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Is this about some MENSA style thing? The post is fuzzy on that (it mentions IQ and psychometric tests, but not the actual context).

I'd say "high intellectual capacity" means squat if it doesn't manifest in doing something with it (aside from acing IQ tests). And this involves studying in some domain (whether, writing, economy, math, physics, programming, etc.).

So, I wouldn't say "learning you have high intellectual capacity" as an adult helps. If you didn't deduce it already by then, it might as well not exist.

And I've known high IQ people who never mention it and do brilliant things in math and programming, and also some high IQ MENSA types, who've done nothing with their life, and just talk about their scores on the first chance they get and high-five each other (while also being jealous of each other)...

not sure what kind of people you met, but they seemed very unhappy and too deep of themselves. People with High IQ who I met were deeply unhappy as undiagnosed and could not understand many things about the world around them. Having an IQ too high made them go through a lot of suffering, from bullying in school (not form marks but from awkwardness) and then later at work feeling always ununderstood.

For high IQ people social missunderstanding is a huge issue, and since having greater IQ is perceived as a positive thing they get no comprension but envy or hate or are treated as if they were pretending or be arrogant.

Suicide rates, substance abuse, and failure to build a happy live is huge in a very large percentage of gifted people.

It might not be the high IQ per se, as I know a few very high IQ well-adjusted people. In the cases you've mentioned it's probably some combination of high IQ and some position "on the spectrum" (which together can be more alienating than e.g. mere Aspergers).