F-zinc Uses and Questions

[Trusk'our he/him]

I know that this has been debated as a side of other threads before, but I'm interested; what would be realistic expectations of zinc Feruchemy? What would be situations where a Sparker Ferring could shine with their talents?

And some specific questions too:

1. Does Tapping mental speed let you multi task better? You can really only focus one one thing at a time normally, but if the processing power of your brain is boosted, does that mean you could Tap at 3x your normal amount and focus on 3 separate things? 

If so, listening in on multiple conversations simultaneously would be possible, which would be a nice pairing with A-tin.

2. Would mental speed help with visions? When accessing the SR with a duralumin/electrum burst, the end result is pretty overwhelming, so would added mental speed help process it?

3. Does mental speed make you Einstein? We know that mental speed can bring a little bit of bullet time into your grasp, but that's primarily F-steel's thing.

Spoiler

Shadows of Self Chicago signing (Oct. 12, 2015)

Alteroden

With [Feruchemical] zinc, you get mental speed. How is that any different from [Feruchemical] steel, except without [physical] speed?

Brandon Sanderson

I think of the mental speed actually turning you into... Let's say you sped up your body, and you wanted to figure out some really complex equations.

Alteroden

So it lets you have intuitive leaps.

Brandon Sanderson

Right. It basically turns you into Ken Jennings. That's how I imagine it.

Kurkistan

So it's not like bullet time?

Brandon Sanderson

No... It'll bullet time a little bit, it certainly will, because you're thinking faster than everyone else, but it has applications beyond bullet timing. Bullet time is really--

Kurkistan

That’s steel’s thing?

Brandon Sanderson

That’s kind of steel's thing. They kind of overlap on that one, because the steel thing... But yeah. It's more like "I think fast, but my reaction speed is not sped up".

However, mental speed is a bit different from an actual intelligence boost/alteration. 

SA spoilers:

Spoiler

Stormlight Three Update #5 (Nov. 19, 2016) 

Argent

Can tapping enough Feruchemical zinc allow one to match Taravangian's intellect on the day he created the Diagram? Or are the effects different somehow?

Brandon Sanderson

The effects are similar, but not exactly the same. Zinc is speed of thought specifically--while what happens to Taravangian increases multiple types of intelligence, not just raw 'processing power' so to speak.

So, does this mean you come to a conclusion faster, and therefore more easily?

If this is the case, would you be able to use F-zinc to solve complex mechanical designs and be considered a "genius"?

[Tamriel Wolfsbaine]

2 hours ago, Trusk'our said:

I know that this has been debated as a side of other threads before, but I'm interested; what would be realistic expectations of zinc Feruchemy? What would be situations where a Sparker Ferring could shine with their talents?

And some specific questions too:

1. Does Tapping mental speed let you multi task better? You can really only focus one one thing at a time normally, but if the processing power of your brain is boosted, does that mean you could Tap at 3x your normal amount and focus on 3 separate things? 

If so, listening in on multiple conversations simultaneously would be possible, which would be a nice pairing with A-tin.

2. Would mental speed help with visions? When accessing the SR with a duralumin/electrum burst, the end result is pretty overwhelming, so would added mental speed help process it?

3. Does mental speed make you Einstein? We know that mental speed can bring a little bit of bullet time into your grasp, but that's primarily F-steel's thing.

  Reveal hidden contents

Shadows of Self Chicago signing (Oct. 12, 2015)

Alteroden

With [Feruchemical] zinc, you get mental speed. How is that any different from [Feruchemical] steel, except without [physical] speed?

Brandon Sanderson

I think of the mental speed actually turning you into... Let's say you sped up your body, and you wanted to figure out some really complex equations.

Alteroden

So it lets you have intuitive leaps.

Brandon Sanderson

Right. It basically turns you into Ken Jennings. That's how I imagine it.

Kurkistan

So it's not like bullet time?

