Intelligence

[Ben]

"Never underestimate the power of stupidity."  -anonymous

"You misunderestimated me."  -George W. Bush

"It's too bad stupidity doesn't hurt." -Anton LaVey

LaVey was wrong when he said stupidity doesn't hurt.  Stupidity is like a weapon that can be as adverse as sticks and stones.  Stupidity can't be cured by breaking your television or smashing your head against a wall.  That would be just stupid.  Stupidity is more than just Forrest Gumpesque retardation or Alfred E. Neuman's care-free smirk.  Stupidity isn't stupid when it's funny all around.  Real stupidity can and does hurt.  Stupidity is like a joke that isn't funny; like kicking somebody in the balls.  It doesn't hurt the kicker, who laughs at the pain, but it can and does hurt.  Stupidity is more than just malice.  Stupidity is the Nazi who somehow effects many people to think the same way, like a butterfly causing a tornado.  America is as dumb as George Bush because stupidity is a plague, a meme that captivates the people just because it's there.  How can stupidity be cured?  Be like smart people.  Whether you think that smart people are drugged out hippies or A.A. freaks is up to you.  Bushites, anti-Bushes, anti-anti-Bushes, anti-anti-anti-Bushes, up to you.  Whether you think that smart people are Christians, Islamists, atheists, or otherwise, all of that is up to you.  It is not up to me what you choose to think intelligent is.  Just as stupidity holds sway over much of the culture, you can hold sway.  You can change it yourselves, and it is that spark of individual wit that can skewer the homogenous mass of Dumb like a wild boar, and change it into a fantastic intelligent butterfly effect.  Intelligence will trigger like dominoes.  The dumb shall be smitten with intelligent rapture.  By intelligence we will prove that we care about ourselves, for intelligence is love.  And it will be they who demisunderestimate the true power of love.

"Mama always told me, stupid is as stupid does." - Forrest Gump

[Bella]

This is very cool, Devin.
I especially like the line about the dumb being smitten with intelligent rapture.

[East Coast Hustle]

Bra-fuckin'-vo! Well spoken, my friend! I think you just earned yourself an officer's commision....on behalf of the NSRA, I hereby promote you to the rank of Lieutenant. Congratulations, Comrade Devin!

[Ben]

Awesome.  Well, I was the Emperor of the NSRA before that, but I guess Lieutenant is even better!  Thanks!

[EraPassing]

What the hell do you mean, kicking someone in the balls isn't funny?

[Ben]

*Kicks EraPassing in the balls*
See how you like it.

[East Coast Hustle]

boy....I hope that mental picture gets the hell outta my head before I go to sleep tonight...

[EraPassing]

Ha!
I mock in your general direction!

[Ben]

*Averts general snobbery*

[Hoshiko]

I'm truly curious about this. I'd like to explore this concept some more.

As someone who worships knowledge (and can't help it) I've always viewed it as a slight weakness as well as an asset. It's great for thse who like to explore different viewpoints and persue the "truth", but there's also alot of exclusion that goes on in this world in the name of intelligence.

I've also studied alot of religions and philosophies that teach that pursuit of brain power is a hindrance to the spiritual life in general. The mind should be exercised only to be expanded and controlled, not for it's own merit, etc. Some are more positive about it than others, but their final goal seems to always be spiritual progress at the expense of life progress. I'm not as gullible now as I was years ago, so I take all of that with a grain of salt, but I think there's a kernal of truth in there somewhere. At what point does your intelligence begin to hold you back from seeing more?

I agree that everyone should push their limits intellectually, but the more I learn the more I begin to think that knowledge is not the goal but a means to the end, and a farking long one at that. And if that's true, might not there be another path there besides intelligence? Is experience due to stupidity not sometimes better?

The dumb shall be smitten with intelligent rapture.

The problem here is that no one truly thinks that they're dumb. Truly dumb people don't just have low IQ's, they're not open to other's opinions. They mimic. They're insular because to challenge yourself beyond your limits is akin to mental suicide. It's not always a bad thing to have limits.

For now I go by the philosophy "Open-minded persuit of knowledge" but I'd love to hear someone else's opinion on this. Teaching intelligence by example sounds great, but I'm not so sure it's possible or even neccessary.

intelligence is love.

In the end, only love is love. To assert otherwise is dangerous. (Example: assimilation is love, obedience is love, etc.)

Either way, great post Devin.

[chaosgraves:agentoferis]

Forrest was blessed with a low IQ.

It allowed him to make the smart decisions with ease.

if "stupid is as stupid does" then forrest = any$-"stupid.

[Guido Finucci]

I'm truly curious about this. I'd like to explore this concept some more.

Assuming for a second or two that you actually wanted serious responses, I'd say that you're playing fast and loose with your definition of knowledge.

At times you use it in a way that sounds (at least to my ear) like it's synonymous with some sort of gnostic enlightenment. Other times you're almost denegrating it and using it to mean something akin to hardcore, seeing-is-believing, empirical data-based inferences.

At what point does your intelligence begin to hold you back from seeing more?

I'd guess that a question like this comes from a position that assumes that the something more exists and is better than intelligence. Sounds like the enlightenment vs. data thing to me.

Is experience due to stupidity not sometimes better?

Allow me to rephrase this: is the enlightenment due to a lack of intelligence not sometimes better? I guess what I'm getting at is that you seem to be giving 'intelligence' a special relationship to 'knowledge' that I am not sure it rightly deserves; there are many paths to God, absurdity is only one of them.

A lot of people have bought into that 50s corn-ball bullshit that says knowledge is wholly under the aegis of science. The New Age moved it beyond 'science' per se but still think that the methods of science and rationality should necessarily apply. Thing is -- I have never found a 'scientific method' that adequately allows for or explains how we can get knowledge from observations at all (and I have looked quite hard).

I seem to have wandered on a tangent that is of no use to you.. ahh...
how's this then, I'll just give a personal answer to one of the questions: the point at which intelligence holds you back from seeing more is the point at which the methods for increasing your intelligence require you to be seperated from living in and experiencing the moment in which you find yourself.


I am, of course, wrong.

Edit: Damn my sausage fingers and their attacks on spelling.

[Horab Fibslager]

be frugal, be wise, above all be drunk.

[Hoshiko]

Hmm. I'm going to think on that some more guido but that's exactly what I was looking for.

[Ben]

This thread was going to be titled "Stupidity".  I'm not especially intelligent.  There are things that people do that leaves me in stupified awe, like how the heck does this computer actually work and how did they craft this whole world so stupendously.  Stupendous and/or stupidous.  Stupidity isn't always harmful, but I think W would have been better as a fourth stooge than as president of the world.  If he could only just rub two brain cells together.  Maybe there won't be a rapture of intelligence.  The way things are going, maybe it will be the rapture of DUMB.