#intelligence

z-aliada:

theniceandaccurategoodomensblog:

Yes!

And – Aziraphale is good with details, with getting all the little puzzle pieces to fit. Crowley is a big picture demon. He has imagination. He has sharp leaps of insight that leave everyone else behind.

etaleah:

I love how Crowley and Aziraphale are different kinds of intelligent. They’re both super smart and idiotic at the same time, but in different ways and it’s beautiful.

Aziraphale is book smart. He knows obscure facts, history, literature, math. He can do calculations and understand Old English easily. If you give him enough time, he can analyze situations well and come up with an excellent strategy. Remember, he was the one who realized something went wrong with the baby swap, and he wasn’t even there when it happened. He’s also the first to suggest being at Warlock’s birthday party and works out all the details about the Antichrist.

Yet he can’t pick up on sarcasm to save his life, walked right into the trap the Nazis had set for him, and thinks Major Milkbottle is a real person.

Crowley is street smart, or social smart. He can read a room and think on his feet. When Aziraphale is confronted with angels, he turns into a stammering mess, but when Crowley is confronted with demons, he comes up with an escape plan on the spot. He may not know whether ducks have ears or who Agnes Nutter is, but he can tell when someone is lying or doesn’t have good intentions. He knew which kid was the Antichrist despite never having seen any of the Them before, that the war was still on despite the Horsepersons disappearing, that Greta wasn’t who she said she was, and who to bribe for his M25 plan. He can also read and understand Aziraphale better than anyone else. And that’s not even getting into his ability to keep up with and use the latest technology, design, music, and fashion.

They may both be idiots, but they’re also intelligent in ways unique to them, and it makes them perfect for each other.

It is another way they make a brilliant team, actually.

Exactly. It’s even visible in their lying / self-defence styles (which are essentially the same thing in the context of Heaven/Hell). Aziraphale cannot handle any deviation from the “script” and is easily flustered, but he always has a script and just the right wording to go along with it to avoid appearing inconsistent. So, when presented with something unexpected, he especially feels the pressure of not being allowed to get it wrong. Hence all the nervousness. For him, preparation is a “crutch” that he thinks he wouldn’t manage without. Yes, it makes him feel more comfortable, but, as evident from several scenes at the end, he’s also capable of improvising. 

Sometimes that improvisation has hilarious consequences, though: for instance, in the “sorry, right number” scene, when he’s so overwhelmed by his sudden discovery that he ends up blurting out the truth instead of coming up with a more conventional (and far less suspicious) way to end a phone call (therefore, you could say that the “phone call” script has failed due to the high anxiety levels :D).

On the contrary, Crowley is naturally comfortable with improvisation. He’s capable of remaining cool and collected. He lies confidently, sometimes even smugly. Unlike Aziraphale, he doesn’t trip himself up by practicing phrases and, therefore, cutting off other potential escape routes. He trusts himself to figure out the right thing as he goes. 

And one more ironic thing. Crowley is careful and calculating when needed, but not even once did he thought to question Aziraphale’s odd behavior after their Tadfield outing and doubt his words. Why? Because he’s trusted Aziraphale for thousands of years. Because, intuitively, Aziraphale is not someone to whom words like ‘suspicion’, ‘deception’ can apply. If the roles were reversed, I don’t think Aziraphale would suspect Crowley of something like this either, but remarks like ‘You are a demon. That’s [lying] what you do’ prove that he doesn’t discard this fact (possibility) altogether. Yes, again, intuitively he knows that it’s Crowley and that he would trust Crowley with his life, so this is basically Aziraphale trying to convince himself of things (in this case, suspicions) he doesn’t feel, but it’s still something that goes through his mind (as a cautionary tale, a warning if you like) and enters his speech. What he does here is apply conventional, “safe” scripts to reality and repeat them from time to time to ensure they are not forgotten and/or overlooked. They are also what he bases his defence against Heaven on. 

As noted earlier, Crowley is good at developing ideas from scratch. Whereas Aziraphale, it seems, is more likely to operate in the established context. His creative (and ultimately world-saving) interpretations of ineffability (more evident in the book rather than in the series) are a proof of that. In a way, he simply doesn’t have the luxury of discarding anything he’s been taught and coming up with something different. He has to function within the system to survive. And so he does. 

