4 ms·

I can think of very smart people who could be classified as overweight of obese, such as Gabe Newell, Linus Torvalds, or Steve Wozniak - so that makes me a bit

by jmtame 13y ago

I can think of very smart people who could be classified as overweight of obese, such as Gabe Newell, Linus Torvalds, or Steve Wozniak - so that makes me a bit suspicious. On this topic though, I do notice a significant drop in cognitive ability or "mental sharpness" from eating certain foods which have a higher GI. Have been experimenting with this lately, and I had wondered why after lunch time I wasn't able to focus as strongly as in the morning (I usually skip breakfast or eat light).

adventured 13y ago
If you believe the study, the implication would be that Gabe's mental abilities may be reduced by being overweight, not that he would necessary be dumb / not smart as a result (ie he'd be even smarter - or perhaps his cognitive abilities would simply be faster, or memory better etc - were he to reduce body fat).
durakot 13y ago
You never know, Gabe, Linus and Steve might be EVEN SMARTER if they lost a few pounds. Who knows, Half Life 3 could even arrive sooner.
- jmtame 13y ago
  You're probably being facetious, but yeah it could all be relative and we don't really know. Wonder if there's any reason they haven't tried this experiment on humans.
  - avn2109 13y ago
    >> "Wonder if there's any reason they haven't tried this experiment on humans." Institutional Review Boards.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
ekianjo 13y ago
Steve was not fat when he was young. ANd that's when he was at his best. But hey, I agree with your comment, it's a dubious claim at best. Is Linus obese by the way ?
- NAFV_P 13y ago
  > Is Linus obese by the way ? Are you referring to his ego?
  - houseofshards 13y ago
    > Are you referring to his ego? There, sir, take my upvotes.
onedev 13y ago
I don't think they're concluding "Fat people aren't exceptionally intelligent" or "Fat people aren't as smart as lean people". What they found at the core of the study was that something in the fat cells was, in some way, contributing to decreased cognitive abilities. So going along the lines of your initial thought, we can entertain the idea that "Newell, Torvalds, or Wozniak would have even higher cognitive performance than they already have if they exercised everyday and reduced their store of fat cells". That's more in line with what the article was suggesting.
chm 13y ago
The conclusion of this article is that you cannot draw conclusions from this article.
UnoriginalGuy 13y ago
You're conflating success with intelligence. It is undeniable that Nowell, Torvalds, and Wozniak are all very successful people, what is unclear is how intelligent they are or if their success is primary due to their intelligence. There's an awful lot of very intelligent people who never did anything with their life, and conversely there are a lot of perfectly average people who have done ground breaking things.

by jmtame 13y ago

adventured 13y ago

If you believe the study, the implication would be that Gabe's mental abilities may be reduced by being overweight, not that he would necessary be dumb / not smart as a result (ie he'd be even smarter - or perhaps his cognitive abilities would simply be faster, or memory better etc - were he to reduce body fat).

durakot 13y ago

You never know, Gabe, Linus and Steve might be EVEN SMARTER if they lost a few pounds. Who knows, Half Life 3 could even arrive sooner.

jmtame 13y ago
You're probably being facetious, but yeah it could all be relative and we don't really know. Wonder if there's any reason they haven't tried this experiment on humans.
- avn2109 13y ago
  >> "Wonder if there's any reason they haven't tried this experiment on humans." Institutional Review Boards.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]

ekianjo 13y ago

Steve was not fat when he was young. ANd that's when he was at his best. But hey, I agree with your comment, it's a dubious claim at best. Is Linus obese by the way ?

NAFV_P 13y ago
> Is Linus obese by the way ? Are you referring to his ego?
- houseofshards 13y ago
  > Are you referring to his ego? There, sir, take my upvotes.

onedev 13y ago

I don't think they're concluding "Fat people aren't exceptionally intelligent" or "Fat people aren't as smart as lean people". What they found at the core of the study was that something in the fat cells was, in some way, contributing to decreased cognitive abilities. So going along the lines of your initial thought, we can entertain the idea that "Newell, Torvalds, or Wozniak would have even higher cognitive performance than they already have if they exercised everyday and reduced their store of fat cells". That's more in line with what the article was suggesting.

chm 13y ago

The conclusion of this article is that you cannot draw conclusions from this article.

UnoriginalGuy 13y ago

You're conflating success with intelligence. It is undeniable that Nowell, Torvalds, and Wozniak are all very successful people, what is unclear is how intelligent they are or if their success is primary due to their intelligence. There's an awful lot of very intelligent people who never did anything with their life, and conversely there are a lot of perfectly average people who have done ground breaking things.