Pavel Pryanikov
Conservative-liberal American writer David Brooks in his book “Bobo in Paradise. Where the New Elite Comes From" not only ridicules, but rather satirically explains how the vanguard of the post-industrial world is being formed - hipsters, columnists, commentators, experts and observers. “Appearing to be” is the basis of their world.
David Brooks embodies the old type of Anglo-Saxon intellectual (although he is Jewish). A good Christian school, the University of Chicago, went through all the steps of the editorial-writing ladder. A conservative liberal, always doubting the choice between Republicans and Democrats. He is against teenage sex and divorce, but for gay equality and freedom of abortion.
In the book “Bobo in Paradise. Where does the new elite come from,” released in 2000, he describes the types of the post-industrial world and the general construct of this world, its illusory nature and simulation. Thirteen years ago, this book would not have been understood in Russia, but today millions of people in our country (especially in Moscow) can already easily recognize themselves in the pages of Brooks’ book.
In the passage below, Brooks describes the so-called. "modern intellectual":
So let's look at what life is like for, say, a young woman who has recently graduated from a prestigious university and dreams of becoming the Henry Kissinger of her generation. Her studies have burdened her with debts, and yet she gets a barely paid position as an intern at some trustworthy organization like the Brookings Institution. She'll start whipping up Nexis for some retired Commerce Secretary who spends three-quarters of his four-hour day preparing for a roundtable on "Where is NATO Heading?" Her mood will vary from euphoria to despair. Her famous boss can put her on the path to fame and fortune (if he puts in a good word for her with the political editor of the New York Times), but if he doesn't like her, he can block her path to becoming a political commentator, and then she will have to resign. documents for admission to law school.
The trainee will bend over backwards to earn the approval of the boss, and, having received it, will beam with joy, and not receiving it, plunge into the abyss of despair. To maintain self-respect, she will allow herself small rebellions after work. Having met with friends, she will begin to cruelly ridicule the boss whom she so wants to please. In the depths of every foundation, brain trust, publishing house, newspaper or magazine there are young trainees who aptly and caustically parody their superiors. For a careerist, mocking his superiors is something like blasphemy. Young servants of intellectual organizations gather at banquet tables at a reception in honor of the opening of a conference or book presentation and, chewing free shrimp, mercilessly gossip about their carefree hosts.
Fortunately, this initial period of anguish and anxiety usually does not last long. When our young intellectual has passed this stage, she will begin to experience a somewhat exaggerated sense of her own importance, which will become the main source of her self-satisfaction for the rest of her life. Her first full-time job will be called "assistant." But don't let the quiet job title fool you. In most intellectual organizations, the most difficult work - research, comprehension, writing - is assigned to the youngest. Thus, a two-tier system is emerging, where on the first level the stage workers are young, upwardly mobile intellectuals who collect and process information; and on the second, the luminaries are recognized intellectuals, government officials, magazine editors, university presidents, heads of foundations and politicians, whose main job is to shine at various events, announce the results of research, give reports and put forward proposals selected and written for them by workers scenes.
Celebrities attend meetings, appear on the evening news, speak at fundraising forums, chair panel discussions, and conduct interviews. Everything that is done for them, they pass off as their own. When they're not posing for photographers from the U.S. News and World Report, they're on the phone. Often their working day goes like this: three hours of phone calls, a lunch break and another four hours on the phone. On the phone they complain to each other about how they don’t have enough time to read and how they wait for the weekend to lie down with a book. Surprisingly, their existence turns out to be turned inside out. The luminaries get fame and contacts, the stagehands are in charge of what is said on the merits.
At this stage of her career, the young intellectual finds herself writing derogatory memoranda and scathing columns in which people forty years her senior are harshly criticized for incompetence and cowardice. It is she who evaluates new proposals, companies, scripts and resumes of applicants for teaching positions that come to the luminary’s desk. In a certain sense, this is the peak of her real power. For example, several years ago, a friend of mine, working under a top manager, wrote an article for him in one of the leading magazines about a bill that was being considered in Congress. After some time, my friend joined the team of the presidential candidate. And when the top manager sent his column to the candidate, my friend had to write a commendable review on behalf of the politician to the article he had written.
The price for such pleasures is the petty humiliations that the stagehand is forced to endure. Our heroine has to jostle among a host of hangers-on as her luminary walks through the corridors. In addition, luminaries walk lightly and, in order to show their vitality, walk quite quickly. The assistant, in addition to her own documents, carries the documents of her luminary, and she has to awkwardly keep up with her fast-moving boss. It happens that the luminary leaves the office or gets into the car and closes the door behind him. The unfortunate assistant has to shift folders from one hand to the other in order to open the door and remind the luminary of her existence.
And yet this stage of her career is extremely important, because it is in the role of errand girl that the young intellectual begins to correctly assess the weight of the players on the field. Thanks to the position of her famous boss, the young woman gains access to people and institutions that would be closed to her if she did not have connections.
Meeting editors and others will come in handy when she decides to pursue a career as a public intellectual. The turning point comes a few years later, when she is already 28 and it’s time to break away from the luminary and start going on stage on her own. If she does not act out this difficult act of self-exclusion, she will forever remain an assistant. Her ability to think independently will begin to fade. When answering a question addressed to her personally, she will increasingly use the pronoun “we”: “We published an essay on this topic a few weeks ago.” As a result, she will cease to distinguish between her status and that of her star boss (self-aggrandizement is the opium of the anonymous stagehand).
