Recycled QWA: why some people are smarter than others
Sunday, 18 November 2007
why some people are smarter than others
A friend of mine is a teacher dealing with teens in California. Recently one of said teens called my friend old and stupid while declaring himself intellectually superior. Teen lights an M-80 with a short fuse less than a minute after walking away from conversation. Teacher, in perhaps the best chance he’ll ever have at getting through to someone again, reminds the kid of how stupid teachers are while wrapping up the hand and trying to keep the fingers on.
Some people are smarter than others because they don’t do stupid shit and have no drive to do so. Why?
Part of me wants to say, “Because they’re not genetic back-wash who would be naturally selected to die or become unviable for breeding.” But that’s pointless, overly obvious, leaning on metaphysics and flawed.
Nature pushes boundaries and stupidity is just another niche to be explored and colonized if there is any success in it. Watching Fox News for 10 minutes conclusively demonstrates stupidity is a nutrient rich habitat.
So, back to why.
Why?
Beats the fuck out of me. All the time.
Discussion
Comments
Re: Recycled QWA: why some people are smarter than others
This may be simplistic, but. . . I'm pretty sure that stupidity -- as opposed to diminished or lesser capacity -- is partly a choice and partly the result of an abusive environment. Then it becomes habitual simply through inertia and dulled awareness. In some godawful circumstances, it's actually a positive attribute. Appalling examples include the designers and implementers of torture programs and the Vichy Democrats who adopt ultra-wingnut talking points. A certain kind of stupidity is working out well for Barack Obama. They're all being taken care of by a corrupt system.
The drive to make better use of what and who you are, or at least not degrade that, seems to correlate with a strong sense of compassion, which most of the time is a positive survival attribute. Parents who respond to their children have healthier children. Supportive people find some reciprocity and they are also seen as good partners in a reputation economy, which opens more opportunity. They make better decisions from the security of this.
By Antisquirrel on 19 November 2007 · 16:39
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Re^2: Recycled QWA: why some people are smarter than others
Bill o’Ockham and Paine are both on your side on this one. I’ve, as you might have expected, written the same thing in a different way; from the standpoint of uncorrupted children–
By Ashley on 19 November 2007 · 17:00
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