I like to think this is why the Arrangement worked so well for them, too. If they traded jobs not at random, but according to their unique skills, they’d get better results than doing everything themselves (aside of the benefits of not doing the things at all that would cancel each other out or only one having to travel). By their different intelligence types and ways of thinking, there will naturally be tasks that are easy for Crowley, but difficult for Aziraphale and vice versa. I imagine Aziraphale will be great at following along with the tasks that come with a more detailed script, while still bending the rules given in the assignment into something more desirable for him. Likewise, Crowley improvises all the time. A vaguely worded assignment will probably stress out Aziraphale, because he doesn’t know what is expected of him, but Crowley will strive on the freedom of interpreting it as suits his ideas. On the other hand, given too much freedom to be creative, Crowley will end up with one of those ridiculous complicated schemes that backfire on him as much as on everyone else. I can’t see that happening to Aziraphale. It’s not just that they balance each other out as friends/partners in a social context; they also really make a great working team.

If they played out their individual strengths right, they don’t only get to avoid some of their work, they also get better results. I don’t think this is something they’ll have been able to do from the start, they’d have to get to know each other’s working style and strengths first, but the Arrangement was on for a full thousand of years. Aziraphale is rather a good analytical thinker. Crowley is creative and puts in lots of effort to get the best credit he can while putting in the least amount of work possible. They’d figure out who does what best eventually.

It’s also something I think would give them an edge in a post-canon confrontation, should it come around. Not only do Heaven and Hell not really know them very well, but both of them also have lots of experience doing each other’s job, bending the rules and thinking outside the box. Heaven and Hell would be facing an angel who has been doing temptations for a millennium. A demon who knows how to do a blessing so well nobody ever caught on. Their (former) superiors don’t really know what they’re up against.

krakensdottir:

whispsofwind:

sylwritesstuff:

Newton Pulsifer is the smartest character in Good Omens. Change my mind.

I don’t think I can change your mind???

Out of all the characters, Newt is the one who is both book smarts (very good and quick at researching, able to draw correct conclusions with very little data, can think outside the box), and has some common sense (can be very practical if nothing else). He’s just very shy and awkward, possibly a bit spineless, and plagued by a curse that was funny in 1990 but actually quite upsetting in 2019 UK (just think how much is done online nowadays! Jobs, degrees, even healthcare).

Tracy is a woman of common sense but not exactly brilliant, Anathema is brilliant but limited by the narrow path set by her family, and Aziraphale and Crowley are incredibly intelligent and also incredibly dumb at the same time.

Newt is a smart cookie and deserves more love.

Newt compensates for being cursed in the 21st century by having the most actual practical intelligence of anyone in the story.

Now, obviously the celestial/infernal beings have some cognitive advantages over humans, if you’re going into what ‘smart’ means. If we were measuring breadth of knowledge and ability to bring it all together to solve complex problems, we’d be talking Aziraphale. If we’re talking creativity - especially as regards causing trouble, and then getting out of it - that’s Crowley. But both of them are also very used to relying on miracles, and so they’re prone to making very basic mistakes about how the world works.

Newt does not have that advantage. Newt is at a serious disadvantage when it comes to how the world works. So Newt makes the sensible decisions. Newt spots the obvious flaws. Newt knows when it’s time to Get The Hell Out. These are skills no one else in the story seems to have mastered. Newt is 1000% the only thing resembling a Voice Of Reason in Good Omens and I love him.

And he doesn’t even realize it! To be fair, I’m not sure if most of other characters are properly aware of their own brands of brilliance… Aziraphale doesn’t think highly of himself and his abilities because heaven messed with him for 6000 years, Crowley improvises so much, so it might feel to him more like he’s winging it… Anathema thinks she’s smart, but she also doesn’t trust herself to make actual decisions for herself.

Newt though! Newt looks like he’s bumbling about, but he’s really making the best of his less than ideal situations whenever we see him.

