posted
I think it would be horrible. I'd rather keep my current intelligence and live a lot longer. Say, 500 years to infinity.
Posts: 6394 | Registered: Dec 1999
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quote:I wouldn't mind only living to be a 20 year old super genius.
20 years seems to be such a short period of time, hardly enough time to enjoy life to the full, let alone mature to adulthood.
Posts: 1256 | Registered: May 2005
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posted
Yeah, but I would kind of prefer to live a very short "intelegent" life, than live to 130 years old as an idiot. Which by the way, I think Anton was right when he said that humans were living longer than any time since "the bible era" but that we we're becoming idiots as a cost.
When was the last time we had a Betoveen, a Motzart, a Michelangelo, a Da Vinci, or an Einstein?
Posts: 1941 | Registered: Dec 2005
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posted
YES! And as to the orphans thing, well considering ohow smart all of those orphans would be they wouldn't need to be looked after. ANd its not like every generation before them would be non-existant. The human race just wouldn't live as long, but we might accomplish more in 100 years than we would have (in normal progresion) have done in 1000.
Posts: 1941 | Registered: Dec 2005
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quote:Yeah, but I would kind of prefer to live a very short "intelegent" life, than live to 130 years old as an idiot.
I guess I can kind of understand this opinion. I would much rather live a short, happy life than a long, miserable life. Of course, intelligence is not a prerequisite to happiness.
quote:When was the last time we had a Betoveen, a Motzart, a Michelangelo, a Da Vinci, or an Einstein?
I think these type of people are still out there. They just may not be getting the same recognition or having the same impact as they would have in an earlier time.
Posts: 1256 | Registered: May 2005
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posted
If they aren't getting the recognition they require, then our society has lost all hope. (my fear is that they are recognized and harnesed for certain businesses personal use)
But I don't think that Bean could be considered miserable. When he became a father he was overjoyed. But I want us all to have Beans level of self control, look at all the emotions that ran rampent through his mind, yet he choose to act on the ones that would best serve either himself or humanity.
Bean was the greatest of us (no offence towards Ender). Bean had self control, used his mind for uses that helped all of humanity, and so much more. I wished that all of humanity could be like Bean.
Posts: 1941 | Registered: Dec 2005
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posted
Ick! I would not want Bean's intelligence even without the drawback. In my experience, most people who have extreme intelligence suffer from it. I am happy with my current level of intelligence.
Posts: 416 | Registered: May 2005
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posted
Life is simply more important than intelligence because no matter how smart you are you can't slow down time so you can have a 70 years of intelligence
We'd lose a majority of a childhood too. the children would have no play time because by age 5 they would be at a college level of learning and by 8 having jobs and using their intelligence.
In My eyes Memory is more important than intelligence so i want a stupid life full of memories than a smart life with almost none
Posts: 250 | Registered: Jun 2005
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posted
I wouldn't mind doing math in my head without even having to think about it. And I don't agree that smart people are unhappy as much as you say.
Posts: 1941 | Registered: Dec 2005
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quote:Originally posted by mr_porteiro_head: Who would raise all the orphans?
Well, if we only lived for 20 years we'd probabaly have kids around 13-15. That would allow parents to raise their kids until they're 5 or so, and if you remember, Bean (who didn't have the benefit of any parents, ever) was capable of taking care of himself before he was 5. When you scale everything down to a 20 years lifespan, 5 is like 20.
And Advent, it's not that smart people aren't happy, it's that being smart doesn't make you happy. So really, is it worth cutting your life span to a quarter of what it should be? Bean certainly didn't think so, and he'd know better than anyone.
Posts: 1569 | Registered: Dec 2004
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posted
So, Advent, you would be happy having only a couple more months to live knowing that you were a pretty smart guy rather than have before you the prospect of limitless possibilities? You're sure that you've already experienced everything that you want to experience in life? You wouldn't mind knowing that you will never be able to raise your children or see them grow up?
quote:And I don't agree that smart people are unhappy as much as you say.
But you seem to imply that less intelligent people are less happy.
Posts: 1256 | Registered: May 2005
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posted
I think that in some cases "ignorence is bliss". I'm not implying that this is always so, but I think some people get through life by not having to worry about the rest of the world.
