Slashdot Mirror
Entertaining Your Brain?
Spencer Wilson asks: "I'm constantly told that I have an extremely high intelligence. I always feel like I should know so much more, though. Do you, the Slashdot readers, know of any ways to improve ones brain power? Perhaps books, Web sites, etc., that provide questions that involve ways to increase memory, creativity, mental agility, logic reasoning, intelligence, etc. Are there any diets/exercises that really help?"
Drinking, lots of drinking.
SuDZ
Just engage in any sort of activity that requires your brain to be active, rather than passive. Read. Code. Race down hills. Whatever.
...is to hang out on Slashdot, of course. Especially at the -1 filter level. My goodness, this place positively drips with intelligence. All the smart kids hang out here.
[rolls eyes]
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Well, here's one someone posted here on /. a while back:
http://theory.cs.iitm.ernet.in/~arvindn/pi/
I've tried it, and it probably would increase memorization ability, but I'm actually too lazy and busy to keep it up.
In several different dialects.
-"Food is disgusting, it's what they make shit from."-
'm constantly told that I have an extremely high intelligence
Quit hanging out with your mom.
For every annoying gentoo user, are three even more annoying anti-gentoo crybabies. Take Yosh from #Gimp for example.
I'm afraid I'm not sure of too many shortcuts for intelligence. If you want to be quicker at math functions, for instance, you're going to have to do a lot of math. Like another poster said, just don't sit idle.
was obviously wrong. If you had extremely high intelligence, you wouldn't post a story on Slashdot - under what seems to be your real name, for gods' sake - starting "I'm constantly told I have extremely high intelligence . . . "
Seriously, speaking as someone with an IQ in the high genius range: the first thing you have to learn is how NOT to walk around telling everyone how frelling smart you are. They'll figure it out quickly enough on their own, believe me: most geniuses are obvious within a few minutes of meeting them, just from the way they interact with other people.
Other things not to do: DON'T join Mensa. Mensa is a club for losers who have a high IQ and nothing to show for it. Not for no reason is a former Mensa national president an advice columnist for Parade. DON'T talk about chess all the time. It's all right if you're good at it (or Go), but talking about it to everyone you meet will make you look like an A-1 geek, and your chances of spreading those high-intelligence genes around some will drop precipitously.
Grow up. Study. Find something you love and put your whole heart into it. If you really have the brains, you'll exercise them on your own without having to trick things out.
It's more important.
-I am an elective eunuch.
if only I had mod points...
Someone with a lot of brainpower would always be itching to put it to use. Neither Linus nor Alan Cox would worry about how to kill time. Richard Feynman probably had to find ways to get his head off Physics to get it some rest, same with Einstein.
If youre wondering how to improve brain power or kill time, somethings wrong. Find a cause, like making so much GPL software, Microsoft gets broke, or start some world domination plans.
Thats all you have to do.
"Give orange me give eat orange me eat orange give me eat orange give me you." -Nim Chimpsky
Don't believe everything you're told.
"I'm constantly told that I have an extremely high intelligence.
Yeah, I only hang around with dumb people that make me look smart too.
SuDZ
you are of below-average intelligence. now please, go sit in a rocking chair for 8 or 9 hours and stay out of the way.
I always feel like I should know so much more, though. Do you, the Slashdot readers, know of any ways to improve ones brain power?
You're confusing intelligence and knowledge. Intelligence is pure processing power. Knowledge is how much data you've got stored on your hard drive. If you need to know more, read a book.
Wikipedia is always in need of good contributors. Give it a try.
When in doubt, go to the library. - Ron Weasley in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
anyone else think the submitter could have written the question slightly less obnoxiously? Would asking "What are brain stimulating excercises?" (without "I am super intelligent") have produced much different answers?
Set your home page to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Randompage instead of Slashdot.
Sign up for classes. Any classes. Cooking, SCUBA, basket weaving, learn a language, learn a new subject, join a choir.
Now is the time. Carpe Diem.
This is VERY difficult, but it works: To be more intelligent, work on resolving your inner conflict.
Read this book: The Primal Scream: Primal Therapy: The Cure for Neurosis.
Other books I've found useful for personal growth: Read the Recent Great Books.
The mind's just like the body. It gets stronger when you exercise it. Doing math, learning new things, studying philosophy, whatever you want. If you don't code, learn to code. If you do code, learn more languages. Anything like that gets you marketable skills and exercises your mind at the same time is good too. Don't neglect the body though. Eat healthy and exercise your body, as boring as it may seem, and your overall health will be good. A healthy body means a strong mind. Also, remember to get enough sleep. We're all idiots when we're tired enough.
In Repressive Burma, it's not just your connection that dies. slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=314547&cid=20819199
I'm always told I have an extremely large penis. I always feel that it should be larger, though...
Like the subject says -- Meditation.
/. poster if I didn't be a know-it-all and give my advice: You goal should be an hour a day, but It's really difficult to just sit down the first tim and do one hour straight. So start at 5 minutes, and when you can sit still for the whole time, increase by 5 minutes the next day.
There are plenty of resources online, but I wouldn't be a
As for what to do with that hour, that's up for debate. I'm a Buddhist, and many of us believe in meditating on something rather than nothing.
_______
2B1ASK1
It's a bit of a tangent, but I think that far more importantly than what you have, is how you use it.
;)
I think that my most important gifts are faith, honesty and transparency, and not ever giving up. I can quit or walk away from an attempt, but I don't give up on the principle. The intelligence backs those things up in terms of analyzing the structure, patterns, and deep relationships. Of broadening and supporting the interconnecting and overlaying latticeworks. Of eventually finding the big-picture paybacks of faith, reinvesting in it.
