Filed under: Thought
This just comes to my mind out of no where, and I did not do any research on it. Probably someone will argue with me with reference from key researches documented in academic journals. I just want to emphasize it is just my personal experience and thinking.
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People often say one is smart base on the things that one does. This statement alone seems ‘inaccurate’. I think it should be based on a relative point. Hence, in the general, people judge by the ‘performance’ of one based on their expectation, which seems logical base on the earlier statement.
Of course, ‘smart’ is a vague term while ‘intelligence’ is probably a more commonly used term. Intelligence is defined as “capacity for learning, reasoning, understanding, and similar forms of mental activity; aptitude in grasping truths, relationships, facts, meanings, etc.” on dictionary.com. Normally, people relate it to IQ (intelligence quotient). In a typical IQ test, it usually involves mathematics, logical thinking, and language. It just makes me wonder if such test is a fair judgment, because it highly involves knowledge.
I did some IQ test in some children learning centers which self-claim to be prestigious when I was young. Anyway, my point is that I always had feedback that I’m good with logical thinking and mathematics but suck in language, based on those tests. Seriously, I don’t even know more than half of the words on the questions when it comes to language-base questions. It seems fair to say that I’ve ‘poor knowledge’ on that particular language and not poor intelligence. (Not trying to argue I’ve high intelligence) And mathematics at elementary level is knowledge. These tests should not be considered as IQ tests.
It is hard to measure intelligence, at least it seems practically impossible to measure it comprehensively. Furthermore, it may involves the test to take into account of progressive and concurrent learning ability. I will argue that it is impossible to place these assumptions into consideration when they can hardly be defined operationally.
Going back to the definition from dictionary.com, intelligence is about learning, reasoning and understanding. Base on this definition and my concept of intelligence being a relative term, intelligence requires other factors to be consistent before it can be measured. By factors, I mean things like education, exposure, experience etc., whereby again it is practically impossible. Therefore, by saying one has a high/low intelligence base on the relative comparison with the ‘expected intelligence’ of one seems like a mere perception to me. Expected intelligence is base on…? Probably age is one big factor on this, whereby you will not say a 18 year old is intelligent plainly by being able to solve a question of a SAT exam, but you won’t say the same for a 3 year old. Then why age? May be it is because of expected education and exposure in relative to one’s age. Then it goes back to the question of intelligence and knowledge are different.
I read an article just now regarding infant’s cognitive ability of the physical world. Within the article, Tenenbaum, associate professor of cognitive science and computation at MIT suggested that “Real intelligence is about finding yourself in situations that you’ve never been in before but that have some abstract principles in common with your experience, and using that abstract knowledge to reason productively in the new situation.” It has considered the grey area of knowledge and intelligence. This just gets me to conclude that intelligence is a perception, and not a measurement.
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This pushes to another thought. Friends (E.g. Amanda and Jean), say that I’ve a poor sense of direction base on the fact that I don’t know the whereabout of some places. Is it really considered as poor sense of direction when I don’t even know the very existence of those places? If I do, then I’m psychic and not having a good sense of direction.
Recently, someone told me that he wanted to be a progamer.
So often that teenagers stop going to school because “I want to be a progamer”.
Sometimes it just sounds naive to me. And yes, I know there are so many inspiring stories of top progamers who go against what most people told them and succeeded. Sky is the typical example. Many people invest much of their youth on games to be progamers but not all make it. For those who just don’t make the cut, their lives are pretty much “off-balanced”. They can only either get back to school or look for other jobs. Neither seems optimistic.
Even among those who really successfully become progamers, most aren’t among the top tiers. Their pay aren’t anywhere close to being attractive and the only way to improve that is to win. They know how hard that is more than anyone in the world. The online community usually only mention about the good side of perseverance of gamers, but not the bad side. The sad fact is that most fall on the bad side. Sometimes when they figure out that they are in the middle of no where in society, it is too late.
I like Grubby’s story. He wanted to be a progamer when he was young. He gave himself one year to prove himself before going into University. Eventually, he won 2 world championships and the rest is history. The key thing is that he did a reality check. He has a plan B.
In contrast, Sky just fell deep into the hole of no return. Although I’m a big fan of him, I consider him lucky to make it this far. Take no credits away from him, he is a very hardworking player. However, what if he didn’t make a name for himself by winning WCG2005? Furthermore, the industry was new (still is, in my opinion), whereby uncertainty is high. The want-to-be players have everything to lose, and little to win. (more…)
Filed under: Thought
I’m not into zodiac myth, but this just tells it all about myself.
Like it or not.
However, at the same time,
How ironic.
Filed under: Thought
A friend from Hong Kong is studying in University of Queensland.
Unlike most, he supports himself here. That includes school fee, which is a huge sum of money.
He saved up in Hong Kong before he flew over. It is not easy.
He works part time here. It isn’t just for daily expenses (which include rent), but also next semester’s school fee. At the same time he has to cope with the work load from school.
Impressive. He has my respect.
In comparison, I just have to focus on my school work. Many students work part time here, but not everyone can balance school and work. I told myself that I’ll only work part time if I really need that money for a living. The main reason is my academic incompetency. I need to ensure I maintain my GPA in order to further study, and just that alone isn’t easy for me. Therefore, part time isn’t an option for me unless it’s absolutely necessary.
Also it depends on the program and courses, whereby some are assignment heavy. For example, I’m doing a marketing major, I’ve an average of 2 assignments for each course. I’ve 8 assignments this semester. Assume that I take 1 to 1.5 week to complete each, that will take about 10 weeks. That is around one semester. On average, I take 1.5 to 2 weeks to get one done. Again, it’s because of my incompetency, as I spend a lot of time (maybe much more than others) on research, consultation and thinking. I’m sure there are students who are more efficient and get better grades than me.
I should make full use of my resource (father’s financial support) to further study and achieve more. If not I’ll feel sorry for myself and those less fortunate.
Filed under: Thought
My parents were telling me about a trip to USA in September this year and their concern.
It is the 10th year after 9/11.
Look at the news, Libya is at war.
Pentagon officials say the US and the UK have fired more than 110 missiles, while French planes struck pro-Gaddafi forces attacking rebel-held Benghazi.
Not too long ago, it was Egypt.
Ideology vs Reality.
It is the 2nd week of school.
I can’t feel the work load yet. While I can afford to go out often, I’m gonna visit lone pine (a local zoo) this Saturday. Then, attend Chris’s farewell party at night, it is nice to know him. My plan was to get him a Liverpool player’s biography as a gift (preferably Steven Gerrard), but only Australia based biographies can be found in store. The closest I can get is Michael Owen, who was a Liverpool player, but he is playing for Manchester United now. It is his most hated club. Hopefully I can get something tomorrow.
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Many friends (not Australian) only flew back to Brisbane last week or even this week. They have the same reason: “I don’t wanna come back.” I realise that majority of them just want to get the cert for the sake of it, which I’ve to agree that a bachelor cert is the basic ‘requirement’ of the society. Of course, home sick is a big part of it, but I somehow don’t feel it at all, really. Seems like it’s a torture to most to study here.
Looking back at myself, I enjoy it here. I like the books and the knowledge. (Yes, call me nerd.) I actually feel that the 3 months break was too long, when everyone was posting on facebook and twitter that “omg! holiday is coming to an end!” while I flew back 2 weeks before semester started. Mainly I needed to find and move to a new place. But it was in my plan anyway as I wanted to ‘convert’ my mood before school starts.
This is my last semester and I want to go beyond bachelor. It is a tough decision to choose between Master and Honours for post graduate. After much research and chats with different people of various backgrounds, I realise most people have inaccurate presumptions in these two (include myself).
I’ve to stress on it: it’s a huge decision. (probably more important than choosing a wife lol)
My thinking and goal changed dramatically in recent years, maybe months. I’ve very different goals in different recent time frames, ‘pre-army’, ‘during-army’, and ‘post-army’. I’ve too much ‘free time’ to think about life in that 2 years of full time service, and probably it’s national service’s biggest impact on my life. In the past I was too restricted by my father that I didn’t get to choose in many things. I’m 23, and this is the defining moment to decide what I want to do in life.
