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#158423 04/12/06 03:12 AM
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Wonderful point, of troy. You have the most delightful way of making my point, but one of which that is probably antithetical to the revelation that I hoped my point would bring home to you.

Is that clear?

Anyway, understand this meaning and understand it well:

A Culture is not an abstraction, a Culture is as concrete as DNA.
There is no dalliance in nature, the Culture's the thing!


Get it?

If not, see my post about blackbirds in "Animal safari".

#158424 04/12/06 01:38 PM
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Helen, I'm going to take issue with a couple of your points.
humans are uniquely able to alter there perceptions and to value different thing in different environments. I don't agree with the "unique" part: our cat's behavior changed drastically when we got our current dog, who seems to consider it her goal in life to personally exterminate all other fur-bearing creatures, and those with feathers if she can. (We came home to a dead chipmunk yesterday, WAIL!) The cat's environment had suddenly become deadly, and she responded by 1.) severely curtailing her excursions into certain parts of the house; 2.) being on high alert when she did venture out of her safe zone, and 3.) by learning to listen for when the dog goes outside--within seconds, usually, she's nudging around my ankles. She has changed again in recent months; we had suce a warm winter ( ) that the dog spent most days outside; and the cat has responded by roaming all over the house.

Second: being able to hear and distingish the important sound in the enviroment we live in is a measure of intellect. I can't put my finger on why, but this just doesn't sound right. To me this would come more under survival skills than intellect.

#158425 04/12/06 02:21 PM
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Quote:

...our current dog, who seems to consider it her goal in life to personally exterminate all other fur-bearing creatures, and those with feathers if she can.




It sounds as if the situation could quickly become hopeless.

#158426 04/12/06 02:38 PM
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Quote:

our cat's behavior changed drastically when we got our current dog




But... this may have always been part of your cat's behavior pattern but there was no stimulus to activate it. E.g., they grow white asparagus by keeping it out of the light - but if it's exposed to light, it "learns" how to turn green! Therefore, I posit that asparagus is as smart people!

#158427 04/12/06 03:23 PM
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Quote:

...Therefore, I posit that asparagus is as smart people!





Oh oh I am going to run away and become an asparagus! I want to be able to change my color because I am "smrt" 2!


Rev. Alimae
#158428 04/12/06 05:15 PM
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[green]I am going to run away and become an asparagus! [/green]

well remember, kermit the frog says, "it's not easy being green"..

#158429 04/13/06 04:35 AM
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"pick the one that doesn't belong" type questions

I would probably ace that one! I take those kinds of tests all the time in school. There have been at least several times where I got at least a 'C' or a 'B' on a subject I had no idea of, just by picking the one that don't belong, and what might be most likely. Just as long as it's multiple choice. (If it's essay I just keep writing indefinitely until I run out of ideas and hope I hit the answer somewhere.)




Quote:



some people are quickly able to see patterns (humans excell at seeing patterns!) and are able to replicate them.

as a child, i was able to memorize passages with out understanding the words, or meaning of the passage.

these skills/gifts/what ever you call them, are signs of intelegence.
they are not culturally dependent.

there are folks (and we have mostly likely somewher in our life seen evidence of this) who have trouble making a pattern as simple as a checkerboard (--and their attempts to lay a set of floor tiles in a checkboard pattern are flawed.) others, can see and replicate complex patterns or even create new patterns, with ease.
these abilities can be one way to measure inteligence.

(one of the test i was required to perform in a 4 hour IQ test involved seeing (but then having the image removed) and being asked to recreate the same image (they became increasing complex)--all created with wooden tile of squared, diamonds, triangles and rectangles.

those who can't lay a checkerboard tile floor, would 'fail this test' --and people from other cultures, could 'pass' and they wouldn't need to know anything about our culture, or we about their culture to have this happen.





Actually I think that's more of a short-term memory quiz (or photographic memory for that matter)...

Last edited by mechanesthesia; 04/13/06 04:36 AM.

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#158430 04/13/06 10:28 AM
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Post deleted by inselpeter

Last edited by inselpeter; 04/14/06 01:33 AM.
#158431 04/13/06 11:33 PM
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A doctor I work with (ESL) speaks functional English but is working on the nuances. His question of yesterday which I hereby present for discussion: What is the difference in meaning and usage of "smart", "clever" and "intelligent"?

#158432 04/14/06 12:23 AM
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I’d use these three in the following way:

Clever I’d use to describe somebody who can think in innovative ways, usually to solve some sort of problem. A person who is uneducated or of low education can be as clever as a person of high education.

Intelligent I use to describe somebody who is highly educated or knows a lot of things.

Smart I’d use for somebody who knows a lot of things too, but knows how to use this knowledge to his advantage.

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