> "Smart" is a measure of how quickly and efficiently you can process and
> absorb this knowledge.

And how do you envision measuring that? It's like comparing apples to
oranges. An orange is smarter than an apple. What does that even mean?

And by your definition, you can change the efficiency and the rate at
which you process and absorb knowledge. Certain chemicals, such as
those found in fish, change the brain chemistry in a positive way.
Also, certain hormones and chemicals produced by the body may have the
same effect. Also, just plain studying may improve it. For example, I
knew a kid in my math class who was literally failing because he could
not understand how the slope of a graph relates to calculus. That took
him forever to understand. You might call him "dumb", by your
definition, because he was unable to process this knowledge
efficiently. After hours and hours of studying this simple concept, he
finally got it. After that, he started picking up things faster than
you or I. Now would you say he was "smart" because he was picking up
on calculus concepts twice as fast as anyone else in the class?

What does that even mean?

Smart and dumb. You make it sound like a new class of human. Oh, he's
smart. He's dumb. He's black. He's white. Yes, no matter how hard you
try, you can't be white if you're black and vice versa (unless you're
MJ). But it doesn't make any logical sense to tag people as "smart" or
"dumb" because things can drastically change. You can change them.
-- 
http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist