Based on this concept If you could undergo treatment (lets say a shot) to make you smarter, would you? Why or why not?
My answer: Yes. Immediately. Where do I sign up? Though I'll wait until at least the 10th generation. I'd rather the bugs be worked our first.
Yes. I would. And a shot to make, um...other things better.
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Yes. I would. And a shot to make, um...other things better.
If we as a species go down the road of gene therapy I'm sure that *ahem* "problem" will be solved shortly enough.
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If we develop shots to increase intelligence, it follows that we'd figure out how to make shots to increase everything else much faster.
I like myself. That's not conceit, mind you. It's just that I fought and studied and worked and meditated and struggled very long and hard to get to where I like myself.
I think everybody could stand to be smarter, but I would want to weigh heavily what side-effects such an increase in intelligence would come with. Would it change my personality for the worse? Would I become one of those professors I worked with at Stanford? Those guys who specialized so heavily in certain fields that their ability to deal with life suffered so that they literally could not speak to other human beings without getting a black eye for the effort?
I am a fairly wise person, who loves other people deeply. And I care about people. Even strangers in Internet forums - I actually care about you people. Those things are things I am happy about. And I won them; I worked hard for them.
Those things have to come first. So, guarantee me the shot will not change me on any elemental level, and yes, I'd probably take it. But I suspect there are no guarantees.
I like myself. That's not conceit, mind you. It's just that I fought and studied and worked and meditated and struggled very long and hard to get to where I like myself.
I think everybody could stand to be smarter, but I would want to weigh heavily what side-effects such an increase in intelligence would come with. Would it change my personality for the worse? Would I become one of those professors I worked with at Stanford? Those guys who specialized so heavily in certain fields that their ability to deal with life suffered so that they literally could not speak to other human beings without getting a black eye for the effort?
I am a fairly wise person, who loves other people deeply. And I care about people. Even strangers in Internet forums - I actually care about you people. Those things are things I am happy about. And I won them; I worked hard for them.
Those things have to come first. So, guarantee me the shot will not change me on any elemental level, and yes, I'd probably take it. But I suspect there are no guarantees.
Side effects would definitely be a concern. However, when I say "increase intelligence" I'm not talking character stats. I'm talking folds of the brain and neuroconenctions. Not that you said this, but increasing int doesn't necessarily mean that your wisdom will suffer. Perhaps you'll luck out and only end up with sweaty palms and explosive diarrhea to go along with your increased int. ;-)
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Lets see how long the rat lives first, I hate buying flowers.
If it rewrote your brain, it would likely wipe you blank. Next you might become smarter, but you would lose everything that makes you you. Even if you would still have your consciousness, would it be worth it? I am very uncertain of that, personally. Let's start with getting internal memory banks and calculators and so on to make our lives simpler. Oh, and by the by, retroactively changing genes is a TL 12 advance, at least according to GURPS.
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Define "smarter."
This never goes well in the fiction. I'd be worried about a fundamental personality change as a side effect, or if nothing else an increased sense of alienation from what might then be "the rest of you mollusks." :)
Now, if I can get a shot to boost my CON by several points, sign me up. Perhaps a cocktail of gene therapy and nanites, to give me 20/10 vision, remove all my allergies, all traces of HIV, any genetic markers for cancer and diabetes, etc.
This never goes well in the fiction. I'd be worried about a fundamental personality change as a side effect, or if nothing else an increased sense of alienation from what might then be "the rest of you mollusks." :)
"Limitless" was a pretty good film on intelligence increasing. I already think too much though, so probably would opt out. Wisdom or charisma I would go for.
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Lets see how long the rat lives first, I hate buying flowers.
Flowers for Algernon reference?
"Limitless" was a pretty good film on intelligence increasing. I already think too much though, so probably would opt out. Wisdom or charisma I would go for.
A good movie, though I would stay out of politics.
I would certainly take the pill from Limitless, and would also use the increased intelligence to reverse engineer and improve upon the pill.