Subject niche
Having gained freedom, the intellectual faces the need to decide on a specialization. Specialization is needed to carve out a niche in the market, and when talk show editors, publishers, or research institutes look for someone knowledgeable about, say, China's nuclear program, her name would come up first. This is not an easy choice. The young intellectual will have to forecast the demand - thousands of intellectuals plowed the virgin field of arms control until, with the end of the Cold War, it narrowed to a cramped bed. We must also not forget about the proposal - if ten thousand young intellectuals are already writing books on the theory of civil society and communitarianism, should she join this rank?
Here you need to show instinct, because in the intellectual arena it is sometimes better to follow the majority. The more people specialize in civil society, the more conferences are organized on civil society issues, the more people speak out on this topic, the more specialists are needed to comment on or challenge these statements. Since everyone in this segment reads (slightly) more than they write, each new player increases the demand for criticism and roundtables on the topic. Say's law applies here: the more people talk, the more they have to say.
The young intellectual will need to evaluate the prestige and visibility of his market niche. During the Cold War, finding a prestigious specialization was not difficult. It was enough to draw up a schedule, and the highest point was the issues of international economic policy, which cannot do without banks. An expert in the flow of money between East and West could be sure that at numerous conferences the doors of Kempinski hotels with rooms at $300 a night would be open for him from Budapest to Jakarta. Accordingly, the further you are from international politics and banks, the lower the prestige of specialization. At the very bottom, topics languished that had nothing to do with banks - social security and the problem of abortion. Conferences on these issues were attended by poorly shaven people in ill-fitting jackets with hangnails on their fingers.
However, with the end of the Cold War, everything changed. International relations lost prestige, and the importance of issues of domestic politics and education increased. Now an expert on Latin America can wait years for a call from program producer Jim Lehrer, but an expert on racial issues receives MacArthur Foundation grants almost every month.
A young intellectual needs an industry that is in the news. She can choose the federal budget because it is discussed annually. But this subject is so specialized that the chances of getting out of analytical radio programs and talk shows on federal channels are quite small. She may become an expert on the Middle East, but imagine peace descending on the region - it would be a disaster. Some young intellectuals are developing plans to transform the UN or restructure student loans, but this, as a rule, leads to nothing, since the political initiatives of scientists are few taken seriously, and the intellectuals promoting them, due to constant refusals, become too intrusive.
On the other hand, there is a temptation to become an expert in an area that is always in the news. There are intellectuals who are ready to become experts on issues that truly interest media workers, on teenage sexuality, for example. However, the desire of such intellectuals for fame is all too obvious. These are, as a rule, specialists who indicate their scientific credentials on the covers of their books after their names. It is still better to specialize in more prestigious issues, and then the discussion on the topic of teenage sexuality in a popular information and analytical program with your participation will seem a little more respectable.
At the same time, our debutante must understand that specialization is a tool, a help for aspiring intellectuals. When she becomes famous, producers and editors will call her without any specialization. Her name will be enough for them. And then she will be able to move away from her expert field as far as she likes and give comments on literally all issues. The market itself will encourage her to do this - she will simply be asked about everything in the world. And if she refuses to answer under the pretext of her incompetence, this will cause resentment. She will be perceived as a pompous prude.
Behavior
Having decided on a specialization, the young intellectual needs to find the right behavior. You can succeed in the intellectual market with ideas of any kind: there are fabulously successful intellectuals among both moderates and radicals. Behavior can also be very diverse - both good-natured and angry ones achieve success. But if your ideas don't match your personality, you won't be able to succeed. You cannot be a soft radical, just as you cannot be harsh and angry while holding moderate views. The public does not favor such eccentrics.
The main task of radicals on the level of Noam Chomsky or Gordon Liddy is to wander through shabby classrooms and remind their listeners that they are, in fact, telling the whole truth, even if mainstream culture does not pay enough attention to them. The radical builds his career on the premise that the world is going to hell, and that the masses are being fooled by the insidious ruling elite into holding incorrect opinions. Therefore, to succeed, a radical must be constantly out of sorts. His audience expects from him ardor tinged with paranoia, the broadest encyclopedic knowledge (so that the intellectual can see the truth through the false networks set by the establishment) and a willingness to defend his irreconcilable position.
To enter the caste of heroes, a radical must demonstrate his contempt for fashion. It's not difficult - you just need to stock up on brown shirts or huge heavy shoes. Things that even fans of the Brooks Brothers brand would consider unfashionable are par for the course among radical bookworms and consumers of radical thought. In addition, radicals have to constantly look for new victims to attack among universally revered figures, so that everyone can see that their contempt for fashion in all its forms remains undiminished, even despite collaborations with publications like Vanity Fair.
For a similar reason, professors unaware of the needs are forced to look for increasingly extreme topics - sadomasochism, gay communities - for their research. Artists also have to raise increasingly painful questions. A radical who accidentally drifts into the mainstream is immediately declared a cowardly careerist, loses contact with his audience, and with it grants from various foundations and prospects for professional growth. Moreover, the radical intellectual must not only say what pleases his supporters, he must also annoy his opponents in word or deed. Just courting a devoted audience will not achieve great success.
In turn, if opponents begin to throw mud at him in response, then the audience, patrons, and officials in various foundations will all come to his defense. He will become a symbol, a man who will win the hearts of the public, who will be willing to fork out money just to buy his books or go to his lecture. When he is introduced, the audience gives a standing ovation because in their minds the very thought of him is sacred. (After the performance, there is often only lukewarm applause, since in an intellectual battle the audience values fighting qualities more than intelligence itself.)
