EPTWhat does it feel like to be smart? - Page 4
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Nallen
United Kingdom134 Posts
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Azera
3800 Posts
On March 15 2012 00:29 blubbdavid wrote: I don't think that having a low IQ turns people into unsensible assholes. Well I wouldn't know =D I just guessed that people with low IQ won't be able to comprehend the emotions of others. | ||
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coffecup
50 Posts
On March 15 2012 00:08 Azera wrote: Come to think of it, maybe there should be a different word to refer to people who memorise well (have eidetic memory, etc). Talented, perhaps, but that word is very subjective too. See, this about this. Let's say we have a critical thinker and someone who is chock-full of knowledge but needs to be spoon-fed and shown the directions. The critical thinker is "stupid" compared to other person then? Critical thinking is also a skill that you can improve. To go back to the school analogy, I have taken many courses where the exams are open book and open notes yet somehow the median is 60%. This is because the exam tests critical thinking and the application of the ideas that are taught during the course. You cannot study for this exam in the traditional "memorize the bold word" or "do many math problems" kind of manner, but you can improve your ability to take these kinds of exams if you study for it in the right way. I don't believe a single skill can define someone as being "smarter" than someone else. My view of intelligence is quite simple and universal. Whatever skill you believe you are deficient in, you can become reasonably proficient in it so long as you have the discipline and knowledge to improve in the right way. Period. It's worked for me all my life. I volunteer as a tutor for low-income families and have seen young children excell in subject areas (yes even those apart from academics such as social skills with friends or school sports) even if they are not endowed with Mozart-like genius. Most of us aren't gifted geniuses, but we can all improve. And that's really all that matters to me. | ||
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Azera
3800 Posts
On March 15 2012 00:40 coffecup wrote: Critical thinking is also a skill that you can improve. To go back to the school analogy, I have taken many courses where the exams are open book and open notes yet somehow the median is 60%. This is because the exam tests critical thinking and the application of the ideas that are taught during the course. You cannot study for this exam in the traditional "memorize the bold word" or "do many math problems" kind of manner, but you can improve your ability to take these kinds of exams if you study for it in the right way. I don't believe a single skill can define someone as being "smarter" than someone else. My view of intelligence is quite simple and universal. Whatever skill you believe you are deficient in, you can become reasonably proficient in it so long as you have the discipline and knowledge to improve in the right way. Period. It's worked for me all my life. I volunteer as a tutor for low-income families and have seen young children excell in subject areas (yes even those apart from academics such as social skills with friends or school sports) even if they are not endowed with Mozart-like genius. Most of us aren't gifted geniuses, but we can all improve. And that's really all that matters to me. Wow, I would love to have exams like those. And it's a great thing you're doing =) | ||
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bITt.mAN
Switzerland3693 Posts
For example you injure yourself and you're off your sports team. You're miffed, but soon realize there are very good reasons why you shouldn't be on the squad just right now e.g. lets you focus on school work. The point is, you can KNOW why it's happened, you can understand everything about it and know all the right things to do, but it's pointless if you can't deal with it and have peace with it in you heart. As blubbdavid alluded to wisdom is much more desirable than just being smart or knowledgeable. Wisdom and love (having a right heart), you can own (and know everything about) the whole wide world, but it's pointless if you don't know your own soul. "If I have the gift of prophecy [can basically predict the future, pretty smart, right?] and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge ... but have not love, I am nothing." - 1 Corinthians 13:2 PM me about it, one doesn't cite the bible on an internet forum without inviting interest and replies <3 | ||
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3clipse
Canada2555 Posts
On March 15 2012 00:15 Azera wrote: Looking at how awful the writings of others are made you realise that you are a good writer? Shouldn't it be instead something like, "Looking at how close my writing is compared to authors like Hemingway made me realise that I'am a pretty decent writer."? Just my 2 cents. "Shouldn't it be?" If you're arguing this to be a better benchmark, I completely agree. The thing is, if I were on the level of Hemmingway, I'm not sure if I would realize it just from reading his work. I usually don't realize my talents are talents or my weaknesses are weaknesses until I compare them with my peers and notice a very severe difference. It's not that easy to evaluate yourself unless someone tells you you're exceptional or you realize how much worse they are. I think it's easier to identify difference than similarity, if that makes any sense. | ||
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jrkirby
United States1510 Posts
On March 14 2012 20:58 Azera wrote: When a genius gets on a bus, takes a seat and feels the texture of the seat cover, is he able to tell what material it is? The metal bars that he has to grab hold of to reach his seat so that he does not fall, does he know what type of alloy it is? He puts his earphones into his ear, is he able to describe the physics behind this phenomenon - sound travelling to his ear from his music player, in verbatim? The answer to all these questions is just "No." Not unless he felt a material like that before and someone told him what it was. If he can describe the way the sound went to his ear, it was only because someone already told him how it worked. Smart people are smart, but they're also people. They don't instantly know everything. They slowly acquire knowledge like everyone else. The only differences are perhaps they pay attention a little better, remember a little better, or perhaps they just "get it" a little sooner. But they need to spend their time learning like everyone else. | ||
