The human being has an immense potential for intelligence combined with a propensity for stupidity. This is because if they have intelligence, they think they are intelligent but this is very far from the case. If a person has a brain in their head then they have intelligence. The type of intelligence can vary widely and is different for everybody. Being very intelligent in one area means you are likely to be less so in another because there is only so much capacity a brain has.
Examples of how this manifests itself are as follows:
1. The world human population is at unsustainable levels and is continuing to grow. The population size of animal species in the wild, including humans, with the exception of catastrophic events, is governed by three things: famine, disease and predation. The intelligence of the human has shone through by eliminating the predators, wiping out disease and breeding food crops with higher yields.
The stupidity of the human is that they have not put processes in place to prevent population explosion. In the event of a famine, they send more food, in the event of a disease outbreak they send more medicines. There are no natural ways left to control population size.
There is however, a very effective process of population control that is non invasive and non-coercive. In fact this process will not only reduce the population but also enhance the people it touches. This process uses and helps maximise intelligence. It is education. By educating women the birthrate drops dramatically, so much so that in western countries the birth rate is lower than the required amount to sustain a population and in some cases considerably lower.
The best way to help underdeveloped countries is to help them to help themselves. Rather than sending money to these countries send educators. If the countries do not want educators but money, don’t send anything, because money will just exacerbate the problem. Every person deserves self-determination and to reach their potential. Education helps them do that, sending money does not.
2. There are 2 figures in history that have an influence on the understanding of life on earth. I shall refer to them as X & Y. I learnt about X before pre-school and this learning continued through school into my teenage years. I didn’t learn about Y until after I had left school.
I learnt about X’s date of birth around the same time I learnt about my own birthday. I learnt about Y’s date of birth many years after I learnt about that person. X’s date of birth is fictitious, Y’s is not.
The circumstances of X’s birth are implausible with no supporting evidence to diminish the implausibility. The circumstances of Y’s birth are not widely known.
I found X’s teachings confusing and inconsistent without any evidence to support the teachings. Y’s teaching made more sense the more I looked into it, with evidence supporting the teaching everywhere.
X was judgemental and spoke of good and bad, right and wrong and required following and worship. Y was non judgemental, just putting forward coherent arguments about differences for you to take or leave. Y didn’t require following or worship.
X and his father are often spoken about by heads of state. Y is rarely if ever spoken about by heads of state.
X’s date of birth is 25th December. Y’s date of birth is 12th February.
X’s name is Jesus Christ. Y’s name is Charles Darwin.
3. Feudalism was a system whereby the powerful controlled the labour force for its own requirements such as going to war or growing crops. Feudalism saw that the wants of the powerful were met with no regards to the needs of the labour force. Feudalism was superseded by capitalism which was seen as more democratic. Capitalism relies on economics in which goods, services or labour are traded for money. For capitalism to work there has to be a demand for the goods, services or labour. Capitalism relies on growth so that investment can be made to improve the production of goods or services. Intelligence is used to design the goods and services and also to create demand through marketing and advertising.
Whilst advertising and marketing could be considered a good thing to spread awareness and availability of a good or service, when it is used to generate desire it is then fulfilling a want rather than a need. A need is what everyone has to fulfil their wellbeing. A want is a spurious need that promises much but delivers little. Clever capitalists, marketeers and advertisers keep people needy and target their wants. If someone’s needs are met, their wants disappear, but if someone is needy they will always want more.
The poor buy things they want but don’t need, such as certain types of clothes, phones or food. They are likely to fall into debt, have poor physical and mental health and as a consequence are a drain on society.
The capitalists are rich because they are getting the poor hooked on their products & services so the poor buy them. The capitalists are not getting their needs met either which is why they are driven to become capitalists. Their wants are far more ambitious than the poor and they are much happier to trample over others to get their wants. Status is everything to the capitalist – the type and number of houses, cars, yachts etc. Their health might be slightly better because they can buy better nutrition and be able to have respite. Their self esteem might be slightly higher because of status but on the other hand they have more to lose.
Capitalism is not sustainable because resources are finite, discarded waste is becoming mountainous whilst wants are insatiable. Capitalism is a hedonistic hell hole for everyone which they are probably unaware of because they are trapped within the system. The model needs to change so that needs are met rather than wants and the whole process of providing goods and services is sustainable so that waste is minimised, resources optimised and recycled. This would minimise the difference between rich and poor, improve physical and mental health, which in turn would put less strain on medical and social services, saving copious amounts of money.
4. Climate change has been brought about by the industrial revolution where great intelligence was used in mechanical and electrical engineering, design and manufacturing to revolutionise the products, clothes and every day items we use or interact with. The whole process required and requires huge amounts of energy, the bulk of which came and comes from fossil fuels emitting large amounts of CO2 and other pollutants. That process in itself is not bad but it has consequences.
The world has been evolving over millions of years and has been far hotter or colder than now with greater or lesser quantities of various gases in the atmosphere. Any change won’t mean the end of the world but it will mean the end of the world as we know it. Newton’s third law states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. This means if you do something or change something it will affect something else in a proportionate way.
At the start of the industrial revolution there was not the knowledge or understanding of our ecosystem. This came later in the 20th century. When the knowledge became available any change to the industrial revolution put in jeopardy the livelihood and wants of the capitalists. It was therefore in their interests to deny climate change for their own short term gain. For them personally it might have been an intelligent move but for the population as a whole, for all future generations and for a myriad number of plants and animals, on the evidence we have today, it was and is an act of gross stupidity.
In my view these are clear cases of intellectual bullying where the stupid overpower the more intelligent by the power of their stupidity.