He also has the benefit of coming into the whole Armageddon thing as an outsider. Anathema studied the book her entire life, Aziraphale and Crowley are deeply involved in it as well, and they’re all stuck in their own perspective. Newt stumbles into it and first of all starts asking the right questions. He doesn’t go and discard any of what Anathema tell him as nonsense (which is what a lot of people would have done). No, he looks at what he’s dealing with and makes sensible deductions. “You can pick a card! Any card!” Anathema had based her whole life on following the book, but she didn’t consider something like that.

And even when he believes in the truthfulness of the prophecies, he doesn’t loose his critical head. He gets himself quite calmly worried about being shot, while Anathema is all “nah, Agnes would’ve told me if that were to happen” (when really Agnes is known to leave a lot of things out!). Anathema trusts the book. Newt trusts his own gut.

goldenaltar:

“I had an auto-repair man once, who, on these intelligence tests, could not possibly have scored more than 80, by my estimate. I always took it for granted that I was far more intelligent than he was. Yet, when anything went wrong with my car I hastened to him with it, watched him anxiously as he explored its vitals, and listened to his pronouncements as though they were divine oracles - and he always fixed my car.Well, then, suppose my auto-repair man devised questions for an intelligence test. Or suppose a carpenter did, or a farmer, or, indeed, almost anyone but an academician. By every one of those tests, I’d prove myself a moron, and I’d be a moron, too. In a world where I could not use my academic training and my verbal talents but had to do something intricate or hard, working with my hands, I would do poorly. My intelligence, then, is not absolute but is a function of the society I live in and of the fact that a small subsection of that society has managed to foist itself on the rest as an arbiter of such matters.Consider my auto-repair man, again. He had a habit of telling me jokes whenever he saw me. One time he raised his head from under the automobile hood to say: “Doc, a deaf-and-mute guy went into a hardware store to ask for some nails. He put two fingers together on the counter and made hammering motions with the other hand. The clerk brought him a hammer. He shook his head and pointed to the two fingers he was hammering. The clerk brought him nails. He picked out the sizes he wanted, and left. Well, doc, the next guy who came in was a blind man. He wanted scissors. How do you suppose he asked for them?”Indulgently, I lifted my right hand and made scissoring motions with my first two fingers. Whereupon my auto-repair man laughed raucously and said, “Why, you dumb jerk, He used his voice and asked for them.” Then he said smugly, “I’ve been trying that on all my customers today.”“Did you catch many?” I asked.“Quite a few,” he said, “but I knew for sure I’d catch you.”“Why is that?” I asked.“Because you’re so goddamned educated, doc, I knew you couldn’t be very smart.””

— Isaac Asimov (via skinnybaras)

There do not exist two distinct and separate types of mind, one for the arts and humanities, the other for the sciences… You must possess both intuition and imagination to be creative in the sciences as well as the arts… There is science in all good poetry and vice versa.

Albert Rosenfeld, The Creative Experience: Why and How Do We Create?

I’m wicked smart. They’ve always said that. My grades have never been stellar, but I have this ability to find the quickest, most effective path between two points and do exactly what’s necessary to take it. Really, I’m not into overachieving. Sometimes it means pushing myself, but usually it just means being deliberate in my actions. It’s weird. A lot of people perceive my actions as unstructured or random, but they really, truly are not. I meander, but I do so with purpose. I never did my homework because I realized that I didn’t need to. That I didn’t need straight As to get where I wanted to go. It just wasn’t necessary, so I didn’t strain myself. And for what it’s worth, I’ve almost always been right.

“even strength has to bow down to wisdom sometimes.”

⟶ annabeth chase | pjo.

humiliatorofsubs:

I see a lot of posts on here of slaves describing themselves as stupid and worthless, and while I understand the appeal of calling people those things; what I crave is an intelligent slave. I want someone who is witty, smart, the envy of those around her. I need someone who can push me to be better at what I do, who can engage me in conversations on a wide variety of topics, but who also wants nothing more than to be gagged, humiliated and used.

I want you to have a rich and full mind that I can explore and then use that mind to torment you. Physically I can hurt you and make you feel shame, but it’s your mind that is ultimately my greatest weapon. To learn the intimate details of the things that you crave deep down, that motivate you, and those that scare you and then pushing you to do things you would never have considered before just at the hope of hearing the words “good girl.“ I want to use your intelligence and creativity to come up with new ways to please me.

