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Have we reached a limit of intelligence?
- Dec 28, 2009 at 10:47 AM
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I have been thinking about this on and off the last few days. Yesterday I watched a show about Einstein on the History Channel. It was very enlightening to me because Einstein was believed to be mildly autistic...and so am I. They did not mention this because it can't be proven, but from what they described of his life before his fame, I identified with all of it. He was seen as a failure to his family, he was very unpopular, and he had to work meaningless repetitive jobs for a long time because no one would hire him anywhere else...even though, through all of this, he was coming up with extremely complex hypotheses just by daydreaming when he was bored!
Anyway, the point is that, in our society, intelligence is looked down upon. Sure, we use he product of peoples' intelligence every day, but the people that developed that technology were probably need as "nerds" in school and stuffed in lockers or beat up for lunch money! I was picked on constantly in school for getting good grades...and then in the same breath, people would ask me if I could do their homework! It made no sense then...but now it is starting to. Even as adults, these are the kinds of people who have few friends besides other "nerds" and are seen as boring. The other phenomenon I see all the time is the idea that being smart makes you arrogant. Just saying something intelligent, even if its just simply stating facts, gets you the reaction of, "Well, you just think you're so smart, don't you??". Its really aggravating that when someone asks a question, and I answer, I just get this stupid look or a comment like that...like if I was "cool" I wouldn't have actually answered the question.
A while ago I was watching this show on Discovery Channel about a guy who was living with a troop of baboons for a year and filming them. I noticed there was one male in the toop who was also at the bottom of totem pole, had to eat last, couldn't sleep near the others, wasn't included in playing, but was always helpful and very smart. He was the one who would remember where food and water could be found even if they hadn't been to that place in years. He kept the troop alive, but they treated him like crap. This is common in social animals, there is always someone at the bottom, but they are still needed in the group. I think it is the same with humans...but humans have screwed up this system and have no idea what its doing to them.
Our society has been set up against human nature. We are expected to live separately in our own houses now instead of in family groups. When we were in family groups, we evolved to become specialists in certain things so that the whole group could benefit. If it wasn't for this, there would be no culture, art, music, entertainment, etc because we wouldn't have time for these things if we had to keep ourselves alive on our own. Today, we are doing just that. We are expected to be able to do everything around the house, finances, childcare, repairs, etc. on our own. This leaves no time for specialties we might be good at. Being alone is the reason no solitary animal on this planet has become "intelligent". They just don't have time because they have to stay alive! Yet we are forcing ourselves to become solitary species (...and I think this is a big reason for 90% of the US having depression.) I remember thinking, even as a kid, that we are just living wrong, but I couldn't put my finger on why. One person, or a couple, should not have to be responsible for EVERY aspect of having a home and a family. We did not evolve this way, and this is why some people can't do it! Its not their fault, they're not lazy or failures, its just not the way humans are supposed to be. If we expect people to develop technology, science, art, and music for us, then they need time to do it in between working and everything else we need to do to survive.
Its obvious, in the US anyway, that people just don't care much about quality anymore. I see old buildings in the city I grew up with all kinds of stone carvings and amazing workmanship on them...yet today's buildings are all about getting done as half-assed as possible without getting a lawsuit for hurting someone. This is how everything is today. Cars, kids' toys, the food we get in grocery stores...its all mediocre or even terrible in quality. This is what sells, and its been going on for so long that people have forgotten what quality is and don't even bother to demand it. Why is this? Well, that's where my theory comes in...
I think the current trend in human evolution is not favoring smart people. I see it everywhere. No one cares if you're really good at something. In fact people often reject art that is too complicated or detailed for them and prefer the cheap crap that the media tells them to like. Where do you think the term "starving artist" comes from? Its because the "artists" who mass-produce low-quality crap are the ones who are actually selling their work. People don't even notice quality when they see it, and they certainly don't know how to produce something of quality. People who are too smart to join in this mediocre fad are looked down on and usually end up being solitary. My fiance has an engineering degree and does most of the work where he works, yet the stupid guy who is really good at bullshitting customers gets paid twice what he does and gets the credit for my fiance's work. I've seen this over and over at every place I've worked. Society prefers status, fashion, and people who can pretty much lie and look popular. At the same time, how many Einsteins are out there who will never find anyone to listen to them because their house is a mess and they look like bums from concentrating on scientific theories too much instead of cleaning their house or worrying about their clothes? If these people lived in a society where we lived in a group and those who loved to cook would do it for everyone, and those who loved science could spend all day discovering new ways to help others, then these types of people would not be looked down upon at all. Instead, because of our greed and our need to "own" land, our own houses, and lots and lots of things, we have separated ourselves from everyone else and made our lives harder. People with specialties have a much harder life than everyone else and are even seen as having mental disorders. I don't think any of them are disorders. I think it is our nature fighting back. Where will it end? When everyone on the planet is diagnosed with a "mental disorder" just because they are not exactly the same as everyone else? Do you reall think Einstein is a mental case who needed to be on drugs because he had less fashion sense and social skills? That's ridiculous, yet that's how society is.
