Interview with Sci-Fi Writer Bruce Sterling
“Sterling: Because I think boredom is one of the great massive stabilizing forces of the universe. It’s like gravity. I think, What would happen if I could turn my IQ up to 450? I would be a completely different kind of entity. I would understand things much more thoroughly, and I would be really thrilled by it for, I don’t know, maybe six months. Then I would have a routine of some kind. I would be a posthuman entity with an IQ of 450 who had a routine. And I would be bored a lot of the time. And my behavior would be mostly habitual, and embarrassing things would happen to me. In other words, I wouldn’t be some kind of shining godlike creature. I might be super intelligent, but, you know, I’d probably have diarrhea. A super intelligent being with acne. I would still have a toothache. My wife would also have an IQ of 450, and we would have domestic arguments that were on the level of super genius but still about housework.”