This never goes well in the fiction. I'd be worried about a fundamental personality change as a side effect, or if nothing else an increased sense of alienation from what might then be "the rest of you mollusks." :)
Now, if I can get a shot to boost my CON by several points, sign me up. Perhaps a cocktail of gene therapy and nanites, to give me 20/10 vision, remove all my allergies, all traces of HIV, any genetic markers for cancer and diabetes, etc.
The true goal, however, would not be intelligence for its own sake. I would use the intelligence to fuel other medical technologies, with the goal of indefinite life extension.
After I had near immortality we could discuss creating a limited number of fellow trans-humans capable of being my peers and competitors.
I went to school to get smarter, so yeah. What's the downside?
Yes.
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I'd rather be wiser. More intelligence doesn't help if you can't apply it in a useful way.
Based on this concept If you could undergo treatment (lets say a shot) to make you smarter, would you? Why or why not?
My answer: Yes. Immediately. Where do I sign up? Though I'll wait until at least the 10th generation. I'd rather the bugs be worked our first.
Oh Hell yes, but I would have it increase my mental faculties in other area, like say memory, cognition, visual acuity, etc.
If I had the chance to take a shot that would give me godlike intelligence, there is another factor to deal with: How many others have had it? If I am the VERY FIRST, I could with some probability gain godlike intelligence and then deny the possibility to all others. Which would put me in a distinctly advantageous situation. Against this weighs the risk that there are unforeseen side effects.
If I had the chance to take a shot that would give me godlike intelligence, there is another factor to deal with: How many others have had it? If I am the VERY FIRST, I could with some probability gain godlike intelligence and then deny the possibility to all others. Which would put me in a distinctly advantageous situation. Against this weighs the risk that there are unforeseen side effects.
I find it amusing that you go in the exact opposite dirrection. Unless it was a very common thing, I would not want this at all. There is a reason intelligence and happyness have a reverse correlation.
Heh. Well, I do have a goal to be Empress Sissyl I of Earth. Every little bit in that direction would help. =)
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I'm not terribly interested in happiness. I want to know everything.
Yay! A supporter! Only a few billions to go! We do want to rule by popular demand, of course. =)
I'm not terribly interested in happiness. I want to know everything.Wouldn't that include knowing how to be happy?
It's not the paradox you imagine.
I could drink the potion and instantly know how to be happy, but that might be "don't drink intelligence potions."
If the side effects of it don't weigh in too heavily i would definitely do it.
Although given the choice between more intelligence and a longer attention span, i would definitely take the latter, because without the ability to concentrate all the intelligence in the world isn't going to be a lot of use.
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Based on this concept If you could undergo treatment (lets say a shot) to make you smarter, would you? Why or why not?
My answer: Yes. Immediately. Where do I sign up? Though I'll wait until at least the 10th generation. I'd rather the bugs be worked our first.
The origins of dark skin in humans is RNA transfer by virus (malaria or encephalitis seem a good bet). Should we cure the virus and change every one back to pale skin color with gene therapy?
I'd prefer a shot to improve my memory.
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This is the problem of imagining "intelligence" as being just one thing, and equating it with neural processing power.
As I understand it, scientists have not yet discovered any specific identifiable differences between the neural structures of people thought of as being abnormally intelligent and the rest of us (though there are some identifiable differences in neuron operations in some cases, such as autistic savants, I'm unaware of these having been traced to structural differences).
Even if there were such identifiable structural differences, and if it were possible to alter the "normal" brain into the "genius" brain, that's no guarantee that such an alteration would actually change that brain's behavior in the desired fashion. Perhaps the process of brain maturation and change matters as much or more than the final structure. Growing certain neural pathways through studying calculus might have completely different effects from growing the same neural pathways through a pill.
So I rather doubt that there will be any easy physical method of increasing "intelligence," if by that we mean "thinking and behaving in a manner similar to people we consider intelligent," at least any time soon.