I think that maybe there is a limit to the height of intelligence a species can reach. When we reach the point where we are so smart, we can decide not to reproduce, we can decide to live our lives the way we want instead of just popping out kids left and right like everyone else...when we get to that point, evolution will not favor us because we, obviously, are reproducing much less often. I think our society is "evolving backwards". We are going back to being robots who are all the same...and this is what people WANT! I see people tell me this all the time. Wouldn't it be great if there were no races, there were no "mental disorders", there was no disagreeing on anything, what if everyone was just tolerant of EVERYTHING? Well, I don't think it would be great. If we eliminate race, culture, and personality differences, we are going to end up being unintellgent ants who just do what their instincts tell them to do day in and day out with no one around to create anything special or entertaining for them because no one is different!
Evolution favors reproduction, not intelligence. Yet we are intelligent enough to combat this and we don't want to bother because its easier to stay mediocre. We have evolved to be able to deal with the isolation and even think we prefer it because we had no other choice. Could we ever go back to living in family groups? I doubt it...I wouldn't want to, yet I realize that's what I would need to be able to be more functional in society.
Comments:
Excellent...I have a couple of book recommendations for you...Threshold by Thom Hartmann and The Alphabet vs. the Goddess by Leonard Shlain...before long you'll be completely in my camp. :)
You mean the hippie camp? I know I am close...but I still have to keep my hatred for most people...which I at least know now comes from having Asperger's. And being a hippie takes too much work. All that doing things naturally instead of the easy way and stuff...I can't handle it :)
Chris, the quiverfull movement has one glaring flaw. Just because they sh-- out oodles and oodles of kids, does NOT mean those kids are not going to grow up and realize their partents are pscyho and change their beleifs :)
I feel you. The only time I get depressed is when I feel like I am alone in the world.
The more I learn, the more I believe that the Western way is flawed in many areas (spiritually, economically, socially). Needless to say, I am starting to feel like I don't belong here.
I know I don't belong here :) I would love to move to Europe...specifically Sweden, Norway, or one of those. Its sad when a monarchy has more freedom than a democracy...
Well after reading this, all I can say is--hot damn! You iz smart. ;)
I do agree with a lot of this Becky. I am not sure though about people not being able to specialize. People do go to school to become what they love and make a difference. I do not think that is the common. Intelligent people are looked down upon and do stand out as different. And look at all the people popping out the kids, it is the dumb and ignorant. Intelligent secular people tend to have way less kids. That is one thing that bothers me about not wanting anymore. So in that way humanity is getting stupider i agree, if you go by numbers. However I am wondering about how the gap is going to widen between the haves and the have nots. There seems like there will not be much in between.
I also had to hide my intelligence and pretend that the drivel people cared about or talked about was interesting or important. It is still rare in real life to find a real conversation. I don't get it, can't people see? We do need to encourage and foster intelligence.
And to add to your rant, too many people get 'diagnosed' and 'treated' for things that are not disorders. I am not discounting that it is genuine for some people, but I really believe the medical system is drug happy. The kid that cant sit still or is bored easily has a 'disorder'. Could it be that he just isnt getting appropriately challenged? It really frustrates and worries me.
Talking about this lack of fitting in the other day to a friend and he called it a 'bell-curve'. Most people are in the middle (the bell), the intelligent are on one of the outlying curves. So we don't fit anywhere, We ARE outside the group. It is a hard place to be I suppose. But recognizing that and doing something with it is important.
So there is my rant! ;)
I lurve you shexy ladee.
My beef with the whole Asperger's diagnosis is this.... if the effects of being "too smart" are so negative that we need to be seen as sorry cases for human beings....then why isn't the over-abundance of social skills coupled with lack of intelligence seen as an equal "disorder"??? Why do I constantly see stupid people moving up the ladder at work and things like that JUST because they are good at bullshitting and nothing else??? Why isn't lack of intelligence a disorder?
I saw this autism article where a doctor was saying that the autistic people who themselves as a difference instead of a disorder are wrong. She said "anything that causes you to not fit into society IS a disorder, no matter how you look at it!". Why exactly is "fitting in" more important than intelligence? Who got to decide what is more important and what needs to be stamped out?
thats funny becky. it all has to do with the definition of 'disorder' i guess. I agree with you about social vs. intelligence, but that is not the way the world works. So if you have a problem BSing your way to the top you ARE at a disadvantage. You will be less 'sucessful' than someone with charm and manipulative power. That is just reality. And it is only more important because in this society, it is the way it works. It IS an advantage. So if you can be intelligent and social manipulative you have it MADE. It is unfair but is our current reality.
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This is great Becky!!! I hadn't quite connected all of these dots but it does make for a workable theory!!
(and it is also proved quite well by the quiverfull movement...)
- mtnmama111
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