For the mudslinging to be credible, radical intellectuals must pair themselves with a public figure on the opposite end of the political spectrum - Jerry Falwell and Norman Lear, gay activists and Operation Rescue figures. By maintaining this symbolic symbiosis, both sides are able to raise funds and repel each other's attacks. They go out of their way to anger their opponents - for this they are ready to put a crucifix in a jar of urine or plan some kind of action similar to this. As a result, for two weeks in a row they will exchange accusations live on various talk shows, and the armies of their supporters will mobilize and close ranks. Each side will claim a more complete contempt for fashion, and if one opponent takes center stage in the debate, the other will instantly declare himself a victim of persecution.
So, while the radical intellectual is a passionate debater and an eternally dissatisfied skeptic, the moderate intellectual must be polite, gentle and unhurried. The audience of moderates is generally satisfied consumers who are irritated by commentators who cause so much noise and disharmony. Moderate audiences want polite exchanges and are more impressed by sophistication than reckless rhetoric. They like friendly intellectuals, from whom one can hear, for example, the phrase: “I am ready to identify with the remarks formulated by Mr. Moyers during his unexpected statement.” The moderate intellectual, on the other hand, is so confident in his own importance that he doesn’t have to be interesting at all. That’s why he speaks quietly and slowly, as if from a high peak. For this, he is revered as a deep thinker, even if no one remembers a single thought he expressed.
Access to the market
If you decide that an intellectual first chooses a specialization and hones his manners, and only then enters the market of the thinking public, then this idea is wrong. Production and marketing in this case develop in parallel, and these processes are interdependent. Our young intellectual is already in her early thirties, but she still spends most of her time at her desk. To get on TV or join the list of lecturers, she needs to publish more to be noticed and remembered. At first, it seems to her that if she manages to publish one truly noticeable material in a reputable publication, her career growth is guaranteed. But she is wrong. When one fine morning Harper's appears on sale with her first big essay, it will seem to her that the world has changed. But the people around will not notice anything like this and will live as before, and treat her the same way as yesterday. Many will not even pay attention to the article - and after all, she gave her several weeks of life - and those who read it will perceive it as just another sparkle in an endless stream of media confetti.
Nevertheless, it is necessary to print. New York Times, Wall Street Journal, L.A. The Times and other newspapers and magazines receive hundreds of thousands of submissions each year, and regular publications in these publications are a way of reminding the world and other intellectuals of their existence. So, within the first few hours after a high-profile event, such as the announcement of a court decision on the issue of homosexual marriage, our intellectual calls the right deputy editor of the right department and reports that the television smart guys, as usual, got everything wrong. Print editors love it when people tell them that, it gives them confidence that Geraldo Rivera and other TV characters won't take away the rest of their bread.
By the way, she will mention that she is friends with the publisher (the editor, of course, will doubt it, but what the hell is not joking). Mindful of the fact that you can't praise yourself, she will convince the editor that "this material will take the discussion to a new level." She'll tell you how she'll weave a reference to a pop culture story into the narrative, comparing the Supreme Court to the hero of a recent box office leader. Editors like this integration with other branches of the media, firstly, because it can become a topic for illustration of the material, and secondly, there is a popular misconception among them that links to pop culture sharply increase the readability index. Besides, this is exactly the kind of creepy mix of high and low that bobo intellectuals are happy to resort to in order to prove to everyone that they are not boring or arrogant at all.
The editor gives the preliminary go-ahead, the time has passed: the young intellectual must write the material in four hours, that is, spread her thoughts throughout the tree, as in a monthly gloss it will not work. However, the material should be built like Chartres Cathedral. The style should be strong and solid, but easily perceived, like Gothic lace. The first two paragraphs are a facade, brilliant and all-encompassing. The next few are the approach to the main altar, a direct path to the predictable climax, during which you can also look at the wonderful side chapels. As a result, the last paragraph should resemble stepping out into a transept, with light flooding you from all sides. Also, as suggested by journalist Michael Kinsley, semicolons should be avoided as they can be perceived as campy. It would be a good idea to pepper the article with moderation in autobiographical data so that the reader wants to read the paragraph “About the author.” If the article mentions a celebrity - for example, a recently deceased politician - the author needs to insert some minor detail about their last meeting or the feelings she experienced upon learning of the death.
But to attract maximum attention, the article must be slightly absurd. Logically structured articles are read, understood and forgotten. But contradictory or absurd essays cause dozens of other authors to become indignant and write a response, thereby increasing the public outcry tenfold. Yale professor Paul Kennedy had a distinguished but less than stellar career behind him when he wrote The Rise and Fall of Great Powers, which predicted America's decline. He was wrong, as hundreds of commentators hastened to assure him, which glorified the author and made his book a bestseller. Francis Fukuyama wrote an essay called “The End of History,” and those who read only the title also thought that the author was in a hurry. Thousands of opponents wrote response texts, claiming that history continues, and Fukuyama has become a world celebrity.
When the article was published, the young intellectual would need to inform the editor of the powerful effect the material had on the White House/Federal Reserve/movie industry, or what it was supposed to do there. If she has good connections with other intellectuals, she will gradually be praised. Praise and appreciation are the currency of the thinking class. Just as intellectuals in the fifties constantly cursed each other, so today's intellectuals do nothing but engage in mutual praise. Since a kind word, which, in essence, costs nothing, can win favor, praise is distributed right and left, which leads to an inflation of kind words. The value of every unit of flattery is diminishing, and soon intellectuals will have to drag a cartload of praise to express their approval.
