What are the best ways to improve your intelligence?
I have met at least over a thousand PhDs from various universities, and at least over 500 IITians when I was in India. In addition I have seen some really smart professors in the University of Wisconsin Madison. I believe there are a few common characteristics that they all share.
在印度的時候，我見過至少1000多名來自不同大學的博士，至少500多名印度理工學院的博士。此外，我在威斯康辛大學麥迪遜分校看到過一些非常聰明的教授。我相信他們都有一些共同的特點。
· Building up on other people’s knowledge. First, you should learn as much as possible from the existing knowledge. Usually intelligent people learn everything very quickly, and thoroughly. However, they do not dwell too much on all the possible problem statements that can get triggered by any theory. For example - if you read a Physics book, what you actually need to do is to understand the fundamentals very well, and be able to apply that knowledge coherently. To be able to do this, you can solve a few problems from the book. Perhaps if you are really enthusiastic, you can solve a lot of problems, but once you know that you have understood the subject, you should move on to the next thing. Richard Feynman was a great example of this, and so was John Nash.
以他人的知識為基礎。首先，你應該儘可能多地從現有的知識中學習。通常，聰明的人學任何東西都學得又快又徹底。然而，他們並沒有過多地考慮任何理論都可能引發的所有問題。例如，如果你讀了一本物理書，你實際上需要做的是很好地理解基礎知識，並能夠連貫地應用這些知識。要做到這一點，你可以從書上解決幾個問題。也許如果你真的很有熱情，你可以解決很多問題，但一旦你知道你已經理解了主題，你應該繼續下一件事。理查德·費曼就是一個很好的例子，約翰·納什也是。
· Breadth and depth of knowledge. Intelligent people continue to increase both breadth and depth of their knowledge. They don’t just focus on one of the aspects. Increasing only breadth is like being jack of all trades but master of none, and increasing only depth is like master of one trade, but being clueless about others. Intelligent people try to attempt getting knowledge in a variety of fields, and work on getting enough depth. Jeff Bezos is a great example of this. He made a company that diversified into a lot of things very quickly. Similarly, Elon Musk ventured into many companies.
知識的廣度和深度。聰明的人不斷地增加他們知識的廣度和深度。他們不只是關注其中一個方面。只增加廣度，就像雜而不精，沒有一樣精通；只增加深度，只精通一樣，對別的就只知一二了。聰明的人嘗試在各種領域獲取知識，並努力獲得足夠的深度。傑夫·貝佐斯就是一個很好的例子。他很快就把公司多元化了。同樣，埃隆•馬斯克(Elon Musk)也涉足了許多公司。
· Connecting the dots. Here, you should be able to put together two concepts and be able to solve a problem. Let me share a classic example. I am sorry, that I do not remember where this was published originally, but the fundamental is simple, so I am not spending too much time in researching the source. Here are the concepts:
人生中的點點滴滴怎麼串連在一起。在這裡，您應該能夠將兩個概念組合在一起並能夠解決一個問題。讓我來分享一個經典的例子。很抱歉，我不記得這篇文章最初是在哪裡發表的，但是基本原理很簡單，所以我沒有花太多時間去研究它的來源。概念如下:
o If you connect two wires made of different metals at two junctions, and set the junctions to two different temperatures, then an electron current will flow through them.
如果你將兩根由不同金屬製成的線連接在兩個結點上，並將結點設置為兩個不同的溫度，那麼電子電流就會通過它們。
o If you set a hot body with a constant supply of heat at a particular temperature in air, and let the air flow at a constant speed around it, at equilibrium, the hot body will eventually set itself to equilibrium value of temperature, that would usually depend on the velocity of the air, and the properties of the materials.
如果你熱的身體以一個恆定的熱量供應空氣,在一個特定的溫度,讓周圍的空氣流在一個恆定的速度,在平衡時,熱的身體最終將自己設定溫度的平衡值,這通常取決於空氣的速度和材料的屬性。
o By the time some of you read these two, you already know that you can put together these two concepts, and create a device that can measure the velocity of air with just a few things ~ two wires, battery, a voltage-meter and so on.
當你們中的一些人讀到這兩個概念的時候，你們已經知道你們可以把這兩個概念放在一起，創造出一種只用幾樣東西就能測量空氣速度的裝置——兩根電線、電池、電壓表等等。
o Intelligent people are really good at putting together multiple concepts, and building something.
聰明的人真的很擅長把多個概念組合在一起，然後建造一些東西。
o A classic example is ~ Computer + Phone + Touchscreen = iPhone.
一個典型的例子就是電腦+手機+觸摸屏= iPhone。
· Inventing, innovating, exploring: Intelligent people do not settle with just existing knowledge. They build and try new things all the time. They innovate. They invent. They make things better. They try, they fail, they try, they fail, they try and they succeed! Nicola Tesla is a classic example of this. He tried and explored too many things to even count in a blog post like this.