I use my intelligence at increasingly abstract levels, not always to solve things but to improve my methodologies and to find problem-solving resources. That's really really hard and can be truly lonely, but see Exhibit A, "not ever giving up". Start at age 3 or 4! Also see the practice of neurolinguistic programming, aka NLP, aka "the study of the structure of human experience". Become the change you want to see. It gets way easier from there, and it'll eventually pay off!
Someday. Maybe it already has, just not the way I expected.
The side effect of this principled and deliberate self architecture/rearchitecture is to live in a state of wonder and potentially of joy. To know that no matter what you think you know, the unknown is still a wonderfully deafening roar like the peak of a waterfall. To know, even on principle, that you're not alone. To have respect for self and for all life. To know that if you can imagine a question, someone else, somewhere, sometime, has found an answer.
I apologize for the wording in my post. I was just wondering if any of you could recommend some really fun things to entertain my brain, with the benefit of improving my brain.
Yes Spencer, I do know of ways to improve "brain power". (You did ask a yes or no question didn't you?)
Thank you for your question, which I assume was actually just a vehicle to let us all know how extremely high you feel your intelligence is (based on what people tell you).
Mod this as flamebait. Thank you.
Michael.
Linux : Mac
Some years back, I actually did some digging around about all of the 'smart supplements' and such.
The upshot is that a lot of them DO work...but in inverse proportion to how much you NEED them. That is, they don't do much of anything for people who are already reasonably smart, but they are a noticeable help for people with mental deficiencies.
Personally, I think the best way to get intellectual stimulation is to try to get as many varied experiences as possible. I like travel, myself. Dig out a map, find somewhere a few hours away you've never been to, and go for a drive. Bring the map in case anything looks interesting along the way and you decide to change your itinerary...
Hacker Public Radio is our Friend
I'm going to assume you're not stupid. Probably a safe assumption, since you're obviously smart enough to see that you don't know as much as you should. So that leaves ignorant. So why are you ignorant.
Steve Allen tells this story about a young, smart assistant he had who was dismally ignorant. He had to explain to her that her boyfriend was not a kind of Protestant (the guy was a Catholic!) and that the U.N. wasn't in Los Angeles (small schedule issue!). He blamed her ignorance on a sloppy education. But I have to ask, How do you grow up without learning where the U.N. HQ is? Answer, lack of curiousity.
There's more to knowing stuff than memorizing lots of facts. It's an active thing. You read lots of books, journals, and newspapers. And you think about what you've read. Which means talking about it with others, writing about it, finding a place for it in your mental landscape.
So, short answer to your question: there's no one book that will make you more knowledgable. What you should do is go to a library or a bookstore. Avoid the aisles with the recreational reading you normally go for. Than browse around until you find a book that looks interesting. Try to get into it. If you can't, put it back on the shelf and look for another book. If you can, read it, think about it, discuss it with other people who've read it.
Repeat until you feel sufficiently smart. Which, if you're really smart is never.
http://www.fi.edu/brain/exercise.htm
you're so smart - figure it out yourself!
Really, why does *every* nerd have to think he's exceptional, just like *every* jock that gets injured returns from their second hospital trip saying "the doctors were surprised at how fast my body is healing itself".
yap yap yap. DO SOMETHING with your big brain. If you can't think of anything useful, maybe you're not so exceptional - maybe you should find a worthy cause, and devote some time to it?
Ass whoopin's now be sellin' two for a dollar.
Please help publicise swpat.org - the software patents wiki
Let me guess --- you are not constantly told how humble you are.
YES!! I have discovered an amazing diet/exercise routine that increases your brain power by over 400%!!! It only requires 5 minutes of work a day, and best of all, IT REALLY WORKS!!
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To find out about this AMAZING discovery, send $50 check or money order to:
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Did you ever notice that *nix doesn't even cover Linux?
That first sentence of the poster's submission is completely unnecessary and starts the entire question off on a bad note. If the submitter was really such a big genius he would have realized that and left the sentence off.
Take some courses in art appreciation, then spend your free time reading, seeing good films, and listening to good music. Few things will give your brain the kind of workout a really well written book provides.
If you're looking for specifics, you could start with Hermann Hesse. Siddharta is a good book to start with. If music is more up your alley, steer clear of the crap (fuck Mozart) and go straight to the Romantics...Beethoven or Wagner if you like big, Chopin if you like simple. The nationalist composers are also quite amazing...I recommend Grieg and Dvorak for a start.
Hey, who are you to challenge the submitter? He is constantly being told that has an extremely high IQ. How many times have *you* been told that?
Here, I've made it easy for you!
I am often in the same situation. People tell me that I think totally differently from most people and am really smart and all that stuff. It's very hard to understand what they mean, because I just think the way I always have. I came to the conclusion that there are different types of intelligence, and people in various types view the other types as the intelligent ones.
I really think that intelligence just boils down to the equivilent of system registers in the brain. Being able to hold more of an understanding of what's going on than those around you makes you more intelligence. This can be applied as social intelligence, mathematical intelligence (understanding the systems behind the numbers), scientific intelligence (understanding larger portions or more detail in the natural world than most), etc. Its a curiosity.
I tend to have a social intelligence. I just think of it as common sense, but apparently others see it as something nice. Which helps, I guess.. but is weird. I look at a mathematically intelligent person and get intimidated. Or I look at the linguistically intelligent people who appear to be flaunting their intelligence by using ridiculously arcane words in common speech. It's more than likely they just know the words and use them without thinking.. but to people who don't it seems intelligent.
So I guess to answer your question, Intelligence isn't about what you know. It's about what you CAN know, and what you can process successfully.
Now, if you are looking for wisdom, you may want to make with the learning.
Actually, I am not told this; the words of an average viewer are fallible -- tests conclude that my intelligence quotient is roughly twenty points under Einstein on average.
I'm willing to say that given such a rarity, my "IQ" is likely superior to even the submitter's, he seeming quite egotistical.
