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(, Sun 1 Apr 2001, 1:00)
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Right lets have a heated debate.
Within most of our lifetimes it will become possible and relatively safe to increase a persons intelligence.
Specifically their ability to remember correctly, their memory recall speed and their ability to concentrate fully for long periods.

Now when this becomes available would you want to take these drugs (or a sort of head band giving low level electric current) would you want your children to take them. Should society treat people who are artificially clever the same way as everyone else? Should the whole of society be forced/encouraged to take advantage of them?
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 11:49, 138 replies, latest was 15 years ago)
I like breasts.

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 11:51, Reply)
Breasts should also be banned in the new world order
I drop about 20 IQ points when they're around.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 11:54, Reply)
you must be dangerously close to being reclassified as "mineral"

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:02, Reply)
i was going to say
can you actually have negative IQ points.

i remember a study once saying that more intelligent men prefer legs and the dumber ones prefer breasts. not sure what this says about b3ta.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:11, Reply)
if challenged
I would say that a nice arse is more important to me
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:13, Reply)
d'you know, loads of guys think that
i don't know where arses fit into the scale
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:14, Reply)
Somewhere in between legs and breasts.

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:16, Reply)
what women may not realise though
is that within reason, almost every bloke won't actually care, they'll be thinking "yeah! I'm getting some!"

same goes for underwear, hairiness etc.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:17, Reply)
I dunno, hairiness is a deal breaker
If we're talking Ginger Snaps that is. Or any armpit hair. *bokes*
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:21, Reply)
"with reason"

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:24, Reply)
True, just stating like

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:26, Reply)
If we're talking Ginger Snaps though, I could totally put up with a tail.

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:26, Reply)
Legs are okay
but legs are nothing without a nice arse to hinge them
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:18, Reply)
I would find it, even under interrogation,
very difficult to place them in order of desirability.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:19, Reply)
that is because the only sensible answer to any such question is
either BOTH or ALL.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:23, Reply)
I am very shallow.

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:26, Reply)
Surely there's no causal relation there, purely coincidental?
From a survival of your genes point of view, you could argue that having 'nicer' legs (possibly leaner, more athletic) would help you more than having bigger breasts. Or maybe you could argue that a man might subconsciously associate bigger breasts with higher fertility.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:15, Reply)
i'd kind of assumed it was an image thing
but everything i type here makes me look snobby and retarded so i am not going there
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:18, Reply)
That's sucha snobby retarded response

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:22, Reply)
and intelligent men are after lower fertility
makes sense
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:19, Reply)
most people could do with enhancement in that field
bring the average up.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 11:52, Reply)
Would you want to be competing with a person hopped up on smart pills?

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 11:53, Reply)
He's so smug
it wouldn't make any difference
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 11:54, Reply)
I would take a certain smug satisfaction
in beating someone hopped up on smart pills
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 11:56, Reply)
it depends on where they started
I'd suggest that most of the people on here are of above average intelligence and socialise with other people who are the same. In those circumstances it is easy to forget just how stupid the average person is.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 11:55, Reply)

person b3tan
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 11:57, Reply)
In support of this
Might I remind you of Frisbee Adam's posts on /talk yesterday.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 11:58, Reply)
as a lawyer and a human being (the two things are not incompatible)
it did make me cringe
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:00, Reply)
Link please!

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:05, Reply)
Mostly deleted but you'll get the jist from the popular page.

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:11, Reply)
i can't do links
you're asking the wrong person
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:22, Reply)
Which were?

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:01, Reply)
He posted a link to a site his law firm has set up
Where you ask a 'legal' question, set how much you want to pay, and then get an answer. He was somehow shocked when it got TROLLED TO FUCK by /talkers.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:05, Reply)
Not actually true
he linked to an article on a law website about the website his firm set up.
It had a comments section, lol.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:12, Reply)
Friz's pun was fucking shit
it didn't even make sense
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:14, Reply)
Ahh yes, apologies
I misremembered. *necks pills*
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:17, Reply)
i'm not sure they'd help me
you can't improve on perfection.

it's like "flowers for algernon" and look how that book turns out.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 11:54, Reply)
What happens?
Did he get flowers? Were they from the garage or the supermarket?
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 11:55, Reply)
a mentally disabled guy is given drugs to "cure" his condition
and at first he becomes a bit brighter, then average, then bright, then super-bright. then it all goes horribly wrong as he degenerates massively at high speed.

however, the drugs were tested first on a mouse called algernon, so he can predict what is going to happen to him by watching the mouse. as my dad would say, "there's nowt to laugh at at all".
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 11:58, Reply)
It's written like a diary
A retarded man gets offered treatment to become smart, they give him an operation and it works, it works so well he becomes the smartest man alive, anything else is spoilers.
Read it though, it's great.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:00, Reply)
Seconded, great book.

