Have you ever made yourself actually smarter or known someone who has? People can learn more things, but I've never known someone who made themselves think faster and more accurate.
Do you think it's possible, and if so, how? Studying logic? Training yourself to ask different questions before acting? Gaining a better memory?
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It's called not drinking for a few weeks. Whenever I have to stop drinking/partying for sports my mind get sharper.
Read more... of anything. Lay off Real Housewives & 16 and Pregnant -- shit rots your brain.
I think the problem with getting older is that you have too much information being thrown at you. That is why children are able to learn at a much faster pace because they are not thinking about mortgages, grad school and the like.
If you want to focus more, be sharper etc., manage your intake of everything. People, TV, etc., and replace those items with some form of self-education (reading, writing, etc.). Your abilities/social behavior will change considerably.
i think it is called reading?
think key is to read and interact more with people outside of your normal everyday interactions and read and review what you've read with other. this way you'll be able to develop an understanding of how others come to the same conclusion
If you want to be book smart, just seclude yourself from the world. That's what those savant kids do. You can have near perfect photographic memory if you train yourself and buy my book for $19.99.
Read books, become knowledgeable, do crossword puzzles.
I don't know about making yourself "smarter" per se, however, a more interesting person is a worthy goal. I listen to a lot of podcasts and ItunesUs on a range of topics that I am interested in, some of my favorite are:
This History of Rome Entitiled Opinions General Philosophy
Others that I wish I listened to that are in my itunes account are: The Granta Podcast NY Reveiw of Books New Yorker Fiction
I'm ignoring the econ and finance stuff which I am always reading and listening to (econ talk, planet money, etc.) as well as the funny stuff (Old Jews Telling Jokes)
My blog roll is finance and econ heavy, but there is also a lot of art, literature and food stuff – some funny stuff as well.
Not sure I answered your question, but theses are some of the things I do to balance my business education.
WFT, I got shat on for this, lol, damn.
Get off WSO and read a fucking book.
From personal experience: take an interest in what you're doing, and the natural 'genious' part of the brain kicks in
UFO definitely got most of the important ones. In addition, I would include surrounding yourself with people who are intelligent (you absorb a lot and it forces you to step up your game) and completely avoiding television.
I have not, to be honest, seen anybody get "smarter". I do think your "intellectual capacity" is something you are either born with or develop very early in your life.
I have seen people change their work ethic - reading/studying more so you learn more information. I have seen people work on their communication and logic skills - being able to more effectively and articulately communicate your point is certainly half the battle of appearing "smart"
But getting smarter in the sense of synthesizing information quicker - or however you define it - I don't think it's likely. But of course intelligence by itself won't get you far if you don't couple it with the two things I mentioned above - so there is always a ton of progress that most people can make it even if they can't change their core IQ.
I agree. we should accept the fact that none of us will be like malcolm x. my observation tells me that the IQ capacity is pretty much born with you, the question is whether you recognize your capacity and make use of them. i think it's important to make use of the full-room instead of building an extra garage~ make sense?
Theoretically, you can do it. I was thinking about doing it consistently, kind of like mentally working out, but then decided I might as well just spend that time doing the things I want to get smarter to do better.
While you all have good posts, the OP was asking if it is possible to increase your raw intelect. Short of cheating by contionusly taking the same IQ test over and over while you learn why you missed the questions you missed I am not sure its possible. Generally what people think of as getting smarter is actually not having an increase in raw brain power but an increase in efficiency.
I think studying pure math makes you smarter. The more interesting topics bend your mind like crazy.
I’ll bow to your expertise, but I always seem to “get smarter” when the math is applied to something (i.e. not necessarily “pure” math). Analyzing Econ graphs, for example, allows my mind to reach a “deeper”, more incisive level than I get from analyzing plain-old-graphs and variables that have no “real” meaning. For me, such “abstract” math, if you will (I’m no math expert in case you couldn’t tell, ha) has no purpose or meaning unless it can be used to solve “real” problems.
Making up math problems that apply to what you’re doing (traveling, whatever) helps. Also, making an effort to think and communicate as perfectly as possible – at the cost of sounding like a robot…doesn’t work with chicks – helps sharpen your mind, IMO.
Look up the banach-tarski paradox. It's an interesting result in measure theory, which says that you can take a ball, break it up into a finite number of pieces, and reassemble those pieces in a way to make two identical versions of the original ball.
Yea man, math definitiely helps the brain.