Thanks.
If you want to be smarter do what I do. Try to learn stuff. Don't just volger around the internet reading shit like slashdot and playing stupid games. Spend that time learning something or spend it somewhere besides the computer/tv/videogames/dvd/etc.
Here are some examples from my life.
Example 1: I heard the words fast fourier transform many times. I realized, hey I don't know what the fuck that is, and I probably should. I searched on google and researched it. Now I know it as well as if I would have taken a college course on it. You know you know something when you can write a program that does it.
Example 2: Hey, this python programming language seems to fit my style. Buy Nutshell book, learn python in a couple weeks.
Example 3: hey, I have a project to do for class. I think I'll use the GTK+ library. Proceed to teach self everything about GTK from the GTK website.
Example 4: Argument about gas prices. I thought the markup was a lot, my roomate correctly knew it was only a few cents markup at the gas station. We went out on the net and not only determined who was right, but learned all about fuel prices.
Example 5: Hey, this Initial D anime is pretty cool, but no way is that drift driving realistic. Proceed to use internet to learn all about cars, drifting, etc. I now also am very fond of F1 racing. Just last week I read the entire rules at formula1.com and simultaneously learned a great deal about how they make the best cars in the world.
Pretty much, if you want to learn just try to. The information is free. Just go out and read what you want to know, and if you're serious about it you'll learn it. Things that you are genuinely interested in knowing are easy to learn because you will pay attention and actually try. If you are having a hard time learning something its probably because you don't actually want to know it, but instead are being forced to learn it. Or you could have a "learning disability".
Read.
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
... is to work smarter, not harder.
Then when I woke up, my pillow was gone.
Unknown host pong.
Philosophy.
For to examine one's own thoughts is to tap into the essence of the mind.
I never said that I was superior to anyone. If the way I worded my post makes you come up with pointless replies, then I'll ask in a much better way: What are brain stimulating excercises? Thanks to the very few of you who actually helped out.
I always feel like I should know so much more, though. Do you, the Slashdot readers, know of any ways to improve ones brain power?
Perhaps books, Web sites, etc., that provide questions that involve ways to increase memory, creativity, mental agility, logic reasoning, intelligence, etc.
Are there any diets/exercises that really help?
I think there are some studies somewhere that link balance to improving thinking abilities. Take some Tai Chi or something.
Meditation seems like it could be a good thing to do. You just have to try to figure out which kind of meditation you should do. I like zazen.
If you haven't done drugs maybe you could try that. Don't get addicted or anything, but try 'em out. I would include alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine along with all the others in this experiment. I think this can bring a certain sense of perspective. I don't recommend doing ANY drugs (including alcohol, nicotine or caffeine) to someone who has pre-existing mental instability. In that case the brain is producing it's own novelty, it would be a shame to mess with it.
Readd books that you don't agree with and try to make yourself agree with them. Or you can do the same thing with political talk shows. I do this with Rush Limbaugh, but if you are conservative you could maybe read Al Franken or something. Good for developing flexibility.
Try fasting for a couple of days. It can bring about a change of viewpoint on your normal daily state.
Doing things you don't ordinarily do can impact your brain. Like driving a different way home from work. Or going for a walk. Once I went around trying to do everything backwards as accurately as possible. It amazed me how difficult this was. A complete reverse order is wasn't my first intuition of doing something backwards. Doing something as simple as opening a door in reverse has some hidden steps that you don't really think about.
Kind of cliche, but you could try "Undoing Yourself with Energized Meditation" by Christopher Hyatt (I think) It has some interesting exercises you can do to limber your brain up. I wouldn't buy it unless you are actually going to do the exercises though. It's kind of long-winded and new-agey at points, though
Whether or not you take my advice, I wouldn't let the Slashdotters who are giving you a hard time get you down. A good number of the people who hang out on here are cynical asshats.
Seconding motions on music, languages, and resolving inner conflicts, especially the ones with family.
This may seem counterintuitive, but one of the best things you can do for your brain is to get your body into better shape. Get a physical or at least go donate blood at a university hospital like Stanford; they'll send you your hematocrit (iron count) and cholesterol. More exercise will clear the cobwebs and improve your sleep cycle; better diet will feed your brain more of what it needs to keep running. You might also want to consider supplementing with moderate amounts of creatine; it's good for the body and good for the brain.
Check out Tony Buzan's work. He doesn't seem bored.
Or try stand-up comedy.
"You can't have everything. Where would you keep it?" -- Steven Wright
That was my first thought too when I read the story. Nice analogy by the way, explains the distinction perfectly.
Intelligence is a pretty cloudy concept. It's one of those words that's a reverse signifier. The way in which it is used by someone inform us more about the person using the word than about the things being classified on a scale of "intelligence."
Current critical theory in the communications and philosophy fields would probably argue that "intelligence" is constructed by those with social privilege to justify their privilege through the illusion of naturalistic necessity.
The only reason I caution with the above is because I'm highly sympathetic to it.
Another strain of thought I'm highly sympathetic to, but which is incompatible with the above is the biological machine theory of intelligence. The metaphor is almost self-explanatory. Your brain is a machine and will funciton optimally when certain pre-conditions are met.
There truly is a lot to be said for proper diet and exercise in sustaining intelligence. There has been much research done of late that links regular exercise with forstalling age related memory loss. Another recent study found that exercise dramatically improved cognitive skills across the board when sedetary persons were forced to do mild arobic exercise 3 times a week.
The second part of my suggestion is a class of substances broadly called nootropics. (new-oH-trOH-pix) The brain is dependent upon a diverse quantity of chemicals. Many persons are deficient and this has very real impacts for the brain performance.