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:05, Reply)
Is that what the Lawnmower Man was based on?
haha not a great film :p
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:39, Reply)
Dunno, don't think so.
I loved that film when it came out as I was certain VR was going to take off in a big way. It certainly hasn't aged well.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:50, Reply)
That is truely a great book.
but that was a temporary and high level increase, current work is for permanent (as long as you take the drugs) increases but not totally different.

Hey if you take enough of them you might even be able to work out how to set your clocks.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 11:57, Reply)
How can you permanently increase intelligence
but only while you take the pills, what would happen when you stop, would you forget stuff?

What are you measuring "intelligence" with?
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 11:59, Reply)
A ruler
30 cm shatterproof, to be exact.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:00, Reply)

www.playgroundlaw.com/cgi-bin/browse.pl?sid=899
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:04, Reply)
Intelligence is a catch all phrase
but taking the example of ritalin: Some studies show that in normal (non ADHD people) it can increase the length of time you can concentrate by about 20% so if you can concetrate now for an hour without a break you could concentrate for an hour and 15 without a break. It also seems to improve the accuracy of memory recall, so if you learn something while on ritalin you're better at remembering it later if you're on ritalin or not.

When you stop taking the pills you'll still remember the things you learnt but you'd lose the advantage you got to learning new things when you were on the pills.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:05, Reply)
I don't believe in ADHD

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:06, Reply)
Sounds like anti-weed.

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:11, Reply)
You do come out with a load of mock-profound shit on weed though.

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:16, Reply)
Why thank you.

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 13:00, Reply)
it was too good to be true
i knew you were incapable of posting something nice and normal to me without ruining it.

at least it's restored my equilibrium and place in the world.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 11:59, Reply)
No drug is powerful enough for that.
If she weren't a woman, she'd be no use at all.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:03, Reply)
I was about to mention Flowers for Algernon!
Have you seen the 'crayon' episode of the Simpsons?
Same thing.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:10, Reply)
phew
that's one less book to read.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:40, Reply)
I thought Algernon had a preference for bread and condensed milk sandwiches?

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:43, Reply)
I really am not feeling intelligent enough to answer a hypothetical question like that.
Sorry.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 11:54, Reply)
Actually
A large part of my intelligence is probably from the way I was educated, at home and school. I was privileged- it might be good for people worse off, but with potential, to have them, to reach more of their potential (no one ever reaches full potential)
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 11:58, Reply)
Arguably there's a difference between Intelligence and Knowledge

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:00, Reply)
Oh, definitely.
But intelligence needs nurturing , which certain atmospheres do, and others don't.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:01, Reply)
I agree

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:08, Reply)
Priviledged?
You shat off the windowsill?

Tenuous, I know. Sorry.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:11, Reply)
I may be reasonably clever, but yes, I can't spell certain words :(

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:12, Reply)
Put thesmart drugs in the water supply
Though the Governments might not like a 'smarter' population.
*dons tinfoil hat*
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 11:55, Reply)
give the smart pills to the government
lord knows they could do with them

AM I RIGHT?
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 11:57, Reply)
*raises fist in solidarity*

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 11:57, Reply)
Argh, cancer!

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 11:59, Reply)
Don't put your fist in there
she doesn't like it unless she's getting paid and filmed.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:00, Reply)
Surely,
If everyone was brighter, then the thick would still be thick as those with the highest level of intelligence would still be at the top of the tree?
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 11:59, Reply)
this is actually a good point
if it raises it proportionately, say by 10 IQ points, then the disparity will only be between those who take the drugs and those who don't.

and what about exams, what if people take too many and collapse.