This is the problem of imagining "intelligence" as being just one thing, and equating it with neural processing power.
As I understand it, scientists have not yet discovered any specific identifiable differences between the neural structures of people thought of as being abnormally intelligent and the rest of us (though there are some identifiable differences in neuron operations in some cases, such as autistic savants, I'm unaware of these having been traced to structural differences).
Even if there were such identifiable structural differences, and if it were possible to alter the "normal" brain into the "genius" brain, that's no guarantee that such an alteration would actually change that brain's behavior in the desired fashion. Perhaps the process of brain maturation and change matters as much or more than the final structure. Growing certain neural pathways through studying calculus might have completely different effects from growing the same neural pathways through a pill.
So I rather doubt that there will be any easy physical method of increasing "intelligence," if by that we mean "thinking and behaving in a manner similar to people we consider intelligent," at least any time soon.
I wouldn't be suprized if we figure out a way to increase neural pathway creation though, and make learning and possibly future intelligence significantly easier.
That would be something that might interest me.
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Good point, Caineach. Easier learning would be wonderful, and could help out a lot of folks. I would definitely consider taking a drug for that. But there's no way I'd take a pill that was advertized as simply "increasing intelligence". That label would tell me their either a) the person selling it doesn't understand what "intelligence" is, or b) they don't think I do. In neither case would buying their drug be a good idea. :)
The origins of dark skin in humans is RNA transfer by virus (malaria or encephalitis seem a good bet). Should we cure the virus and change every one back to pale skin color with gene therapy?Based on this concept If you could undergo treatment (lets say a shot) to make you smarter, would you? Why or why not?
My answer: Yes. Immediately. Where do I sign up? Though I'll wait until at least the 10th generation. I'd rather the bugs be worked our first.
There's too much wrong with that statement for me to properly address.
More importantly its entirely off topic. If you want to discuss whatever that is please start your own thread and do not thread jack this one.
Thank you.
More neural connections means having an easier time learning new things. What it also does, in all likelihood, is reduce the ability to focus and concentrate, as well as retaining accurate memories. There is a reason children lose a very large part of their neural connections and indeed neurons in becoming adults.
As a theoretical thought excercise, if there was an intelligence booster thing without collaterals, sure, no reason not to take it. I plan to write a lot of stuff before I die, and I'm sure that would help making it easier.
In practice, however, I'd be wary of meddling with my brain unless the thing has been tested to oblivion. The potential for behavioural/emotional/mnemonic alteration outweights the potential for additional number-crunching.
As the saying goes, never bet something you can't afford losing.
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If you could undergo treatment (lets say a shot) to make you smarter, would you? Why or why not?I already undergo this treatment every Friday Happy hour. After a few shots of whiskey, I'm pretty darn sure I'm the smartest, wittiest yahoo in all existence. At least its clear to me...
Beer goggles should come with a Warning: People you're talking smack to are larger than they appear.
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The origins of dark skin in humans is RNA transfer by virus (malaria or encephalitis seem a good bet). Should we cure the virus and change every one back to pale skin color with gene therapy?Based on this concept If you could undergo treatment (lets say a shot) to make you smarter, would you? Why or why not?
My answer: Yes. Immediately. Where do I sign up? Though I'll wait until at least the 10th generation. I'd rather the bugs be worked our first.
There's too much wrong with that statement for me to properly address.
More importantly its entirely off topic. If you want to discuss whatever that is please start your own thread and do not thread jack this one.
Thank you.
It is neither off topic or wrong...it is as you suggest about changing who you are with the assumed advances in medicine that will be made available - despite the fact they challenge our belief systems.
Citation needed.
Otherwise, you're just trying too justify racism.
Edit: Actually, no. Even if it is true (which I sorely doubt), you're still trying to justify racism.
cause of skin color variance in humans
nothing about viral RNA.
Dingo thought gigantopithecus was a carnivore one time......