A lot of persons are intersted in improving their cognitive power through supplements/drugs. Many are safe and proven. I've personally achieved remarkable success. My memory is better than it has ever been. Obscure vocabuary words flow off my tongue. Mathematical proofs take a shorter amount of time to absorb. Latin is my university foreign language. Pre-nootropics I spent 4 hours a week memorizing Latin vocabuary for my classes. The following semester, with a similar workload, I spent 2 hours a week max.
The cheapest/most popular nootropic is called DMAE. Easily one of the reasons why it is popular is that it combats brain damage caused by alcohol use through replacing acetylcholine. A lot of people drink, so a lot benefit from DMAE. But DMAE does more than combat alcohol damage, so it should be considered even if you don't drink.
If you want a site with just un-hyped, straight-up studies, check out [url]http://www.smart-nutrition.net[/url]. I am not associated with them, but after checking out all the science behind the Get-Smart pills I purchased some two years ago and continue to purchase some to this day.
Today I regularly consume the Get-Smart pills, L-Tyrosine (for semantic recall), phosphatydl-Serine (misspelled I know, it's for alertness), and a B-vitamin.
My memory and general acuteness are at all time high levels. Mental clarity is its own reward. If you're curious at all, I highly encourage you to do some reading.
> I'm constantly told that I have an extremely high intelligence.
> I always feel like I should know so much more, though.
Intelligence and knowledge are different things. You gradually lose a lot of your intelligence as you age, but you gain knowledge and understanding and so are able to compensate. You can also gain thinking skills.
> Do you, the Slashdot readers, know of any ways to improve ones brain power?
Brain power? No, not as such. The brain (the physical organ between your ears) is mostly affected by your body chemistry, so apart from the usual medical advice (eat a ballanced diet, get enough sleep, don't do crack, ...) there's not a great
deal you can do.
However, you can exercise your *mind*. Read books that are at or above your reading level, books that make you think. (Specific examples? If you haven't read Godel, Escher, Bach yet, I can recommend that. The Bible is good for a number of readings. Knuth's book on surreal number theory is good. Read some Interactive Fiction, too. Curses, for example, and (if you really want to stretch) Spider and Web.)
Memorization is a learned skill. I don't know how many times people have told me, "I can't memorize". What they mean is, "I've never memorized." Very few people are blessed with a photographic memory; everyone else has to learn to memorize. Pick out a nice five-page passage you like from a good book, and make yourself learn it word-for-word until you can recite it verbatim with no errors. You start out with just the first sentence and work your way up. Oh, and you have to periodically review what you already know (just say it through once each time; if you don't have any trouble, you can double the time until the next review of that materiel).
Memorization gets easier with practice, and continues to get easier with practice the more you practice it. It's possible to get to the point where you can memorize a medium-density page of information in fifteen minutes flat, and this is a *really* useful skill to have. It's also possible to store entire books in your mind. No, your brain doesn't get full and start forgetting stuff. (Short-term memory works that way, but long-term memory doesn't.) There's a girl in my church who can quote all of John, Ephesians, I & II Timothy, Titus, Jonah, and six chapters of Daniel, and she's not even particularly bright (in fact, she's probably LD); she just took the trouble to learn how to memorize and then spent some time doing a bit of it.
Of course, there are other useful thinking skills besides (and, some would say, now that we have computers, more useful than) memorization. Practice analysis and discernment. Learn to pick apart everything you read, including fiction, and evaluate it in terms of the quality of the writing, stylistic issues, the author's sociopolitical worldview and how that influences the writing (especially with nonfiction, but yes, even with fiction), the originality (or not) of the plot, the quality of the character development, and so on and so forth. Write in-depth reviews.
Speaking of which... write. I don't mean (necessarily) professionally, but write. Not just "creative" writing, either; write essays. For fun. Make yourself put together and write from an outline, and then make yourself revise your writing repeatedly until the original draft looks like poor writing by comparison. This is good exercise, and it develops another useful skill.
Languages are a great way to go too. Learn computer languages, foreign languages, dead languages, ... Learn ones that are
significantly different from your native language. The (somewhat
old now) book,
How to Learn Any Language (Barry Farber) is one I would recommend -- but don't
just read the book; learn some la
Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.
Learn a new field, and apply it to a field you already know. This will allow you to look at the field you know from a different viewpoint, and will allow you to realise what you don't know, which enables you to learn the subject better. Here is an example of a few fields that have that synergy:
Carpentry -> Cake Decorating
Musical Composition -> Database Design
City Planning/Architecture -> Software Engineering (In case you didn't know, this is where Design Patterns came from)
There are many others waiting to be discovered.
Do I get points because my sig was used as the title of an article? Is that why I have been moderating for more than 2 weeks? (I did manage to use up the points twice, but every day I have 5 again.)
I'm constantly told that I have an extremely high intelligence.
This gets annoying before finishing elementary school. Learn to change the subject. Discover what is interesting to the other person. Find subjects where there is a good chance the other person will give information you did not know.
[This does not always work. A new girlfriend introduced me to one of her friends, who had just bought a house. I was ASKING questions about how he was remodelling the kitchen when he blurted, "You are a genius, aren't you?"]
You will still get comments like "We have never talked about X, but you seem to know everything, so what do I do about X?" If you can lie [I cannot], tell them you have never heard of X, and then ask questions. Otherwise, quickly give them the solution, and move the conversation so you have a dialogue instead of a lesson.
I always feel like I should know so much more, though.
As long as you are always learning, do not worry about what you do not know. When something enters your interest, learn the basics quickly to know if it is worth researching. I prefer to work on creating new things rather than trying to keep up with the combined progress of all humanity.
Do you, the Slashdot readers, know of any ways to improve ones brain power?
[Learn to use apostrophes. It should be "one's".]
The only exercise to help you think better is thinking.
