What happens when George tries to think for himself? Why is he so heavily "handicapped"?

When George tries to think too hard, an audio speaker generates loud distracting noises in his ears. These noises make him incapable of concentrating for longer than thirty seconds on any one thing.

He is so heavily handicapped because of his extreme intelligence. It wouldn't be right for him to make others feel inferior simply because he's smarter, and the government destroys an intelligent person's ability to think so they can keep him/her in line.