From: "Saved by Windows Internet Explorer 8" Subject: Brain Game Date: Thu, 17 Jun 2010 13:09:45 -0600 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/related; type="text/html"; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0000_01CB0E1E.5BA7C340" X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.1.7600.16543 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0000_01CB0E1E.5BA7C340 Content-Type: text/html; charset="utf-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Location: http://www.calgaryherald.com/sports/Brain+Game/3148182/story.html =EF=BB=BF
It's tough to watch a grown man squawk. But squawk Dan Hoch does.
His impassioned protest arrives after a morning of engaging chatter = in his=20 office at R.J. Hawkey Elementary School in Airdrie.
Attired casually in a short-sleeved shirt, chinos, sandals, Hoch had = been=20 expounding eloquently, while the interviewer mentally nodded through an = informal=20 checklist:
- Brain power: Hoch belongs to the International Society of = Philosophical=20 Enquiry. Membership requires an intelligence quotient in the top 0.1 = percentile,=20 which translates into a score of 149. Or higher.
- Diverse interests: Hoch acts, paints, gardens, plays guitar. He = writes=20 poetry, and writes for trade magazines. He wins awards for his sketches, = for his=20 homemade wine. He played college hockey, and college soccer. He has also = weight-lifted competitively.
Hoch can find wisdom in the words of Albert Einstein -- "The true = sign of=20 intelligence is not knowledge, but imagination" is his e-mail tag line = -- and in=20 the words of Brent Sutter. He has tacked up a newspaper story -- = clipped,=20 highlighted, laminated -- about the Calgary Flames' head coach. As a = teacher,=20 Hoch appreciates Sutter's unwavering approach.
- Contributions: From his principal's cockpit, Hoch has spearheaded = two=20 initiatives. One bolstered donations to the area's food bank, the other=20 organized a thorough cleanup of local green space. Both were hits.
- Communication: Always on point. Charming conversationalist. Spins = yarns.=20 Ever hear the one about his old man turning a washing machine into a = meat=20 grinder?
What more evidence could anyone ask for?
Finally. Search is over. Criteria are met. This is it.
All that remains is confirmation.
Here goes -- Dan, are you Calgary's smartest person?
Commence squawking. "Oh God, no!"
For good measure, Hoch repeats himself.
"Oh God, no. Not by a long shot. To be one in a million? I know I'm = not that=20 smart. I know it."
Besides, he's not interested.
"Would anyone want the crown?" says Hoch, 54. "It's probably a very = heavy=20 crown because the expectations would be through the roof."
Hoch could just hear the critics. He affects the voice of = garden-variety=20 nitpicker: "You should be able to do everything. You should be able to = be my=20 stock guy, so here's my portfolio -- I want this doubled in a year. = Because if=20 you're that smart you should be able to do this. Your romantic = relationships --=20 you should be the Hugh Hefner of relationships. You can figure out how = to make=20 it work. Your net worth ... you should be living in Mount Royal. Why do = I need=20 to come to your house to boost your battery? If you're that smart, you = should be=20 able to figure it out. Come on. Stick some wires in a socket, run it = through a=20 conduit, charge your battery. Come on."
Hoch, relaxed again, laughs.
"The expectation that you should be able to do everything? It would = be=20 substantial."
He shakes his head. "Who would want it?"
---
Jeepers, somebody must want the darned thing.
That had been the whole point of this exercise.
A few weeks back, an unburdened hockey writer was ordered to track = down the=20 smartest person in Calgary, then report back.
Not a bad gig. A fellow could even pick up a little lunch money along = the=20 way. (Your grizzled agent, by the way, was swiftly disqualifi ed from=20 contention, having failed to navigate the security door on the third = floor of=20 the Calgary Centre for Innovative Technology building -- it had been a = two-step=20 process, clearly posted.) Not a complete fool, though, the challenge of = the=20 assignment had been recognized immediately.
Which meant seeking a shortcut.
Which meant Don Saklofske -- intelligence expert at the University of = Calgary, consultant for CBC's Test The Nation -- was soon cornered. = Here, on the=20 eighth floor of the Education Tower, in a book-filled bunker, would come = a shove=20 in the proper direction.
Right?
"Finding Calgary's smartest person?" repeats Saklofske, wearing a = look of=20 pity. "Good bloody luck."
The mission, you see, is fundamentally flawed.