To get any accurate data regarding the positive evaluation of her article, the young intellectual will need to apply the deflationary praise formula. “I liked the article” means: “I saw it, but didn’t read it.” “Wonderful article” - “I started and read halfway, but I don’t remember what it was about.” “Amazing material” - “read to the end.” And only the highest form of reader praise: “The material is simply outstanding; you have expressed my long-standing thoughts,” can convince the author of her sincerity.
If we're lucky, our intellectual will be offered to write a column. This may seem like a desirable peak, but a dozen authors squeeze wealth and fame out of their columns, while the remaining thousands vegetate in voluntary slavery, doomed, like circus lions, to go on stage once a week and entertain the respectable audience. Those who succeed in this matter have excellent knowledge of one subject: their own judgments. This is not as simple as it seems, since most people's opinions remain a mystery to themselves until someone puts them into words. But a columnist, having read an article about brain neurosurgery in 20 minutes, will be able to give a lecture at a conference on neurosurgery, in which he will outline the main problems of the profession.
The next step for an intellectual deprived of such a gift is to write a book. In addition to the primary literary question - who will advertise her - our newly minted writer should take care of three important aspects: publishing house, title and a phrase that will be etched in the reader’s memory. It’s easy to trace a writer’s career through publishing houses. Her first such labor-intensive book will be published by the University of Chicago Press. The next major work will be released by W.W. Norton. Her thoughtful and authoritative book will be published by Simon & Schuser or Knopf, and at the end of a brilliant career, Random House will release a million copies of her mega-popular memoir.
The first book will begin with the word “The End...”. Such hysteria has an important effect of dramatic irrevocability: few will remember the book “Limping Ideology,” but “The End of Ideology” will be referred to decades later, even if its contents are completely forgotten. The main difficulty is to find something that is not over yet. History, equality, racism, tragedy and politics have already been sorted out, and everything else has been buried in books whose titles begin with the word “Death...”. "The end of gardening"? No, that's not what bestsellers are called.
If the "end" strategy doesn't work, our writer can use an approach pioneered by Leon Uris in a series of super-popular novels and then by Thomas Cahill in the field of journalism. This approach can be conditionally designated as ethnic sycophancy and put into practice by calling the book approximately “The Irish are wonderful, but the English are so-so,” and then release a sequel under the title “Great Jews.” The demographic groups willing to pay for such sycophancy will last the writer for many years - “The smart ones buy books” - and where will the New York Review of Books find a critic willing to refute this?
A wise man once proclaimed that the greatest strength of a writer is that he can choose among those who will appropriate him. When choosing a topic for his first book, a writer is choosing an audience to whom he may have to fawn for the rest of his days. However, before starting a career with a study of “The Secret Anxieties of Cats,” the writer needs to remember the letters of cat-loving readers and soberly assess the degree of his detachment.
When our intellectual goes on tour to promote her book, she'll need a catchy catchphrase that talk show hosts can respond to a second before a commercial break and use to restart the conversation. For the educated public, such a phrase can be a moderately sophisticated paradox, preferably in the wake of Bobo’s passion for the reconciliation of opposites. Based on this, the writer might say that her book is an argument for sustainable development, cooperative individualism, the socially oriented market, free governance, compassionate conservatism, practical idealism, or flexible devotion. The most successful of the oxymorons, "Simple Abundance" Sarah Ban Breathnach used for her bestseller, "Complicated Poverty" is unlikely to work anymore.
If the phrase is not invented, and our writer has not yet become a TV celebrity, she may have to get naked. This, of course, does not mean that she will have to literally take off her clothes (although that is exactly what Elizabeth Wurtzel, and not only she, did). Rather, like a movie star who shamelessly poses for Vanity Fair during a period of career stagnation, a writer may engage in literary exhibitionism in order to attract attention. She will tell grateful viewers the secrets of her orgasm, and better yet, even the sexual preferences of her predatory stepfather. If she was ever lucky enough to work in Hollywood or on Wall Street, she will reveal the most delicate secrets of her mentor, who once brought her into the public eye, the company that put him on his feet, and, in extreme cases, the husband who loved her .
(The book “Bobo in Paradise. Where the New Elite Comes From” was published with the support of the Iris Foundation for the Development and Support of Art)
The word “intellectual” is somehow incomprehensible, distorted and distorted. Who is an intellectual? Someone who has read a lot, received a good education, preferably in the humanities, travels a lot, knows several languages, smokes a pipe rather than a cigarette, does not swear, prefers a classic suit, prefers walking along the Nevsky to an unbridled pastime (after all, all intellectuals live in St. Petersburg, this a well-known fact), and his social circle consists entirely of professors, politicians and, in general, important people.
Of course, this is complete nonsense - you can have all this and be a real animal. Or, on the contrary, you can have nothing like that and be a true intellectual.
Education cannot be confused with intelligence
At one time, one of the most talented and smartest people of the past era, Academician Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev, thought about this question in “Letters about the Good and the Beautiful.” Now he was a lump, a real thoroughbred intellectual, who did not lose his self-esteem either in the camps or in the oppressive reality. So, Dmitry Sergeevich said absolutely the right thing: “Education cannot be confused with intelligence. Education lives by old content, intelligence - by creating something new and recognizing the old as new.” Now it is clear? A certificate of higher education and conversations with a candidate of philosophical sciences during the test cannot automatically equate you to the elite. An intellectual works on himself all the time, every minute, increasing the amount of knowledge and trying to learn as much as possible. And not only on his professional path - that would be wrong. It’s great if you are a linguist and constantly monitor the development of the language. But if there is nothing but foreign words in your head, if you do not understand the world in which you live, and do not strive to understand the morals, habits and ideals of the people who surround you from 8:00 to 19:00, then your worth is worthless. education.
