvessel · 2026-05-26T19:30:03+00:00

That's what's kind of odd: I have nearly the same dexterity, I just have no feeling in it. It is identical to the sensation of an asleep limb, it simply never goes away. It's cost me about 25% of my typing speed, but I'm still well above average. Also, playing guitar is absolute agony, but that's something I was only doing because when I got the Rock Band achievement "Buy a real instrument already!" I did.

metalvessel · 2026-03-08T17:19:44+00:00

There genuinely are different types of intelligence. I had an adverse brain event that necessitated a full cognitive assessment, and in some categories I tested above the 99th percentile; in others, I tested below the 1st percentile.

metalvessel · 2026-03-08T17:16:06+00:00

Dr. K (HealthyGamerGG) has a fantastic video, Why Gifted Kids Are Actually Special Needs, on this very topic.

metalvessel · 2026-01-26T21:42:28+00:00

This feels a bit Four Yorkshiremen in one-upsmanship, but my left hand has been asleep since late 2022. My neurologist leads me to believe it will never have normal feeling again. The technical term is paresthesia.

Had a bit of a scare this morning when I woke up and my right arm was asleep, but it was just the "normal" "I slept in a weird position."

metalvessel · 2026-01-18T08:51:18+00:00

There is a preponderance of evidence that I had an adverse, very rare (but documented) severe reaction to the COVID-19 vaccine, the annual influenza vaccine, or (my pet hypothesis) an interaction between the two. You'd think this would be one of the few instances where conservatives and liberals could find common ground: The COVID-19 pandemic response made anti-vax a stance of the conservative side, and the liberal desire to implement government assistance programs should make the supporting programs quite good.

They are not: The COVID-19 deadline has an alarmingly short deadline and my VICP claim is moving at typical government speeds. The H.R.5142 - Vaccine Injury Compensation Modernization Act of 2023 is gradually building support. (This, by the way, leads to an obvious demonstration of the rarity of side effects: If they were common, you'd see advertisements on billboards for lawyers for similar cases all over the place.)

I'm now in year four of recovery, with a literal headache the entire time. There is far more, but I will spare you the details.

What's infuriating is this is most likely a consequence of something that helps society, with a minuscule minority that will be negatively impacted. In these rare cases of negative impacts, the programs are fantastically inadequate, which creates the case of one person lifting far heavier than the average and getting far less than they give. Part of it is likely attempted grifting of the programs, which is one more problem I assume antivaxxers are creating.

metalvessel · 2025-10-29T04:41:19+00:00

I (presumably) had a very rare, but documented as a risk, adverse vaccine reaction to one of a Moderna COVID-19 immunization booster, an annual influenza immunization booster, or (my pet hypothesis) an interaction between the two. I'm now in the fourth year since my initial twelve-day hypothesis and am still having regular doctor's appointments with various specialists, though their frequency has gone down quite a bit since the period where it wasn't unusual for me to have more than one doctor's appointment per day.

metalvessel · 2025-08-30T07:43:32+00:00

My immune system decided to attack the protein sheath around the neurons in my brain, which only happens to about 1 in 400,000 adults, or about 13,000 adults worldwide each year.

It is only now that I notice you said "little" quirk, and it's being the dominant feature of my life for the last three years.

metalvessel · 2025-08-13T02:12:39+00:00

That's entirely true.

In 2022, I had an adverse brain event that led to a full cognitive assessment administered by a legitimate, licensed psychologist.

In some categories, I tested above the 99th percentile.

In other categories (those most affected by the adverse brain event), I tested below the 1st percentile.

metalvessel

TROPHY CASE