Intelligence - Tumblr Posts
Over time I've slowly discovered an odd phenomenon about myself and my ability to understand things: words are stored in my head as feelings.
The first time I figured this out, it was with the word "freezing." When I hear that word, I actually feel a little colder. It's a very subtle feeling, almost unnoticeable, and it lasts a shorter time than it takes for me to even say the word.
It's a subconscious thing. In fact, 99% of the time I don't even notice. Occasionally I'll just notice it for no reason at all. Other times I watch myself to see if it's really happening, or if I'm just making it up.
Naturally, I've tried other things. It turns out I do this with numbers as well. I have a very distinct feeling of the presence of "one," or "three," and even an idea of "one taken from three." It starts to distort with larger numbers; I can rationalize that 10,002 - 10,001 is the same as 2 - 1, but they don't feel the same. Another thing that works is punctuation; I can feel the breaks and pauses in the sentence differently based on a single comma or capitalized letter.
This plays into how I understand the world. When my teacher explains something in class, I'm able to connect with the idea in a way that lets me explain it to others in a way they can understand. When someone is telling a story of what happened to them, it's essentially happening to me at the same time; I'm able to empathize. It is the strangest and most wonderful thing.
Why do I say all this? Because maybe this is normal for people, and someone can get some use out of knowing this about themselves. Or, maybe I'm just lucky. One thing's for sure: this is all just further proof that I think too much.
I have a tendency to find patterns in two steps. This is both a good thing and a bad thing; it means I'm generally quicker to catch on to things than most people, but it also means that I often find patterns where they don't exist.
Let's use a mathematical example, shall we? I love math! Say I'm given two numbers:
1, 8
Here's the order in which I think of what patterns this might fit in:
Sequential cubes - 1³, 2³ (3³, 4³, n³) Add seven to previous number - 1, 1+7 (8+7, 15+7, 1+7n) Multiples of eight - 8⁰, 8¹ (8², 8³, 8ⁿ)
What tends to happen when I point out the first pattern that comes to mind is that I'm often wrong. Even if I go through all the patterns that come to mind, it could still be a different pattern, or it could just not be a pattern at all!
So what I've trained myself to do is wait for a third term to see if I have it right. I've been wrong on the third term before, but far less often. Most of the time my suspicion is correct at that point - except with things like human behavior, which I'm usually more careful about.
...no, I don't treat human behavior like numbers... I look for patterns in different ways...
Arya Stark Appreciation Month Day 19 - Intelligence, Skills, and Learning
“As early as the 1920s, researchers giving IQ tests to non-Westerners realized that any test of intelligence is strongly, if subtly, imbued with cultural biases… Samoans, when given a test requiring them to trace a route form point A to point B, often chose not the most direct route (the “correct” answer), but rather the most aesthetically pleasing one. Australian aborigines find it difficult to understand why a friend would ask them to solve a difficult puzzle and not help them with it. Indeed, the assumption that one must provide answers alone, without assistance from those who are older and wiser, is a statement about the culture-bound view of intelligence. Certainly the smartest thing to do, when face with a difficult problem, is to seek the advice of more experienced relatives and friends!”
— Jonathan Marks - Anthropology and the Bell Curve (via leofarto)
“When I was young, I used to admire intelligent people; as I grow older, I admire kind people.”
— Abraham Joshua Heschel
“When I was young, I used to admire intelligent people; as I grow older, I admire kind people.”
— Abraham Joshua Heschel
I’ve always had a deep admiration for black beauty.
I’ve always had a deep admiration for black beauty.
I’ve always had a deep admiration for black beauty.
I’ve always had a deep admiration for black beauty.
The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubt, while the stupid people are full of confidence
Charles Bukowski (via it-sbeensaid)
The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubt, while the stupid people are full of confidence
Charles Bukowski (via it-sbeensaid)
The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubt, while the stupid people are full of confidence
Charles Bukowski (via it-sbeensaid)
Look! I found myself
But also
So at the end I still don't know who I am.....
Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings.
Salvador Dali
“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise.”
—
F. Scott Fitzgerald
intelligent girls are attractive. believe in a good education. learn to speak in another language and know what's going on in the world.