The pursuit of intelligence

[poisongirlxv]

For a species that embraces our intelligence and our altered consciousness, we have used it for a good while with little concern for human happiness, for a world of balance. Intelligence has become a gateway instead for distancing ourselves through ideologies, creating economic systems prizing material above human welfare, advancing technology that

Comments

[tabularassa]

I completely agree. We have completely lost the plot, and it scares me because it looks like most of us are not going to find it.

"...very few of us specialize in knowing about the troubles of others, how best we can help them, and the world we live in. Suffice it to say that I'm disgusted by a species that watches its own die, starve, degrade itself and struggle while relishing in our 'intellect' and watching what will the engineering geniuses will come up for us next." WORD.

[tabular_rasa]

Why hello there, fellow misspelled tabula rasa-themed username! *Tips hat.*

[tabularassa]

*tips hat right back*

Hi there;)

[android_weber]

I enjoyed reading your piece, and I agree with your point.

Intelligence is the ability to put a send a person to the moon and back. Wisdom is understanding the value (or lack thereof) in doing so.

I think that's another way of expressing the difference you're struggling with--intelligence vs. wisdom.

Also, the issue is whether people pursuing intelligence have any interest in helping others. Generosity is not an innate human trait.

[poisongirlxv]

Some people would argue that wisdom is a form of intelligence...

Generosity may not be innate. But I believe mutual concern for our own species, as observed in mammals when they protect and raise their own, is to an extent very instinctive. That can certainly change through experience and interaction with others, but it does not mean it was never an inherited trait in the first place. Humans transcend nature via culture.

There's still enormous debates about how deeply ingrained instincts are. I personally don't think instincts are that hardwired, given the evidence that we can change our impulses.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>Suffice it to say that I'm disgusted by a species that watches its own die, starve, degrade itself and struggle while relishing in our 'intellect' and watching what the engineering geniuses will come up for us next.<<

So am I. The sad fact is, most people do not make much use of what intelligence they have. Intelligence is not rewarded very much, especially compared to things like greed, ruthlessness, and money. But it's worth pursuing because it's better than being stupid; knowing information or how to solve problems can save your life. Just don't expect it to make people like you or help you make a living.

[tabular_rasa]

To be momentarily geeky, this is the concern that made me decide I was Hufflepuff rather than a Ravenclaw in the Harry Potter House sorting system :-P

It's also what ultimately turned me away from a path in academia. I thought about it for a while, because I rather like research and arguing and abstract discourse. But during my undergraduate thesis, I was struck with this horrible sense of pointlessness. Great ideas are great, but devoting my life to churning out dissertations that will inevitably be nothing more than dusty pages in a college library or a hit on relevant search page #97 on JSTOR seems like a hell-bent course for not only personal oblivion but zero to negative effect on mankind.

I agree with you that there is nothing inherently wrong with intelligence (nor with research, argument, or discourse), but we should stop making it out like it is the be-all end-all thing of value. It's amoral and socially useless unless combined with other values like compassion and applied to real need.

[poisongirlxv]

I'm actually considering going into academia. It's true a lot of academia does end up being quite useless. I'm a freshman in college, so I've still time to think about that. The path of the academic, to me, only seems useless if you use your research to just gain scholarly fame. Otherwise, I've met lots of academics who use their research as a way to contribute to issues they find very pressing. They're usually also activists and people who write against political corruption and radically expose all the bad and ugly going on.

That side of academia is certainly helpful. Raising consciousness/recognition is always a step. Otherwise, all that I've written up there applies very much to academia. I find cold-shouldered academics, only concerned with statistics and abstractness, to be very disappointing. And I wonder how they pull through with that kind of detachment.

[root_fu]

Your post reminded me of one of my favorite quotes, ever:

I'm sorry, but I don't want to be an emperor. That's not my business. I don't want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible; Jew, Gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other's happiness, not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone, and the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone

[poisongirlxv]

Charlie Chapman! Ha! I love his films. =]

[root_fu]

I've never seen his movies.

Love the quotation, though. [: