would you rather be good looking or smart?
 

i was just asked this...funny responses from my coworkers.

when i mean good looking, really good looking...abs, 7%body fat, hair, the whole enchilada. but on the flip side you are dumb as a box of rocks. i mean you think powell is president, dumb.

and the flip side, if you choose smart, genious levels with a good personality. not poindexter nerd smart. musical gifts included, multi-linquistics. one smart mother effer! but your looks make the dogs wince. bad teeth, fat, pasty skin, balding, acne...


which do you choose?

Smart....then I could scam the rich airheads!

Smart - make tons of money... get the hottie anyways.

I've been both for so long, I don't know how I'd choose...

hmm I would imagine life is as simple as you are. That being said, it's a tough call. I mean being "pretty" is just the icing, the true joy is being too stupid to worry about X. Now that would be priceless.

Re: would you rather be good looking or smart?
 

Hmmm.......Bill gates.....mmmmm...or....uhmmmm...Jessica Simpson.

I'm both ..it's all good.

It's what's on the inside that matters... :rolleyes: :p

That would be blood and guts.

Neither. YES! My wish has been granted.

smart, As I'm wayy too far into the geek realm I'd much rather be smart than good looking.

What about having a great personality?!? :eek:

That's a funny question; neither is a good option IMO. Life is not fair, of course, but you have actually touched on a serious subject that has been studied by academics. People who possess good looks have an undeniable advantage in life, from the time they are small children. Studies show that kindergarden teachers percieve them as smarter and having other favorable traits, (whether they actually are or not), and the "extra points awarded" continues through life.

If someone is woefully deficient in some other catagory, (like your examples), the advantage of being beautiful or brilliant would be somewhat cancelled out. A more realistic scenario is someone who is average in one of the areas and exceptional in the other.

My Mom always used the example of her sister, (a great beauty when young apparently), as someone who never fully developed her other talents because it was too easy to just get by on, or be rewarded for her looks. These people can have problems later on in life when their looks inevitably fade, and their shallow mate trades them in on a newer model. Ain't life a biatch? :D

I'd personally take being extremely creative and resourceful, w/ a naturally positive attitude and the luck of good health to being extremely brilliant or good looking. My brother is "off the scale" brilliant, but he is also a positive person or it would all be for nought.

Being frightfully homely or stupid would suck, just be grateful for whatever you were given. If you own a Porsche and have a roof over your head, you're ahead of the game most likely. ;)

Smart lasts a lot longer than Hot, and you can get Smarter as you age, whereas you get less Hot as time passes.

Having said that, however, there would be a great relief to be as dumb as a box of hammers... you wouldn't know you're dumb, you'd have no idea of your own manifest limitations. Ignorance is bliss and all. It'd be liberating in a way, and if you were serious, model-hot you could live a pretty comfortable life. BUT, you'd probably fall for the vapid, self-indulgent treacle of the Barbra Streisands and limousine liberals ...

Smart. Definitely smart. Make my millions and get plastic surgery if need be.

JP

Yup, and as my Dad used to say, "you can drink 'em pretty, but it's real hard to drink 'em smart".... ;)

Good looking is a biach sometimes. Trust me on this ;)

That is so true. I have met a few people who are just not too bright, and they tend to be really happy. They are absolutely carefree, or just place their faith in the Lord (and nothing else) etc. It must be quite liberating.

(I don't mean to sound judgemental, I'm just sayin').

Uhhhhh...I'm both stupid and ugly.....

Don't forget "heavy" tabs, as long as we're making a list and all. :D

JP

*and YOU brought this up today in response to Moses' "what do I wear" thread...

What if your just big boned?

Good looking. Under the choices looks lasts forever, it is not lost with age. There is something to be said about bliss in ignorance. Looks also get you into the door. Do you really think the majority of successful models are smart? Looks can earn you money, lots of it. Money can't by you looks, and if it can it always looks funny.

This whole group is incredibly shallow! Everyone has commented on how it would affect them personally. If you were an over-the-top genius, you could possibly cure cancer or AIDS or derive the unified field theory or figure out a way to get free satellite porn.

And being good looking didn't work out too well for Marilyn Monroe or any of a whole shopping list of actors and actresses.

Although to be fair there are many geniuses who led tragic lives - van Gogh, Mozart, Edgar Alan Poe, Galileo etc.

