Misaka Mikoto’s intelligence demotion from “Extraordinary Genius” to “Gifted” makes absolutely no sense and should be corrected

[Buu123]

I do want to point. Doing a lot of calculations per second doesnt inherently mean intelligence.

A FTL character can calculate billions of things a second, but not be anything above average, simply due to speed. Frame of reference matters.

It also matters what said calculations even are, a bunch of grade 2 math isn't impressive, and if her computing power only applies to the specific properties she needs to excel to use her power, that's less "super smart" and more "is super good at this one set of things", like could she on the fly perform a billion calculations for things like rocket science, quantum mechanics, and more? Or is it just things she's already been ingrained to know and is just running with it?

Like, I get it, but there's nuance to some of these things. Context matters. And the wiki has gotten hyperanal with extraordinary genius lately, I've seen characters who can make tier 2-1 slop cap at that.

Espers in Toaru basically work in a way that the esper in question has a modified brain which has evolved in a way that it can bend quantum physics enough to create a personal reality which in turn manifests their ability (kinda like reality warping an ability into existence). But they can’t just do it on a whim like lifting your arm, instead their brains need to do complex calculations all the time in their brains in order to have that ability interact with the real world. It’s basically complex physics calculations. I mentioned some of it in my OP. Real life above average people and experts (in which category she is now) can’t calculate a massive amount of physics and mathematical equations in milliseconds.

I didn’t know that. Though there’s a number of character in “Extraordinary Genius” who are less intelligent than her and she hasn’t even been demoted to just regular “Genius”, she has been demoted to “Gifted”.

 

[Buu123]

I do want to point. Doing a lot of calculations per second doesnt inherently mean intelligence.

A FTL character can calculate billions of things a second, but not be anything above average, simply due to speed. Frame of reference matters.

It also matters what said calculations even are, a bunch of grade 2 math isn't impressive, and if her computing power only applies to the specific properties she needs to excel to use her power, that's less "super smart" and more "is super good at this one set of things", like could she on the fly perform a billion calculations for things like rocket science, quantum mechanics, and more? Or is it just things she's already been ingrained to know and is just running with it?

Like, I get it, but there's nuance to some of these things. Context matters. And the wiki has gotten hyperanal with extraordinary genius lately, I've seen characters who can make tier 2-1 slop cap at that.

Also, one of the requirements for EG mentions having brains matching supercomputers and the only way a human brain can match a supercomputer is in computing and calculating power cuz that’s what computers do.

 

[Qawsedf234]

and the only way a human brain can match a supercomputer is in computing and calculating power cuz that’s what computers do.

The intelligence page does goes over it in the notes

"Outperforming supercomputers" is here used as an umbrella term for the ability to perform extremely advanced thought processes such as calculations and multitasking. Perceiving the surrounding world in slow-motion, and similar feats, due to vastly superhuman Speed, is not remotely sufficient to qualify by itself.

Being fast isn't an intelligence feat and neither is processing events quickly. It directly ties into multi-tasking and calculations. But like Chariot says, if those calculations are specifically about her powers then it's debatably not an example of usable intelligence.

 

[XDragnoir]

It also matters what said calculations even are, a bunch of grade 2 math isn't impressive, and if her computing power only applies to the specific properties she needs to excel to use her power, that's less "super smart" and more "is super good at this one set of things", like could she on the fly perform a billion calculations for things like rocket science, quantum mechanics, and more? Or is it just things she's already been ingrained to know and is just running with it?

Espers have to calculate how their power will affect the world down to the subatomic level (in Mikoto's case, other espers may deal with smaller or bigger stuff), specific type of calculations isn't specified tho, but given the nature and context of the series it's definitely not grade 2 (Tokiwadai is a middle school which teaches university level stuff, to give an idea).

The calculations are almost 100% tied to her powers due to how espers work, but anything she does with them has to be calculated before hand so it's not really as limited in scope as it sounds, given the wide range of applications for her power (again, read her profile, it contains feats pertaining to her calculation power).

I said "almost" because we've seen Accel and the Sisters calculate stuff that has nothing to do with their powers (sisters' case) or at best secondary to its application (Accel's case), obviously, Mikoto's calculation power doesn't scale directly to neither the Misaka Network nor Accel, but that's the power, the amount of calculations, the Sisters individually are literally an imperfect copy of Mikoto so if there was a hard limit on calculation application they'd be unable to calc stuff in Accel's stead.

