Are you smarter now than you were ten years ago?

10 years ago I was 10. So, I would hope that I am smarter lol.

Is it good for one's brain functions to sleep with open buckets of lead paint under their bed



I remember hearing that's good for efficient brain functioning like 15 or 20 years ago.

I know one thing. 10 years ago you HAD to be smarter than you are now. Because at this present age, you're basically as stupid as one can get.

From 13 to 23, I think I have to be.

At the very least, I'm a better developer.

I have wondered sometimes if, were I suddenly able to access it at will, everything I've ever experienced is still stored up there somewhere.

So what you're saying is that you're legal then?

You can put me in the crowd that was in their teens a decade ago.

I was 13 and it was the tail end of 8th grade. Interesting time in one's life, for sure. I've certainly become much more intelligent and informed than I was back then. I'd also add that the me then would probably not want to grow up to be the me now.

Great responses! But what really surprised me is the level of despair among so many of the 20-somethings.

Why the assumption that there's this steady, inevitable downspiral beyond a certain age?

It reminds me of how the media has taken "men reach their sexual peak at around age 18" and turned it into "start signing up for Viagra before your 30th birthday! You're all doomed!"

I guess I was too busy to worry about such things in my 20s.

Seriously, is it really all that grim?

Absolutely, it's that fucking grim. Abandon all hope.

So 300 cable channels and an iPod don't really make a difference, huh?

They help drown out all the "woe is me" sobbing angst.

I used to wonder why the older generation felt compelled to give that "five miles uphill in the snow" speech. Now I know why. It's to drown out these whiny kids.

Actually, I'm much dumber than I was 10 years ago.

A few years ago, I found an old term paper I wrote in college that got an A+.

It was waaaay over my head. I didn't understand one word of it.

I only got 50 cable channels.

That makes 2 of us

Well, knowledge and intelligence are different things.

Of course, not knowing that is pretty dumb, so maybe you are right.

Well, at 40 the sex is a hell of a lot better. Without the little blue pills, TYVM. (Mugwort and damiana tea, otoh...)

Wasn't smart then, ain't smart now. Though there may be a slight fluctuation in my level of stupidity.

Besides using one's mind to determine the state of one's mind is a silliness all on its own.

I'm smarter now than I was ten years ago.

But.

I have so many more questions and interests in the world around me than I did then it feels like I'll be trying to learn and discover things for the rest of my life.

Yeah, that's another thing about thinking you know everything when you are young.

Ultimately it just reveals you don't even know what the questions are yet.

Of course, I thought I knew everything when I was 18. When I was 25 I realized I didn't have a clue.

Thank you. This allows me to understand you in a way I haven't before.

As for me, well, as others have said . . . smarter? Nope. Wiser? Yep. More experienced, more cynical, more realistic? Yep.

I would like to think I am a bit smarter.... but I think my actually brain processing power is about the same. Wiser for sure, though. And my accumulated knowledge has led me to some strange theories (I wrote in my notebook that "standing armies weaken the 2nd Amendment" which is a pretty random thought).

I'm 35...
So am i smarter then when i was 25?!?
Well, i have done hardly anything with my education so i probably forgot most i learned in school...
And it got replaced by lots of trivial stuff...
So i know a little bit about lots of subjects instead of know alot about 1 or 2 specific subjects...
I'm not smarter then 10 years ago, i just know different stuff...