Is Email Fading?

[sablebrush52]

Ability is innate. Talents, intellect, other genetic traits.
You cannot raise your IQ. You can damage it, but you cannot raise it.
That is ability.
Great question as always. The answer: by ability.

I don't agree that ability is simply a matter of innate gifts and therefore unearned. To be sure, many have talents in differing amounts. I was born with certain gifts, an ability to distinguish color variations that tested off the charts, along with an understanding of spatial relationships that also tested off the charts. The former certainly had a role in my pursuing a career in the visual arts. I could distinguish variations in color that others quite simply cannot see. More usefully, I can use color and lighting to help tell the story that I'm working on far better than the average bear, and understand and predict what kind of emotional response the color and lighting choices will evoke in the viewer. The latter allowed me to pack the cargo area of a truck or the trunk of a car very efficiently since I could instantly visualize how the varied shapes of the cargo could most efficiently fit together. The other use was blitzing geometry classes, while turning out proofs in a variety of ways for my amusement though the instructors would occasionally get cross. UCLA did offer me a full scholarship to switch from art to math, but I liked the arts more.

But whatever the talents I was born with, I worked damned hard to develop those gifts, which in turn extended my ability to make fuller use of my abilities.

 

[sablebrush52]

BTW, George, congrats on your wunderkind! He definitely does not fit the mold. Most of these guys are not Renaissance men, more likely highly obsessed and engrossed by their fields. Field Geologists seem to be a different breed. All of the ones that I've met eminently practical, and very good in the great outdoors.

 

[brian64]

The idea that IQ is set at birth is something I doubt...but I also don't believe that consciousness is generated by the brain...but that's a whole other subject.

 

[georged]

Just for fun, since I've been braggin' on him. :mrgreen:
.

 

[warren]

Certain traits are of course set genetically. A musical ear, color acuity, others. Developing such traits is something else. My belief is that IQ can be developed or left to atrophy at a very young age. I firmly believe that many children were never "triggered" by a parent, teacher or what have you. These people carry unrealized abilities and talents the rest of their lives. I am also sure that many

"great" minds were stifled/crushed by parents, teachers or what have you. A young child is all too susceptible to outside factors with their brains of mush. A child only reaches full abilities through encouragement, challenge, etc.
A high IQ means absolutely nothing if it is unrealized. I was also taught that IQ can be raised. Now whether it is raised above what was already laying fallow, that is my question.

 

[georged]

To put a cap on all this (from where I sit) regarding my kid, all I ever did as a father was to teach him how to think, not what to think. I figured his curiosity and horsepower would do the rest. Seems to have worked. :D

 

[brightleaf]

Thanks for sharing the pics georged. That Fraggle Rock Banjo is a wonderful gift, I admit to being jealous. I did get the benefit of Jim Henson's genius in my childhood from watching The Storyteller series and The Jim Henson Hour.
The How and Why questions are the two that matter. The others fall in place on their own. I think it would be hard to restrain oneself from projecting your personal beliefs on your own child. Good on you for giving him the freedom to grow.

 

[mso489]

Sometimes several strong talents cause difficulty in choosing a career. I was a faculty spouse for twenty-some years (then a widower, now remarried). I observed some of my late wife's students who had at least several commanding abilities, with teachers in each who were petitioning them to follow along in their field. So even the gifted have challenges thrown in their way. Of the several examples that I observed, none ended up in any of the career pursuits where they were most admired. I have long since lost track of these people, but would be fascinated to know their ongoing life stories, and I wish them all well. It seems like I spent my high school career learning what all I couldn't do, so when I was confronted with choosing, it was fairly obvious what to do, within general areas that combined pretty well.

 

[ron123]

If There Is Something, by Roxy Music...just WOW! I've liked Roxy Music, for a long time, and even saw Bryan Ferry live once in Chicago, but I had never heard this song...now I've been haunted by it the last few days. Been playing live and studio versions on YouTube. While reading the YouTube comments I saw some more references to Flashbacks of a Fool, so I watched that a couple of nights ago. The lip synch scene in the girl's house with the young version of Joe is worth the watching of the movie by itself. This is a good movie...it almost could have been written from the elements of the Roxy song. Glad I saw your comments, @JVNSHR.

 

[didimauw]

Email...fading??
Try being a mod...sheesh
We're emailing each other constantly!

 

[jpmcwjr]

Just sent you a PM....
Just kidding!
HNY.

 

[mso489]

didi', yup, not much email traffic unless its messages you don't want. When I write my old friends, it's clear that they check email about twice a year. They've disappeared onto social media, and zombies have eaten their brains. I'm surprised people want to maintain their social media sites, and that they appear unaware of the degree to which they compromise their privacy. That is to say, none of it ever occurred to me as enjoyable, fun, edifying, informative or comfortable. A little chat back with people who would be better to visit, phone, or actually write online or off. All of these details about your life being spooked by the vast wandering public, not to mention the vast wandering corporations and interest groups whose interests may not be yours, not to mention the pure crazies who nearly own the web. Obviously, many saw a different picture of social media, but opinions on social media seem to be trending my way.

 

[georged]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5tfezFuwzM