The desire to know and learn distinguishes the inquisitive mind from the philistine. But the average person will not become an intellectual. And the point is not even that most diplomas are obtained even through absenteeism, purchased sessions and unprofessionalism of teachers. It's about the brain.
An ordinary, uneducated, without good manners, eating with his hands and having read in his life only “Kashtanka” and an article about Alla Pugacheva’s husbands in “Komsomolskaya Pravda,” the goner can become an intellectual if he comes to his senses in time. If he wants to change and begins to greedily, like an excavator bucket, scoop up knowledge, then welcome to the club of the noble. As Dmitry Sergeevich said:
Let him forget everything in the world, he will not know the classics of literature, will not remember the greatest works of art, will forget the most important historical events, but if at the same time he retains sensitivity to intellectual values, love of acquiring knowledge, interest in history, aesthetic sense, he will be able to distinguish a real work of art from a crude “thing” made only to surprise, if he can admire the beauty of nature, understand the character and individuality of another person, enter into his position, and having understood the other person, help him, will not show rudeness, indifference, gloating, envy, but will appreciate the other person if he shows respect to the culture of the past, the skills of an educated person, responsibility in resolving moral issues, the richness and accuracy of one’s language - spoken and written - this will be an intelligent person.
It all starts with attitude towards people
Of course, knowledge alone will not be enough. Well, you know Gilyarovsky’s work, but what next? Who will communicate with you if, with your intellect, you behave like an arrogant abstruse scoundrel who does not respect anyone in the world except those who are able to crush you with their intellect? At the same time, you become indignant and whine, valuing your own reputation much more than the truth. Do you happen to have ? Intelligence is the ability to understand another person. You know, the problem with those people who are now commonly called by this very binding word is precisely that they behave like pigs.
Even the wisest person allows himself to jump up and express his “fi” when the interlocutor expresses a different point of view. People have practically forgotten how to argue, conduct a discussion and respect their interlocutor. They don't know how to listen. It is important to understand that people tend to make mistakes or express a different point of view. But what do they usually do with people who are “wrong”? They are called degenerates. Moreover, the same people who, having put on a tie, convince of their own intelligence. A true intellectual is tolerant, he considers someone else’s point of view, tries to understand how the interlocutor came to such a life. This is a tolerant attitude towards the world and people. Today, these words only prove that the entire intelligentsia, having picked up the instruments of intolerance, rushed to throw slop at opponents on the other side of the contrived barricades.
Reason and personal freedom are paramount
Wise people said that an angry reaction to the environment, rudeness and lack of understanding of others is a sign of mental and spiritual weakness, human inability to live. That is, if you cannot find a common language with people and react sharply to stupidity, then what can you talk about? You are a person, as they say, “impoverishing your life and preventing others from living.” There is no inner beauty in you, no matter how you look at it. Nobody says that you need to hide in a cave and endure it. It’s just that your every protest, your every indignation must be justified. There is no need to throw hysterics if you were pushed on a tram, there is no need to go to a rally if someone said that they live unfairly somewhere. Every action must be thought out, try not to violate the laws of human society. You can't please everyone, so you need to try to please good people. What do you need for this? To do this, personal freedom must be respected. Someone generally puts the feeling of freedom at the forefront of the issue of intellectuals and intelligence. An intellectual is free from a lot of things that others are dependent on. His mind is pure, bright and not polluted by the ugly world and fashion. The only thing that should keep him in check is his conscience, if he has one, of course.
It may seem that the intellectual is some kind of spineless mumbler, but nothing of the kind. He loves himself and should love himself. He puts talent at the forefront of everything, because it allows you to create and create, and without this, alas, there is no way. As Chekhov wrote in a letter to his brother Nikolai: “If they have talent, they respect it. They sacrifice peace, women, wine, vanity for him... They are proud of their talent.”
Who else if not you
You look and understand - there are no intellectuals left. Uprooted by the roots. Some will say that times have changed the understanding of this concept, but all this is nonsense. The standards don't change, people just get worse. What are they needed for? In order to sow “reasonable, kind, eternal” in society, especially in those countries that lay claim to something. And the best part is that you can become this shepherd of the lost flock. The main thing is to show desire.
We all want to be smart, to shine with ingenuity, wit and intelligence, but only a select few like Nikolai Baskov and Gennady Onishchenko succeed in this. Read this article - and the world in your head will sparkle with new convolutions.
Alexander Kanygin
1. Read more
The more complex and unusual the books are, the better. Complex constructions, long, detailed sentences, rare words, abstruse articles from our magazine and especially poetry - a real “Rastishka” for your brain.
2. Drumming on the table
Better yet, make it a rule to accompany the music you hear: on your knee, on the table top, or on a freshly bought tom-tom - it doesn’t matter. With your palms or chopsticks. Neuroscientist Anirudh Patel from San Diego believes that the sense of rhythm plays an important role in learning. After all, the basal ganglia, the lobes of the brain involved in motor functions, are responsible for it.
3. Listen to classical music
Especially Mozart. In 1995, psychologist Frances Rauscher tricked thirty rats into a room. For two months the Sonata for two pianos in C major was periodically played there. After the experiment, it turned out that the animals began not only to dance better, but also to run the maze faster and with fewer errors than another group of rats who lived in silence for these two months.
