[meshenna]

Right. The further away you drift from the median, the more difficult life gets in certain aspects. Drift far enough and it becomes impossible to fit in society at large, which is a huge penalty. This is true for all kinds of things, not just IQ. Personality traits, for instance.

[ido]

The sort of rational/analytical (for lack of a better work) intelligence that people talk about is also just not that well compensated/required: you basically need enough to not get scammed & do skilled work, but the best paid people around are businessmen not nuclear physicists and theoretical mathematicians.