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Recognizable
Netherlands1552 Posts
On March 15 2012 01:02 jrkirby wrote: The answer to all these questions is just "No." Not unless he felt a material like that before and someone told him what it was. If he can describe the way the sound went to his ear, it was only because someone already told him how it worked. Smart people are smart, but they're also people. They don't instantly know everything. They slowly acquire knowledge like everyone else. The only differences are perhaps they pay attention a little better, remember a little better, or perhaps they just "get it" a little sooner. But they need to spend their time learning like everyone else. Wouldn't you agree that there is also a intelligence ''cap''? That some times are just too abstract/hard for someone to understand. | ||
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Clazziquai10
Singapore1949 Posts
So just get over it man seriously. Life is too short to be brooding about not being the next albert einstein. | ||
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Zaragon
Sweden235 Posts
Which is why I think the kind of “intelligence” you had in mind in the OP is rare, or at least ethereal since the person possessive of it will soon have it all figured out to the level their interest extends. So basically, mostly some 15-16 year olds will look at the world in that way. Of course there are those who actively hunt information everywhere, but often as it pertains to their vocation. Writers look for ideas and details and settings, etc, Einstein looked at the world with relativity in mind. But I have formed the impression that the intelligence leap (though that's a wierd and rather meaningless concept, as well as painfully generalized) between those few people and the more common knowledge-hunters who show aimless interest in a wide variety of things is relatively large. It's actually hard to try to phrase yourself in this context, because there is so much implicit junk attached to concepts surrounding intelligence that it's almost impossible to avoid subtext that you're not trying to say and often heartily disagree with. | ||
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Eatme
Switzerland3919 Posts
On March 15 2012 00:22 Azera wrote: Isn't the average IQ 90~100+? I think to have low IQ is to be pretty much driven by your primitive instincts. For example, we have Subject A, sub-70IQ. "I'm hungry." He says. Subject A walks into the kitchen to see his younger sister preparing some noodles. "Those noodles smell good". He then proceeds to walk over to his sister, pushes her away, and takes her noodles. While a person of average intelligence, Subject B... "I feel hungry. I wonder what I should eat?"He says. Subject B walks into the kitchen to see his younger sister preparing some noodles. He decides that he shouldn't consume too much carbohydrates so he looks for a granola bar instead. "Darn it, where are those granola bars?" He gives up his search and asks his sister ,"Hey, do you mind sharing those? If you're really hungry then I'll just make my own, it's fine." His sister decides that she isn't that hungry after all and decides to split the noodles. Both parties are happy! Well 100 is average (not in every country ofcourse) but I kinda used the description darkscream had, but forgot to really mention/clarify that. I put 150 and 125 to really have distinct gears. 150 is clearly above 140 that according to some is the lower limit to be called a genius. Maybe I should have used 130 and 160 to include retards (below 70) but I skipped that even if one can assume that they too enjoy reality TV. | ||
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hp.Shell
United States2527 Posts
This implores me to seek intellectually stimulating activities. I feel incredibly bored whenever my brain doesn't have a high rate of activity and I'm not being stimulated in any other way. You could say it's hard for me to relax. Lately I've been playing lots of puzzle games (like Picma) and dungeon crawlers. I think I feel good when I think a lot because I've been doing it for so long. The brain is a muscle, and it feels good when you're buff. I do think about things mentioned in the OP, but usually I have enough basic knowledge to answer smaller questions related to the big question, so it becomes a game where I figure out which questions to ask so that I piece the puzzle together and end up with a big answer. Of course it's not very scientific but it is very intellectually stimulating. I've become quite good at this game. For questions like "what alloy is this?" If I don't know the answer by observing, I use process of elimination and I can usually narrow it down to one or two materials. You might be surprised by all you can learn just by asking a series of simple questions. Einstein was a strong divergent thinker. He asked simple questions and then did mental exercises to solve problems. For example, as a young man Einstein asked himself what it would be like to ride on a beam of light. It took him many years of thought experiments, however the answer helped him develop the special theory of relativity. Convergent and Divergent Thinking IQ measures convergent thinking, the lesser of the two. There probably isn't a good way to measure divergent thinking. Maybe recognition is the only way. | ||
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Gummy
United States2180 Posts
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MaV_gGSC
Canada1345 Posts
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Demonhunter04
1530 Posts