I think the OP was asking whether it is possible to become smarter in a practical sense. I believe it is, as everyone has some degree of unused potential that can be unlocked. Of course no one can enhance the inherent capacity of their brains at this point in time, the technology to do so has yet to be developed (you can read Ray Kurzweil if you are interested in these things).
not sure if this works, but... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N-back http://www.soakyourhead.com/dual-n-back.aspx
[quote=junior2012]not sure if this works, but... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N-back http://www.soakyourhead.com/dual-n-back.aspx[/quote]
Nice find.
Aderall. It's that simple.
You cannot train yourself to be a short-sleeper if you don't have needed genetics and cannot commit to a strict sleeping schedule. People get too overworked about this. Just learn how to be productive and enjoy your 7 hours of sleep. Only 1-2% of people are natural short-sleepers
edit: great word of the day website!
Maybe even more importantly, when you stop watching as much TV it gives you a lot more free time and you'll spend some of it on the internet reading, listening to podcasts, watching intellectual youtube videos, reading paperbacks, having debates, etc. At least that's how it's worked for me. I haven't owned a TV in almost 2 years (and the 3 years prior to that, I barely watched the TV I did own).
Have any of you guys ever read the book "Flow" by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi? If not, I highly recommend it. There was some little tangent he went on in that book that completely changed my life. He talked about how people need hobbies to keep themselves busy. Then he talked about some woman he met whose hobby was collecting random, novel trinkets. She had been doing it for 30 - 40 years and she had collected so much stuff. In the book, he asked a simple question: "What would her life be like if she had chosen a different hobby?" That simple question sent my mind racing with the endless possibilities. Just think how much more her life would be enriched if she had chosen to exercise as a hobby, start a business as a hobby, read classic literature, write a book, trade stocks, travel, etc. In other words, pick your hobbies carefully. What we do in our free time is always a huge time sink, so make sure you get some solid ROI on that time sink. If you've spent 3 hours a day watching TV for the past 10 years, then that's over 10,000 hours. Just think what you could have accomplished if you spent a fraction of that time on something much more productive!
Anyone who says you can't get more intelligent is plain wrong. When I look back at stuff that I wrote during my freshman year of college, I feel embarrassed. I couldn't speak well either, and I would surely lose any intellectual debate with a reasonably intelligent person. Even though I majored in engineering, which involved no writing, speaking, or presenting, I became better at all three just by associating with smart people. All of my friends are fucking smart. All of my coworkers are fucking smart. Being around them and continually engaging in intelligent conversation has enabled me to hold my own in both written and oral discussions and debates with my peers. Suggestions that involve less booze, drugs, etc will make you slightly sharper, but not more intelligent. Reading might make you marginally smarter, but only if you are reading something that is well-written and logical (ie Ayn Rand, not the latest Harry Potter novel).
We all learn best by doing and repeating. If you want to get better at math, work math problems. If you want to be able to speak intelligently, hold intelligent conversations. If you want to write intelligently, then do it as much as possible. In all cases though, you need peers, mentors, etc to surround you that will provide you with the feedback necessary to make substantial improvement.
Vyvanse
when you get a bill, always calculate the tip mentally and do simple mental math whenever you can
eventually it'll get you to memorize a few basic calculations and remember numbers / patterns easier. this surprisingly can go a long way
this
This question makes me think of the Seinfeld episode.....
"Regardless of your natural endowment, the important thing to remember is you can still get smart by being proactive in a number of different ways. Here are some options:
Join as many non-work organizations as you can- Learn what’s expected of you to be respected and to advance in the organization- whether it’s your church group, book club, or even a sports league. For some people this comes naturally, but you can still become a leader in all of these groups to by being aware and perceptive.
Pursue hobbies- It can be something academic like computer programming or learning a second language, or something more fun like gambling or playing a musical instrument. The main point of all these activities is to learn and master the different interconnected networks of resources and ideas.
Read (a lot)- I’m not talking about War and Peace here, I mean reading anything at all- any information is good information. One way to learn about these different specialized networks is to participate in them, seeing and imitating what it takes to succeed. Reading about the networks is another method of understanding them.
Talking to successful people- This is definitely going to be easier for some people than others. You might be one of the lucky few blessed to have friends, family, or business contacts with deep pockets and an eye for opportunity, or an in with the movers and shakers in a particular field. For the rest of us, there are always ways around the problem."
http://manatworkblog.com/are-you-an-intelligent-person-part-2-of-3/#mor…
Read from a broad source of subjects, use less (or no) mind-altering substances (the hippy telling you that smoking weed and psychedelics make you smarter is lying) and play chess or bridge.
Continually learning is a given for getting smarter as well.
Ludwig Von... Mises?
I feel I've made myself smarter by studying econ, math, and reading various stuff in my free time (but maybe I'm just blowing smoke up my own ass haha).
