Would you rather be beautiful or highly intelligent? Lighthearted

[Anon778833]

I’ve always been considered good looking but I think my life would have been better if I was an intellectual. How about you? Or are you lucky enough to have both??

Intelligent. It's the single biggest predictor of many positive life outcomes.

Don't sell yourself short - you don't get a first in your MSc by being of fairly average intelligence!

Intelligent, every time. Being beautiful but dim sounds so dull!

Oh, ok, I see your point - yes, I've seen it defined that way and I do know it can be. I don't think it's very helpful though, and there's a reason why conditions such as dyslexia or autism (which can coexist with high intelligence) are still often seen as disabling. IQ isn't a good test in this respect - it doesn't work well to describe people whose scores in different areas are very widely spaced (eg., people with a very low verbal IQ and excellent spatial reasoning).

Honestly? Beautiful but more than beauty I'd rather be average but stinking rich. Look at the richest man, Elon Musk. Hes no oil painting and he could have the best surgeons sculpt him a six pack and a new face but he gives zero fucks. Money, beauty, intelligence is the order of power IMO.

I'm pretty sure Elon Musk has more than his fair share of brains. 😂

I'd actually give up both to be 'happy' though, if such a thing as objective and long-lasting happiness exists. That's the holy grail!

@earyana Money or beauty don't always equate to happiness though. Look at how miserable some very wealthy people are... and don't forget the adage, money is the root of all evil...

Seconding a PP. Head injuries are awful. I know someone who is extremely intelligent (a very well-respected professor in her field) who had a head injury sustained in a road accident. She said it took her years to feel as if she was anywhere close to functioning at anything like the same level, and people would insist on telling her she was fine. It must be so frustrating to feel that loss.

A bit of both.

I am super intelligent. Nobody gives a shit. They either don’t know I’m smart, or if they do know they bully me. Being beautiful is far more obvious and therefore more valuable. It translates into people liking and trusting you more, wanting to be around you and giving you opportunities. Beauty gets you jobs - intelligence loses you jobs because the boss doesn’t want to hire someone who would outshine them.

Unfortunately brains fade with age too!

I'd say beauty. You don't need to be super intelligent to have a great personality and you can make a career out of exceptionally good looks.

Your post really makes you realise what’s important. My aunty was injured a good 30 years ago and she hasn’t really recovered. She told my uncle that when she sees her daughter, she has to pretend to act like she’s missed her (they live in different counties) She also can’t read the same way and her sense of smell is mixed up. Again, I’m sorry for what happened to you.

I'm intelligent but not beautiful. If you'd asked me in my teens or early twenties I'd have gone for beauty every time but now I'm in my early thirties I'd go for brains without a doubt.

My head says intelligence my heart says beautiful. I’d love to be beautiful.

But is that true, that beauty is obvious?

It fascinates me how ideals of beauty vary and change. For example, when I was growing up, Kate Moss was the absolute epitome of beauty - and now, I really don't think she would be. There must be loads of girls who look just like her, who are growing up saying 'well, I'm ok-looking, but that's it'. And that is just the space of a couple of decades. Look back a century or two, and it is mind-boggling!

Of course, a lot of 'beautiful' women (and men!) in the twentieth/twenty-first centuries get photographed or filmed in the most flattering ways, so if we see film of, say, Audrey Hepburn, of course we think she's beautiful, because she is so well-presented. But if we'd just seen her in the street? I am not sure.

Equally, I am sure there are women in real life - on this thread maybe - who would have been recognised as absolutely beautiful in other eras, and who today think of themselves as 'just ok' or 'nothing special'.

Asparagoose, you are applying for the wrong kinds of jobs. There are entire industries filled with intelligent people who are valued for the contributions they can make to the project. It’s why most of the nerds from school are high earners or esteemed academics. You just have to pick your field if interest, get your degree, and get to work.

SarahAndQuack and Asparagoose both sum up what I would have contributed.

I'd choose beauty. Its easier. People tend to forgive you for being beautiful. It's simply determined by fate or luck.

There are different types of intelligence. I'm hopeless at life admin, getting ahead, knowing how to do life successfully. I'm apparently brighter than your average bunny, but with that I've been told I'm kookie, eccentric, odd and a snob. My husband insulted me once in an argument saying "I fucking hate intellectuals" I replied "I'm not keen either"

I over analyse everything, I can be entertained for hours thinking about something theoretical only to find I've forgotten appointments, burnt the dinner and not eaten lunch.

Intelligence can be isolating unless its that sort of intelligence that "does life well"

Thinking about it, I'd rather just be rich.

Maybe I'll change my answer to very intelligent, so I can get a good career and earn lots of money, then I could pay to get cosmetic surgery and enhancements.

Although, if I were very beautiful I could also use that to get rich

Yes that's why I didn't mention intelligence. 🙄

I’m ugly but intelligent. I’d much rather be beautiful.

Neither tbh.
I think I’d like to truly love myself and be loved.

@AltheaVestr1t also Elon Musk is a man and the world treats favours beautiful women over intelligent ones. Sad that it's still true in 2022 but there we are.

VerifiedBot2351
Years ago - let’s say around 20 years ago - in The Sunday Times’ Relative Values slot, they interviewed a famous French human rights lawyer and his son.
At the time the son’s girlfriend was Carla Bruni, at the height of her fame. So quite a catch, if you like.

The dad said (talking of brain power it’s sooo frustrating not to be able to remember his name) that his son had always been clever.
But one day he just decided he was going to be perceived as beautiful. Presumably he didn’t make an announcement 😀

Of course he made some physical changes, grew his hair long, lost weight and so on, but the most significant change was a shift in his thinking. And therefore the way he carried himself and the air of mystique he carried around.

His own father was giving his son as an example of a person who might not tick every box in terms of proportions, but performed some extremely clever trick of the mind to meet his goals.

It always fascinated me.

If anyone can remember who it was could you enlighten me, please?

I would choose intelligence but if I could look like me now. I'm not beautiful by any stretch, but I always fantasy what I would do if I was bright.

Btw I don’t equate long hair or very slim with beauty, but the guy I’m talking about did.