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MEDICINE & BIOLOGY
Re: Can we increase our intelligence?
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Incompetent
Uploaded on 01/08/2008
Yes. The brain is a machine, an incredibly complex machine, but still a machine. Treat it well, maintain it properly and it will work better. There isn't a magical supplement someone can take thats going to transform them into the next Gauss. And I'm not going to wake up and find out that switching motor oils has turned my 14 year old Saturn into a shiny new BMW either. That doesn't mean my car is going to work equally well no matter what happens to it. So yes, environmental factors can and do have a lasting effect individuals intelligence at any stage of their life. The ones that make you dumber (childhood iodine deficiency, for instance) are more obvious, but it's a two way street and they prove the principle. Your question is too broad far much more of an answer then that.
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Re: Re: Can we increase our intelligence?
Thanks for the response. You're right - the question is practically boundless, but I think I was just inviting random thoughts on the subject, rather than concrete answers, anyway. I've read James Flynn, Howard Gardner's, and Charles Murray's theories and thoughts on intelligence, and it's amazing how tenuous the links between all their speculations are. Anyway, fun to think about.
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