"First of all, you couldn't do it. I don't think it's possible," he = says.=20 "How are you going to define intelligence? It's an elusive = construct."
Oh. Saklofske illustrates his point.
Take singer-poet-novelist Leonard Cohen -- "He has the capacity to = capture=20 the essence of life."
Take the cancer researcher -- "He's sitting there looking at that one = rogue=20 cell, going, 'What's going on with that thing?' "
Saklofske shrugs.
"Completely different intelligence, but how do you stack them = up?"
Or stack up the following bright bulbs of Cowtown:
- Tory Weber: dozens of inventions to his name.
- Chad VanGaalen: musician, writer, cartoonist, artist.
- Will Ferguson: Stephen Leacock Memorial Medals for humour writing = cram his=20 trophy case.
- Brett Wilson and Peter Tertzakian: financial maestros both.
- Elizabeth Cannon: first female president of the University of = Calgary.
- Eric Hansen: Poised, at 18, to become the city's first = International Master=20 of chess. Next stop, Grandmaster.
On and on and on.
Yes, like any metropolis, Calgary boasts a dizzying cross-section of=20 achievers.
Maybe IQ tests could sharpen the focus.
"If your editor tells you, 'Go find the best person in Calgary,' how = would=20 you do that?" says Jeff Pugh, teacher at Western Canada High School and = holder=20 of four degrees. "What's 'best'? You don't even have a tool to measure = that. At=20 least with the smartest-person (search), they've got a vaguely = signifi-cant tool=20 that measures one particular aspect poorly."
Poorly -- and not as exclusively as you'd hope.
Mensa, the planet's most popular brainy bunch, requires scores beyond = the=20 98th percentile, a 1-in-50 proposition. In other words, Calgary, a city = of a=20 million, is home to 20,000 potential Mensans -- a gathering that would = overflow=20 the Pengrowth Saddledome.
"Kind of mind-boggling," says Hoch. "Kind of humbling when you start = to think=20 of the numbers."
So how useful is it? Whizzes give it a wide berth.
"In my field, we would never think about IQs as an indicator," says = Barry=20 Sanders, a quantum physicist at the University of Calgary. "I would = consider you=20 smart if the smart people I know told me that you're smart."
Hey, great idea. Now we're getting somewhere.
---
Except we don't.
This plan of attack -- obviously informal, ridiculously slapdash -- = had been=20 to scour the city for craniums. Then ask them for candidates. Then ask = the=20 candidates for candidates.
All of which would funnel into a consensus. In theory.
In practice, however, the list got longer and longer -- a mushroom = cloud of=20 nominations.
"I could name a thousand people off the top of my head who are = bright,"=20 Saklofske had warned. "I could also name a thousand more people who are = brighter=20 than them."
OK, moving on. Plan B.
Maybe by concocting a working definition of "smart," our sharpest = citizen=20 would emerge.
"Depends," says Jared Bancroft, a gentleman barrelling towards his = PhD in=20 geomatics engineering. "Are they smart in everything? Do they know a lot = of=20 random facts? The Trivial Pursuit expert may not be able to change a = tire. Can=20 they build things? Are they the Iron Man, a Tony Stark kind of guy, = sitting in=20 their basement building suits?"
But one thing about intelligent folks, they do love a debate. Tesla = vs.=20 Edison. Bohr vs. Einstein. Monty Python vs. Star Trek.
So-- via e-mail, over the phone, in coffee shops, across office = desks, around=20 dining-room tables -- a snapshot of "smart" does come to light:
- Scores aren't enough. "If you have nothing but high IQ, you're = pretty much=20 stalled on the highway of life," says Pugh. "You're smart -- but you're = all by=20 yourself."
- Diverse interests: Wellroundedness is essential. "A little bit of=20 everything keeps me amused," says Hoch. "I can write a poem as easily as = I can=20 paint a picture and make a bottle of wine, presumably as easily as I = might be=20 able to administer a school." ( "It ain't bragging if you can do it," = Dizzy=20 Dean, noted sage, once remarked.)
- Contributions: "How smart you are, that's just an abstraction," = says=20 Saklofske. "What we care about is what you do with your smarts." William = James=20 Sidis, with an estimated IQ of 250, collected streetcar tokens. Chris = Langan,=20 some say the planet's smartest chap, was a bouncer. "The equivalent of = having=20 the most powerful car in the world," says Sanders, "and only driving = around in a=20 playground zone."
