so, what exactly is intelligence? is it academic? is it a 4.0 avg? is it 1600 SAT scores? what i remember of my highschool and college years was that to get a good grade you simply needed to parrot what the teacher had already said. in fact most of my papers were simply rewordings, paraphrasing of what the teacher had said early on. is that knowledge? if so then, isn't it subjective depending upon what one is exposed to? can you develop intelligence then simply by exposing someone to more? or is it inherent within the person already? say you took Tesla from birth and left him to be raised by wolves, would he no longer be intelligent?
maybe intelligence is analytical, the ability to take what is given and formulate new ideas, to draw connections between things. if that's the case couldn't wolf raised Tesla be just as smart, just as able to make connections to draw ideas? or maybe it isn't inherent and must be fostered. then could not anyone be able to be Tesla, given the right stimuli, the right exposure?
what of common sense, wisdom? if you're able to fart out math theorems that noone can understand but yourself, if you are able beat the world at chess in 5 moves (i've done this now, twice by accident and could not tell you what it was i did) but when you get on your bike and load all of your books and bricks into the right basket and none on the left so that every ten feet you have to pick yourself up off the pavement, are you intelligent still?
lately i've been wondering about intelligence. whether i am or not and how one is to gauge intelligence. i've been called intelligent all of my life, but i suspect it's a misnomer. true, i had algebra pounded into me while i was in first grade and pre-calc/trig slapped in my face by third grade, but i never got past my third grade math abilities. what does that say about me? sometimes i wonder that maybe people think i'm intelligent simply because i'm chinese. seriously, because of stereotypes.... but if that's wrong, then so is the small penis thing right? ahem.... i had a friend once tell me that he felt bad that i had to "dumb down" what i said to him for him to understand. i have never once conciously "dumbed down" anything i said to him. rephrased perhaps, but i think people do that all the time for communication purposes. with different people i use different language. for example, with my friends and roommates and girlfriends...etc...etc.. i speak english. sometimes i use slang, cuz that's how i roll, and other times i won't. if i'm with my parents i will break out the pidgeon chinese. i'm a derelict of dialect.
sometimes i find myself struggling to make someone understand what i am saying. in a given statement or situation i might develop assumptions, and while i think they are natural assumptions i could be wrong. based on these assumptions i will develop ideas and from these ideas i pull out questions. now sometimes, when i ask these questions i will get an answer that is so completely not right (ie. q:what's your favorite color? a: 3. ok, wait you're obviously not understanding what i'm getting at here.) that i will have to backtrack through all of my thoughts with the person and explain in detail each step just to come back to my question and still not get an answer. now, i'm not talking about brain surgery or rocket science or any other stereotypically "smart" thing. but still there is at least one or two pages between where i'm at and where they are at. there is obviously a gap in communication. the fault then, is it mine? it doesn't happen with everyone i speak to or have these types of conversations. then is it them? is one of us more intelligent than the other? does it mean anything at all other than causing me frustration?
i was going to try and fit as many polysyllabic words in that paragraph as possible when it occurred to me that i was really hungry.
so i will part with this, i once met a girl who happened to have a mutual friend with me. she asked me how i had met him and i responded that on the return trip from mars we began conversing to help pass the time and she responded in all seriousness, jaw dropping on floor, eyes bugging out, "you were on mars?!?"
her iq = brick
maybe intelligence is analytical, the ability to take what is given and formulate new ideas, to draw connections between things. if that's the case couldn't wolf raised Tesla be just as smart, just as able to make connections to draw ideas? or maybe it isn't inherent and must be fostered. then could not anyone be able to be Tesla, given the right stimuli, the right exposure?
what of common sense, wisdom? if you're able to fart out math theorems that noone can understand but yourself, if you are able beat the world at chess in 5 moves (i've done this now, twice by accident and could not tell you what it was i did) but when you get on your bike and load all of your books and bricks into the right basket and none on the left so that every ten feet you have to pick yourself up off the pavement, are you intelligent still?
lately i've been wondering about intelligence. whether i am or not and how one is to gauge intelligence. i've been called intelligent all of my life, but i suspect it's a misnomer. true, i had algebra pounded into me while i was in first grade and pre-calc/trig slapped in my face by third grade, but i never got past my third grade math abilities. what does that say about me? sometimes i wonder that maybe people think i'm intelligent simply because i'm chinese. seriously, because of stereotypes.... but if that's wrong, then so is the small penis thing right? ahem.... i had a friend once tell me that he felt bad that i had to "dumb down" what i said to him for him to understand. i have never once conciously "dumbed down" anything i said to him. rephrased perhaps, but i think people do that all the time for communication purposes. with different people i use different language. for example, with my friends and roommates and girlfriends...etc...etc.. i speak english. sometimes i use slang, cuz that's how i roll, and other times i won't. if i'm with my parents i will break out the pidgeon chinese. i'm a derelict of dialect.
sometimes i find myself struggling to make someone understand what i am saying. in a given statement or situation i might develop assumptions, and while i think they are natural assumptions i could be wrong. based on these assumptions i will develop ideas and from these ideas i pull out questions. now sometimes, when i ask these questions i will get an answer that is so completely not right (ie. q:what's your favorite color? a: 3. ok, wait you're obviously not understanding what i'm getting at here.) that i will have to backtrack through all of my thoughts with the person and explain in detail each step just to come back to my question and still not get an answer. now, i'm not talking about brain surgery or rocket science or any other stereotypically "smart" thing. but still there is at least one or two pages between where i'm at and where they are at. there is obviously a gap in communication. the fault then, is it mine? it doesn't happen with everyone i speak to or have these types of conversations. then is it them? is one of us more intelligent than the other? does it mean anything at all other than causing me frustration?
i was going to try and fit as many polysyllabic words in that paragraph as possible when it occurred to me that i was really hungry.
so i will part with this, i once met a girl who happened to have a mutual friend with me. she asked me how i had met him and i responded that on the return trip from mars we began conversing to help pass the time and she responded in all seriousness, jaw dropping on floor, eyes bugging out, "you were on mars?!?"
her iq = brick
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Also, I would like to see more top 10 lists...how bout Top 10 Pornstar Names (i.e. Chubby Pecker)
I say if a person is unable to understand a statement delivered in the simplest and most direct way, then the fault most definitely lies with him/her.