Interesting question. I don't think it is possible to increase raw brain power after a certain age but maybe using a higher percentage of it is.
NZT, a revolutionary new pharmaceutical drug that allows you to tap your full potential.
Knew this was coming.
Increase your reading speed and vocabulary (can be done with the proper practice and drilling).
Subd
I think we underestimate our intelligence because we rely so heavily on recall. With so much information out there that we can derive from indexed sources, we will return to those indices vice memorizing the overwhelming amounts of information.
When William Shakespeare wrote plays, he did not write out a master script like the ones we can check out at our public libraries that start at Act 1 Scene 1 and run till end. Shakespeare gave each cast member only his lines on a small piece of paper - there was no master script - which begs the question - how did we assemble the modern day play texts? The audience had such a low level of indexed information in their brain because there was no mass media in the 1500s that many in the audience had the ability to see and memorize the play from start to finish - verbatim - and then go home and transcribe it. And these people were intellectually stupid in today's terms.
Don't beat yourselves up trying to get smarter. It has already been covered in this thread that you can improve yourself thru better communication and realizing your potential by discovering new and revisiting old avenues of mental stimulation.
Einstein refused to clog up his brain with data banks, and thus was perceived as absent minded. Instead of wasting brain resources on memorizing things past a basic level of understanding, he was focused more on larger concepts and wrote down raw information. This alone will make even a less intelligent person highly effective.
My first ever post, I will never forget this day.
Are you saying that we are "filling up" our brains with the useless shit from school/work/TV? Or are you saying that we should take a moment to look at the forest and not just the trees? (Sorry to use that awful metaphor) Being able to see things more broadly is essential, but a field of expertise is also required.
In reply to the OP, reading anything will help one appear to be more "intelligent" in the sense that you will have access to a broader range of perspectives, an expanded vocabulary, increased reading comprehension and critical thinking skills. Now that you know what to do, the more difficult task, and in my opinion a true measure of intelligence, is to act on that knowledge and actually do what needs to be done. I'm sure we all have a friend that "is really smart, but just doesn't try," and never misses the opportunity to express that. Fuck those people. While they may get their jimmies imagining what they could do, you need to be out there doing it. That's what makes you smart. You know that there are better uses of your time than watching Teen Mom and Jersey Shore re-runs.
That's all I have for my first post! Feels god man.
Obviously you haven't seen the movie Limitless... all you need is some blue dolphins and you're good to go
Logic puzzles, Sudoku, Chess, Checkers, Poker, Crosswords, reading bloomberg, zerohedge, economist and what not and actually understanding everything and having your own opinion helps :)
Yes it is possible. You just have to make a conscious effort to improve your abilities.
-Cut down on booze -Watch intelligent TV programs -Read meaningful books and magazines not Harry Potter nor Closer crap -Be critical of any information you receive. Always try to mentally circle this information and question it -Eat well -Sleep well -Don't wank too much (loss of zinc) -Don't stress too much (can't focus)
NZT?
Actually it's scientifically proven that coffee, in the quantity of a couple of cups a day, makes you more intelligent.
Read like crazy... pick up a million books on different topics and read them. I love reading .. i learn something new with every book
You the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.
You need 3 things to get more intelligent: 1) skills, 2) knowledge and 3) environment.
Your reading comprehension is a skill. Consistently sleeping adequately greatly helps your memory retention, which is a skill and kind of goes into 2) as well. Playing chess, studying the gmat material, learning a new language all help you get skills that help either solve a problem quickly or acquire the knowledge that is necessary to connect the right dots and arrive at a solution/make proper conclusions for a given situation.
Number 2 helps you acquire and retain experience faster, and acquire more knowledge (and skills). So yeah, the more intelligent and knowledgeable you're the more capable you're to be more intelligent. Its like having $1 million gives you a better chance to make $2 million than $500m does. So always work on your knowledge base. That requires a set of skills AND, more importantly, habits. Read, watch and discuss. Read business cases, medical discovery developments, anything that is remotely of an interest to you and requires you to synthesize information in a structured way. Watch documentaries that explain situations and phenomena. Share your knowledge with others who share the interest with you.
The environment is what makes the above possible. Be sure to surround yourself with people who are smarter than you, but dont try too hard to outsmart them. Just use them to learn and develop while accepting who you're at all times. Fire the friends who are behind intellectually and have become a liability on your quest to making it up top on the intellectual ladder. Do sports and physical activities that help your body function and sleep well. Avoid stress at all cost. Dont smoke or use drugs.
My 2 cents.
Edit: one more thing, a doc on the very topic being discussed here
Other than what has already been mentioned, nootropics are a good way to enhance brain function.
Which ones have you tried? I just ordered Noopept.
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