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Let us assume that you met a rudimentary magician. Let us also assume that he can do FIVE simple tricks. He can pull a rabbit out of his hat, he can make a coin disappear, he can turn an ace of spades into the joker card & he can do two others in a similar vein. These are his ONLY tricks & he can't learn anymore. He can only do these five tricks. However, it turns out he does these five tricks with REAL magic, it's not an illusion: he can actually conjure a bunny out of ether & he can move the coin though space. He's legitimately magical, but extremely limited.
Would this person be more or equally impressive as Albert Einstein?
Got one more in case you like this one better. I thought this would be fun you can answer one or both of them. Have fun!
You are offered a brain pill.. IF you swallow this you will become 10 percent more intelligent then you currently are; you will be more adept at reading comprehension, logic & critical thinking. However, to all other people you will seem 20 percent LESS intelligent, in other words, you will immediately become smarter, but the rest of the world will perceive you as dumber. And there is no way you can ever alter the
universality of that perception.
First of all, you mean to use the word "hypothetical" - "hypertheyical" is not a word.
Quote:
Originally Posted by reed067
Let us assume that you met a rudimentary magician. Let us also assume that he can do FIVE simple tricks. He can pull a rabbit out of his hat, he can make a coin disappear, he can turn an ace of spades into the joker card & he can do two others in a similar vein. These are his ONLY tricks & he can't learn anymore. He can only do these five tricks. However, it turns out he does these five tricks with REAL magic, it's not an illusion: he can actually conjure a bunny out of ether & he can move the coin though space. He's legitimately magical, but extremely limited.
Would this person be more or equally impressive as Albert Einstein?
He would not be as impressive as Albert Einstein. He would probably, though, become a wealthy rabbit farmer, which could be impressive in a different way.
Quote:
Originally Posted by reed067
...
You are offered a brain pill.. IF you swallow this you will become 10 percent more intelligent then you currently are; you will be more adept at reading comprehension, logic & critical thinking. However, to all other people you will seem 20 percent LESS intelligent, in other words, you will immediately become smarter, but the rest of the world will perceive you as dumber. And there is no way you can ever alter the
universality of that perception.
Do you take the pill?
At first I was thinking yes, because being smarter than people think you are can be an advantage.
However, I'd only be 10% more intelligent than I am now, so I'm not sure that's enough of a bump to really make it worth making any changes. It's not like being 10% more intelligent will allow me to suddenly become a millionaire or anything. Maybe I'd solve a few problems at work 10% faster, but that's not much of a selling point if all my coworkers and my boss think I'm 20% dumber than they already do.
Being able to conjure rabbits or make coins disappear is not impressive, magical or otherwise. There's no point except for the "ooh ahh" factor. Also, being 10% more intelligent doesn't mean anything if I don't have a good work ethic and can produce 10% better output, and since everyone else thinks I'm 20% dumber, that obviously isn't happening.
You can't move up in life with tricks and slight of hand. Only hard work will get you there.
Being able to conjure rabbits or make coins disappear is not impressive, magical or otherwise. There's no point except for the "ooh ahh" factor. Also, being 10% more intelligent doesn't mean anything if I don't have a good work ethic and can produce 10% better output, and since everyone else thinks I'm 20% dumber, that obviously isn't happening.
You can't move up in life with tricks and slight of hand. Only hard work will get you there.
Who says he can't pass other things though time & space? I just mentioned a coin.
To the first one: The dude just wasted "Real Magic" learning to do parlor tricks?
No, he isn't impressive as Albert Einstein who actually contributed, you know, useful things to modern science.
The second one: If you can't get your point across you're not actually benefiting yourself with increased "intelligence percentage". Then again I usually subtract 20% of a person's intelligence if they cry watching chick-flicks so maybe I can't answer this one objectively.
To the first one: The dude just wasted "Real Magic" learning to do parlor tricks?
No, he isn't impressive as Albert Einstein who actually contributed, you know, useful things to modern science.
The second one: If you can't get your point across you're not actually benefiting yourself with increased "intelligence percentage". Then again I usually subtract 20% of a person's intelligence if they cry watching chick-flicks so maybe I can't answer this one objectively.
I'm betting someone whose IQ is off the chart seems stupid at some level.
Let us assume that you met a rudimentary magician. Let us also assume that he can do FIVE simple tricks. He can pull a rabbit out of his hat, he can make a coin disappear, he can turn an ace of spades into the joker card & he can do two others in a similar vein. These are his ONLY tricks & he can't learn anymore. He can only do these five tricks. However, it turns out he does these five tricks with REAL magic, it's not an illusion: he can actually conjure a bunny out of ether & he can move the coin though space. He's legitimately magical, but extremely limited.
Would this person be more or equally impressive as Albert Einstein?
He would be less impressive as an individual.
