Alakazam is too smart to be serving humanity and such.

[Storm Earth and Fire]

Alakazam's Pokedex entry in most of the games touts it's 5,000 IQ. The translation of it's Japanese Platinum entry at Bulbapedia says that it created the spoons it holds in both hands with the power of it's mind.

An accepted range for average intelligence is an IQ of 85-114. Going from that to 5,000 is something like going from a turtle to a human in terms of brainpower. Add to that the fact that it is able to create spoons with the power of it's mind, you have a being that should be capable of lording over us all, enslaving every other race. Or, such a being would go insane from the lack of intelligence shown by every other species.

But, I dunno. This is just some crazy talk I thought I'd post here.

 

[Evolutionary]

That does make sense...

But then again it is a Pokemon and Pokemon want to obey humans for unknown reasons as things like Mew could DESTROY humans but you can still capture them.

 

[Kalylia]

That's actually a really interesting point. When it comes to Pokemon, the fact of the matter is that most Pokemon, if they had the gumption, could destroy the entire human race. Pokemon, in general, are much, much stronger than humans.

That's the thing about all of this. It's fiction. I like to think that sometime in the past, Humans and Pokemon made a pact. What sort of pact it was, I'm not sure. But Humans and Pokemon seem to work in harmony, having an undeniable bond of friendship and love with one another.

 

[Abwayax]

Whoever decided that Alakazam should have an iq of five thousand obviously doesn't understand the concept of intelligence quotient. It's basically a comparison of your "intelligence" (if you accept that intelligence can be statistically measured) with your peers. The average IQ for an age group is 100. What is Alakazam being compared with? Other psychic Pokemon? Pokemon in general? Humans? Even so, the fact that all Alakazam are essentially that intelligent should actually raise the average intelligence level and, subsequently, the meaning of an IQ of 100 would go up.

Of course, they probably didn't mean to go too deeply into it. The basic idea is that Alakazam is fucking smart comes across pretty well, but even then it has some holes in it. For example, why would kids need to go to school if they can just catch an ultra-smart Pokemon to do thinking for them?

 

[Storm Earth and Fire]

Whoever decided that Alakazam should have an iq of five thousand obviously doesn't understand the concept of intelligence quotient. It's basically a comparison of your "intelligence" (if you accept that intelligence can be statistically measured) with your peers. The average IQ for an age group is 100. What is Alakazam being compared with? Other psychic Pokemon? Pokemon in general? Humans? Even so, the fact that all Alakazam are essentially that intelligent should actually raise the average intelligence level and, subsequently, the meaning of an IQ of 100 would go up.

We can safely assume the IQ system was meant to be used to think about humans. However, to help us understand just how smart Alakazam is, it was applied to Alakazam's intelligence. For all we know, it's an arbitrary number or a ballpark to help us wrap our heads around it.

Of course, they probably didn't mean to go too deeply into it.

Ah, but that's why we're at forums like this. =D

 

[nothing to see here]

The IQ tests used in real life can't really measure anything higher than 200 or so with any amount of accuracy. So unless the Pokémon world's system is completely different from ours, an IQ of 5000 isn't really possible.

And of course Psychic Pokémon (especially powerful ones like Alakazam) are going to score high on any test you give them even if they know nothing about the subject: they can use their psychic powers to cheat and figure out the answers in some other way than just plain thinking--looking into the future to see if the answer they were about to put was right or not, using some sort of "remote viewing" type ability to check out the answer key, or just mind-reading the guy who wrote the test if they want to be really direct about it.

I'm guessing "IQ of 5000" is just another example of just how exaggerated the Pokédex entries can be. Just like a Machamp being able to move mountains with one arm, or a Dugtrio being able to dig 60 miles beneath the earth, or a Banette being a possessed doll instead of an evolved Shuppet.

most Pokemon, if they had the gumption, could destroy the entire human race

...and speaking of exaggeration... Something like Arceus, Mewtwo, Kyogre/Groudon/Rayquaza or Dialga/Palkia/Giratina could probably pull it off, sure. Maybe even something a bit lower down, like Deoxys or Darkrai, depending on how soon the humans decide to fight back and what kind of weapons they have. But to say that most Pokémon could singlehandedly wipe out all humans is just plain wrong.
Especially in the game universe, where a Dragonite's Hyper Beam isn't even strong enough to kill an average adult human in one shot (as shown in G/S/C, when Lance and his Dragonite fight off some Grunts in Mahogany Town's TR base--the Grunt that gets Hyper Beamed into a wall isn't able to move afterward, but he's still conscious, able to talk, and he recovers fast enough to get up and leave by the time you're done fighting the other Rockets in that base.)

