The Trailblazers

A friend of mine posted a link to this article about intelligence in humans and how it plays into evolution.  The theory has a lot of holes in it because so many generalities are being used, but I think the basic idea is sound. Intelligent people tend to have an internal imperative to do things that are evolutionarily novel. In other words, intelligent people don't always behave in ways that are productive towards the normal mode of what evolution would assume.

In other words, where most people are content to be heterosexual, socially productive, financially stable, and blessed with health and children, there are some aspects of human intelligence that sparks a need to NOT have these things. There are people who desire things outside this norm, even though it doesn't always seem to be in their best interest (in a biological way) to do so.

Intelligent people tend to experiment and try new things. What will life be like if I don't eat meat? What will life be like if I don't have children? How will things change if I decide to do experiment with drugs?  All of these things are rather counter to evolution in the traditional sense, as limiting your resources (the food thing), not passing on your genes, and poisoning your system look pretty bad for the continuation of the species.

However, in larger terms, people having a need to try all of these things is very important to our continuing survival. When someone begins to experiment with a new type of lifestyle, everyone else has the benefit of seeing the results.  Take the food thing for example. Okay, so someone decides to never eat meat again. To us, this isn't such a big deal, because a lot of people live this way. But what about the FIRST person who decided to just limit their consumption to veggies? This person would face a lot of challenges. If said person happens to make a record of what they are doing, then future generations can have a guide if for some reason conditions force them to live this way in greater numbers.

I have no problem with this concept, though from the tone of the article, I somewhat got the impression that the theorist had an issue with it. It seemed like he felt that even though intelligent people have a need to be novel and do different things, he didn't think that was really such a great idea. He asks the question if you would rather be a great brain surgeon or a great parent and I assume he thinks the right answer is a great parent.

For many people, that would be the right answer, yes. However, for a select few, the answer would be brain surgeon. And they wouldn't be snarky or even shitty about that. They would mean it.

Now, if you are sitting there thinking that is monstrous, try looking at it this way. The people who have the DRIVE to perform well in their careers, who want to dedicate themselves to taking their profession or vocation or art to the next level are benefiting our species. Better brain surgeons find new ways to heal and fix brains which means more people are saved. If these people stopped doing their work and went home to have babies instead . . . well, who will be there to perform brain surgery on your baby of they need it?

Of course, many people reading the comments were offended by this. They assumed that he was saying that anyone who was living a normal, typical life wasn't intelligent. Many of them ranted about how their success was proof of their intelligence.  Hmph. I think we should all note that intelligence and what our culture deems to be success do not always go hand in hand.

Others talked about how articles like this were just 'childless liberals' ways of trying to justify their bad decisions. I can't even begin to explain all the ways that is wrong.

Instead, I'll leave you with this thought. When we as humans first started wandering around, there were those who did the stuff like hunting and gathering and having babies and whatnot. There were also the crazy motherfuckers who would run ahead of the rest of the clan, cutting down the weeds and knocking away branches. They would thrill at the thought of finding a new snake or trying a new berry. And . . . a lot of these people died in the process.

However, because they cut down the stuff in the way, everyone else could keep walking. Because they located the new snake, everyone knew what to avoid. Because they died eating that purple berry, everyone else knew not to eat it. People benefited from their strange ways and they lived a life that made them happy.

Honestly, where is the downside?