4. Train your memory
London taxi drivers, for example, have an enlarged hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for emotions and memory. Why are you worse?
■ Bookmark the website brainscale.ru. There you will find one of the versions of the “N back” task, developed in 1958 to study and stimulate the activity of certain areas of the brain, the development of working memory, logical thinking and the ability to concentrate. Try to take the test every day, spending a few minutes at the beginning of the day and the same at the end. According to a 2008 study by Suzanne Yeggi, regular training in this task can significantly develop fluid intelligence, expand a person's working memory, improve logical thinking and the ability to concentrate.
■ Having made a list of products that you need to buy, re-read it several times and try to remember not their names, but your future path through different departments in the store. After collecting everything in your cart and standing in line, try to calculate the total amount in your head. If she later turns out to be correct, you can buy yourself a spinach bush as a reward: it is good for memory.
■ Set aside half an hour every day to memorize poetry. The last time you did this was in kindergarten, but all the words flew out of your head the moment the official part of the holiday ended and the coffin was lowered into the ground. The content of the poems does not play any role.
5. Drink coffee
Caffeine stimulates the release of the neurotransmitters dopamine and norepinephrine, which help you stay alert and focused longer. It is important not to overdo it: a very large dose of caffeine will make you overexcited and unable to think rationally. Caffeine in doses of more than 300 mg (four cups of natural coffee) per day will cause anxiety, headache, tremor, and arrhythmia.
6. Albert Einstein
Theoretical physicist, Nobel Prize winner:
“Intellectual growth should begin at birth and end only at death. Knowing where to find information and how to use it is the secret to success. The mind, once expanded its boundaries, will never return to its former limits. Outstanding personalities are formed not through beautiful speeches, but through their own work and its results.”
7. Marcus Porcius Cato
Elder statesman, writer:
“A wise man learns more from fools than fools from a wise man.”
8. Play chess, checkers and poker
These games can not only make you richer, but also perfectly develop your thinking. If you think you play chess too well, try playing against the clock so that it takes no more than a minute to make a decision.
9. Develop your numbers sense
Yes, yes, you already have this. Take a handful of change out of your pocket, glance at it briefly and try to count the total amount from memory. Véronique Isgard, a cognitive psychologist at Harvard, found that ancient brain structures are responsible, about a quazillion years old (is there such a number? We're bad at that), but they can develop throughout life. To check how developed your brain is at the moment, take a short test or a large-scale test, the results of which will even be preserved in the annals of an American university and will help move science forward. Well, then - develop the CH. The easiest way is to pack things in a bag. When you figure out how best to squeeze them in, your brain solves the most complex problems and trains.
10. Feed your brain correctly!
Especially if you still can’t fully recite a single poem from the school curriculum, and Facebook reminds you of the birthdays of your friends.
■ Walnuts. Almost the main food for an erudite! They even look like a brain. Five nuts a day - and you will be provided with lecithin, which improves brain function and activates memory. Nuts are also useful if you suddenly live in conditions of increased radiation.
■ Fish. Lacissistic and cold, it is rich in iodine, its meat contains omega-3 fatty acids, which provide a rapid flow of energy necessary for the transmission of impulses in brain cells. They also regulate blood cholesterol levels and improve vascular function. If you eat at least 100 grams of fish a day, your reaction speed will increase and you will reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.
■ Pumpkin seeds. Pour half a glass into your jacket pocket and during office scandals, improve your memory and force your brain to think faster. All thanks to zinc.
■ Spinach. Add it to your morning omelet two to three times a week. Lutein contained in spinach will protect brain cells from premature aging.
■ Sage. Johns Hopkins University found that sage suppresses the action of amino acids responsible for memory impairment. Now they drink tea with sage every day and everyone remembers everyone.
11. Try to guess the next phrase of the interlocutor
Rebecca Seix from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is confident that with proper training, people will be able to understand others without words at all - by facial expression, gaze and other similar signs. The section of the brain responsible for this is located behind the right ear and is responsible for intuition.
12. Start a blog
By talking about the events of the day in it, you will not only learn to clearly formulate your thoughts, but you will also constantly think about new topics and poignant answers to questions from loyal readers.
13. Koichi Tohei
Writer, Aikido master, holder of 10th dan, founder of the Ki-Aikido Style Kii Society “Reading is the cornerstone of intelligence. Fill your free time by reading all kinds of books. Read novels, non-fiction, biographies. First, skim through the book quickly to get a general idea of it. If you think it makes sense, read it again. The result will be an increased ability of your brain to adapt to different circumstances and organize a wide variety of data.”
14. Solve crossword puzzles
Surprisingly, it works: serious crossword puzzles greatly stimulate brain function.
15. Konstantin Sheremetyev
Researcher, author of the “Intelligence” project (), author of the books “The Perfect Brain: How to Control the Subconscious” and “How to Become Smarter”:
“Some people think that if at school he was good at solving problems in mathematics or something like that, then he is smart and will remain so forever. This is utter nonsense. If you pump up your muscles at the age of 18, and then lie down on the sofa and forget about them, then very soon they will atrophy. And the same thing happens with the efficiency of the brain.”
To the answer!
Konstantin Sheremetyev intelligently answers our stupid questions.
Who can be considered smart?A person who uses his brain to solve everyday problems. The main mental activity takes place in the subconscious. They don't teach how to handle it in school, so most people's brains run idle. He doesn't help them in life in any way. And the main purpose of intelligence is to ensure survival. Therefore, to evaluate a person’s intelligence, remember the rule: the result of the work of the intellect is a change in the material world. Survival? Then who is smarter - an office worker or a hunter in the wild?