Perhaps books, Web sites, etc., that provide questions that involve ways to increase memory, creativity, mental agility, logic reasoning, intelligence, etc.
[Learn to construct sentences. Every sentence should have a subject and a verb.]
[Avoid the word "that". You used it 3 times. The first was unnecessary; the other two could have been avoided by changing the tense of the verbs.]
Most geniuses read constantly. The material does not matter. Think about any new ideas. Think about what prompted it to be written. For fiction, think of alternate plots. Keep thinking. If you want to be more creative, you need to create. If you want to be better at logical reasoning, devise proofs. If you want to be more mentally agile, question every assumption, both your own and other people's: why is it an assumption, and what are the alternatives?
Are there any diets/exercises that really help?
I eat steak. It does not seem to make me any smarter, but it tastes good. I avoid anything that seems popular with the masses: potatoes, bread, rice, broccoli. (I would include pasta, but my Italian blood refuses to recommend against it.)
Any exercise will help the blood to flow better. Do what you like, or do the same exercise as your friends. I bowl because a variety of interesting people practice with the bowlers I know. I kick around a soccer ball with several techies. I run just to enjoy the sun. I swim because I love swimming. Exercise helps, but do it because you enjoy it, and see if you can combine it with your desire for knowledge.
I spend my life entertaining my brain.
...and yet another way to give your brain a workout - try to teach something that you know to an absolute beginner. It is the only way to expose the holes in your knowledge. Just be prepared to learn how little you really know...
Personally, I have found the Ginkgo Biloba helps in clarity and recall.
Generally I have found that the required dose is higher than recommended on the packaging, and the effectiveness only starts to take place after a couple of weeks.
(just to clarify, is there anyone here who *hasn't* been told they're ever so clever umpteen times?)
Please help publicise swpat.org - the software patents wiki
They are infectious. This includes Republicans, Democrates, Lefties, Righies, Uppies, Downies, parents, people with opinions. Just stay away from people in general.
Someone hates these cans.
So, what are you interested in? And remember, there are so many kinds of intelligence that its hard to say that one is better than the others. There is "generic/old fashioned" problem solving intelligence. If you think you've got that, then see how you like inventing - as for what, well, see the thing above on what you're interested in.
But also don't be afraid to try new things - see how you like the arts, from theatre to literature to photography to drawing. As for me, I have no drawing ability, but have found that with a good book on photography and some money for equipment, that I can be decent at it - and the sheer possibilities for capturing light around me, and coming up with interesting subjects, can provide hours of amusement... and don't tell me it doesn't work my brain.
I guess that's the trick to using your intelligence - you can't be afraid of dipping your feet into something new. You don't need to start off an expert - in fact, some humility and a few honest, dumb questions can help build friendships and advice to people that will make your life more vibrant.
And, seeing as this is slashdot... yes, the Internet is your friend. the trick is to not go to the same sites over and over again... to think of something random, like I did with photography, or maybe think of say, some form of art or some weird aspect of science that you don't understand, and searching.
At the same time, especially with more difficult (and i believe, more rewarding) topics which can't be described in a few lines of hypertext, like (advanced/interesting?) science/engineering topics, or things like photography, its important to use your library. And your librarians, as well, as they do have a tremendous breath of knowledge, even if they lack depth - they can show you how to get a toehold on almost any topic, and once you've got that, the possibilities are limited almost only by your determination. So don't be afraid, and remember that the world is out there to experience, but you may need to drive yourself to experience it fully. Tim
I often ask myself the same question (and not because people tell me I am brilliant).
This is because now that I work I am not learning much. Back in school, I didn't have this problem, as my brain was always crunching something.
There's a library near my job. I go there sometime and walk by shelves, and when I see a book that does not sound totally boring while being on a subject I have no idea about, I grab it. In fact, I grab a few of them.
To be honest I rarely finish any of these books, but it constantly gives me more and more data in my head, as I at least become aware of the subjects.
In particular, there's a great book called something like Century of Mind, or something like that, about all the great thinkers of the 20th century, from Picasso and Freud, and Wright Brothers to.. well, I didn't finish the book but you get the point... it was great to get into the heads and the environment during which these great thinkers did their thinking.
Oh, and I didn't finish it because someone put it on reserve when I came to renew it and they took it from me.
Ecce Europa - Web Design for Business
Google "emotional intelligence", you need some.
Being smart doesn't mean shit if you can't get stuff done. Work hard, finish what you start, and be humble (as in, don't try to "genius" your projects. Keep them straightforward and manageable). Do those things and the "having an extremely high intelligence" will take care of itself. Don't do those things and you will be wondering why less intelligent people keep outperforming you.
When you go through your day, constantly ask yourself "what is this doing for me?" Weight the ups and downs. Television, for example. The ups? Well ...you can entertain yourself. The downs? Don't even get me started.
Then evaluate other things you might be doing in terms of how this will get you closer to the things that matter to you. Mine might be working on my business or listening to some audio tapes/spoken word, but what is right for me is not necessarily right for you.
If you start weighting activities like they've got a price sticker attached to them -- which they do, really -- then you can start "comparison shopping." And then you can use your head to it's best potential. I think the "what" will flow naturally at that point. If learning Chemistry is important to you, then make the time and learn it.
I know this isn't quite what you're asking. I hate it when people answer my "How do you do A?" with "Why don't you do B?" just as much as the next guy, trust me. I just think you might be approaching it from "what?" when it might behove you to simply free up the "when?" and "how?" and then "what?" will become obvious to you. Because you're the only person who can answer that.
My
Limekiller
Just don't start with Ayn Rand, like a lot of people did, it will make it all the more difficult getting into more sophisticated stuff.
