Writer's Block: She's a brainiac on the floor

[athelind]

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Would you rather be super-rich or super-smart if you would only be average in the other category?

... assuming the question means "mean" and not "median" or "mode", an upgrade to an average level of income sounds pretty sweet right now.

To be a little less flippant:

A) It's not getting what you want, it's wanting what you've got.

The ability to be content and comfortable while living on modest means is a learned skill. If you haven't learned it, it is unlikely that you will be content or comfortable even with exorbitant resources at your disposal.

B) Knowledge does more than income.

Being "super-smart" includes the ability to make one's resources go further. Why buy your own supercomputer when you can network a bunch of loss-leader-priced video game consoles? Why pay Toyota for a bleeding-edge hybrid when you can replace the engine and transmission in that old junkyard chassis with a turbine generator and a surplus DC-10 starter motor?

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I should note that I define "super-smart" as "a whole lot smarter than I am". Oddly, a lot of people have been answering this one with "I'm already smart...", which makes me suspect that either their bar for superlatives are a lot lower than my own, or their egos are a lot larger.

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Comments

[hafoc.livejournal.com]

Regarding your footnote, remember the Lake Wobegon Effect: We're all above average. Every single one of us.

[athelind.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but there's "above average", and there's "super-smart".

[tombfyre.livejournal.com]

Aye, we're of the same mindset there chief. I've learned to live pretty well with below average levels of income. If I knew more things, I could no doubt produce my own income in various ways as well. No doubt it would quickly come to a point where finances just aren't a worry anymore.

[jthinktoomuch.livejournal.com]

I have to agree on many counts here...
as long as we are talking about an average income for my area I would gladly agree to that as well as a vast increase in income.

On the other hand an average level of smarts in my own social circle is not something that I would see as a downgrade and I can think that vast wealth has to have it's own advantages.

I'd gladly try either.

[archteryx.livejournal.com]

I've lived most of my life on below-average levels of income. And let me tell you: it sucks. Horribly. I can never agree with the idea of being content and comfortable on truly modest means, because of the way this country is set up.

I have few material needs. Most of my possessions are pretty modest. But being unable to pay for things like my medical care nearly killed me three times over in my life. Because we live in a barbaric country that considers being poor a capital crime and most poor people as surplus population, being poor is simply waiting for something to kill you. It's the rabbit's existence, and humans aren't very well equipped to live like rabbits.

[jirris-midvale.livejournal.com]

I'll take smart, please.

For one, I couldn't deal with the downgrade. I'm *just* smart enough to find most people just slow enough to get on my nerves, but not smart enough to do anything meaningful besides sound really smart.

For two, I'd be alright with the raise to average income. I might be decently intelligent already, but I don't have that set of skills that makes someone thrive in the kind of society we have set up. After I have expendable money *and* a giant pulsating brain I'd be set.

I would, however, probably be constantly frustrated with everyone around me.

A really bad catch-22 this sets up for me is this: If I'm super-smart, it'll be hard to connect with moredena. if I'm rich but average, I'll be too dumb for her.

On second thought, I don't like either option, as it forces me to get rid of something that matters more to me than money or brains :(

[jthinktoomuch.livejournal.com]

THIS!
Lets all stay ourselves and not monkey with the KARMA. I'm gonna have to agree with you on this one Jirris. My luck if I too the smart option I'd end up with more of my current type of intelligence... What a mess.

[athelind.livejournal.com]

Dans ce meilleur des mondes possibles, tout est au mieux.

[jthinktoomuch.livejournal.com]

Si c'est ici le meilleur des mondes possibles, que sont donc les autres?