I should add that I end up analyzing a large amount of what goes on in my life - not so much the physics but the behavior of people and the way I do things - to improve my understanding and efficiency. (I enjoy psychology quite a bit, but I am a bioengineering major). Also, about the "renaissance man" concept: It is possible to be talented in every field, but it is no longer possible to reach the pinnacle of several fields, because the body of knowledge in each field takes a significant amount of time to master. It's possible to master two fields, or just maybe three, but no more than that. Constant stimulation is almost a must. I can sit there and seemingly do nothing, but I won't actually be doing nothing while I'm waiting - my mind will be full of whatever needs solving. If there is a problem that really interests me or affects me personally, and I don't resolve it before going to sleep, I will usually wake up with the solution or some progress worked out in my head. On March 14 2012 22:27 Azera wrote: Why won't you belittle yourself instead of overestimating yourself? Why not estimate your value at exactly what it is? There's no need for over- or underestimation. Being humble is different from belittling yourself. On March 15 2012 01:18 Recognizable wrote: Wouldn't you agree that there is also a intelligence ''cap''? That some times are just too abstract/hard for someone to understand. There is no true intelligence cap. The issue with understanding abstract concepts is that they build up on other less abstract concepts, which build on others, so there becomes too much to hold in memory at once and it needs to be worked out on paper. Perhaps you've heard of the psychology rule of thumb that people can typically store 5-9 items in memory at a time? I can easily store ten or eleven, but anything more than that and I have to devote all my attention to remember it. On March 15 2012 02:23 MaV_gGSC wrote: To smart people: Do you find the voice in your head annoying sometimes? Y'know, that voice in your head that feels the need to analyze every single detail of your life and the need to improve it It's not a separate voice. It's my own attention, choosing to devote itself to something that interests me. The only thing that's annoying is when I need to focus on something that doesn't interest me, and I keep getting distracted by my other thoughts every few seconds. | ||
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dongmydrum
United States139 Posts
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Demonhunter04
1530 Posts
On March 14 2012 21:51 Azera wrote: So would you guys say that there is a period of time where your brain is "dormant", and the intelligence of your thoughts sink to sub-50 IQ? That is a very nice quote Flamerberger. But isn't that what we to do in our world? No. If you are malnourished or simply overworked, your brain will run low on its supply of neurotransmitters such as acetylcholine, etc, which are required for the brain to function. When this happens, your brain simply cannot function at the same capacity. This has happened to me a few times, more because of malnourishment, but I have never gone so far as to be retarded (50 IQ is retarded). I might have gone down to average, but I'm not even sure about that since it's hard to truly know what average intelligence is. On March 15 2012 02:46 dongmydrum wrote: asking questions and observing won't be the only ingredient for someone to be considered a genius. Rather, its what they do with that raw data that separates smart people from normal people. For instance, there was this korean tv show where a guy whose IQ was over 180 came on the show and showed his amazing ability to memorize. He said he wasn't one of those "savants" who mindlessly memorized without knowing what they are (savants actually have lower IQs than normal people), but he was able to produce the same result by using mnemonic devices. He had no way of knowing beforehand what he had to memorize, but the second he was presented with the data to memorize, he found patterns and created mnemonic devices to aid memorization. Creating mnemonics is a pretty natural thing to do once you know what they are and how they aid memorization, is it not? | ||
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Flameberger
United States226 Posts
On March 14 2012 21:51 Azera wrote: So would you guys say that there is a period of time where your brain is "dormant", and the intelligence of your thoughts sink to sub-50 IQ? That is a very nice quote Flamerberger. But isn't that what we to do in our world? I would describe my brain as having dormant or active status depending on circumstances. If I'm playing a video game and listening to music chances are my brain isnt doing much productive thinking at all. Even when bored I will often spend the time letting my mind wander but not really focusing on anything. But then I'll latch onto a chain of thought or problem and things will actually start working. As for judgements, I do think that humans have a tendancy toward narrow criteria for judging people. I try to avoid forming negative opinions about people even if they seem to lack the qualities I strive for. | ||
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Demonhunter04
1530 Posts
On March 15 2012 04:19 Flameberger wrote: I would describe my brain as having dormant or active status depending on circumstances. If I'm playing a video game and listening to music chances are my brain isnt doing much productive thinking at all. Even when bored I will often spend the time letting my mind wander but not really focusing on anything. But then I'll latch onto a chain of thought or problem and things will actually start working. As for judgements, I do think that humans have a tendancy toward narrow criteria for judging people. I try to avoid forming negative opinions about people even if they seem to lack the qualities I strive for. Until I was 16, I used to not think much when playing games, both FPS and RTS. Needless to say, I was not very good at either, just average at FPS and bronze at RTS. After I started analyzing my play and the games themselves, I improved significantly. I'm 19 now, so it's only been three years, but I am miles better at games in general than I was back then. | ||
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Nikoras
United States115 Posts
It is not clear that intelligence has any long-term survival value. Unfortunately it is said that Isaac Newton, in my mind the most brilliant human being to ever walk the earth, died a virgin. | ||
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