Now all I have to do is find the slave who has what I seek.

Devotional Training: For the intelligent slaves.

I’ve always loved the poem that Count Olaf recites to Kit just before he dies in The End, and by love of course, I mean I bawl my eyes out every single time I read it. He only reads the last stanza aloud, but here is the poem in its entirety:

         They fuck you up, your mum and dad.   
              They may not mean to, but they do.   
         They fill you with the faults they had
             And add some extra, just for you.

         But they were fucked up in their turn
             By fools in old-style hats and coats,   
         Who half the time were soppy-stern
            And half at one another’s throats.

         Man hands on misery to man.
             It deepens like a coastal shelf.
         Get out as early as you can,
             And don’t have any kids yourself.

                  - Philip Larkin

Obviously, we can understand why Handler didn’t want to include explicit profanity in a book written for middle grade children, but I really do love the fact that the first two stanzas are left unsaid and the reader, if interested actually has to go and research them and find them out for themself, because that is one of the points of the poem and one of the points of the series - that people don’t tell you the whole story and that things are always much more complicated than they seem - even things that seem like black and white morality are always so much more complicated.

Yes, your parents mess you up and ruin you, just like the Baudelaires find out in The Penultimate Peril and The End that their parents were not perfect and possibly even are the reason why all this horror has been happening to them, but the story is more complicated than that and the Baudelaires (and the readers) are left for themselves whether or not they want to leave it be - just read the last verse - or they want to explore for themselves and maybe not like what they find.

Ever since The Austere Academy, the Baudelaires have been told that the VFD was a noble organization and filled with volunteers that will help them, but the noble side of the VFD also produced lots of people who did horrible things: the Baudelaire parents, Jerome Squalor, Lemony and Kit Snicket. The VFD taught them to follow blindly and so they blindly followed and they accepted authority at its face value and as a result they became corrupted by those in power.

Ultimately, this poem is about the cycle of abuse and misery in this world. “Man hands misery onto man”, we inherit our trauma from each other and we create our own demons out of the demons that have been fed to us, and we tell ourselves that we won’t do the same, but we indubitably will. To be human is to be messed up, and the kindest thing you can do in life is to not bring any more people into the world.

But particularly interesting to me is Count Olaf’s recitation of the poem. Because in the passage, he’s not reciting it to to the Baudelaires, he’s reciting it to Kit, as she gives birth on a coastal shelf. On a personal, theoretical level, I have always used this as evidence that Beatrice II was Count Olaf’s biological daughter, but also it acts as a symbol of Count Olaf’s journey - he is an awful, awful man who has hurt the children put into his care time and time again and probably messed them up on some psychological level for the rest of their lives, but he too was messed up and turned out by the world by the people who raised and shaped him, and ultimately the root of evil goes back much further than we’d like to think. We’d like to think that Count Olaf is just a cruel, uncaring man who acts the way he does out of cold-blood, but the world doesn’t work that way and he’s trying to tell Kit that he is the way he is because of his history, that he was jaded by the world young and he never managed to escape, and that he’s not actually a bad man. But even as he recites the poem, he laughs, because he recognizes his complicity in everything - he has handed down his misery as well and he has brought a child into the world against all warning. It is him recognizing his crimes and his irony, something the Baudelaires and Kit never thought he would do.

It also serves a larger purpose in that Count Olaf has always been described as unintelligent and dismissive of intellect and reading and the orphans have always maintained that if a person is well-read they must be a good person and that reading is what makes people good. Because Count Olaf is not good, and yet he is able to recite an obscure poem - written by a librarian, no less - in the blink of an eye. Throughout the entirety of The End, Count Olaf has defied his stereotype by proving to be intelligent and capable of empathy and eschewing everything we thought we knew about him. Things are always more complicated than they seem and go back further than you’d like to think, and the world itself is a messed up place - a conundrum of esoterica, if you will - and defies any pithy explanation you might try and force upon it.

To be intelligent is not to be able to solve every riddle. It’s understanding what you want, and which riddles you need to crack to get it.