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If you had 1 choice between being famous, rich and smart what would you choose?
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Likewise, there are plenty of celebrities out there with more money that common sense and I daresay, the rich and famous tend to crash and burn harder than the rest of us.
So clearly, my answer is to sit here in a state of confusion as I try to decide which is the lesser if two evils. ;)
I'd choose a flagon of ale with sea salt & vinegar peanuts on the side.No interest in being famous or rich in monetary terms, and intelligence is so oft overrated it's underwhelming.
My choice would be exactly what I am: smart (brilliant actually) and poor (I live in a double-wide, for god's sake).
I would rather NOT be famous. I happy with my intellect. So I would like to be me, but anonymously rich.Now, and forgive me for throwing this in to the debate, I might be tempted to sell, say 10 IQ points for...how much? Maybe 5 for £200 000 uk.
Famous is for sucks, unless it's the only way you can become rich.The problem with smart is--especially since in this scenario it sounds like we're assuming we can't use smarts to become either famous or rich--smart people tend to be more worried about living a "worthwhile" or "fulfilled" life, or doing something notable and innovative. Ergo, they tend to be harder to please, and more likely to be disappointed in life. Personally, I'd like to be dumb enough to actually be entertained by sports or reality TV or The Walking Dead. But I'm not that easily amused.
So...yeah. Anonymous, dumb and rich. Life is good.
Ken wrote: "My choice would be exactly what I am: smart (brilliant actually) and poor (I live in a double-wide, for god's sake)."We're in a modular, new. Wife and I have lived in a couple places where you could see daylight where the walls meet the floor. So as long as the roof don't leak and wind don't whistle through uninvited...
I would think having smarts would eventually lead to the other two, or at least lead to being rich. I don't really fancy being famous, though, since it mostly seems to lead to frustration and being demonized for the most trivial things.
Sebastian wrote: "Please post what you would choose. Would you want to be famous, rich or smart. You can only choose 1. I would choose smart."
I suppose if I had to chose among those three traits, I would choose "smart." However, to be honest, I would choose being a man of good character above all three if it were an option. A scoundrel that's rich or smart is much more dangerous and destructive than someone less well-endowed (I'm not so sure about how being a famous scoundrel would play out).
Easy ( Smart) to be smarter than I already am. Have the brains will get you the money and the fame I want and do some good with the money and change how fame is defined. Give you hint no one will be looking up to celebrities anymore.
Melissa wrote: "I would think having smarts would eventually lead to the other two, or at least lead to being rich."There are plenty of smart people who end up poor and unknown. Getting rich and famous isn't strictly a smart person thing. One does not necessarily lead to the other. Ambition doesn't require smarts. Nor does being willing to take risks. Smart people might actually realize how bad their chances are of succeeding at a task, and therefore not start it, while a naive less intelligent person might just dive in feet first and luck out.
Being really smart often does lead to well paying jobs (mathematicians in the US earn a median income of just over $100k; theoretical physicists are less than that--saw an article saying Caltech's Senior Theoretical Physicist earn about $100k), but that's still not "rich." Not when you consider what the top 1% of the 1% make in the US.
Shoot, the median salary for CEOs is actually less than for General Practitioners. I know we all love to hate the big CEOs earning multi-million dollar salaries but for every one of those there are hundreds or thousands of CEOs of small and mid-sized companies who make $70k - $170k.
But even someone really smart making $200k a year could easily blow it all by buying multi-million dollar houses, high price cars, big credit card debt...medical expenses.
Boom! Before you know it you've got smart people in bankruptcy.
Moral: Don't bank on smart. Gimme duh money.
Fame and smarts do not increase the likelihood that you will be happy. Suicide rates are higher.Money doesn't buy happiness, but it sure helps buys off unhappiness.
Rich!
Was going to suggest that I couldn't imagine giving up being smart, but then I thought I'd risk setting myself up as an example of the Dunning–Kruger effect:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning...
I'm happy with my current intelligence so I'd like to be rich so I could take care of my family and work as both a writer and run a foundation to support issues and projects I care about.
It's a trap! (Thanks, Admiral Akbar. I'll take it from here.)Fame is fickle. You're celebrated one moment and vilified the next. Wealth and power corrupt and destroy. In the end, you still leave it all behind. The smartest people I've known were humbled by the realization of how little they really know.
I'd like to choose the option where I get to sit in my recliner, daydream, tell stories, have a few laughs with family and friends, and eat pizza. Is that too much to ask? (I wouldn't know because it appears I didn't choose the "Smart" option.)
Interesting... I tried the first and the last... didn't go well... Now I'm gonna be smarter and chose rich but stupid :)
I think I'm already pretty smart. Not a genius but not an idiot either. ;)
Often fame comes easily when rich, so I choose rich. :P