 

[DonKarasuMan]

Actually, if all Alakazams (or all Psychic-type Pokemon) linked up mentally, they could quite easily use their combined intelligence to bring down human society from within.

Of course, quite a number of those Psychic-type Pokemon need to be radical-minded (like...terrorists) for that to happen. The odd power-craving Spoink could easily be subdued by other 'human-loving' Psychic-types.

Banette being a possessed doll instead of an evolved Shuppet.

Off topic, but I always thought the sock puppet just became a doll for the 'soul' to possess. Of course, that still won't explain why Harley's Banette can still open its mouth for aesthetic effect.

 

[Bombsii]

Could it just be Alakazam's animal instincts that make it want to live among pokemon?

 

[Amadeus Windfall]

It could be that there's a deep and complex reason for Pokémon to serve humans, and with its incredible brain-power, Alakazam have discovered this reason; not that they could communicate such a mighty thought to a lesser mind, of course.

 

[H20firefly]

Ok, in the canalave library you should find that a pact was made between humans and pokemon that they would serve each other when in need, if you had an IQ of over 5000, you would probably spend most of your time doing something productive not destructive, to get an alakazam in the first place it would need to be raised from an abra, which as it goes along life in the almost perfect pokemon world, i wouldn't think it would be very violent, and, this is all fiction, and Nintendo are too lazy too fix these things

This is all because they live in the pokemon world, where almost everything is perfect
if pokemon however came to be in real life, they would be used for terrorrist attacks, murders, drugs, military and other things, the human race would be destroyed in a matter of months, possibly years. all wild pokemon would be willing to kill anything that came near it, pokemon held by gangsters would make nearly every law breking possible, wihout being arrested

and sure the pokemon would also be used for good but overall, it would be suicide, this is why pokemon IRL stay in our minds

 

[Minish]

I've always been under the impression the Pokemon developing team made a typo or something and meant to put an IQ of 500...

 

[Abwayax]

if pokemon however came to be in real life, they would be used for terrorrist attacks, murders, drugs, military and other things,

Pokemon are used in the military, according to Lt. Surge. Either he or one of his people mentions that electric Pokemon saved him during "the war".

 

[Valerunner]

You have it all wrong.

Alakazam has the ability to reach an IQ of 5000, just like how we can reach the same level. Keyword is "can". Their average is probably 60-84.

 

[Blastoise Fortooate]

Pokemon are used in the military, according to Lt. Surge. Either he or one of his people mentions that electric Pokemon saved him during "the war".

Lt. Surge and his buddies play a lot of lasertag.

Since when should the Pokédex be taken seriously? Case in point;

It was born when sludge in a dirty stream was exposed to the moon's X-rays. It appears among filth.

 

[Music Dragon]

Since when should the Pokédex be taken seriously? Case in point;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-ray_astronomy

 

[Dragonclaw]

They're so smart, that they know if they try to over take us, we'll just kill'em all and they won't be pampered by trainers.

That's the thing about all of this. It's fiction. I like to think that sometime in the past, Humans and Pokemon made a pact. What sort of pact it was, I'm not sure. But Humans and Pokemon seem to work in harmony, having an undeniable bond of friendship and love with one another.

Have you every taken the time to read any of the books you can read from in the library at Canalave City? There's one story that mentions almost exactly that.

 

[Lucas₇₅₅]

why would kids need to go to school if they can just catch an ultra-smart Pokemon to do thinking for them?

So they can know things themselves.

Plus, the whole "destruction of the world" thing could be exaggerated. For all we know, in the games, Pokémon attacks are extremely weak when a human gets hit by it. But Pokémon get hurt.

 

[Zuu]

All Pokemon are ridiculously overpowered. I mean, fucking Rapidash. Its hooves are like harder than diamonds or whatever? Bullshit. That's just stupid. So is an IQ of 5000.

read: Pokemon is just a game ~_~

 

[Storm Earth and Fire]

read: Pokemon is just a game ~_~

I know. I'm sure everyone knows. But it hardly matters, really, I mean, who hasn't wanted to read to far into something at some point in their life?

Have you every taken the time to read any of the books you can read from in the library at Canalave City? There's one story that mentions almost exactly that.

I don't know about Kalylia, but I have never owned D/P in my life. I'll make sure to check this out when Platinum arrives, though.

 

[Zuu]

link008: I don't mean it in the way of "you guys are nerds"

I mean... it doesn't have to make that much sense :S