And yes, I would be happy to have lived such a life. If we all lived such short lives we might learn to value the short moments we have that much more because we "know" that we have a time limit.
Posts: 1941 | Registered: Dec 2005
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posted
I'm imagining a world where people die so soon that nobody gets to know and love their grandparents or granchildren and no adults have living parents.
That's not a world I would choose.
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
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quote:If we all lived such short lives we might learn to value the short moments we have that much more because we "know" that we have a time limit.
Or you may never have time to truly appreciate them. I mean, it took me about twenty years just to start to appreciate my parents. And how do you know that people wouldn't take even more things for granted as they try to pack every ounce of life into a few short years?
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posted
contiuing potato head also your parents wouldn't live long enough for you to get to know and love them
your children would know you only as the source of their genes and the food to bring them up they wouldn't love you.
Posts: 250 | Registered: Jun 2005
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posted
And a huge intelligence does not equal social maturity or wisdom. There are a lot of very smart kids out there who still act like kids because they lack experience. There are some things that only come with experience - no matter how quickly you learn, if you haven't had the experiences, you won't learn it.
I wouldn't want to be the smartest genius alive, even if it meant I would cure cancer, if it also meant I would've died before I married my husband and had my kids and learned what the point of my life is all about.
Posts: 1522 | Registered: Nov 2005
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posted
Ugh, I think it'd be awful. It might be easier to achieve some things, but all in all you'd aspire to the same thing; you'd just have less free time while you race to get there. Me, I like free time.
Posts: 866 | Registered: Dec 2003
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posted
In around 50 years, everyone would have forgotten what a normal life was like. It would simply be a story passed on. If we were all like Bean, then it would take only a few years to find a way to turn Anton's Key without the side affects. It would only be a short transition from a long life to a short life as we would find a cure for the giantism.
Posts: 9 | Registered: Mar 2006
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posted
Ender was formed by his experience, not his genes.
And see *points to Augustine* my point proven! We might only have to exist in such a state for less than a hundred years before we found a way to be so smart without the giantism.
Posts: 1941 | Registered: Dec 2005
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posted
Even so I'd wouldn't sacrifice my generation or my childrens generation for everyone else to be supergeinuses without being giants
Posts: 250 | Registered: Jun 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Geekazoid99: Even so I'd wouldn't sacrifice my generation or my childrens generation for everyone else to be supergeinuses without being giants
No offense, but that is somehow both selfish and thoughtful/caring.
Posts: 9 | Registered: Mar 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Advent 115: Ender was formed by his experience, not his genes.
And see *points to Augustine* my point proven! We might only have to exist in such a state for less than a hundred years before we found a way to be so smart without the giantism.
What if the research was cut short because of too many deaths?
Posts: 1164 | Registered: Feb 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Jeesh: QUOTE]What if the research was cut short because of too many deaths? [/QB]
That would only speed up the process. If they died because of experimentation, it would only be like stem-cell research, so they would mostly be undeveloped embryos.
Posts: 9 | Registered: Mar 2006
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posted
I agree with MPH, Bean had the highest scores Battle School had ever seen and he wasn't even trying as hard as he could have. Ender was just the kind of commander that everyone wanted to serve and die for. He was still a brilliant strategest, but he was no where near as smart as Bean.
(spoiler)
And I'm not suggesting that ever normal human being is dead. I'm saying this as if Valescu's plan for the virus that would change existing pregnent womens children all into Beans. True his plan was never serious, but what if he HAD done it?
Posts: 1941 | Registered: Dec 2005
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Ender was exceptionally smart, but Bean was literally inhumanly intelligent.
There are different types of genius.
Was Mozart a genius? Was Enstein a genuis?
They are two exceptionally smart people, in two different fields. One composed great music and the other split an atom.
Ender and Bean both knew many different things. Ender was more of a philosopher (let me know if it's the wrong term) and Bean was more of a scientist. Bean thinks about whats going on now, and thinks of *only* himself and those he loves and cares about. Ender thinks about everything and everyone.
Don't get me wrong, both Ender and Bean are smart and great, but please give Ender the credit he deserves.
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