Ever wonder how much IQ your favorite artist/performer has? Does it really matter? Who cares if you can figure out what pattern is next in the sequence if you can sing with a choir of angels? Doesn't that count for something? Am I going to stop using questions and make a statement?
I have noticed all the questions on th IQ tests, measure your ability to "figure things out". It's all left-brained stuff. This is fine, as I am a hopeless left-brainer, but it does leave out a good portion of the population. We need some kind of test that would apply a numbered rating system to someones artistic talent. One would take tests that would require them to sing, dance, draw, paint, compose music, and so on.
Of course this would require left-brainers, or computer programs to determine the scores, as right-brainers aren't good at that sort of thing. Or, maybe we could have a non-standard rating system developed by a right-brainer. Something like (Talentless, Has Potential, Spirited, Gifted, Divine).-- chronkyrios, Feb 09 2003 Multiple Intelligence Theory http://www.educatio...u/lmsa/MITheory.htmGardener breaks down intelligence into 7 parts (verbal, musical, logical, visual, kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal), none of which are fixed. [pluterday, Oct 04 2004] recent research work with scanning methods have revised the thinking (sorry about the pun) behind the left brain and right brain theory. its now believed that both sides of the brain are involved in all activities.-- po, Feb 09 2003 Speak for yourself.-- egbert, Feb 09 2003 I suppose that means Betty Edwards' fine book for people who are convinced they cannot draw a straight line with a ruler, "Drawing On The Right Side Of The Brain", is no longer topical.-- jurist, Feb 09 2003 one of my brilliant ideas will have to go too :)-- po, Feb 09 2003 Would people with high subjective abilities have any desire to be objectively rated?-- egbert, Feb 09 2003 Both sides of the brain are probably not involved in *all* activities; maybe most, but not all. I've seen this electromagnetic pulse generator, and when it's held directly over one side of your brain, it temporarily 'paralyzes' those neurons. If someone thus paralyzes your 'artistic' side, you become almost genius, lucid, while the machine is on. Of course, the same could be done on your logical side, and you'd become very artistic.-- galukalock, Feb 09 2003 //If someone thus paralyzes your 'artistic' side, you become almost genius// And once dead, your IQ approaches infinity. <g>-- pluterday, Feb 09 2003 A very large proportion of good programmers are also musicians and artists, at least they are in my neck o' the woods.
(I think that book you mentioned, [jurist], is a good book. I read it a little over a year ago and have tried to put some of its teachings to use. Also, Julian Jaynes' "The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind" is fascinating, if not a bit ponderous.)-- bristolz, Feb 09 2003 I predict this being the longest thread in the halfbakery.-- snarfyguy, Feb 09 2003 //its now believed that both sides of the brain are involved in all activities// I saw a fascinating story about a young girl who was afflicted with a rare form of epilepsy that involves wild signal bursts travelling between the two hemispheres of the brain. The only known way to combat this disease is to literally remove one entire brain hemisphere (!). Apparently if it is done in a young enough patient, the rest of the brain can adapt and take on the roles normally attributed to the missing part, and the patient can live a quite normal life.
They never do this surgery in adults because by then your brain has fallen into patterns of behavior (the traditional right/left stuff) that preclude full recovery.
It is amazing to me that the brain is so adaptive.-- krelnik, Feb 10 2003 With a sidekick like Pinky, you have to be.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Feb 10 2003 I'm just a little weird when it comes down to these things. My artistic side and my logical side are both actively busy, but I think they fight more than talk. Just leaves me confused and unable to communi... comm... what was that word again?-- RayfordSteele, Feb 10 2003 galukalock> when it's held directly over one side of your brain, it temporarily 'paralyzes' those neurons. If someone thus paralyzes your 'artistic' side, you become almost genius...
Hmm---I've always heard that, here in the West, one had to be stupid to try to make a living as an artist. Would the machine work differently in places where art was appreciated?-- Ander, May 08 2003 Shirley this would be called "Artistic Quotient" (AQ) instead of IQ -- of course, even "quotient" sounds too scientific. Maybe Artistic Feelings, something like that.-- phundug, May 21 2007 The left lobe of the brain is responsible for higher order thinking and language skills, whereas the right lobe of the brain is responsible for automation and emotion.
Well, learning is the process whereby the left brain lobe programs the right brain lobe to do stuff automatically, and expression is the process whereby the right brain lobe fires off a response to external stimuli based on what it has been taught or "socially conditioned to do" by lefty.
Another cool thing is that you can actually increase your learning speed by training yourself into becoming ambidextrious, as this builds conections between your two lobes that allows for faster interlobal communication.
So, in this context, artists are those whom have an extraordinary ability to express what they know in a sophisticated manner by channeling their subconscious responses through some form of learned or self-taught mechanism such as music, writing, drawing, or dancing. The more coherently or efficiently you can channel your emotional responses the more artistic of an individual you are, conversely, the less coherently you channel your responses the less artistic you are.
Viewed from a mathematical perspective, art is original when it expresses the least amount of entropy relative other similar works of art.-- quantum_flux, May 21 2007 Or you can 'actually' paralyze half of the brain. All you have to do is trickle anaesthetic into one carotid artery. A person can be counting to fifteen, then around eight they lapse into gibberish, while otherwise remaining fully conscious. Since the anaesthetic they use is so short lived, by the time they get to twenty the words are understandable again.
Just administer an IQ test during these periods. Of course, making yourself understood could be diffasdkashlkajshdult.-- GutPunchLullabies, May 21 2007 random, halfbakery