And it would suck to be a homely genius like, say Orville Redenbacker.

Having said all that, who would you rather be, Albert Einstein or Brad Pitt?

I think the genius choice is a no-brainer.

Brad Pitt in a ******* nanosecond. You're assuming that he's not intelligent? (Or leads an unhappy life)? That would be your lack of ability to see beyond a cliche', which is not a quality found in smarter people. ;)

I don't see him writing any papers about relativity. Also, the criteria for this exercise assumed that if you chose looks, you get the moron brain.

Einstein-level intelligence is historic, useful and beneficial to mankind. Brad Pitt's looks are a shallow diversion at best.

Brad Pitt pretends to be other people for a living.

The super-intelligent leave their mark in history books and in everyone's daily lives.

To clarify, I think living Brad Pitt's life would be great. After seeing him in some interviews, I think he is pretty smart. I just used him as an example of the upper scale in looks - Rober Redford, Paul Newman, Tom Selleck etc.

It would be fantastic to live those guys lives and get with Angelina Jolie and all those other Hollywood hotties, but I would rather contribute and leave a legacy of a different kind.

I'd love to be Brad for one freaking day, I've spent a little time w/ him and you are just going to have to take my word for it when I say that his life makes yours look pretty boring. I have never heard that Einstein had a particularly satisfying life, but I could be wrong.

I've been around my share of brilliant people and the happy, well-adjusted ones are definitely the exception. :cool:

Einstein probably would have given up a frontal lobe to bang Angelina Jolie, most of the people who look like him would. :cool:

Gordie Howe made a case for good-looking, sort-of.

"Mr. Howe, why is it that you wear a cup but not a helmet?"
"Well, you can always get someone to do your thinkin' for ya."

So, you think pretty people deliver better sex? In my younger days, I found results to be all over the map. Some good looking girls having not a clue, others really into it. Ditto not so good looking girls, though they seemed to be more grateful for the attention. ;) These days? If somebody as good looking as Jolie gave me encouraging signs, I'd wonder what she was really
after, and walk. Einstein would probably do the same, methinks.

You don't have to be smart to enjoy "gettin some" all of the time. To earn money I would do porn-don't need a lot of brains for that. Guess which I would choose were I unfortunate enough to have to give one up.:)

Looks any day. There's tons of broke geniuses. Most good looking people succeed in some way.

that is I'm smart & good looking :)

What - like Adolf Hitler?

Unfortunately, there is some of that - evil geniuses. Ted Bundy comes to mind.

I was thinking more along the lines of scientific contributions, like the polio and small pox vaccines, refrigeration, electricity etc.

depends on what i was doing on a particular day. working on my car? smart. going out to bars, oh "baby check him out" all the beaachs would say.

Lets not confuse being smart with being ambitious - I know some incredable minds, they contribute marginally to society. I know some very ambitious people that are ave intelect and they have doen great things for us all.

I would be drop dead hot over smart anyday. I would just keep my month shut and smile alot.

BTW - my ex was a model - she was terrible. I dated May Andersen (of SI swimsuit fame) for over a year, she wasn't that great eighter. Ave chicks try harder and are willing to experiment plus they won't cheat on a really hot boyfriend.

Ben Franklin was as ugly as they come but had a marvelous "social" life. Wit, style and intellect can always get you where you want to go.

Once again, the only justification I am seeing is the "if I were good looking I could score" argument. As if being a genius automatically disqualifies you from getting with hotties.

Memo to would-be narcissists, ever hear of Henry Kissinger, Rasputin or the aforementioned Ben Franklin? You can have it both ways - although you may have to work at it a little harder.

Look at every rock star that ever lived. If you make the argument that they are "musical geniuses" of a sort, these guys are typically the most emaciated, no-build-having, drug addicted, tatooed, hygenically challenged freaks walking, and they are pulling ridiculous amounts of ******* at every concert.

Again, the only reason to choose the good-looking option is for personal reasons. A good looking idiot is not going to cure cancer or solve the mysteries of the universe. Whereas a genius may do just that, and get some trim in the bargain.

wait!!! wait!!! I need to change my answer!

I'm ALREADY good looking!

...
...
...

it's too late for that, isn't it?
...
...
-sigh.-