Smartest Person Alive?

So I read something in the newspaper today about Ken Jennings. He's the guy that's smoked all of his competition on the best game show in the world, Jeopardy! Apparently, he finally lost. Yes, I know, it might not seem like a big deal, until you consider he dominated the show for 75 games in a row.

In the process, he likely answered somewhere in the ballpark of 3000 questions, ranging from "The Middle East" to "Publications Through History" to "Hanky Panky" to "The History of Cows" to heaven knows what else. The man is, in a word, "veryveryverysmart".

But could he stake a claim to being the smartest person alive? That, as of now, is up to you. Who do you consider to be top dog? Discuss.

I'm pretty sure his downfall is the sports category. As for smartest person around. I have no clue. I'm pretty sure Ken Jennings is very knowledgeable about many things, but I don't think he's really the smartest.

Thank you for making a topic about me, Stri.

theres a difference between knowing nuclear physics and philosophy and knowing trivial things such as "the history of cows". i don't really know who the "smartest" person in the world is, but in no way is it ne1 who's appeared on Jeopardy

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Originally Posted by Lon611

theres a difference between knowing nuclear physics and philosophy and knowing trivial things such as "the history of cows".

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Exaggeration, my friend. I ran out of logical categories to write down.

Not to mention that he dominated every Alcohol category, and he's a Mormon, thus, he doesn't even drink.

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Originally Posted by Strider

Exaggeration, my friend. I ran out of logical categories to write down.

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FALSE INFORMATION = DEATH TO SLANDER-ERS!!!!!! :rolleyes2

July 6th, 2004

Double Jeopardy!

Category: Physics

Jennings got 4 of 5 questions.

how much money did this guy make?after 75 shows, i wouldn't mind walking away with money for just being on a show.

EDIT:what happens if you're below zero?do you owe them money?is the simpson episode where marge is hustled by alex trebec have some truth behind it?!?!?!

No, if you're below zero at the end of either of the first two round, you're done for the game at that point.

And for the record, he made over $2.5 million dollars during the streak.

Whoo-Hoo! Sounds like he won to me!

I wouldn't call him the smartest man alive. The most knowledgeable man alive is a shoe in though.

Also he didn't do very bad in sports. He got all sorts of questions right in those catagories(at least from what I watched).

the 75 wins thing isn't true - they don't tape THAT far in advance, and there was the same rumor after a month or so of him.


that said, Marilyn Vos Savant is supposedly the smartest person in the world.

I think that the smartest person alive right now is the guy that solved Fermat's Last Theorm (horribly advanced calculus, 150 page proof). Just a guess.

John Nash?

Perhaps Stephen Hawking. As far as I'm concerned intelligence is measured my how innovative, ingenious or creative a person is.
I think somebody like Louis Braille, Earnest Rutherford or Helen Keller would be right up there too. :p

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Originally Posted by Strider

In the process, he likely answered somewhere in the ballpark of 3000 questions, ranging from "The Middle East" to "Publications Through History" to "Hanky Panky" to "The History of Cows" to heaven knows what else. The man is, in a word, "veryveryverysmart".

But could he stake a claim to being the smartest person alive? That, as of now, is up to you. Who do you consider to be top dog? Discuss.

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Excessive knowledge does not necessarily indicate intelligence. Im sure he is smart, but the fact that he knows alot of things doesn't say much about his intelligence.

Ans could he be considered the smartest person alive? Nope. To compare him to the likes of say, Steven Hawkings, is laughable. So sure, he is smart, but i doubt he comes even rometly close to being one of the 'smartest'

Define "smart."

Sure, Jennings knows a lot. But could he pull an Einstein and come up with his own Theory of Relativity?

Does that make Einstein "smart" though? His IQ was actually pretty average I hear. Therefore, Stephen Hawkins is the ultimate "smart" guy.

Hey wait. IQ is only a measure of your learning capability. And even so, it's only a few questions and pictures. Surely, that type of thing can't distinguish between someone who's "smart" and someone who's not.

I think "nerd" is an approapriate term that can be used to describe Mister Ken Jennings. A rich nerd.

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Originally Posted by Mo-Nercy³

Define "smart."

Sure, Jennings knows a lot. But could he pull an Einstein and come up with his own Theory of Relativity?

Does that make Einstein "smart" though? His IQ was actually pretty average I hear. Therefore, Stephen Hawkins is the ultimate "smart" guy.

Hey wait. IQ is only a measure of your learning capability. And even so, it's only a few questions and pictures. Surely, that type of thing can't distinguish between someone who's "smart" and someone who's not.

I think "nerd" is an approapriate term that can be used to describe Mister Ken Jennings. A rich nerd.

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If IQ was only a measurement of ones learning capability than I would be a genius.

What about the 12 year old who's already in medical school? They said he had an IQ of around 200.

I thought it was that guy in the wheel chair that couldn't talk. He was on the Simpsons once :'(

Knowledge is one thing, but wisdom is another.

So when it comes to knowledge, it can be hard to discover who is the smartest or most knowledgable. I guess it would have to be someone who reads an awful lot. And even reading a lot, you can't take in everything. There was this one guy who wrote a large list of books he read (theres over 1,000 in it I think). His name escapes me.

But this guy on Jeopardy has a really good memory, and must have read and experience quite a lot. I thought I'd just throw that in for ya guys.

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Originally Posted by Meat Puppet

I thought it was that guy in the wheel chair that couldn't talk. He was on the Simpsons once :'(

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That's Hawkings.

I don't think anyone can make such a claim, as everyone knows different kinds of things. You could be the smartest person in the world regarding geography but not know a thing about, say, quantum physics - or vice versa.

yeah i agree with loony bob, i dont think there can ever be a 'smartest or most intelligent person in the world' the same as i dont think there can ever be a 'best' at something.

there ios always someone or something that is smarter or better.

well thats my opinion at least.

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Originally Posted by Skogs

What about the 12 year old who's already in medical school? They said he had an IQ of around 200.

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I heard his IQ was immeasureable. Supposedly he has the highest IQ ever.

IQ *is* immesurable. The premise is a percentage of the "average" of the person's age. So an IQ of 100 is run of the mill average.

But I don't believe that a person's intelligence can be tagged with a number.

The guy 'won' 70 or so straight jeopardy games. This doesn't mean much, because if you actually looked at the stats, he managed to win a few times even though he lost the final jeopardy question (like this one time he lost but 'won' with 32k or something).

So he's not smartest as much as lucky AND smart?

Okay...perhaps not the *smartest* person in the world. But trivia king, fer sure. THAT one is pretty much undisputable.

chaos: Ken Jennings was pretty smart, but not the smartest alive. I don't know who that kid was, but one person that has an unmeasurable IQ, is pretty young, and helps people around the world to me, s probably the smartest. I'm not sure though.

Rubedo: 75 times in a row? Wow, I was thinking he won like eight times or something.

I've been following Ken's streak since day 1. I'm a big fan of his (like I was of Tom Walsh before he lost) and I'm even in the process of getting an autograph from Ken.

Let me tell you that guy is something else. Alex will ask him an extremely difficult question during the daily doubles, and he'll grab his chin, squint his eyes and pull the answer out of nowhere in no time flat.

I don't know if he's the smartest man in the world. He does have an exceptional memory though. He also has the ability to recall that information extremely quickly and remain relaxed.

I believe that intelligence can boil down to creativity and memory. We know the guy has an ungodly memory, but does he have the ability to use his intelligence creatively?

That's another problem I see in schools. They're obsessed with the memorization part of learning, and don't focus enough on the creative part. But I'm not going to get into that though.