Poll: Intelligence or Creativity

[Condor219]

Have you ever seen some artistical piece, or listened to a song, or read a story, and were just amazed at the talent and artistic knowledge that went into making it? Or met somebody who could solve almost any problem by working it around in their head, and just seemed to be operating on a higher level?

I had one of those moments the other day when a friend of mine had drawn a particularly awesome landscape-type picture, and I thought, "Huh, I wish I had that kind of ability." But I, being considerably towards the "Intellectual" side of the spectrum, lack almost basic artistic ability as far as drawing goes, and aren't too far above par in any other sort of artistic field, as far as I know.

So, I thought about that a bit more, and eventually came to, "What if I did have that kind of artistic ability? Would I prefer it over what I have now?"

Now clearly, this question is a hugely speculative one, and if I were to swap qualities I would be a different person. But it's still an interesting topic to come across.

So, fellow Escapists, my question to you is, regardless of the implications and assuming that you would end up in the exact same situation as you are now, would you prefer to be highly intelligent, able to work almost anything around in your head, able to come to logical conclusions near instantaneously, and the ability to see a problem, define it, and solve it, better than anyone else?

Or to be highly artistic and creative, able to both have the mental ability to come up with every sort of beauty imaginable and the physical skills to draw it, the ability to compose everything from spectactular beautiful musical masterpieces to techno tunes that seem to force you to dance, and the ability to develop highly engaging and entertaining stories with absolute ease with the ability to translate these stories perfectly from your mind to a book?


Note: This is assuming that if you were amazingly intelligent, you would be creative enough to work around a problem with a solution that isn't logically obvious, and if you were spectactularly creative you would have an average intelligence, and be smart enough to know how to balance the seperate elements of your work of art to perfection.

 

[ZombieGenesis]

Welcome to the trial of my life.
For years I've been split between my two massive ambitions, sadly these two aren't exactly in tandem with one another. Firstly, to be a qualified legal barrister (of which I already have a practicing university law degree) and secondly, to be a published author of fictional pieces. Out of the two I'm quite torn.
On the one hand I understand the security and possible lucrative outcome of the law, as well as a chance to genuinly help people with real life problems. On the other hand writing is my passion, and creating stories is my favourite thing to do in life, with several working pieces and many goals left to reach.

Intelligence and creativity?
Law and writing. The two halves of my panto mask.

 

[Wierdguy]

Honestly if youre intelligent but lack creativity in a non-artistic fasion you'll end up just having your big brain and not contributing that much to society. Atleast not beyond the common man.

If you lack intelligence but posses a large ammount of creativity in either an artistic sence or otherwise - youll become reknown for your brilliant work none the less.

So from someone who values intelligence, logic and rational thinking above all else... Id go with creativity

 

[El Poncho]

Logical Ability and Intelligence, I have always wondered what it would be like to be great at art and music where everyone is giving you praise and saying how awesome you are but in the end I don't really care what other people think of me and would rather be able to understand anything that is put in front of me.

 

[Count Igor]

Well... I'm sort of in between.
Which is good, as I can't choose between Medicine and Acting.
I rock at both, so don't put me down here. It's not fanciful talk.

 

[dancinginfernal]

I wish I was more creative. I can't draw for shit, and logically tearing down everyone's opinion of my and my constant assessing of how other people do things is really dull.

At least if I was creative I'd be talented.

 

[Dr. Ent-Face]

Getting people to see something from your perspective, especially if you can make that perspective worth understanding in its own right is way more powerful than making the small leaps and bounds of science imo.
Also making pretty things, sign me up

 

[Sentox6]

Well... I'm sort of in between.
Which is good, as I can't choose between Medicine and Acting.
I rock at both, so don't put me down here. It's not fanciful talk.

Medicine's not a subject anyone really "rocks" at, you know.

People rock at things like playing the guitar. No one really rocks at diagnosing pancreatic cancer.

Anyway, I'd take intelligence. In an increasingly commercialised world, artistic individuals are more likely to be exploited than end up calling the shots.

 

[Rivers Wells]

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." - Einstein

Man spoke the truth.

 

[JokerCrowe]

Creativity seems like it would be more fun. Plus I've always wanted to be able to draw and write really well. I'm more of an artist than I am a physicist. Awesome topic by the way. very creative, And intelligent. (see what I did there? )

EDIT: It was officially tied (50/50). It seems like people really differ on this question. I like it.

 

[Souplex]

Any problem can be solved with enough raw brainpower. All the creativity in the world doesn't help without some logic to back it up.

 

[Zorg Machine]

While I love looking at and listening to art, I do not have a big urge to create it.
Intellect here I come.

 

[mb16]

the difference is that:
Artistic Ability and Creativity - will make it look nice
Logical Ability and Intelligence - will make it work

 

[Condor219]

Creativity seems like it would be more fun. Plus I've always wanted to be able to draw and write really well. I'm more of an artist than I am a physicist. Awesome topic by the way. very creative, And intelligent. (see what I did there? )

EDIT: It was officially tied (50/50). It seems like people really differ on this question. I like it.

