Which of these characters is the smartest?

Rathark · Post by **Rathark** » 2002-10-02 08:11am

Q has an IQ of 2005. While this is far outside the present human range, it is piddling compared to what might be possible with sufficient advances in AI. You only have to browse through this website:

http://www.orionsarm.com

To prevent the poll from being one-sided, I have deliberately excluded the Culture Minds, since their godlike intellects are virtually set in stone. After all, they could simulate entire universes right down to the sub-atomic level. (This would only be possible if they functioned on the Planck scale: 10E-35 metres).

I have included the Xeelee, however. Their greatest engineering feats are obviously collective efforts, and they may still use some sort of AI for all we know (although they themselves might be AIs - I'm not certain since I've only read Ring).

Neko_Oni · Post by **Neko_Oni** » 2002-10-02 08:36am

Holly from Red Dwarf

Before he/she went loopy that is. 6000 IQ to start with, jumps to 12,000 at the cost of operating time. Of the ones on the list I'll go with R2D2 since I don't know the others.

Kelly Antilles · Post by **Kelly Antilles** » 2002-10-02 08:44am

Neko_Oni wrote:Holly from Red Dwarf Before he/she went loopy that is. 6000 IQ to start with, jumps to 12,000 at the cost of operating time. Of the ones on the list I'll go with R2D2 since I don't know the others.

Ah, my favorite Dwarf episode, "White Hole". Everytime I hear someone say "what is it?" that episode comes to mind.

Post by **Mr Bean** » 2002-10-02 09:28am

Heh,

Now is that Q, James Bond Q? Or ST idiot Q?

(Prehaps I tiped my hand there)

Kelly Antilles · Post by **Kelly Antilles** » 2002-10-02 09:33am

Oh, and I voted for Dr. Who. The man is just brilliant.

Slartibartfast · Post by **Slartibartfast** » 2002-10-02 11:12am

Ah abstain...

What's IQ anyway? Some large number someone tosses around? Without a comparison reference I can just make up an alien with 500 gazillion IQs.

To really compare intelligence, you have to do it from actual application of that intelligence... not because Mr. Robot said "I have an IQ of 3000" and LardStar says "my IQ is an imaginary number" (which is true, but not the way sense he means it)

XaLEv · Post by **XaLEv** » 2002-10-02 05:17pm

God-Emperor Daniel Borde! Glory to the Dominion!

(This would only be possible if they functioned on the Planck scale: 10E-35 metres).

They don't, IIRC. Their 'brains' were described as being composed of pairs of neutrons and protons, held in hyperspace. The oNCHLaaK from my universe do, though...

[/masturbation]

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2002-10-02 08:20pm

Dr. Who

Especially since he can talk condecendingly to Zoe, Adric and K9. It's bad when you beat genetically engineered supergeniuses, and supercomputers that know everything.

RayCav of ASVS · Post by **RayCav of ASVS** » 2002-10-02 08:29pm

Dr. Who, I just fucking love that character.

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2002-10-02 10:03pm

R2-D2 would probably be the smartest, but some of the other characters have the advantage of being able to see parts of the future, albeit imperfectly.

Rathark · Post by **Rathark** » 2002-10-03 02:44am

While I'm surprised that Doctor Who is winning this poll, I'll concede that the Time Lords are one pretty powerful civilization. And the Doctor's resourcefulness and ability to outsmart even godlike beings (Suhtek, the Black Guardian) gives him enough credibility.

R2D2 seems to be the ultimate hacker, and one wonders if all astromech droids are this superintelligent. Perhaps all astrodroids are forbidden from speaking in any of the languages of organic races, because 1: their ideas are maddeningly complex and mostly mathematical, and 2: there is a danger that their perfect rationalism (spiced with eccentricity in R2's case) may exert too much influence. That's just a theory, anyway. Does anyone know of any further accounts of R2's prowess from the EU novels?

BTW, C3PO seems to have an incredibly vast memory for language (6 million), but a somewhat flawed memory for other subjects ("Use the commlink? I forgot!"). Despite their enormous intellectual abilities and strangely human personalities, it seems that SW droids have a fairly limited application of their intellects. As Obi-Wan says in AOTC, "If droids could think, there'd be none of us here, would there?"