 

[Buu123]

The intelligence page does goes over it in the notes

Being fast isn't an intelligence feat and neither is processing events quickly. It directly ties into multi-tasking and calculations. But like Chariot says, if those calculations are specifically about her powers then it's debatably not an example of usable intelligence.

I mean being fast is one aspect of calculative and computing power because been a low end PC will finish processing something in a hypothetical few million years. What separates supercomputers from normal computers is how much they can calculate and process at in a specific amount of time. They will process a whole more more things in a second than my high end PC will, which is why they are significantly more powerful.

If you gave me 10 minutes to solve an equation or calculate something I would be able to do it but Mikoto can calculate God knows how many of those subconsciously in split seconds. That’s far, far, greater than any real life person. As for whether it qualifies for EG I don’t really know. Esper brains bend quantum physics in order to manifest their power and they need to do tons of calculations (mostly physics, possibly math too) in very short periods of times to have their abilities interact with the real world at all. Most espers (including Mikoto) do them subconsciously but even if it’s not an EG feat it still most definitely is vastly more impressive than Gifted and deserves regular Genius at least.

 

[Chariot190]

Im ngl, based on the explanations, this seems less actual intelligence like say Brainiac or Metagross doing that, and more espers have hax that enables limited massive computation given the wording ya'll using.

 

[Buu123]

Im ngl, based on the explanations, this seems less actual intelligence like say Brainiac or Metagross doing that, and more espers have hax that enables limited massive computation given the wording ya'll using.

This is a pretty redundant point in my opinion because by that logic anyone who is smart because they are supernatural wouldn’t count? Why does it matter if their abilities make them smarter if the end result is them being smart? In any case that’s not even true. Their brains have been twerked by very advance science in a way that their brains evolved to be able to do that so there is no external factor that gives them intelligence, it’s just how their brains are.

 

[XDragnoir]

Im ngl, based on the explanations, this seems less actual intelligence like say Brainiac or Metagross doing that, and more espers have hax that enables limited massive computation given the wording ya'll using.

What? I am not sure how you came to this conclusion, but let me break down what are espers and how they work to you:

Espers are teenagers that went through Academy City' PCP (linking in case anyone want more info) and developed powers, the program includes drugs being injected into them as well as hypnosis, the end result is that they develop a Personal Reality (our wiki already accepts all of this as you can see here, including the calculation).

To actively use a Personal Reality it takes a series of calculations which are done by the superhuman brain of the esper, their "hax" has no influence on their ability to calculate as you put it.

To give some quotes:

“Heh heh. Looks like it’s actually working.” The #2 smiled, and smiled, and smiled. He spread violence on a level befitting of one who was still a monster.

“Academy City esper powers are controlled using high level calculation ability. Even if you don’t normally think of it that way, you are still carrying out complex calculations without knowing it. Throwing that out of order can be quite useful. There’s no harm in starting with that, don’t you think?”

(To not kill her. Need to destroy virus. Two options. One—find just the virus code in her enormous personality data. Two—manipulate electrical impulses within her brain and destroy only the virus code that I find.)

In Academy City, which loaded its classes with esper development, the strongest esper in the city equated to the smartest esper in the city. Accelerator had once perfectly calculated and predicted the winds blowing through the city down to each and every particle. He used all of his neural pathways to search for a way out

If you read my previous post then you'll notice I brought up the Sisters, they're clones from Misaka Mikoto who, together, form a network of brainwaves that Accelerator uses as proxy for his calculations (after a brian injury):

Accelerator, dubious, pulled the covers over him and plugged his ears. He could employ his power to a certain extent by using the electrodes and having the Misaka Network do it, but that normally didn’t get allotted to any more than general speech and calculation functions and the absolute minimum reflection needed, such as for ultraviolet rays. Otherwise it would just drain the prototype’s battery.

“You must really have it nice, you stupid brat. I nearly died getting out of this hospital with my brain like a milkshake, and I did all that work until this morning cleaning up afterward, and meanwhile you’re snoring away in bed with your damn air conditioner somehow getting results—guh, urgh. I implore you not to take away my language processing capabilities based on reasons originating in religious beliefs, please!!”shouted Accelerator angrily, his words losing their normal shape midway through.