I recommend beginning with the Platonic dialogues, at least thats where I began. He teaches you how to think philosophically while introducing you to the Socratic method. I recommend starting with the Apology, then the Crito, and then the one where Socrates dies (forget what its called), then go after the Republic if you're ready for it. Be sure to get some secondary material, so that you're not completely on your own in interpreting the material. You'll find secondary material indispensible for understanding philosophy at a serious level.
At least, that was my start and nothing fine-tuned by ability to think better than Plato, he's a teacher par-excellence.
But really, intelligence isn't that big of a deal. Its what you do with it that counts, another reason why philosophy might be a cure for your illness.
I'm constantly told that I have an extremely high intelligence.
You have nice friends. Rather than say "Spencer is an unattractive, antisocial guy who plays so many online games and dice-and-paper RPGs that it's starting scare us", they politely say, "Spencer? Um, yeah, he's smart."
That first sentence of the poster's submission is completely unnecessary and starts the entire question off on a bad note. If the submitter was really such a big genius he would have realized that and left the sentence off.
I don't know. It sort of reads like Stephen Wolfram's "New Science" book.
"Those who have never entered upon scientific pursuits know not a tithe of the poetry by which they are surrounded."
My advice is to study math and the sciences.
Intelligence is predictability
"Not many people understand how rare it is to really, really know something."
-Richard Feynman
If I could ACCURATELY predict the stock market, weather patterns, or the lottery -- would you call that intelligence? If I could quickly tell you the final result of any given set of initial conditions -- would you call that intelligence?
Intelligence is predicatability. People may be impressed by philosophers and musicians, however when it comes to raw brainpower, never look past mathematics and the hard sciences. Predicitability is key. Anyone can collect stamps. Anyone can observe. Most people can describe. However ask for an uncanny and accurate prediction and the room becomes silent.
I've found that studying mathematics and science has improved my ability to understand history, the humanities, and art. You learn to quantify things in science. When you study physics you learn what really knowing something means. You learn about the limits of knowing what you can know. You can only quantify so much. The question is how much can we actually quantify?
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler."
-Albert Einstein
Reasoning is basic symbolic manipulation
Mathematics takes us into the region of absolute necessity, to which not only the actual word, but every possible word, must conform.
-Bertrand Russell
Reasoning is basic symbolic manipulation. Even Aristotle believed this. Look at the syllogistic form. A tautology is a valid line of reasoning. Admittedly, any attempt to formalize inductive reasoning is as weak as formalizing probability itself.
Intelligence is about encoding mechanisms. When you make a mapping from the real world to a rigourous set of rules or you merely compare sets of rules, you are finding a way to encode one system in terms of another. Thus the application of analytical geometry to our (observed) real space, is an encoding of real world geometry into algebraic equations. Any description in one has a signifigant result in the other.
Teach yourself
You've got to teach yourself. Frankly, even Havard won't make the dumb smart, it will only make them educated. Just having the ability to break down information and understand it on your own is a skill. You've get to be able to solve problems on you're own. Don't just stare at the problem. Play with it. Do something. Even if it's tedious. You'd be suprised at how just hacking away at a piece of it can help you solve a problem. Heck, I'm probably preaching to the choir here.
"Don't let school get in the way of your education."
-Mark Twain (or Ben Franklin or somebody else...)
Give me a man who is mathematically mature and physcially intuitive and I will give you a genius. Genius is merely a social measurement of intelligence. Whose to say if Einstein was smarter than Hilbert. Was Godel smarter than Russell? Frankly, most of these parlor discussions are nothing more than pure bovine fecal matter. Don't obsess about how intelligent other people think you are. Frankly, if you're really smart, you will get two responses, comraderie or fear. Intelligent people will seek your company. Insecure people will tell you that you are foolish or ignorant only because they fear you actually know more. Intelligence is part performance and part stubborn confidence that you can figure something out by shear intellectual will. Of course, proving that you are a genius or even a genius in a world of geniuses is tough. However, I will leave that exercise to the reader.
What do you mean my sig is repetitive? What do you mean my sig is repetitive? What do you mean....
Read. Learn. Write. Write. Write. Share what you learn. Formulate new ideas. Discuss them with other people. Prepare to feel stupid. Do the whole process again.
I hate to say it, but people have book smart and they have monkey smart. You may have the former, but it doesn't sound like you have the latter. You may now feel free to exact monkey justice.
The middle mind speaks!
"People who talk back to the television," I call them.
Not a sign of a healthy mind, in my book. :)
Intelligence is highly overrated anyway...
This sig is intentionally left blank
Then may i ask what brings you here?
The lunatic is in my head
This article talks about Rajan Mahadevan who memorized some 31,000+ digits of pi for the (then) world record. Another interesting article on Mahadevan if you're into that.
The first article, however, discusses what it takes to become considered "best" in your area of study. Read through it for a fascinating look at performance and intelligence and how it relates to the amount of practice. The short version, for those who are allergic to reading, is that you can reach a level considered "best" after about 10,000 hours of practice regardless of whether you start out slow or whether you're a quick study.
Want to become a killer programmer? Put in 10 solid hours a day coding (and related research activities) for 3 years (ie: 1000 days). After 18 months, you'll be at a stage where you're qualified to teach. After 2 years you'll be considered very good. And after 3 years, you'll get a call from Carmack. (Okay, maybe I made that last one up.)
Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
Easy, practice like the pros:
PINKY: Cerebro, what are we going to do tonight? BRAIN: The same we do all nights Pinky...Try to conquer the world
...you wouldn't nuking your noggin with radiation in front of a CRT reading /. all day!
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Learn to ask yourself the right questions. Rather than asking "How can I become smarter" ask yourself things like "What information sources will yield the most information per unit of time spent reading", "Once I attain higher intellegence, will I be satisfied? If not, what am I really looking for?", "How can I work around my areas of mental weakness?", "Which areas are weak/strong". Think more in terms of optimization and enhancement. Keep in mind the cost and benefit of each persuit. Read bios of smart and/or effective people. Try reading or doing something completely new. Seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened, ask and you shall recieve.... hmmm ?