oh god psychochomp, what have you done???
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:05, Reply)
Hang on.
Are you saying I've made a valid point?
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:07, Reply)
You're thinking about it as the individual
"it wouldn't make me get paid anymore"
Think about how much our society/the world could do if we were all just a bit smarter.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:18, Reply)
More advances in science and technology
A thinner Darwin Awards book each year.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:19, Reply)
we're already the smartest animal on the planet
and the only one to have fucked it up. people would just invent bigger ways of killing more people.

and maybe smaller shinier ways of listening to music.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:21, Reply)
This sort of argument happened in "Star Trek: Deep Space 9" quite a bit.
The doctor in that show was artifically made more clever, and I think he was made more agale/strong. In competitions such as quizes and their version of darts, he and the scottish guy always argued that it was unfair. In the Star Trek world, this practice of genetic engenering was outlawed and at sevrel points he himself would be victimised even though he didn't choose to be made that way.

I know it's all fiction and all that, but it was very good in bringing these issues to light.

Personally, I can see both sides. If your child is cognativly inapt, would it be 'wrong' to make them average using drugs? What if they keep on going beyond that to make them cognativly superior, where does the line cross?

There was a kid at school who was Autistic. He had problems socialising, didn't quite get jokes and thought of any negative comment such as "Ewww, you smell like poo" as a personal slight against him, and went balistic. Somehow he could tell every single person in our year's timetable, in seconds, he just knew exactly everything... I believe the school gave the timetables to him for a day as a test or something, but that could be bullshit... but he deffo knew everyone's timetable somehow. My ma' meet up with his ma' a month ago and he got top marks to be a laywer, full qualifide a year early (or something like that). He hated the job though because of the social interaction and decided to do The Knowledge (a qualification all black-cab drivers have to do, they need to know how to get to a rediculous number of places in london, I think it's like 2k of them... needs to know them all by heart, how to get there from any other point in london).... and he loves it.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 11:59, Reply)
He's in Primeval at the minute.
The doctor that is, not the Autistic kid. (I assume)
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:10, Reply)
Good question
(though not entirely suited to on here!)

Many things can improve these already - being correctly hydrated and rested will improve memory and ability to concentrate. People drink caffeine to help them concentrate, etc. I would take something to help memory as mine is fucking terrible!!
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:00, Reply)
I'm trying to raise the bar of offtopic posts
before the inevitable what are you doing this weekend thread come out.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:10, Reply)
OM NOM NOM

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:14, Reply)
I've got some pretty smart drugs at the moment.

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:04, Reply)
Isn't this just the plot of Gattaca?
or something fairly similar.
Personally I don't think there's any excuse for stupidity. If you have a genuine mental disability, fair enough. But there are a lot of people of average or above average intelligence who have a sort of wilful stupidity, a refusal to learn and are proud of this.
Sort them out first*, which is a social problem rather than a scientific or genetic one, and then maybe we can talk about artificially increasing intelligence. I would also like to see a mechanism for how this works before I believe that you're not totally talking out of your arse as well.

*Encouraging (and enforcing if needs be) learning (of some kind, not everyone is academic) from a very young age, and if that doesn't work, flamethrower the lot of 'em.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:04, Reply)
Gattaca was more about genetic engineering and selection.

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:08, Reply)
it's nothing like the plot of Gattaca

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:14, Reply)
Yes I would take them and give them to my children
You can't put the genie back in the bottle and I would like to be in on the brave new world from the start.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:05, Reply)
you've got to have children first
this in itself implies that you are below average intelligence and need the drugs.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:08, Reply)
Hypothetical innit

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:10, Reply)
Realistically, this is the only logical course of action.

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:09, Reply)
*High Fives*
Now I have 2 questions. (1) Where are the pills and (2) Gimmie the pills!
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:12, Reply)
The second one isn't a question, thicky!

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:18, Reply)
I don't have to explain my Simpsons mis-quotes to the likes of you
(it's from "Lisa the Iconoclast")
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:26, Reply)
iconoclasm
is a great word. sadly underused in these modern days of LOL and sammiches.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:28, Reply)
OMG ur lik totally rite
ppl shud b cleva lik me + u

U+ME 4EVA BABE!
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:31, Reply)
i'm sure you said that at our first internet wedding
before, you know, cheating on me so publicly and humiliatingly.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:38, Reply)
If you are going to throw a wobbly everytime I send Blousie photos of my junk...
...then i'll have to stop sending her smutty photos
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:44, Reply)
Is it like mine?

