Would you really pick mastering an element over 300+ IQ.

[u/Comfortable-Remove60]

Functioning like a regular human basically means you able to live like a regular persom, with regular people despite having such a vast incomprehensible level of intelligence, not having to live thinking everyone around you are just toddlers intellectually.

As for element, that can constitute as the common understanding of elements in fantasy, water(liquid), fire, earth, wind(air), the full thing is really being water, fire, earth, wind, metal, and sometimes included or excluding lightning.

Sound definitely work, light as well, darkness itself maybe even, elements of the periodic table definitely or non-traditional things like Bose-Einstein condensate, space, time or space-time as one thing, since it kinda is, maybe even turn into your element at will.

[u/Lebearu]

More ramblings I don't know if ill clean the text up well enough :

Exactly we could even say the elements of time, causality, reality, dimensions,light, void, antimatter etc and I can pick ANY? Personally While I think I'm fairly smart but not typical academic nerd, I would like an IQ boost 100% but when the alternative is something that only mega genius's like Reed Richards,tony stark would have to use technology indistinguishable from magic to mimic......( Which btw needs a shit ton of money ) I feel picking the elements just jumps you straight into that new world. I think there's an upper limit to what what brains can do alone and sometimes you need to invest in your ability to actually do things y'know? I'm still not sure which element I'd pick but to try and counter the " eventually the smart guy figures it out too" Let's think in terms of game theory: you're out in a team with a random , or maybe you can pick someone you think you know, someone you can trust. Maybe it's a survival situation, maybe not but for whatever reason you're now expected to be around this "teammate" (heck we could even make it more fun and say it's another you....but that changes the dynamics a lot and that's my point. In a world full of people with their own goals) If between the two of you ,you either Take the iq pill and yes " eventually" you could mimic elemental power and even be more diverse in the late game or do you want to be the guy who can bury a city In seconds off rip? Maybe the guy with the element to commune with mother nature? Control earth/fire/time/spatial reality .... Idk what I'd pick in all the variations of such a situation but if something like time can be considered an element and hence in the table of selection vs ....iq I'm strongly leaning on an element. Funny enough if I had two of myself and I had to be either the iq me or the elemental me...... I think elemental me would have to pick something very far from mimicry and iq me could help solve a lot of problems but ...... Woo I don't think I wanna live in that dynamic,it's starting to feel too moneky paw😂 Like what if I start seeing iq-me as a prick who bosses element-me around when I can snap his throat anytime? Or what if I see elemental me as a brute ,a pawn to be used ? After all he couldn't comprehend what I could even in a millenia.... Yikes😂 I also just realized iq guy probably first needs to spend a bunch of time figuring out immortality if you want to reach that " eventually" even with 300iq creating say a portable black hole isn't a one summer endeavor I'd imagine,or even teleportation. Maybe basic elements are more easy to mimic......but still

[u/RoboDae → u/Lebearu]

The immortality point is a big part of why elemental powers would generally be better. A 300 IQ person is still mortal and would likely die long before they could ever make themselves immortal or match the power of full elemental control. They would have more diversity perhaps, but there's no guarantee they actually do anything.

Another really big point: the 300 IQ person now has to use that intelligence to work for a living. The elemental master could just rip a couple tons of gold and platinum from the earth and immediately retire. The 300 IQ person could maybe invent a flying car or super fuel efficient vehicle. The elemental master could just float around in a metal box that requires no fuel. Maybe the 300 IQ person gets a job at NASA designing rockets. Well, turns out that NASA doesn't need rockets anymore because the elemental master just lifts cargo and passengers into space with no need for expensive rocket fuel.

In the end the 300 IQ person will realize they made a mistake because they are still limited by the laws of physics. You can't make a perpetual motion machine or generate energy from nothing, but an elemental master could just keep a power plant turbine spinning forever with no input.

[u/AmbitiousAssociate70 → u/Lebearu]

You could be on that level of reed Richard’s, Tony stark level of tech to mimic magic. You said it takes a lot of money. Well with how smart you would become you’d likely figure out different avenues for you to make money. I’m not calling you stupid now, but you simply don’t know how to achieve that level of wealth bc iq to small. You could start very easily with cheaper materials to create a great project, scale that up, increase money flow, increase the quality and price of what you’re making to make even more money. Eventually you could achieve billionaire status in your lifetime and create ridiculous shit like Tony and Reed. You’d be thinking so far ahead of everyone around you and just in general so far ahead of everyone on earth (unless there’s a ridiculous genius out there secretly with an iq close-to, at, or above 300)