SMART....Are U?

Ok...I said I would post a thread, so here it is. I thought this was a rather interesting article. I know its a little long and I took some of it out, so if you wouldn't mind reading the whole thing, I would appreciate it.

I'm just wondering from all of you on ATS, What do you think makes u smart?
Do you think society looks more to those that are 'SMARTER' than some of us?
Let me know what you think...

I know that this isn't talking about WAR, or NWO, or Aliens, or Indigos...Just want to know your take on this subject.

Thanks...

“What Does It Mean to Be Smart?”

link thingy

In our Western culture we equate the word with intellectual brightness, with intelligence. An intelligent man is our ideal man, rational, logical and forward thinking.

Throughout time many societies have articulated different standards for the ideal human being. Early Greeks favored physicality and rational judgment; early Romans favored courage. Chinese cultures valued skills of poetry, music, calligraphy and archery. Followers of Islam valued the holy soldier while early Pueblo Indian societies most revered the empathetic person who demonstrated caring.

In Western societies, however, our ideal remains the intelligent person, particularly in the last three centuries because of Descartes. In 1637 René Descartes wrote the iconic Western thought in his “Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting One’s Reason and of Seeking Truth in the Sciences,” “I think, therefore I am.” What we remember less is that he also wrote, “The greatest minds are capable of the greatest vices as well as the greatest virtues” and, “It is not enough to have a good mind. The main thing is to use it well.”

In 1994 “The Bell Curve,” by Herrstein and Murray, outraged many Americans through suggesting that those with a low intelligence were at greater risk for becoming school dropouts, becoming divorced or products of divorce, becoming involved in crime and exhibiting other social pathologies. A year later, also reaching the best sellers booklist, Daniel Goleman published, “Emotional Intelligence,” with the subtitle, “Why it can Matter More Than I.Q.” Goleman argued for the legitimacy of a whole new skill set relating with people and their emotions. “Emotional Intelligence” and its 1998 follow-up volume, “Working With Emotional Intelligence” remain two of the most widely read social science books ever published.

As a society we still lean toward thinking we can measure human intelligence by verbal memory, verbal reasoning, numerical reasoning, logical thinking and the ability to solve problems; but, we cannot ignore Goleman’s case for emotional intelligence, the ability to recognize one’s own emotional life, the ability to self-regulate those feelings, the ability to accurately interpret other people’s feelings and to feel, and to act, empathetically.

Originally posted by notsosweet
I'm just wondering from all of you on ATS, What do you think makes u smart?
Do you think society looks more to those that are 'SMARTER' than some of us?
Let me know what you think...

I know that this isn't talking about WAR, or NWO, or Aliens, or Indigos...Just want to know your take on this subject.

As a whole yes.
Unfortunately society does.
I don't consider myself anymore or less intelligent than anybody else. I think Wisdom is more important. We gain real intelligence from life experiences and wisdom comes from that. We then try applying what lessons we have learned. Yes that includes emotional intelligence. This also comes with life experience.

Just my 2 cents.

PEACE
Slay

Thanks for your 2 cents, Slay.

I've just been struggling with this whole smart thing for awhile now, just wanted to get some insight.

I'm just a very well educated fool. I never learn from experience as I keep making the same mistakes over and over again.

But I have learned how to fake sincerity, and in this culture; that's all you need.

S&F

All depends on what you want to be educated about..i'd like to think i have good knowledge in some areas,then there are others im as thick as two planks about.Nobody is out and out *smart*...they just have a certain subject that interests them and they research and learn about.

reply to post by notsosweet

SMART....Are U?

Well, first of all, I know I am no longer young enough to know everything.

I have been told that being even mildly intelligent is a lot better than being a whole lot smart. With that in mind, I'll take a tire iron to a gas pump that refuses to spit out a receipt.

Not too smart... but I feel better afterward

reply to post by Solomons


U may be right...but there are a few people that are so knowledgeable about so many things. they also aren't afraid to let people know how smart they are...