Oddly enough, the brain does not distinguish between these types of activities. Both need to explore their surroundings and learn to operate effectively in that environment. How many minutes or hours a day should you devote to brain training?
The brain works around the clock. The only question is what kind of load you give him. If you look at life critically, look for what you want to do, realize yourself, then your brain begins to work to its fullest. If there is no mental load, he atrophies and is only capable of thinking according to a template. You developed an emergency response program for astronauts. Are they smarter than those who have not been in space?
I entered knowledge in various fields into the artificial intelligence system so that in a dangerous situation it would suggest the right decision. But you can save useful tips for all occasions in your phone. Then, for example, in the event of an accident, you will know exactly what to do.
16. Learn a foreign language
Andrea Macelli, a doctor of neuroscience at the University of London, shows that people who speak several foreign languages find it easier to switch between different mental tasks. An additional impetus for the development of your brain will be given by a new way of learning unknown foreign words.
■ For example, learning a language using parallel translations. On the site getparalleltranslations.com you will find books on the pages of which English and Russian texts are simultaneously posted. Essentially, these are the same credits with which you love to watch the latest TV series.
■ Slovak web developer Vojtek Rinik believes that words should be learned before they appear in a book. Surprised by his advice, you should feed the unfamiliar text to the wordsfromtext.com service, in response it will generate a list of the most commonly used words and invite you to mark the unfamiliar ones in it. If desired, you can print them out with a translation, memorize them, and then attack unsuspecting literature fully armed.
17. Install a smart app for yourself
Feeling an unpleasant pulsation in our too-fast-growing brain, we turned to our mobile phone screens, hoping to find salvation in some mind-numbing game. But what is it? And on mobile devices you can’t take a single step away from the dominance of educational programs!
Memory trainer. Consistently memorize the presses of multi-colored buttons and repeat them. Essentially, this is the same “N back” task disguised as a game.
Einstein. Training for the mind. HD collection of 30 exercises for the development of logic, memory, counting and attention.
Brain of a Genius. A variation on the theme of the famous logical problem, created, according to legend, by Einstein because he did not want to go to kindergarten.
18. Don't waste time
If you have a free minute at work and you want to look at a couple of meters of funny pictures, it’s better to open Wikipedia and read a “random” article.
19. Walk
It is enough to walk around the house three times a week for half an hour to concentrate your attention, learn and think abstractly by 15%. And it’s not just about the flow of oxygen to your neurons that have withered in the stuffy office: scientists from the Salk Institute have proven that moderate physical activity in the fresh air causes the brain to grow new cells.
20. Give your brain a rest
No matter how busy you are, during mental activity you definitely need to rest every hour and a half. For example, do simple physical exercises or just walk along the corridor and drink a cup of coffee. Consider it a necessity. This way, the analytical centers of the brain better digest the accumulated information and, no, no, and even come to some unexpected conclusion.
21. Stimulate your brain
If you ignored all our advice, and tomorrow is the championship final “What? Where? When?" League of classmates, there is another way to shake out the fat on the brain convolutions.
■ Neurometabolic stimulants, also known as nootropics, will help to urgently increase IQ - drugs that have an activating effect on memory and mental activity. Note: completely legal. The words to search in a pharmacy are: phenotropil, allertek, deprenil. You can also try phenibut, but, unlike previous drugs, it is taken in a course of 2-3 weeks; a one-time use will not give the desired result. And it should be like this: lack of desire to drop everything and go to sleep, increased reaction speed, slight irritability and the feeling that you are smarter than everyone around. There is, however, a small problem. “The effect of nootropics on the brain has not yet been fully studied,” says Konstantin Anokhin, head of the laboratory of memory neurobiology at the Institute of Normal Physiology of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences. And one more thing: do not confuse nootropics with dietary supplements. These will also make you smarter for a while, but they act differently, and their effect is weaker. These are, say, ginkgo biloba, guarana, eleutherococcus and ginseng root.
22. Play Tetris
A study by American scientists has shown that this classic puzzle can have a positive effect on human brain development. Testing has confirmed that regular practice of playing Tetris can increase the volume of gray matter in a player's brain and improve his thinking abilities. The brains of people who played the puzzle for half an hour a day for three months underwent changes in areas related to movement, critical thinking, reasoning, language and information processing.
23. Leonardo da Vinci
Artist, inventor, scientist, writer:
“Iron rusts without finding any use, stagnant water rots or freezes in the cold, and a person’s mind withers.”
24. Anatoly Wasserman
Journalist, political consultant:
“Read and look more, try to find connections and analogies between different knowledge - and pretty soon you will feel what other gaps should be filled in order to understand more. Without intelligence, everything else is simply useless. Being smart is not only fashionable, but also very pleasant. In my experience, what interests you is better remembered. Be curious - and effortlessly remember everything that turns out to be curious. But in order to preserve memory, you need to actively work and have diverse interests. Then a lot will be remembered, and memory will be a reliable support.”
25. Get a good night's sleep
It is during sleep that the brain processes the information collected during the day and forms memories. According to researchers at the University of California at Berkeley, an adult usually needs 6 to 8 hours of sleep.
26. Read in new ways
You, of course, have already skimmed this advice and moved on to the next one. Try going back and doing this.
■ Take a pencil and, moving it under the line, read the text. The eye, having caught the movement, will run after the pointer, while reading everything that you slipped it. Each time, speed up the movement of the pencil - this way your eyes will get used to the increased load, your reading speed will increase, and you will be able to absorb information faster.