發明、創新、探索:聰明人不會滿足於現有的知識。他們總是在創造和嘗試新事物。他們創新，發明，讓事情變得更好。他們嘗試，失敗，再嘗試，再失敗，繼續嘗試，然後成功！尼古拉·特斯拉就是一個典型的例子。他嘗試和探索了太多的東西，甚至在這樣一篇博文中都數不清。
· Learning from mistakes. Making a mistake is an opportunity to learn. Most people in the corporate world realize this. But some people make repeated mistakes. Intelligent people do not repeat their mistakes. They make many mistakes, but they make them only once. Mark Zuckerberg has this fundamental. Break things and move forward. He wants engineers to break things, because every time something breaks down, there is a chance of next innovation.
從錯誤中學習。犯錯是學習的機會。企業界的大多數人都意識到了這一點。但是有些人會重複犯錯。聰明的人不會重複他們的錯誤。他們犯了很多錯誤，但他們只犯一次。馬克·扎克伯格有這個基本原則。打破陳規，繼續前進。他希望工程師們能打破常規，因為每次有東西壞了，就有下一次創新的機會。
· Making existing things better. Intelligent people always seek opportunities to make something better. Making an existing thing better gives the whole world an edge to hold on to, and a completely new baseline to trend onward. Think for example about the concept of Hyperloop. Elon Musk gave this concept where the transportation can be made far better when the concept materializes. The concept will be realized in future, but when it will be realized, it would change the world.
讓現有的東西更好。聰明的人總是尋找機會把事情做得更好。把現有的東西做得更好，會讓整個世界有一個可以依靠的優勢，也會為未來的趨勢提供一個全新的基線。以超級高鐵的概念為例。埃隆·馬斯克(Elon Musk)提出了這個概念，當這個概念實現時，交通可以變得更好。這個概念將在未來實現，但當它實現時，它將改變世界。
· Having a very clear vision. Intelligent people have a very clear vision of what they want to realize. Then they simply figure out a way to achieve that. On the way they meet up with a lot of hurdles, but they solve them one after the other. When Larry Page wanted to create Google, his vision was that there should be one website, that should lead to every website in the world. Where all websites were somehow linked and ranked. His vision was very clear. Just that it was very hard to realize. But he started, and look, we have Google today.
有一個非常清晰的願景。 聰明的人對自己想要實現的目標有非常清晰的願景。然後他們就會找到實現這個目標的方法。在路上他們遇到了許多障礙，但他們一個接一個地解決了。當拉里·佩奇(Larry Page)想要創建谷歌時，他的願景是應該有一個網站，可以連接到世界上所有的網站。所有的網站都以某種方式鏈接和排名。他的視野非常清晰。這是很難實現的。但是他開始了，看，我們今天有谷歌。
· Having a good plan of action. Many people in the world are intelligent, and they are working in multiple organizations, and making them successful. Most of the intelligent people have a very good plan of action.
有一個好的行動計劃。世界上很多人都很聰明，他們在多個組織工作，並使他們成功。大多數聰明的人都有一個很好的行動計劃。
· Having a model. Intelligent people think about the world in terms of models. What this means is that they derive certain conclusions and guiding principles that may be driven by logic, judgment, data, or simply good feelings. They calibrate their models by testing and experimenting in the real world. When their models are successful, they just repeat them too many times. Warren Buffet and Bill Gates are examples that display the modeled behavior.
有一個模型。聰明的人用模型來思考世界。這意味著他們得出某些結論和指導原則，這些結論和原則可能是由邏輯、判斷、數據或簡單的良好感覺所驅動的。他們通過在真實世界中進行測試和實驗來校準他們的模型。當他們的模式成功時，他們只是重複了太多遍。沃倫·巴菲特和比爾·蓋茨就是展示這種模範行為的例子。
· Intelligent people try to generalize things. When something is general, it has much wider applicability. Take this for a concept: Quality comes before output. A lot of people learn this in the corporate and business world. Most of the times product designers are taught this in their basic fundamental courses. If an intelligent person is to learn this concept, they would apply it in whatever they do. This way, the next thing they would build also would have great quality. This is probably the reason Thomas Edison created so many things. Also, Issac Newton and Albert Einstein were very intelligent people who always liked to generalize the concepts.
聰明的人試圖總結事物。當一件事是普遍的，它就有更廣泛的適用性。以這個為概念:質量先於產出。很多人在公司和商界都學過這個。大多數時候，產品設計師在他們的基礎課程中都學到了這一點。如果一個聰明的人要學習這個概念，他們會把它應用到他們做的任何事情上。這樣的話，他們接下來要造的東西質量也會很好。這可能就是托馬斯·愛迪生創造了這麼多東西的原因。此外，艾薩克·牛頓和阿爾伯特·愛因斯坦是非常聰明的人，他們總是喜歡總結概念。
· Making something easier. Intelligent people always want to simplify things. This is what saves time in the long run. More time saved means, more time put towards learning new things. A classic example is of a gentleman who put wheels on suitcase. When he did that for the first time, everyone laughed at him. Those were the days when there were porters all over the place who would carry suitcases for people. But as world grew, this was only a redundant burden. The gentleman who designed suitcase with wheels for the first time and took his idea forward to business actually became a millionaire. His name was Mr Sadow.