I'm interested to see where this will go. Logic started off strong, then creativity surged, now logic went back up. And I see what you did there

 

[SomethingUnrelated]

While both creativity and intelligence have their respective benefits alone, when they come together, it can result in some pretty incredible outcomes. It's geniuses who have fully mastered both their creativity and intelligence, I think.

 

[2718]

Logical Ability and Intelligence

Art and creativity arises from biochemical processes in the brain. These processes follow the laws of physics. Which in turn follow some sort of logic. Meaning I could in theory build an artificial creative mind (provided there is no limit to my information gathering capabilities and access to materials) with my logical ability. In short; you can compensate for creativity with intelligence, but you can't compensate for intelligence with creativity. Ergo, intelligence is the superior tool.

 

[RipCanvas]

I'm going to try and put this in as few words as possible, otherwise I'll end up with an essay.

Creativity isn't limited to art, and intelligence isn't limited to numbers and logic. I am an "artist" [in the loosest sense of the word, I suppose], but when I go into a piece I'm about to create I don't look at its desired outcome as "will it be beautiful", I look at it in a far more geometric way because that's how I was taught to paint. The particular shade of blue I pick to do the sky is meant to invoke such-and-such a feeling, and the number of items on the left side of the piece is meant to give weight to such-and-such a symbolic meaning. I do these things on purpose to get a desired outcome and response, much like a mathematician plugs certain formulas into a problem to get the desired answer.

But I also think logical and numerical things can be artistic in their own way. I am not bad, per say, at math. It's certainly not my easiest subject. But I am continuously awe-struck at my professors or classmates who can so elegantly glide through a function as effortlessly as I can glide through a drawing. It's like art in motion. Any artist like me will tell you "The piece tells you what it wants to be, and you make it so", which is a good number of artists actually. But it's the same with numbers. The problem knows what it wants to be, you just have to make it so.

In my opinion, it's not if I would prefer one or the other, because in my opinion I think both go hand in hand.

Especially in algebra. Damn, there are SO many ways to solve those problems!

 

[Link XL1]

right now, i'd say im more of the creative type. and at the same time im a bit cynical and often observe the things around me and think: "wow this really pisses me off!"

being a college student i find that there are a large amount of people who can get into the same college as me and yet still be incredibly stupid. thus i find myself surrounded by friends who lean on the intelligent side of this discussion, whereas i am the creative one. and i also find that this puts me at odds with my friends, who, on occasion, feel the need the mercilessly bring up the fact that im in liberal arts, along with the frat-boys i mentioned earlier. and the worst part is: they're right! LA is filled with retards and yet i find myself lumped together with them!

and thats the worst part. i know i could be just as smart as the next guy, but my laziness and lack of motivation get in the way.

so to actually address the topic and not go off on a personal rant that makes me look like an emo prick, i kinda wish i was more intelligent than creative, so that i can join my friends in blissful intellect, and stop daydreaming in the middle of a final exam

 

[spartan231490]

Have you ever seen some artistical piece, or listened to a song, or read a story, and were just amazed at the talent and artistic knowledge that went into making it? Or met somebody who could solve almost any problem by working it around in their head, and just seemed to be operating on a higher level?

I had one of those moments the other day when a friend of mine had drawn a particularly awesome landscape-type picture, and I thought, "Huh, I wish I had that kind of ability." But I, being considerably towards the "Intellectual" side of the spectrum, lack almost basic artistic ability as far as drawing goes, and aren't too far above par in any other sort of artistic field, as far as I know.

So, I thought about that a bit more, and eventually came to, "What if I did have that kind of artistic ability? Would I prefer it over what I have now?"

Now clearly, this question is a hugely speculative one, and if I were to swap qualities I would be a different person. But it's still an interesting topic to come across.

So, fellow Escapists, my question to you is, regardless of the implications and assuming that you would end up in the exact same situation as you are now, would you prefer to be highly intelligent, able to work almost anything around in your head, able to come to logical conclusions near instantaneously, and the ability to see a problem, define it, and solve it, better than anyone else?

Or to be highly artistic and creative, able to both have the mental ability to come up with every sort of beauty imaginable and the physical skills to draw it, the ability to compose everything from spectactular beautiful musical masterpieces to techno tunes that seem to force you to dance, and the ability to develop highly engaging and entertaining stories with absolute ease with the ability to translate these stories perfectly from your mind to a book?

speaking as someone who has some artistic ability in music and a great deal of logical ability, I'd rather have logical, but without music I would really need to find a new stress relief.

 

[PureIrony]

Thats kind of crapshoot.

Without Intelligence, Creativity is generally a bad thing.

Without Creativity, your Intelligence isn't worth much, because you won't actually be able use it to create. Still more useful then the former, though.