I read on these posts and think, wow, they just really know what to say...
but i guess they just research lots of stuff.

or maybe they are just good at pretending to know....

Could you wittle down the entire "smart" subject to it's two root sources?

How about Conscience and Aptitude.

So that your learning curve and natural ability to solve inclusively, You are not just a smart person which includes all the mentalities and positions, whereas a smart person may criminal and/or psycho____ tendencies, behaviors, qualities.

Now if the same person were empathic, integrital, just, fair, wise and all of the good traits that are "kingly" or "God-like" in nature,
then the complete package would be achieved.

The smartest mathemetician may lack common sense. Is he still represent the definition of smart?
Solomon, the king, is descibed as both kinds of smart,
yet, with college degrees or street smarts, the deciding affloent class defines these things for the masses.

Are they really the best qualified for the task?

Look at Man vs wild with Will Ferrell ,

A smart actor who portrays goofy charactors is smart enough to make blockbuster movies, yet in the wild, he is but a calf still suckling, unable to survive alone.

Smart is a concept with many interpolations.

The older you get the more you realize the less you know. Imagination is key to opening up a lot of pathways to knowing. When a person sees another person in danger they instantly imagine themselves in that situation. They feel compelled to help that person out.

Imagination is used in science fiction writing but yet we are seeing these same ideas coming true. This is a case where imagination has sparked new ideas in science.

I believe it was Albert Einstein that said, "Imagination is more important then knowledge".

reply to post by cloakndagger



Well, that makes me feel lots better...I have a BIG imagination.

I have another question. Do you think we are born smart, or is it something that we have to learn.

I think that some people are just born naturally smart, I'm not sure I was one of them, as I have to work harder at understanding some things.

I want to thank everyone who is replying. I just struggle with this whole smart thing at times...and its good to see all the different replies to this subject.

I know there are many factors involved with being smart, but I wonder how many other people struggle with this, or am I the only one...

The atheists claim they are more intelligent for not believing in God, than those who believe in God or a supreme being, a rather dubious claim, particularly in the light of the infinite intelligence of the universe that IS the mind of God.

Every human brain is a perfect and infinitely complex instrument, and by some accounts a quantum holographic transmission and recieving device whereby all intelligence resides apriori within the universal quantum holographic consciousness matrix.

And so, the more intelligent person is someone with greater access to the field of universal intelligence, and who is not closed off to it as a result of strongly held egoic constructs or prejudices.

And so I think the open mind, to the light of universal intelligence, or God consciousness, would make for the most intelligent person, since they are not operating from the illusion of separation or a materialist monism, such that they can more readily access the center and source of intelligence that the mind was made, by design, to access.

So it's a question then, if it's equally accessible to one and all, since they have a human brain, of - what are the limitations TO intelligence?

"There is a principal which is a bar against all information and proof against all arguments, and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance. That principal is called contempt, prior to investigation."
~ Herbert Spencer

[edit on 27-7-2009 by OmegaPoint]

reply to post by OmegaPoint


Consciousness is an evolutionary trait.Not some magical universal force.Do you think having an evolutionary trait such as sweat glands is magical?...or do you like to cherry pick what is and what isn't.Of course many new agers like to try and exploit quantum mechanics to fit into their view.If that sounded rude it wasn't meant to be,i just think this new age movement that has suddenly popped up is very elitist and not very enlightened.

I eat Coco Pops for breakfast - that takes the Monkey Out Of Me...

edit: for 2nd line.

I can't stand people who put themselves up there in terms of intelligence and undermime other people's intellect. I usually ignore them or show no respect for them.

Some of the dumbest people that I know have spent thousands upon thousands of dollars for the piece of paper that says they have some book smarts... common sense though...yeah now thats priceless!

smart ..lets see


The Link was interesting thank you, I was more interested in the work of Dr Gardner as mentioned in your link and his work should reassure.

MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES theory, in a nutshell, is a pluralized way of understanding the intellect. Recent advances in cognitive science, developmental psychology and neuroscience suggest that each person's level of intelligence, as it has been traditionally considered, is actually made up of autonomous faculties that can work individually or in concert with other faculties. Howard Gardner originally identified seven such faculties, which he labeled as "intelligences":
Musical Intelligence
Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence
Logical-Mathematical Intelligence
Linguistic Intelligence
Spatial Intelligence
Interpersonal Intelligence
Intrapersonal Intelligence
link
Gardner has never ruled out the possibility that additional intelligences may also exist, for MI research is still in its infancy. Recently, he added an eighth intelligence to the list: the Naturalist Intelligence. There's also been some consideration of a ninth intelligence - existential intelligence - but the jury is still out on that one.



"Dr. Gardner says that our schools and culture focus most of their attention on linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligence. We esteem the highly articulate or logical people of our culture. However, Dr. Gardner says that we should also place equal attention on individuals who show gifts in the other intelligences: the artists, architects, musicians, naturalists, designers, dancers, therapists, entrepreneurs, and others who enrich the world in which we live. Unfortunately, many children who have these gifts don’t receive much reinforcement for them in school. Many of these kids, in fact, end up being labeled "learning disabled,"

more

I do believe that our intelligence is evolving as is our "measuring of intelligence"

also I found of note that when he mentions exceptional individuals, one of the common traits "perform daily introflection to exert positive influence in our own lives and those close to us
interesting !!!

I didn't read his book [but will now as i home ed my 7 yr old..] to know whom the four exceptional individuals are /were. lets take a small sample of others.

Descartes rediscovered the "ancient" esoteric idea of the pineal gland and its gateway to consciousness, and his philosophical breakthrough is claimed to have come to him whilst in a visionary state. This most famous dictum " cogito ergo sum" or "I think in order to be" has been seen as an intent to foster the evolution of an independent , intellectual faculty.

sir isaac newtons view was every part of the universe was intelligent , even a stone is intelligent, according to the ancient thinking that newton subscribed too, animal, vegetable and mineral naturally overlap and intermingle. Then again it is suggested that Sir Isaac lodged with Cornelius Agrippa whilst a student.

Isaac Luria the cabalist wrote about the intelligence in a seed that responds to the intelligent intention in the sun's light.

I agree that "imagination is more important than knowledge".

Wow, I got a wealth of information on this topic. Everyone contributed something that I can use...well, maybe except for the one about eating cocoa pops for breakfast....

I am learning a little bit more about what it means to be smart anyways, and I'm sure that if I keep reading this site that in a few months i might just be one of those very special intellectual, smart, wise folks on here.....

Some of the posts here are still a little intimidating, but I guess I just need to take plunge and hope nobody eats me for breakfast..... hehe

Does anyone think you are born that way? Naturally intelligent that is...?

Originally posted by notsosweet
reply to post by Solomons

 

U may be right...but there are a few people that are so knowledgeable about so many things. they also aren't afraid to let people know how smart they are...

I read on these posts and think, wow, they just really know what to say...
but i guess they just research lots of stuff.

or maybe they are just good at pretending to know....

Briliant!!!! There seems to be a lot of Wikipedia Sages- not only on ATS )
S&F

Originally posted by notsosweet
Wow, I got a wealth of information on this topic. Everyone contributed something that I can use...well, maybe except for the one about eating cocoa pops for breakfast....

I am learning a little bit more about what it means to be smart anyways, and I'm sure that if I keep reading this site that in a few months i might just be one of those very special intellectual, smart, wise folks on here.....

Some of the posts here are still a little intimidating, but I guess I just need to take plunge and hope nobody eats me for breakfast.....

hehe

Does anyone think you are born that way? Naturally intelligent that is...?

Truly you ought to try it! -eating cocopops! It is a known fact that Cocoa stimulates the brain, similar to cafeine- So give it a try and get that- "not so sweet" -brain of yours firing into wonderlful heights of Mental Stimulation!!

[edit on 27-7-2009 by catalyst2466]