■ 80% of people pronounce words in their minds when reading. You acquired this bad habit while learning to read: you spoke the text letter by letter, then by syllables, then put them into words. But this is not at all necessary for understanding. To combat your inner voice, learn to read the text while counting to thirty or singing (you can without words) a song. For a week or two you won’t understand the content of the text, but gradually everything will return to normal.
■ According to physiologists, when a person sees something exciting, the pupils reflexively dilate. When you reach an interesting place in the text, the same thing happens: the pupil dilates, more light enters the eye, which means it can capture more information. The only problem is how to make yourself believe that the investigative report in front of you is as interesting as an interview with the girl from the cover. From a neurophysiological point of view, interest arises at the moment when the brain compares new information with what is already in memory. So just guess what exactly might be written in the text. The brain will be forced to compare information with real ones and, willy-nilly, show interest.
27. Get yourself an unusual hobby
(our “Idea” section will give you ideas!).
New activities, according to the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in the suburbs of San Diego, firstly, are great for taking your mind off routine, and secondly, they will force your brain to adapt to unfamiliar activities and, as a result, to train.
28. Alan Weiss
President of the NCH Health Union:
“When you are completely immersed in the world of a game, your brain focuses on solving the problems at hand. He looks for unusual solutions and ways out of situations that are unusual in everyday life. Later, these same ideas may be useful to you in real life, at work or when communicating.”
29. Try new ways to get information
In order to become more erudite, smarter and more literate, it is not necessary to sit day and night in the nearest library surrounded by encyclopedias and scientific articles. It is enough to know a few simple ways in which you can really become a more interesting conversationalist and increase your IQ level.
1. Use the Internet correctly
What do you do as soon as you have a free minute and have the opportunity to laze around? Or when you are sitting alone in a cafe and the dish is not being served for a long time? As practice shows, you are trying to “kill” time, boredom or loneliness with the help of your phone. You start scrolling through your Instagram feed, responding to messages on social media, and so on. But this time can be spent usefully. The Internet provides us with many interesting opportunities and resources: online courses, educational communities, interesting blogs, language games and applications, and much more. Spend 5 minutes of your time not looking at pictures of food and selfies of the same type, but learning new useful information.
2. Write down everything you learn
It sounds crazy, but according to some scientists, writing down everything you learn during the day will help you increase your intelligence level. These don’t have to be entire opuses, just write a few words and phrases - plus, this activity will perfectly train your memory.
3. Make a list of completed tasks
Previously, we made lists of things that absolutely need to be done, not forgotten, done in time, and not missed. Now scientists are advocating that we create a list of those things that we have already “dealt with.” In this way, we can “trick” our brain - seeing how much we have already accomplished, we will want to increase the number of our accomplishments.
4. Play board games
Some of the popular board games can serve not only as a means of entertainment, but also act as excellent “helpers” in training memory, intelligence and ingenuity. Get your friends and family together more often and play Scrabble, chess, Battleship, checkers, and so on.
5. Be friends with smart people
Look for a company in which you can feel not entirely “in the know.” Try to be around smart, interesting, highly educated and erudite people as often and as long as possible, and then your IQ will noticeably increase. Here's what one developer Manas Saloy says about this:
I try to spend as much time as possible with my bosses. I have never had a problem accepting that I have a fairly average intelligence compared to them and there is a lot that I don't know yet... Try to be humble and always look for opportunities to learn.
6. Read a lot
Yes, this is some “Captain Obvious” advice, but reading is still one of the most important ways to train your brain. Experts only argue about what is best to read every day - newspapers, scientific literature or any books that you like. But they all agree on one thing - you need to read as often as possible.
7. Explain new information to others
It is not enough to simply read a scientific article or learn about some interesting but previously unknown phenomenon. We need to understand this new information. And the best way to test your knowledge of a subject is to try to explain its essence to others. If it works, you can safely give yourself a “5”, but if you get confused, stammer, speak unrelatedly and in the end your interlocutor does not understand anything, then you missed something and you need to repeat what you read again.
8. Study completely different topics that interest you
Perhaps you have always wanted to learn drawing, but now you work as a lawyer and think that taking such courses is too late and completely useless. Doctors and psychologists advise you to leave such thoughts and sign up for all kinds of master classes and classes that interest you, because you don’t know how useful they can be to you at one time or another in your life.
A clear example of this advice is Steve Jobs. After graduating from school and entering university, the future founder of Apple enrolled in calligraphy courses. It would seem, how can correct and beautiful writing of letters be useful to an entrepreneur and developer? It turned out that it could. Steve remembered his calligraphy skills 10 years later, when he created his first Macintosh. Thanks to Jobs, the computer now has a set of different types of fonts and proportional scaling.
9. Learn languages
In order to learn the basics of a language or raise its knowledge to a completely different, higher level, in the modern world it is not necessary to look for a tutor, enroll in expensive courses or go to another country to immerse yourself in the language culture of native speakers. The Internet is replete with a variety of useful and convenient sites; developers are creating more and more successful applications that allow us to learn languages in a playful way. The most popular among such resources are Livemocha, Busuu, Memrise, LinguaLeo and English as 2nd Language.
10. Give yourself a few minutes of rest.
Doctors advise spending a few minutes a day in silence. Do not read anything, do not watch anything, do not be distracted by any external stimuli. Just give yourself time to think about something, remember, dream or reflect. You can combine this “mental vacation” with physical training, for example, running.
