Dude. You're not "pretty dumb." You're clearly (a) quite reasonably intelligent (b) good at hard work with a goal, given your achievements.
And frankly, you only need a moderate amount of (a) for (b) to be the deciding factor that will make you a success in life. Look how many posts there are here on how not to procrastinate, for example.
You know how to work to a goal, so what you need is not IQ, but a big goal.
You also have a very powerful correct instinct: find people smarter than yourself to hang around with. There's not much that enables complacency more than finding oneself the most interesting and successful person one knows. You know people like that. I sure know people like that. They're rather less interesting to anyone who isn't themselves.
(I'm definitely in the "moderately bright" rather than "searing genius" box. I still don't understand EY's "simple" explanation of Bayes. Somehow I muddle through with a facility with words.)
If this post is inappropriate, I apologize.
I stumbled upon this site after reading "Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality". The story so far has really moved me on multiple levels and sent me here in a quest to learn more about rationality as a philosophy/way of thinking about the world. I have read Ayn Rands published works and loved the stories and most of the message. The characters always seemed like titans that were far and above me, but now, I've seen a character that is a bit more approachable.
I've started to go through the "Map and Territory" section of the "Core Sequences" and this whole project and community makes me ecstatic. I'm currently working my way through the Bayes's Theorem article with some success. The more I read, the more I realize I may have a problem.
I'm pretty dumb.
Is higher level reasoning "use it or lose it" ? I like learning new things and love reading but any new ideas require a ton of thought and re-reading. I think I have enough interest to keep plugging away at it, but I'm not sure I'm going at things the right way. Is there a "Kid's Table" for lesswrong.com?
For "Priors": I'm 28 years old, white male, married, no children, poor economic upbringing, solid emotional upbringing, currently lower to middle class, high school diploma, US Navy, currently a civilian electronics technician, raised Baptist currently Agnostic/Atheist (recently).
I guess that's it. Thanks!
--John