I’m going to be running through a gauntlet of dumb in a “study” I’m calling Stupificated. Here I’ll be spending a week straight unplugged from anything creative, educational, or remotely close to intelligent. We’re talkng about scraping the bottom of the barrel here:

• No programming or fixing technical problems. If I have a problem with my system, then I’ll have to call one of my friends to fix it, even if I know the solution to the problem.
• No toying with design, graphics, or writing. These are creative outlets and massive learning experiences.
• No selectively choosing good things to watch on TV. I have to be hit with the shotgun of stupid by burying myself in the worst of the worst:
  • Court TV shows (Judge Judy, Divorce Court, etc.)
  • Jerry Springer and other ignorant squawking
  • No Discovery, Science, or Learning channel unless it’s religious propaganda (e.g. History Channel)
• Surfing aggregate sites like Digg, Reddit, or Slashdot will be out of the question. Any internet activity will be strictly limited to playing stupid (Flash) games.
• Most games, like Counter-Strike and Warcraft III (strategy-like games) are out of the question, but I might use a World of Warcraft trial.

Oh, and somewhere in there is BET, which when someone reminded me I almost called this whole thing off. Every day I’ll be measuring myself with some metrics. I noticed a weird paradox here though, very much similar to quantum mechanic’s measurement problem: the act of measuring my intelligence is learning to some degree. Basically I have to find some ways to subtly measure my intelligence, memory, comprehension, etc. without interfering (much).

Since I know I’m very likely to lose my mind, I’ll be taking some psychological evaluations along the way. Also, as a non-regular drinker, I’m banking on my desire to consume alcohol exploding.

Why would you want to do it?

Some irony in the scenario is: there are people who do this all day, every day, and it’s their life. They gave up trying to learn – for whatever reason. This is a temporary experiment for me. To some, my response is: How can you live it? I’ll be counting down the days, while some lost count a long time ago.

I’ll be starting this within the next month, since I have to plan a full week around it. I can’t very well stop tutoring someone and tell them “Oh, I’m trying to be stupid for a week, sorry, can’t help you!” I also have to get it done before some conventions come around, so it’s a slight balancing act with time.

I’ll also be measuring my recovery the week after, and I’m speculating the rebound time will be very quick.

Please give me your ideas. This is another world for me, and I’m just picking the low hanging fruit I can see. If you have an idea of something that breaks the scale of ignorant – let me know! Tweet @KristopherIves with #stupificated or leave a comment below. I’ll be reading this until I start the study, and I’ll be editing this article before and after the study. Ideally I would like to have some kind of “stupid schedule” of what to watch.