X
Knowledge is useful though. AI researchers have discovered this. It's a lot easier to make a machine appear smart if you give it a few concepts in the first place rather than make everything from first principles. It may seem like a cheat, but it turns out that most animals (including humans) do this. For example, parts of the brain deal with language and some gramatical concepts are understood before we know how to speak.
-- Gallagher
Found in the Linux Fortunes DB ;-)
Brain normally functions at 36.6 degrees Celsius; sticking your head in an oven will drastically increase your brain operating temperature, yielding Extreme performance. This only lasts for a short period of time (until cooked), but it will certainly reveal the meaning of life and remove stupidity forever.
Cod Liver Oil,
and Omega-3 fatty acid containing foods.
The brain is mostly made up of these and supplying them seems to help.
The evidence I heard was from a study involving bad kids. Basically they gave them cod liver oil and after 6 months improvements were measured.
A blog I run for the wealth
Just because you can memorize PI to 1E44 digits doesn't make one smart and being smart is more than IQ.
The difference is huge, and dramatic. Takes more discipline than you first think. Those 30 hour coding binges and test crams do more harm than good on your productivity.
Just cutting caffeine after 4pm changed my life.
Before I part with'em: two pennies weigh ~4.996+/-0.014g, have a zinc core, and the face of Lincoln. You can keep 'em.
It's True that a Herd Of Buffalo Can Only move as fast as the slowest in the herd the young infirm and weak... ,ore intelligent as the brain can work faster without the slow cells....
In hte same Way the brain can only go as fast as the slow weak and infirm brain cells
In Nature there are Predators To Pick Off those Weak and Lame Buffalo from The herd.. There-by making the herd move faster..
Still with Me?
We As Humans have been striving to better ourselves in the pursuit of greater intelligence... where as I Believe that drinkin is the key...
When you Drink It Kills Brain cells namely the weak and old cells(just like the predator in the wild...) thereby making you
At least 90% of most human brains is completely unused, flabby grey matter. If you can firm and tone just half of that you will have a brain that is firmer and better toned than the rest of the human population!
That is why I recommend the BrainFlex 2000* brain excercise program. Simply insert the BrainFlex' high voltage electrodes into your nasal or occipital cavities and press the button. I recommend at least 30 repetitions.
There you have it! Less than 10 minutes a day... it's the last mental excercise program you'll ever use!
*which bears a remarkable resemblance to a cattle prod...
Any generalization is a stupid one.
Sometimes you have to get out of that anaylitical 'worldview' in order to see what is really going on around you. You may find that the best way to learn is to 'loosen' the boundaries by which you recognize yourself; so that you can begin to discover who you are and where you're going.
Try Zazen!
"Can there be a Klein bottle that is an efficient and effective beer pitcher?"
Which just points out that it's more complicated that "smart people" and "dumb people". There are a lot of different ways to be smart, and people who are smart in one way are often very dumb in another. So your physicist can do differential equations in his head, but he can't change a tire. Hypothetical example, but you know what I mean.
I love when I can flex some of my neurons, and here is a puzzle that I loved hearing. It made the rounds in the Physics circles a couple of years ago, I believe. I'll try to check back soon with the solution.
Also, feel free to put any other really good puzzles in this thread!
------------Begin Story------------------
There are 100 prisoners being held captive. One day they are told that some of them will die the next day in a trial. They are told to plan tonight for the following:
The prisoners will be lined up, one behind the other, so that each prisoner can see all of the people in front of him. A red, green, or blue dot will be placed on the back of each prisoner's head, but the prisoner will not know the color on the back of their own head (or, of course, the colors on the heads of the prisoners behind him). Then the captors will start at the back of the line and ask the question "What is the color on the back of your head?". The prisoner must answer with one of the colors, and any other answer, or answering out of turn, will result in everyone being executed. Everyone can hear the answers of the people to come before them. After the question has been asked of every prisoner, the prisoners who answered incorrectly will be executed.
Question: What is the most effective plan that the prisoners can come up with, and how many people will die with this plan?
Extra credit: Expand the plan to include an arbitrary number of prisoners and colors. Now how many people will die?
I started playing the banjo about a year ago, and after about 2 months of I noticed major improvements with my memory and general fuzziness gone out of my head. Also it helps out alot with your had eye coordination. I still notice my memory and other brain functions getting better all the time as my praticing progresses.
The phone is ringing, I cannot linger, watch out butt here comes my finger.
See http://www.cs.rpi.edu/~moorthy/moorthyjug.html
oh..you brought back all those precious memories when I felt likewise.
Now, I know. I know what I know. I know why I know. I know why I know I know.
shit..couldn't get it rhyme with "I wonder why. I wonder why. I wonder why I wonder."
Now, you try.
Science as a way of life.
While your observation about the unlucky guy in the back is correct, the "real" answer does not depend on the timing, tone, pitch, etc of the answers. I almost, and probably should have, put this in the original post.
Think about this from the standpoint of information: What does each person know?
1 - The colors on each person in front of them
2 - The answers of each person behind them
BIG HINT:
This information and a bit of modulo arithemetic is can save everyone except for the first person.
Many of us have great potential, be it intellectual or otherwise, but the issue is whether we actualize it or not. Most of us don't, and we either get by on our natural inclinations - OR we remain limited by our own inability to get beyond those same inclinations.
I have studied with, and now work for, a human potential program that is great for intelligent people - it gives you the ability to really explore what you know on a deeper level and learn how to critically think - what they DON'T teach you in school....
It's increased my brain capacity greatly, and helped me become more successful in my intellectual endeavors.