讓事情更加簡單。聰明的人總是想把事情簡單化。從長遠來看，這才是節省時間的方法。節省的時間越多，學習新事物的時間就越多。一個典型的例子是一個紳士把輪子放在手提箱上。當他第一次那樣做時，大家都嘲笑他。那時到處都有腳伕為人們搬運箱子。但隨著世界的發展，這只是一個多餘的負擔。那個第一次設計有輪子的手提箱並把他的想法付諸實踐的人實際上成了百萬富翁。他的名字叫薩多先生。
· Building multi-dimensional knowledge. Intelligent people focus on parallel processing, and applying multiple competitive approaches towards solving problems. They don’t get stuck in one mode and say - this is the best way. They try many ways, and bring out the best methods forward. Intelligent people read multiple concepts. There is just no theoretical limit to the knowledge. Intelligent people take concepts from one place and apply them at other places. John Nash, the famous mathematician used to keep his eyes and ears open all the time. One of the reasons behind his success was that he was very good at applying one concept from one place to another place. This used to make something more widely applicable with little efforts.
構建多維的知識。聰明的人專注於並行處理，並應用多種競爭性方法來解決問題。他們不會陷入一種模式，然後說——這是最好的方式。他們嘗試了很多方法，提出了最好的方法。聰明的人會閱讀多個概念。知識沒有理論上的限制。聰明的人把一個地方的概念應用到另一個地方。著名數學家約翰·納什過去總是睜大眼睛，豎起耳朵。他成功的原因之一是他非常善於將一個概念從一個地方應用到另一個地方。這曾使一些更廣泛適用的努力。
· Making friends with intelligent people. Intelligent people make friends with intelligent people. They learn from them, and share their learning with them. The best way to grow learning is to share it with someone. Those who hide their learning are not intelligent. Knowledge only grows by sharing. And intelligent people do not hesitate to share it.
和聰明的人交朋友。聰明的人和聰明的人交朋友。他們向他們學習，並與他們分享他們的學習。學習的最好方法就是和別人分享。那些隱藏自己學識的人並不聰明。知識只有通過分享才能增長。聰明的人會毫不猶豫地分享它。
· Reading books. smart people spend an enormous number of hours reading books. Reading a book is equivalent to gaining the lifetime knowledge of an expert in few hours. Intelligent people read hundreds of books, and gain the knowledge of hundreds of people.
讀書。聰明的人花大量的時間讀書。讀一本書相當於在幾小時內獲得一個專家一生的知識。聰明的人讀了數百本書，獲得了數百人的知識。
· Memorizing concepts. Intelligent people memorize a lot of concepts. At the end of the day, application of concepts comes very easy, when you live, breathe, and work by the concepts. An example would be of a programmer. An intelligent programmer would have memorized the whole syntax of a programming language. Memorization of concepts can sometimes give significant edge when you want to take up large undertakings.
記憶的概念。聰明的人能記住很多概念。在一天結束的時候，當你通過概念生活、呼吸和工作時，概念的應用變得非常容易。一個例子是程序員。一個聰明的程序員會記住一種編程語言的全部語法。當你想做大的事情時，記住一些概念有時會給你很大的優勢。
· Practicing and applying concepts. Intelligent people practice a lot, and apply learned concepts so many times, that the concepts become a part of them. Without this, one can know a concept, but may not be able to apply it. Then the concept is not yours, and you are not using it.
練習和應用概念。聰明的人會大量實踐，並多次應用所學的概念，以致這些概念成為他們的一部分。沒有這一點，一個人可以知道一個概念，但可能無法應用它。那麼這個概念就不是你的，你也不會用它。
· Sharpen the saw. Intelligent people continually make things better in all the dimensions talked above.
不斷磨練。聰明的人不斷地在上述所有方面把事情做得更好。
· Following the best of the best. When they cannot innovate, they follow the best of the best.
追隨精英中的精英。當他們不能創新時，他們就會追隨最優秀的人。
I hope some of the readers would like to work on one or many of the concepts and apply them. Gaining intelligence is not hard. You can build it systematically. Keep working towards it, and you can certainly become more intelligent within just a few years.
我希望有些讀者願意研究其中一個或多個概念並應用它們。提高智力並不難。你可以系統地構建它。繼續朝這個方向努力，你肯定能在短短几年內變得更聰明。
雖看起來難，但值得嘗試！
It may seem difficult, but it's worth trying!
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