HG Wells Time Machine spent a lot of time off its shelf and bookmarked near my bed this week, so I share some wisdom of the ages:
"It is a law of nature we overlook, that intellectual versatility is the compensation for change, danger, and trouble. An animal perfectly in harmony with its environment is a perfect mechanism. Nature never appeals to inteligence until habit and instinct are useless. There is no intelligence where there is no change and no need of change. Only those animals partake of intelligence that have to meet a huge variety of needs and dangers."
Our society is too comfortable--habit and routine are not making room for people to use their intelligence. In fact, mastering habit and routine is often mistaken for intelligence. A surgeon who performs the same operation over and over throughout his career is mistakenly admired for his intelligence, as an example. Or the "smartest kid in the class" was always the one who memorized the most facts for a test. Intelligence is a variable almost independent of experience. In fact, its true demonstration probably requires a lack of experience at some level to allow for creativity and cleverness. In my opinion, the label "intelligent" is the most misused, and possibly the most misunderstood adjective in the english language.
"It is a law of nature we overlook, that intellectual versatility is the compensation for change, danger, and trouble. An animal perfectly in harmony with its environment is a perfect mechanism. Nature never appeals to inteligence until habit and instinct are useless. There is no intelligence where there is no change and no need of change. Only those animals partake of intelligence that have to meet a huge variety of needs and dangers."
Our society is too comfortable--habit and routine are not making room for people to use their intelligence. In fact, mastering habit and routine is often mistaken for intelligence. A surgeon who performs the same operation over and over throughout his career is mistakenly admired for his intelligence, as an example. Or the "smartest kid in the class" was always the one who memorized the most facts for a test. Intelligence is a variable almost independent of experience. In fact, its true demonstration probably requires a lack of experience at some level to allow for creativity and cleverness. In my opinion, the label "intelligent" is the most misused, and possibly the most misunderstood adjective in the english language.
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eugnics is natural, it is survival of the fittest: those most adaptable and adapted to the conditions of existing. some crazy asshole sixty years ago gets associated with a brilliant and natural idea that had existed for decades before he came along and suddenly something is fascist. be not a slave to the accepted memes of history, think and rationalize for yourself.
we breed cattle, dogs, plants, everything around us to be stronger or fitter or prettier or tastier and this is seen as normal, acceptable, and oft times beneficial, yet if we even think to apply a similar policy to ourselves we are horrified and offended. we are merely animals too, intelligence does not make us any better or more moral then anything else.
and despite our claims, our advances have done very little to prepare our species to survive the future.