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:46, Reply)
That's just pure filth
*vomits into shoe*
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:48, Reply)
this is excellent internet

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 13:04, Reply)
Very good word
My favourite one at the minute is psychosomaticism.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:35, Reply)
My favourite is autocunnilinguate
which is what Berk can do.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:38, Reply)
From talking the other day
She can also probably autoanalinguate.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:43, Reply)
Wow
you must be super bendy to do that. I wonder if she bleaches her bum hole too.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:47, Reply)
you're on fire today

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:44, Reply)
Nice!
For years, mine was defenestration.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:44, Reply)
Question Chompy.
These magic pills you are suggesting.

Will they allow me to eat the ghosts that keep chasing me around a maze full of dots?
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:10, Reply)
oh man I want to play pacman now

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:13, Reply)
Oh man, imagine if Pac-man had zombies instead of ghosts. That would be awesome.

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:16, Reply)
That would be suh-WEEEET!

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:17, Reply)
Shya dude.
*hangs ten*
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:18, Reply)
Would the magic pills still allow players to NOM the baddies?

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:18, Reply)
And instead of cherries, it'd be nommy sammiches

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:23, Reply)
I had a nightmare about Zombies last night :(

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:48, Reply)
Odd, I had a dream about Monty
Can't remember what it was about, but I'm sure he was a cunt.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 13:08, Reply)
Sub semi-relivent thread.
Did anyone see IBM's latest project, "The Watson" ? It's a supercomputer where they've done a modern version on the "Deep Blue vs [chess player]", where they've got the computer to play Jepody. It's a lot more complicated than Chess because it has to interprate vocabulary, which isn't always that logical in that game. It thrashed the trivor experts.

www-03.ibm.com/innovation/us/watson/
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:18, Reply)
That's kind of what started me thinking about the whole subject.
I'm looking forward to it but the processing time is about 3 secs so I think the humans might beat him.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:27, Reply)
I think I'll wait for the second generation of smart drugs please.
Someone else can suffer the unexpected brain-melting caused by the first load.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:19, Reply)
I suggest giving them to the poor, no-one will miss them..

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:20, Reply)
GET IN!
Super-Chavs!
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:47, Reply)
I don't think intelligence is necessarily the problem
According to IQ tests, marks at school (at certain times), I'm 'intelligent'. However, I stopped caring halfway through school, and my apathy led to my grades dropping like a stone. I still have a thirst for learning, but it's sadly fairly restricted.

If there were drugs that helped us to increase our intelligence, but also to give us a thirst to learn, then I feel those would be far more helpful on the whole. Intelligence isn't half the problem apathy is.

EDIT: Although, anything that could help my short term memory would be appreciated!
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:19, Reply)
But if you were actually intelligent
you wouldn't be such a lazy cunt.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:25, Reply)
I disagree, have you seen that Hawking cunt?
He's not even wiped his own arse in years!
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:29, Reply)
You get a click for that!

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:37, Reply)
I have nothing to add to this thread.
However I should point out I had sex last night.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:48, Reply)
Well I just got a can of coke from the vending machine
and by only pressing 1 button I got both a Diet and a normal coke saving myself 60p.

I think you'll find I win.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:50, Reply)
OMG! With a real man!?

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:50, Reply)
With a GerMAN...
Size c breasts. Also makes a good pasta salad.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:54, Reply)

G Man?

EDIT: Also, how did you cook her for your pasta salad?
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:57, Reply)
I'm scared to open that at work..
Cooked: Skewered with a light cream sauce.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 13:07, Reply)
It's perfectly SFW

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 13:09, Reply)
Wow
mentioning the breat size of the poor girl who had to sleep with you last night online, is fucking classy.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:57, Reply)
He's like a more suave version of Monty for sure.

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 13:00, Reply)
I'm not saying he is a twat Al,
just that he does a great impression of one.
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 13:02, Reply)
Would it make it more classy...
If I said one breast is smaller than the other and probably closer to a B cup?
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 13:10, Reply)
Autofellatio doesn't count.
Lucky bastard
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 12:53, Reply)
christ
imagine what this place would look like if we all did this every time we had sex!
(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 13:14, Reply)
Not much different, I'd say

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 13:15, Reply)
I always throw that into conversation if I have nothing to add.

(, Fri 14 Jan 2011, 13:21, Reply)

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