King Kong's a pretty lousy text book.
It is neither off topic or wrong...it is as you suggest about changing who you are with the assumed advances in medicine that will be made available - despite the fact they challenge our belief systems.The origins of dark skin in humans is RNA transfer by virus (malaria or encephalitis seem a good bet). Should we cure the virus and change every one back to pale skin color with gene therapy?Based on this concept If you could undergo treatment (lets say a shot) to make you smarter, would you? Why or why not?
My answer: Yes. Immediately. Where do I sign up? Though I'll wait until at least the 10th generation. I'd rather the bugs be worked our first.
There's too much wrong with that statement for me to properly address.
More importantly its entirely off topic. If you want to discuss whatever that is please start your own thread and do not thread jack this one.
Thank you.
A: What Spanky said
B: You are talking what amounts to little more than a cosmetic change vs pure and simple improvement of cognitive faculties. And this is not about changing everyone whether they want it or not.
You are trying to make it sound controversial when it isn't.
If anyone of any skin colour has the desire to have a different skin colour, and we have the technology to make that happen, let them. Everyone should have the right to modify themselves as they see fit.
I went to school to get smarter, so yeah. What's the downside?
You went to school to get more educated. At least by my definition of the term, that does not necessarily mean smarter. I have known some very, very dumb people in school for a very, very long time, yet getting information thrown at them didn't seem to help.
Anyway, as to the OP: hell yes, if it works as advertised. Although like several folks have stated, I would definitely wait a while to see what the side effects were. I wouldn't trade my personality for more intelligence - unless the new one was better, that is. =P
It is neither off topic or wrong...it is as you suggest about changing who you are with the assumed advances in medicine that will be made available - despite the fact they challenge our belief systems.The origins of dark skin in humans is RNA transfer by virus (malaria or encephalitis seem a good bet). Should we cure the virus and change every one back to pale skin color with gene therapy?Based on this concept If you could undergo treatment (lets say a shot) to make you smarter, would you? Why or why not?
My answer: Yes. Immediately. Where do I sign up? Though I'll wait until at least the 10th generation. I'd rather the bugs be worked our first.
There's too much wrong with that statement for me to properly address.
More importantly its entirely off topic. If you want to discuss whatever that is please start your own thread and do not thread jack this one.
Thank you.
Dingo,
I'm going to ask politely one more time.
You're off topic, you're facts are incorrect, and I feel as though you're just trying to create unnecessary drama for one reason or another.
If you'd like to actually contribute to the topic at hand please do so. If you want to pursue this other, bizarre, off topic line of questioning please start a new thread and to not threadjack this one. Of course you're welcome to drop a link to your new thread here if you would like.
If you continue your inappropriate behavior I'll report you and ask others to do the same.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Feel free to join the Off Topic Hypothetical body modifications discussion I just started.
I went to school to get smarter, so yeah. What's the downside?You went to school to get more educated. At least by my definition of the term, that does not necessarily mean smarter. I have known some very, very dumb people in school for a very, very long time, yet getting information thrown at them didn't seem to help.
I have absolutely no idea how to properly define what intelligence is, but I've always thought that one of the benefits of education is that it stimulates various kinds of thought/behavioural processes that might, in some way, result in enhanced intelligence.
I mean, whatever intelligence is, it has to do with the brain, and the brain is all about neural connections: The more it has, the better it works. And we know these connections are, at least partially, shaped by what we do and what we learn.
Therefore, I would venture to say that education -not necessarily school education, perhaps, but at least education with some sort of multidisciplinary structure- should have some sort of impact on a person's intelligence.
If anything, it is the gateway drug to other intelligence-affecting activities.
Well, you are only saying this because you are not smart enough to understand that it's a bad idea. Wait and see :)
My answer: Yes. Immediately. Where do I sign up?
I'm well aware it could go horribly wrong, but as mentioned I'd wait until at least the tenth generation. At least that way it's proven tech.