I think I can immagine what it would be like to be dumber, but is it even possible to immagine what being smarter would be like? Is it as fruitless as looking at a HDTV on a regular TV?
Say you found a bottle of Prof. Phineas P. Farnsworths revitalizing brain and nerve tonic that increased your IQ 50%, how would you know, how you you feel and act differently?
I’d be able to see the solutions to problems more clearly. A lot of times, I find myself worrying and stressing over problems, only to slap my head and go "Of course when I see the answer. I think I’d be able to figure the answer out for myself a lot more easily than I do now.
I’d be able to read books more quickly and absorb more on my first reading.
I wouldn’t have to write everything down in order to learn/remember it.
A lot of times when I’m faced with problems, it’s like my brain just . . . freezes. Like all the gears in my head (OK, both the gears in my head) jam up simultaneously, and I just have to take a break and maybe come back to the problem later. If I were smarter, I think I’d be able to see the problem in my head and work through the tough times without that paralysis. If it were a math or math-based problem, I’d be able to see the facets in a sort of crystalline symmetry instead of grasping blindly in the dark until I happen across the answer, the way I approach those problems now.
I can imagine being smarter, and it’s a wonderful image, but if there were ever a time I could have made that leap, it passed a long time ago. Oh well . . .
Well, there are undoubtedly some things that you are very smart about, and some things you are not so smart at. For example, I can read very well, and very quickly. I am often frustrated that for me, it is hard to do simple arithmetic in my head. I have to write it down. So for me, one kind of being smarter would mean I could do arithmetic as easily as I can read. You can probably come up with a similar example for yourself.
You could imagine the same thing about any talent. I have fantasized about how wonderful it must be to be able to produce beautiful music out of one’s own vocal chords.
I have been experiencing this over the last year as my thinking and memory has slowly come back. The last three weeks have been super great. You change your views on subjects sometimes, because you can understand subtle differences that were not apparent then. Sometimes the difference in your mental capacity can bring about a 180 degree turn in your take on a subject.
I think the difference between being 10 and being 20 is the best I can do as far as explaining what it would feel like. It would probably seem very natural, like knowing the alphabet and being able to tie your shoes even though these things were once difficult for everyone (unless it was an instant change, then it might be a little different.)
Your curiosity would increase; you would want to read and learn more; other people would seem slow in their speech and thought processes; you would feel more in control of your life and less vulnerable to the vagaries of fortune; crossword puzzles would become addictive; you’d play along out loud watching Jeopardy!.
**What would it feel like to be smarter? ** *
Their am a bunnch of Dopers hear who might could tell us’em.
It would be pretty cool until Algernon died. Then it would be scary.
There are times when I am smarter than my average smarts. At those times, I synthesize information very efficiently, perceive core unifying themes and issues that others don’t see, and generate images and analogies that make problems and solutions clearer. I’m also able to convey my observations simply and effectively. The other 95% of the time, I’m at the lower end of my presumptive IQ range, which still is nothing to sneeze at, but isn’t nearly so luminous.
There are other times when words and images and rhythms all converge and writing a poem is simple and elegant and I’m totally immersed in it. That is another kind of heightened intelligence. Regular practice makes this more frequent, but it’s still an infrequent phenomenon even then.
I spent a lot of my adolescence with painters, musicians, and computer guys. If my life had gone differntly up to that point, I might have done those things, too, but I didn’t, snd they were beyond me. So I know something about what a person who’s that much smarter than me in those domains looks and acts like, and where my skillfulness finds its limit.