I think as humans, we often consider counterfactuals and dreams, like what if we had been born into a different set of circumstances, or what we might do if we won a large financial windfall, like the lottery. We might think what m ight be different in our lives if we were taller, smaller, or better looking. And, it is natural, because this is what our brain does, as it is able to simulate all kinds of scenarios, and put ourselves in shoes we have never worn. It isn't always an accurate portrayal we imagine, but it is adequate for us to feel like we have done a good job.
But I can't imagine being smarter
I can try, but I will fail.
I guess the best we can do in this regard is imagine what it might be like to get the outcomes of an intelligent person, but we can't actually simulate the thought process itself. We just don't have enough resolution on it, and perhaps by definition, we are unable to extend our thoughts into that realm.
Not totally, at least.
For me though, it is a little different, because in a type of last half of Flowers for Algernon way, I remember what it was like to be more intelligent than I am now, and the understanding of the process. It is quite clear to me in many aspects of my own intelligence what I am unable to do, whereas before I could accomplish it with ease. As they say, you don't really know what you have until it is gone.
Can you know what you don't have before you have it?
There is an "if I were you" fallacy involved (I am not sure if that is an identified fallacy), where we can think that we are thinking from another's shoes and if we were in those shoes, we would act differently. But, that is not the case, because "if I were you", I would do exactly as you did and will do, because there is no other option, it would be identical.
This is why compassion is better than empathy, in my opinion.
Compassion doesn't require feeling "the same" in order to help, it just requires recognizing help is needed and being willing to lend a hand. Empathy requires feeling something, and often people will feel that they are feeling ´the right feeling, without actually having little evidence for it. And, even though a person might have zero experience with the situation of the other, they will swap in some experience of their own as if they are equal.
Giving birth is painful. It feels a bit like when I stubbed my toe.
And, even if people have been in the same conditions, the way one person experiences identical conditions, can be very different to the way another feels it. While my wife and I are in the same room, I can be sweating because it is too warm, while she will put on woolen socks. And similarly, the experiences of women giving birth are very hard to compare on a one to one basis, as there is so much variation. For instance, there are "simulators" that men can wear to experience the pain and they struggle to handle it, but I also have a friend who have given birth and it has been so incredibly easy, they barely felt it. It is pretty rare to have it that easy though.
Can we simulate being highly intelligent?
Many people think they know how they would act under extreme conditions for which they have never actually been tested, and they "know" they would behave in a particular way. Like people imagining being in a warzone, or what they would do if they were a billionaire, adamant they know how they will feel in those conditions. But it is much like the analogy of trying to explain snow to people who have only lived in hot conditions. Without that experience, it can only be described, but never fully understood.
Because it is unimaginable.
What would it feel like to have a brain like Einstein? Is it even describable? I know that over the last few years I have tried to explain my own thought implications, but can only give analogies that never quite translate. The other thing that I have found is that most people actually have very little understanding of their own thinking processes, which makes it even harder to explain.
Mentally process this question whilst reading the following paragraph.
43.8/2.4 =
Because while you are working out how to do it, like maybe adding up the divisible number, or rounding or whatever it is, that is how it feels to be in my head. The question itself isn't hard, but it takes mental bandwidth, energy, to process and find the answer. And while working it out, it is hard enough that little else can be absorbed at the same time, So, while you are reading these words, your brain can't do the math, and while you are doing the math, your reading slows down and very little is absorbed.
Now that you have the answer, the next is 23.7x15,2=
And then the next, and the next, and the next. All day, every day. Write down a hundred of them similar and then go to work tomorrow, and while doing your work, process the questions one after the other. If you get through the hundred, write another 100 and keep going.
How much work will you get done and, will it be quality?
Depends on what you do for work, right? The story is that one of the reasons that Einstein worked as a patent clerk, which he was far overqualified for - because it allowed him time to think, read academic papers, and develop his own theories. If he had spent his time doing something else that actually challenged his mind, he likely wouldn't have had the bandwidth to develop what he did.
I am no Einstein.
I know, I know - such a surprise. But, I can't even imagine what it must be like to have so much mental capacity, because especially now, my mind is always full. But, I also have the ability to immediately blank it, because the automation isn't there, so I don't have to think. However, this is dangerous, because the more I don't think, the less I will think, as the hurdle to do so gets larger. Be mindless long enough, and the mind will acclimatize.
Use it or lose it.
As I have said for many years, the more people consume, the less they create. This is an example of use it or lose it and that acclimatization to the conditions. Just like muscles, our thought processes atrophy if we aren't using them adequately, and the conditions many of us are living in isn't adequately challenging our mental maintenance, let alone its development.
But it is difficult to imagine, because while we are wasting our brains away, the problems in our head remain unsolved, because they just take too much energy to do at the same time. And, since our brains favor easy over hard, we will keep on doing what comes naturally. Less.
But, what do I really know?
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]