Brandon Sanderson

No... It'll bullet time a little bit, it certainly will, because you're thinking faster than everyone else, but it has applications beyond bullet timing. Bullet time is really--

Kurkistan

That’s steel’s thing?

Brandon Sanderson

That’s kind of steel's thing. They kind of overlap on that one, because the steel thing... But yeah. It's more like "I think fast, but my reaction speed is not sped up".

However, mental speed is a bit different from an actual intelligence boost/alteration. 

SA spoilers:

  Reveal hidden contents

Stormlight Three Update #5 (Nov. 19, 2016) 

Argent

Can tapping enough Feruchemical zinc allow one to match Taravangian's intellect on the day he created the Diagram? Or are the effects different somehow?

Brandon Sanderson

The effects are similar, but not exactly the same. Zinc is speed of thought specifically--while what happens to Taravangian increases multiple types of intelligence, not just raw 'processing power' so to speak.

So, does this mean you come to a conclusion faster, and therefore more easily?

If this is the case, would you be able to use F-zinc to solve complex mechanical designs and be considered a "genius"?

I think a lack of bullet time is good for zinc. We can only imagine and speculate on what it might or what it must feel like to think that fast. How do you comprehend the idea that there is a power that allows you to comprehend nearly instantly. Infact intuitive leaps is more what I would describe it as. The world is happening near real time but you process and time out there most accurate move in an instant. 

As a kid deciding you want to jump across the creek you don't have to sit down and math out the physics of the jump. You simply know that you need to jump moderately hard or that you need to jump really hard. I think that zinc is closer to that than bullet time. 

I can't imagine thinking at a speed fast enough for me to double my thought in the same time... if I am consciously thinking about two or three times the stuff it would be really really difficult to not hate life as I think I would feel painfully slow.  

Thus I prefer to think of it as intuitive leaps. You process so much faster and the subconscious filters through the the algorithms faster and faster. 

Thinking about if I were running through a critical situation with a patient and we are considering all of the signs and symptoms. I don't think that zinc would force me to go through all of the exact same thought processes if it did then I would be frozen in time to get a critical decision made in a few seconds. In fact, in critical situations the flow of time and experiencing the urgency of the situation is part of what allows us to make choices. I like to think of zinc as less of me running through the algorithm consciously and more of my subconscious processing power being ramped up so much that intuitive leaps are able to be had. 

I like it to be more akin to just knowing. Ken Jennings is the example Brandon gives and I don't think Ken Jennings ever had to think about what he knows or not. Its just there and his mind pulls it to the forefront in what seems like an instant.  The same processing process is happening but his wiring lets it happen faster. 

Maybe I am the only person who thought of zinc like flipping through the file cabinet super fast... but I think now it is knowing where that file is kept without needing to flip through it. 

How does that make sense for storing and tapping?  I honestly don't know. But I think the magic of supercomprehension and superprocessing is incomprehensible and unprocessable.  I have never thought at double speed. But I have had experiences of just knowing. 

Although maybe that is coppers thing more than zincs. 

I also don't think zinc will allow a 6th grader to suddenly become a doctor. I think zinc allows a 6th grader to process what he has learned in an instant but I don't think it allows you to know things you never knew you never knew. 

How do I differentiate zinc and copper then? I think of copper more like a file cabinet. I think copper will always have those memories as you put them.  

Maybe if your memory is full it takes more.work for.the processor. Maybe not. 

Crazy little example of nothing... my wife has this friend who is 95 years old. She has never forgotten a number. She can tell you instantly the birthday of anyone she has ever heard. She can't tell you what color car you drive but remembers your car by the license plate... 

Is this more akin to zinc or to copper?  I think she would love copper as a power because she is always complaining that she just doesn't want to remember anymore. She expresses that she wants to forget as remembering it all makes her tired. 

 

Don't get me started on my thoughts of chromium. I think that is the same thing. You just know what is right. So you do it and it works out.... likewise, when storing you still know what is right and it never works out. 

 

All similar outcomes through seperate means.