Most of his tricks are basically worthless. The ability to make coins disappear does nothing and shape shifting cards is also not helpful. He could become a rabbit farmer, I guess.
His worth would be in how we can study him. Where does the coin go when it disappears? How does this effect our understanding of the universe. Things like that. But Einstein was impressive for his ability to think; this guy would be impressive presumably by accident. Now, if he studied to become an actual magician, that's a little different. But if it's something he's born with, like the Force or something, then it's more just bizarre.
Quote:
Originally Posted by reed067
Got one more in case you like this one better. I thought this would be fun you can answer one or both of them. Have fun!
You are offered a brain pill.. IF you swallow this you will become 10 percent more intelligent then you currently are; you will be more adept at reading comprehension, logic & critical thinking. However, to all other people you will seem 20 percent LESS intelligent, in other words, you will immediately become smarter, but the rest of the world will perceive you as dumber. And there is no way you can ever alter the
universality of that perception.
Do you take the pill?
This hypothetical is impossible. For something to have a percent value, it must be finite. Percent basically means 'of one hundred.' This would mean intelligence is finite.
At a macro level, this assumes that human intelligence is on a spectrum and there's some sort of intellectual cap. There is no reason to believe such a cap exists. Then there's the micro level which assumes individuals have a capacity for intelligence unique to themselves. How does the pill work? Presumably, it would use the micro level logic, since the pill only effects one person. However, this would mean each individual has the capacity to be more intelligent on their own free will without the use of a pill. At the macro level, the pill wouldn't make any sense. 10% more intelligent that one is would require us to value where this person rests on the spectrum. Assuming Einstein represents that cap (which no evidence exists to assume this to be true), we'd have to find a way to measure intelligence to the lowest point, which we'll say is a dead person who lacks the ability to think.
Right of the bat though, people with sever mental disorders would be in the bottom 10%, or so we think. We cannot know what they're thoughts are, even if they lack the ability to communicate them. This problem actually adds a whole new level of complication to your scenario.
Point being, this scenario makes no logical sense.
Subtract that from the equation, no I would not take the pill because I reject the idea that human intelligence works the way this scenario suggests it does.
Let us assume that you met a rudimentary magician. Let us also assume that he can do FIVE simple tricks. He can pull a rabbit out of his hat, he can make a coin disappear, he can turn an ace of spades into the joker card & he can do two others in a similar vein. These are his ONLY tricks & he can't learn anymore. He can only do these five tricks. However, it turns out he does these five tricks with REAL magic, it's not an illusion: he can actually conjure a bunny out of ether & he can move the coin though space. He's legitimately magical, but extremely limited.
Would this person be more or equally impressive as Albert Einstein?
Got one more in case you like this one better. I thought this would be fun you can answer one or both of them. Have fun!
You are offered a brain pill.. IF you swallow this you will become 10 percent more intelligent then you currently are; you will be more adept at reading comprehension, logic & critical thinking. However, to all other people you will seem 20 percent LESS intelligent, in other words, you will immediately become smarter, but the rest of the world will perceive you as dumber. And there is no way you can ever alter the
universality of that perception.
Do you take the pill?
There's really no need for a pill.
Heck after a few drinks, I get smarter. After a few more I get stronger, too. No magic involved.
1. The magician's parlor tricks would be interesting and could even make him good money, but Einstein's discoveries and theories have affected all mankind.
2. Being more intelligent with no way to communicate or impart the knowledge is essentially useless. I would be a tree falling in an uninhabited forest.
Let us assume that you met a rudimentary magician. Let us also assume that he can do FIVE simple tricks. He can pull a rabbit out of his hat, he can make a coin disappear, he can turn an ace of spades into the joker card & he can do two others in a similar vein. These are his ONLY tricks & he can't learn anymore. He can only do these five tricks. However, it turns out he does these five tricks with REAL magic, it's not an illusion: he can actually conjure a bunny out of ether & he can move the coin though space. He's legitimately magical, but extremely limited.
Would this person be more or equally impressive as Albert Einstein?
You are offered a brain pill.. IF you swallow this you will become 10 percent more intelligent then you currently are; you will be more adept at reading comprehension, logic & critical thinking. However, to all other people you will seem 20 percent LESS intelligent, in other words, you will immediately become smarter, but the rest of the world will perceive you as dumber. And there is no way you can ever alter the
universality of that perception.
Do you take the pill?
He'd be a definite curiosity and his "abilities" something to wonder at.....they could even be "impressive" to some people.....though personally I'm more impressed with someone who creates their own abilities, so being "legitimately magical" doesn't equal impressive to me...maybe lucky, or fortunate...
He would in NO WAY compare to the late and very great Albert Einstein.
As for a pill that gives only a 10 percent increase in intelligence...forget it. You can increase your intelligence simply from reading.
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maybe lucky, or fortunate...