The Misaka Network had suspended its proxy calculations for Accelerator’s speech center.

In other words, he was trying to say, “Don’t take away my ability to talk just because it’s convenient for you.”

“Misaka doesn’t do your proxy calculations for you to hurl abusive language at her, retorts Misaka as Misaka cutely—wait, bfft! Why are you wrapping Misaka up in that blanket, asks Misaka as Misaka senses a little bit of danger!!”

Again, stuff completely unrelated to powers (as well as someone else's power) being calculated by an esper (in this case, an army of low level espers).

Keep in mind the feats above DO NOT scale to Mikoto directly, what matters here is that it shows that Espers can calculate stuff in general, that it's not directly limited to their Esper Power nor is it granted by the esper power.

 

[Doggo]

ngl even the feats already on her profile qualify for genius, gifted is too much of a lowball:

1. She's also a student of the prestigous Tokiwadai Middle School, which teaches its students more than the average middle school and gives lectures on a university level
2. She has displayed notable skill in engineering as she was able to reverse-engineer and build her own version of the Anti-Art Attachment, from analysis of the original weapon and with support from her newly established club at Tokiwadai.
3. , she has stated in a Q&A that she had learned how to play a violin in one year and that she can also speak French, English, Italian, and Russian and thinks she can manage a few other languages as well)

btw her Esper feats were rated to be genius, however, they clearly are EG:

Misaka Mikoto

Misaka Mikoto is a main heroine in Toaru Majutsu no Index and the main protagonist of Toaru Kagaku no Railgun. She is the third-ranked Level 5 esper and the strongest Electromaster in Academy City, nicknamed the Railgun due to her signature move. Kamijou Touma also coined the nickname Biri-Biri...

vsbattles.fandom.com

I think there is no need to add anything other than changing the ratings. Her profile already does a good job listing her feats.

 

[Buu123]

Here is the link for the new CRT I made with all the scans and sources for her various and plentiful intelligence feats. Hope it’s decent

Misaka Mikoto’s intelligence CRT

So hopefully this CRT will be proper and easier to read this time. The point of this CRT is to “fix” the recently changed intelligence rating for Misaka Mikoto. She was significantly downgraded from Extraordinary Genius (wasn’t split into categories before) to just Gifted for general...

vsbattles.com

 

[Buu123]

ngl even the feats already on her profile qualify for genius, gifted is too much of a lowball:

1. She's also a student of the prestigous Tokiwadai Middle School, which teaches its students more than the average middle school and gives lectures on a university level
2. She has displayed notable skill in engineering as she was able to reverse-engineer and build her own version of the Anti-Art Attachment, from analysis of the original weapon and with support from her newly established club at Tokiwadai.
3. , she has stated in a Q&A that she had learned how to play a violin in one year and that she can also speak French, English, Italian, and Russian and thinks she can manage a few other languages as well)

btw her Esper feats were rated to be genius, however, they clearly are EG:

Misaka Mikoto

Misaka Mikoto is a main heroine in Toaru Majutsu no Index and the main protagonist of Toaru Kagaku no Railgun. She is the third-ranked Level 5 esper and the strongest Electromaster in Academy City, nicknamed the Railgun due to her signature move. Kamijou Touma also coined the nickname Biri-Biri...

vsbattles.fandom.com

I think there is no need to add anything other than changing the ratings. Her profile already does a good job listing her feats.

Sure but here are also many missing feats which I added in my CRT which I feel like should be added. With all the feats in my CRT she does make it to “Extraordinary Genius” in my opinion. For example, she can hack on post quantum level and she brute forced a very high level system in one second, that same feat would have required an Academy City’s supercomputer 10 hours to achieve even with additional AI support. Many feats similar to this she has. Listing them all would really help to give her a fair intelligence rating.

 

[Buu123]

Possibly yeah

They could always edit the OP, which is the grace that I'm granting them, unless they want to do over with a new CRT

I have made a new CRT as best as I could and it required a lot of time and effort.

Here it is: https://vsbattles.com/threads/misaka-mikotos-intelligence-crt.179313/

How you will read this one and give it consideration. Thanks in advance.