- Communication: Bancroft's research takes a federated filter = approach,=20 fusing multiple inertial units together in the estimation domain and = mitigating=20 GPS multipath using a fault detection algorithm. Not that he'd dare to = tell=20 anyone that.
"Their eyes glaze over," he says, chuckling. "If you're that weird = person=20 that no one wants to listen to? You can be the most gifted, most = intelligent . .=20 . and it's useless. That's the biggest waste ever."
---
Skimming the surface of the city's cerebrum for a fortnight unearths = a load=20 of qualified smarties.
But no takers.
Like these two innovative mash-up artists -- Barry Sanders, who's = merging=20 quantum physics with information science; Christian Bok, who's = translating a=20 poem into a genetic sequence, which will be implanted into a bacterium, = which=20 will produce a protein, which will be translated into verse (or = something like=20 that).
Neither wants a shot at the Calgary title.
"It's silly," says Bok, chuckling. "Insofar as I know, there are = people who=20 are a lot smarter. I would certainly be very skeptical. The intelligence = in the=20 arts pales in comparison to the intelligence required to be a quantum=20 physicist."
So Sanders, you're up.
"I would be embarrassed because I know two students (who) out-class = me," says=20 Sanders, referring to Adrian Keet and Alexander Hentschel.
"We're in a profession where we're all acutely aware of intelligence = ... and=20 we all know people we think are smarter than we are."
In the face of all this modesty, Sanders does pose an interesting=20 wrinkle.
"If somebody also gave a million dollars, I don't think any of the = people you=20 interviewed would hesitate," he says. " 'How would you feel about being = chosen=20 as Calgary's smartest person and getting a cheque for a million = dollars?' They=20 would say, 'Yeah, great.' But how you feel about being chosen and = getting a=20 cheque for zero dollars? They'd say what I'm saying -- 'Too humble.'
"It's kind of like a game show."
Sanders, party-pooper, continues to muddy the waters.
"I'm stunned when I see carpenters work. Just brilliant," he says. "I = consider them very smart. No matter how many pieces of paper I have or = how many=20 letters I have after my name, I can't match what they do. I'm awed by = that kind=20 of thing."
Suppose someone tells Vicki Herd -- accountant by day, Mensa = secretary/=20 treasurer by night -- that she is the smartest person in Calgary. What = is her=20 reaction?
"One of humble scoffing that they are incorrect," says Herd. "Many of = us feel=20 we are just normal because we have always been like this. Then again, = normal is=20 just a setting on the washing machine."
---
Don't get them wrong -- they dig being brainy. No one was offering to = swap=20 their grey matter for a sports writer's.
"Being smart is great," says Bok. "There are times when the stupidity = of=20 others will seem teeth-gritting and outraging. . . . I suppose that can = be=20 challenging. But it's a great boon to participate in the world, smartly = and=20 intelligently. I would suggest that everybody partake."
But life's quest, according to Pugh, is more than puzzle-solving and=20 horizon-broadening.
"The whole point is to be happy, right?" he says. "And if you're = really,=20 really smart, but you're not happy, and all you can see are flaws all = around you=20 -- is that intelligence or is that a defect? I know people with really = low IQs=20 tend not to be happy because they don't understand what's going on = around them=20 and they're frustrated all the time. Conversely, people with high IQs = see the=20 way things ought to run, and they're frustrated and unhappy about = that.
"Where's the blessed middle ground in all that?"
Where's the blessed answer to the original task?
(Cue the cop-out.)
One sign of smartness, insist some, is acknowledging that not = everything is=20 knowable -- and being OK with that. (Example: Why did the Flames allow = Michael=20 Cammalleri to walk last summer?) So, identifying Calgary's smartest = person?
There can be no definitive answer. And that, hopefully, is OK.
Embracing the most objective standard available -- IQ rankings -- = would not=20 help ... unless you force one million citizens sit down for tests. And = without=20 scores, assessment becomes even messier due to the unmeasurable array of = brightness on display in our burg.
So ends the search.
Sanders, hearing that no declaration is forthcoming, that the throne = shall=20 remain unoccupied, nods.
"If I was reading the story, I would appreciate knowing that smart is = multi-dimensional," he says, smiling. "Knowing that everyone is smart in = their=20 own way is the happy ending."
scruickshank@theherald.canwest.com
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