Rathark · Post by **Rathark** » 2002-10-03 02:48am

XaLEv wrote:God-Emperor Daniel Borde! Glory to the Dominion!

(This would only be possible if they functioned on the Planck scale: 10E-35 metres).
They don't, IIRC. Their 'brains' were described as being composed of pairs of neutrons and protons, held in hyperspace. The oNCHLaaK from my universe do, though...

[/masturbation]

Oh well. Do they use some sort of highly advanced fractal computation? Are they quantum computers? (The Minds, not the oNCHLaaK ... but you can talk about them as well if you want).

Rathark · Post by **Rathark** » 2002-10-03 02:51am

Slartibartfast wrote:Ah abstain...

What's IQ anyway? Some large number someone tosses around? Without a comparison reference I can just make up an alien with 500 gazillion IQs.

To really compare intelligence, you have to do it from actual application of that intelligence... not because Mr. Robot said "I have an IQ of 3000" and LardStar says "my IQ is an imaginary number" (which is true, but not the way sense he means it)

True, but describing galaxy-spanning megascale engineering (Xeelee, Contact novel etc) is a fun short-cut method to portraying such intelligence.

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2002-10-03 03:05am

Note: The Doctor's Companions that I noted.

Zoe: Genetically Engineered for advanced intellegence, has limited Precog powers due to her advanced understanding of Probibility. Has a thing for strong dumb Scotsmen. Last seen living in the past married to a highlander.

Adric: Part of an alien life form, that has 3 stages, Spider, himan, strange monsterthing, possess enought Math and memory retention skill to figure quantum math in his head (It does cause him headaches though,) Last seen: Reduced to subatomic particles when his Cyberman infested spacestation killed off the dinosaurs on earth

K-9: Databacks include sum total of Galifraian and Human Occomplishments circa 30,000years in our future Near Galifranian Normal Time line. Last seen: K9 mkI: In another universe with the Timelord Romana; K9 mkII: On Earth with former Companion Sarah Jane Smith.

and these are his lackies

XaLEv · Post by **XaLEv** » 2002-10-03 03:20am

Rathark wrote:Oh well. Do they use some sort of highly advanced fractal computation? Are they quantum computers? (The Minds, not the oNCHLaaK ... but you can talk about them as well if you want).

Beats me. You might try asking one of the Vultures.

Post by **NecronLord** » 2002-10-03 01:34pm

THe Yosemite Bear wrote:Note: The Doctor's Companions that I noted.

Zoe: Genetically Engineered for advanced intellegence, has limited Precog powers due to her advanced understanding of Probibility. Has a thing for strong dumb Scotsmen. Last seen living in the past married to a highlander.

Adric: Part of an alien life form, that has 3 stages, Spider, himan, strange monsterthing, possess enought Math and memory retention skill to figure quantum math in his head (It does cause him headaches though,) Last seen: Reduced to subatomic particles when his Cyberman infested spacestation killed off the dinosaurs on earth

K-9: Databacks include sum total of Galifraian and Human Occomplishments circa 30,000years in our future Near Galifranian Normal Time line. Last seen: K9 mkI: In another universe with the Timelord Romana; K9 mkII: On Earth with former Companion Sarah Jane Smith.

and these are his lackies

whom he talks down to

actually i voted for sauron, because I misread the Who entry and thought it was Dr. No, from the first james bond film.

Pobably overall the Master is actually more intelligent than the doctor. However he always seems to end up discoving that his latest toy [read; doomsday weapon] is the property of some pissed off uber-being

We have a figure for the data storage of an admittedly antiquated culture mind.

1*10^28 bytes. However this is using modern characters, if you wish to be petulent youy could argue that marain is a far more complex language, in which case you would increase accordingly.

Larz · Post by **Larz** » 2002-10-03 07:14pm

Dr. Who

I really need to find out when red dwarf comes on PBS...
"Its a garbage pod... its a schmegin garbage pod!"

StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Which of these characters is the smartest?

Who would win on a species-fair IQ test?

Which of these characters is the smartest?