system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[LOTR] Do orcs have below average intelligence?
gpt
Just like any other people of Middle Earth there are very smart orcs and there are very dumb orcs.  

The humans, elves, dwarves and hobbits we encounter in the books are literally the high society of their people, with the exception of Sam. 

Frodo is essentially a millionaire trust fund kid, as was Bilbo.

Pippin is hobbit royalty.

Merry is also hobbit royalty, but part of a break away territory from the shire mainland.

Aragorn is the heir to several ancient human and elven royal bloodlines, he was educated and raised in an Elven lord and is the legal ruler of the vast majority of Middle Earth.

Legolas is the prince of the Mirkwood elven woodland kingdom.

Gimli is dwarven royalty as well, descended from Durin the Deathless.

Boromir is the heir to a lesser but no less impressive noble house of Gondor.

But the only Orcs we encounter are cannon fodder.

If you want an example of a smart orc then the best example would be the Great Goblin.

On the whole, orcs are not stupid.  They are described as industrious, clever but cruel.  They are excellent engineers, but tend to put this ingenuity toward weapons of war and torture.

This attitude has a lot to do with upbringing.  Orcs are born and bred as slaves, they have no choice.  They are social outcasts in Middle Earth, the free peoples simply won't ever accept a peaceful orc.  So, it's either fall in line or be hunted down by both sides, one side as a good for nothing orc, the other as a traitor.