Would you rather be intelligent, athletic or gifted in the arts?

[spidey07]

You only get one.

Intelligent - you naturally comprehend and advance understanding of varied fields
Athletic - you play some or many sports at such a level that you can do it for a living
Gifted in the Arts - a great painter or great musician

In essence, one of these you can be put in the top 99th percentile of people. You're gifted.

 

[JackBurton]

Can I rule at being psychic? That's pretty damn cool.

 

[Polish3d]

Athletic if at the professional level, intelligence otherwise

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Frackal
Athletic if at the professional level, intelligence otherwise

Why? Because money isn't going to be there just because of professional level.

Or are you motivated to be "just that good". It seems like folks gifted athletically generally do very well in other sports, not at a professional level, but still way better than most.

I picked athletic as well. Mainly because you can make a living out of playing. Even if you don't get rich, that still would be pretty sweet.

 

[SlitheryDee]

Intelligent. Having the natural ability to comprehend most things intuitively just seems so much more rewarding than athletics or artistic performance.

It seems that on some level of each option every choice would necessarily include one or more of the others. For instance a person of great intelligence might be able to effectively coach an athletic team without being athletically inclined themselves, or a truly great painter might only be made so by his ability to convey very cerebral ideas on the canvas with great skill, ideas that he would not even be able to comprehend if he were not highly intelligent.

 

[SSP]

Intelligence.

Athleticism will end with age. And art is for people who can tolerate hunger.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: SSP
Intelligence.

Athleticism will end with age. And art is for people who can tolerate hunger.

Tell that to some of the marathon runners or triatheletes.

 

[OJ]

I would rather be 'gifted"

 

[Polish3d]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Frackal
Athletic if at the professional level, intelligence otherwise

Why? Because money isn't going to be there just because of professional level.

Or are you motivated to be "just that good". It seems like folks gifted athletically generally do very well in other sports, not at a professional level, but still way better than most.

I picked athletic as well. Mainly because you can make a living out of playing. Even if you don't get rich, that still would be pretty sweet.

Athleticism if it were something like pro baseball, pays well, fun, not trading your health for the sport

 

[TallBill]

I don't play these silly games.

 

[Cattlegod]

Originally posted by: Frackal
Athletic if at the professional level, intelligence otherwise

QFT, I wouldn't mind a 600k/year salary.

 

[ric1287]

Originally posted by: Cattlegod

Originally posted by: Frackal
Athletic if at the professional level, intelligence otherwise

QFT, I wouldn't mind a 600k/year salary.

and thats around the minimum in most cases

makes me regret the choice to stop playing baseball - 6'4" left handed pitcher

 

[SSP]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: SSP
Intelligence.

Athleticism will end with age. And art is for people who can tolerate hunger.

Tell that to some of the marathon runners or triatheletes.

Intelligence will still out live it. How would you like to be Mike Tyson when you're 70 years old?

 

[NanoStuff]

Intelligent people have higher life expectancy That and the not being stupid part is nice too. I'd probably choose artistry/creativity otherwise.

 

[tfcmasta97]

Whyyyyyyy intel over athletics?!

I'm smart enough as is. What are you going to do? Be even bigger smartasses?

Playing in the NHL FTW!

 

[her209]

Intelligence because then I can say "All your moneys are belong to ME!"

 

[iamaelephant]

I chose intelligence, although I'd love to be gifted in the arts (an area where I even less adept than athletics, which is saying a lot).

 

[SlitheryDee]

Originally posted by: tfcmasta97
Whyyyyyyy intel over athletics?!

I'm smart enough as is. What are you going to do? Be even bigger smartasses?

Playing in the NHL FTW!

Cuz I want to know EVERYTHING. I don't care how fast you can run or how high you can jump, if you're dumb as a doorknob then you're missing out on the important stuff. I'm just smart enough to realize this, but if I could be even smarter then the entire universe would be that much more accessible.

I'd pick intelligence every time.

 

[miketheidiot]

luckily i'm fairly (maybe not gifted ) good at all the above. Given the choice, i would choose intelligence though.

 

[IAteYourMother]

I chose the arts... except for the whole heroin addiction deal, eric clapton didn't have life too bad.

 

[KoolDrew]

Intelligence, without a doubt.

 

[Praxis1452]

Arts. Many of the people I enjoy most have also been artists in some form.

Though overall intelligence and creativity and art are linked overall. That's just my opinion.

 

[mugs]

99th percentile is too big to conclude that you'd be in the highest levels of professional sports. 99th percentile would just put you in the top 3 million in the US. You could be making $10k a year playing for an unaffiliated minor league team. If you said 99.9999th percentile, I'd probably go with athletics. Instead I went with intelligence. It has served me well so far (although I was an above average athlete in the sports I played as a kid... you wouldn't be able to tell it by looking at me though).

 

[StageLeft]

Intelligent. I imagine I'm probably 99th percentile for physical fitness across the male population and yet I'm not even close or even in the same ballpark required for pro sports!

 

[Jeff7]

Intelligence, without a second thought. Athleticism, I don't feel that I need. Just exercise to maintain this container that serves my brain, the former of which didn't evolve to deal with a sedentary lifestyle; damn thing evolved to conserve energy, which meant absorbing energy-intensive muscles when they weren't used. Never mind that we have more than enough calories available to sustain considerable muscle mass continuously. Oh well.

The arts - I'm not artsy, and have little appreciation of painting. I understand that it takes skill, but I only ever "like" paintings or sculpture for how closely they represent the real thing.

Intelligence though, I'd love to be able to ponder, simultaneously, all of the stars in the cosmos, all interacting, amid fields of magnetism, gravity, radiation pressure, amid relativistic effects. Or to envision the innumerable atoms in an object, their electrons orbiting rapidly, and see the way the subatomic particles interact. Too much to ponder, too few neurons.