I think it's the next logical step in a person's mental evolution. You can keep gathering data and information and increase what you know, but it won't really impact you until you can increase your ability to THINK.
If you want to know more about it, email me or read the websites:
nxivm.com
espian.net
Yeah, we're only kidding though, we want to see how you'll react. It's this experiment, see. Your whole life is basically one big maze and you're the white mouse.
We thought you'd ask slashdot 3.92765 seconds before you actually did.
example: A man travels back in time and kills his mother the day before he was born.
NOTE: Don't actully try that, I don't think we really want to know what happens.
I don't have time to comment my code, the program is late already.
He who knows knows he knows not; while he who knows not doesn't: He who know knows that there is much more to know then what he knows, that he is the smallest dot existent, only the smallest part of humanity. He who is ignorant doesn't; they can't see past their nose, and they're the ones who 'know everything' in their own world.
(not my quote; some famous prophet dude said so...}
Absolutely excellent post. I salute you, sir. You certainly have a better grasp of the subject then most of the so-called "education experts"/etc have.
I've said it on slashdot before, and I'll say it again. Intelligence is not knowledge, it's not memorization of facts or memory, it's the ability to *use* what you know, to make associations from knowledge, or sometimes, to create without knowledge.
Oh, and "shear intellectual will" - misspelled, but if you look at the context the misspelling was in, it actually makes sense.... and BTW, that last paragraph was superbly put.
Thank you. You have an excellent grasp of language, much better than mine.
SB
It's old. The more humans I meet, the more I like my cats. At least they are honest.
Always with these "grandfather" paradoxes... do ya *have* to kill your progenitor? what about just causing them to fall in love with someone else?
If it wasn't for posts like this, I wouldn't have gotten a good laugh reading everyone's responses to your question. Thanks WhatsAPro
Mark
Ohh Boy! I have finally met someone in the world who has the same ideologies as I.
I have been telling exactly what you said to my peers for many years now, and all of which do not listen because it scares them on how things actually work.
I applaud your writing style and enjoyed it immensely. I hope that maybe somebody in a hard science field reads this and takes note, because to me it seems that many scientists in different fields are too stuck up with their social status to actually take time and hack or chew on a problem. Instead they look at the givens and in my mind pretend to answer the problem.
Cheers!
What about *knowing* how to use your other knowledge?
I suspect people with low intelligence probably aren't memorizing the right things.
I'm constantly told I have an extremely large penis. And ladies *LOVE* my large penis. :-P
And you definitely write with it:
The side effect of this principled and deliberate self architecture/rearchitecture is to live in a state of wonder and potentially of joy.
Good job. NLP is making people feel happy and excited to the way words sound that actually are not gramatically sensical in a way to cause the brain to do a brain fart in which the next sentence the person sees will be read during the brainfart and influence the person the way they otherwise wouldn't have cared for.
Cover your eyes and click this link!
That is the most indigenous statement I've ever heard. So indigenous that it isn't even the right grammatical word for it. Ingenious just doesn't cover it. That is the greatest advice somebody can give, and it is very straightforward as well. That guy is a true genius. He gave advice that will be ignored by almost everybody, but it is the advice to success. It's called get shit done. Instead of, "what should I do?" It's called get shit done. Once again, instead of "what should I do?", it's called "get shit done." GET SOME FUCKING THING DONE. Once again. It's not sitting in a pile of shit wondering what you should do that shows intelligence. It's taking the whatever random thing that attracted you at the time, and getting whatever you wanted to do... TO COMPLETION. That shows intelligence and skill and aptitude and brings such high satisfaction that you are ready to tackle on another challenge leaving you no time to wonder what you could be doing, since you're too busy DOING IT.
Don't be offended, anybody intelligent will see that is not meant to be beratory, but inspirational.
Cover your eyes and click this link!
First, assign each color a number to each of the colors (start at zero as all of the arithmetic will be modulo the number of colors). The prisoners can do this the night before.
m = Number of colors
n = Number of prisoners
The first person to be asked adds up the color values from the other (n - 1) prisoners. He then says the color that corresponds to the value of ((sum of n-1 colors) % m) and has a 1 in m chance of surviving.
The second person in line takes the value of the color that the first person answered and then subtracts (mod m) the sum of the values of the colors in front of him. The difference is the value of the color on the back of his head.
The rest of the prisoners in line take the value of the answer by the first person and subtract the sum of the values they can see. In order to get the value of the color on the back of his head he also subtracts the answers of each person behind him (except the first person, of course).
There you go (assuming you are still tracking this thread after so long:). If this answer isn't clear let me know.
Chris
Well, yeah, I didn't do a very good job of simplifying the prisoner's job. Lets try this again:
You are a prisoner. There are three (or at least no more than 5) colors "in play", so you hold up that many fingers. Let's say the first finger is red, the second is green, and the last one blue.
You start out pointing to your first finger and start scanning the people in front of you. When you see a green dot move over one finger, and when you see a blue dot move over two fingers. (Of course you will wrap around from the third finger to the first when you run out of fingers)
Now that you have the total for the colors in front of you we need to take the negative of this number (unless you are the first prisoner to be asked, you poor shmuck^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hbrave soul). This is the best I can figure out, negatives are strange in modulo arithmetic: From the finger you are currently on, count your way back to the first finger. However many fingers you counted down, count down the same amount again (wrapping to the last finger as the first move, of course).
When the first person answers count up again the number of finger for that color. Now for the rest of the time count down for each answer given. When you are asked the question it will be at your fingertips (almost sorry for the pun).
Spencer, VISUALIZE!! People who can visualize the process, apply it to any given situation, and visualize from beginning to end, never get lost. Make your visualizations harder and harder, a brain is the same as a muscle it needs excersize.
Preposterous. A 286 and a 686 processor are just as unintelligent. Intelligence is more about having the right algorithms to tackle problems.