What do you mean by intelligent? What are the specific things you'd like to do better or more easily?
Possibly annoying: Can you set aside your concerns about being intelligent? It's at least possible that they're taking up some of your attention which could be better spent on the things you'd like to be intelligent about?
I'm sorry if I came across as wanting to be "smart" for some sort of status reason. I just have become remarkably aware of how often I tend to "zone out" how long it takes me to solve problems or make decisions.
I guess the initial intent of the post was to see if anybody has been where I've been and found a way out. A slow decline into cognitive stagnation, followed by, hopefully, a renewed passion for learning.
My interests are usually focused on electronics and engineering, but I get distracted by music, fictional literature, movies,...
If this post is inappropriate, I apologize.
I stumbled upon this site after reading "Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality". The story so far has really moved me on multiple levels and sent me here in a quest to learn more about rationality as a philosophy/way of thinking about the world. I have read Ayn Rands published works and loved the stories and most of the message. The characters always seemed like titans that were far and above me, but now, I've seen a character that is a bit more approachable.
I've started to go through the "Map and Territory" section of the "Core Sequences" and this whole project and community makes me ecstatic. I'm currently working my way through the Bayes's Theorem article with some success. The more I read, the more I realize I may have a problem.
I'm pretty dumb.
Is higher level reasoning "use it or lose it" ? I like learning new things and love reading but any new ideas require a ton of thought and re-reading. I think I have enough interest to keep plugging away at it, but I'm not sure I'm going at things the right way. Is there a "Kid's Table" for lesswrong.com?
For "Priors": I'm 28 years old, white male, married, no children, poor economic upbringing, solid emotional upbringing, currently lower to middle class, high school diploma, US Navy, currently a civilian electronics technician, raised Baptist currently Agnostic/Atheist (recently).
I guess that's it. Thanks!
--John