IMO, you are over complicating this issue by going into the weeds. Yes, there are many different types of intelligence and capabilities, but even those need to be developed.
All I am arguing is that the more we learn the more we understand. I know in my life I was two different people before I started school and after I finished. My kids tell me the same thing and I think most people will.
We are born hard wired to think in concrete terms like all animals, but have the ability to improve our thinking greatly by study.
Genetics has nothing to do with it except around the edges. And I have no idea what your point is about Genghis Khan's DNA. Genghis Khan LEARNED how to fight well, and was pretty smart. I will bet he could have learned algebra.
The point is, that all people can improve their brain by study. And yes, we stand on the shoulders of others, the ancient Greeks being among the most important. I agree with that.
But that is just more confirmation of my point that it was education passed down from one generation to the next that allowed we humans to reach this state of civility we see today.
We have had a similar mind for around 200,000 years and we lived in caves until we settled down about 15,000 years ago and started to learn math, science and written languages which allowed us to pass information from one generation to the next exactly.
And the more we learned the more rapidly we evolved. Look how much we evolved in the last 200 years.
And not genetically, but intellectually.
And if Flynn is right and we can add 60+ points to our IQ by studying, then we are foolish not to, if we want to see reality more clearly.
I remember when I was young being one of the few runners in my area. Today everyone exercises because we learned how much it improves health.
IMO, we need to learn the same thing about education. I never thought about my education as a stepping stone to making money.
I always saw it as a way to not be ignorant.
Off for my daily swim :)>.
<,
“If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants”.
<,Message #480834 from cosmicforce at 10/5/2021 7:05:56 PM
What are your thoughts about Genghis Khan whose DNA is in most Europeans?
How would Darwin fall on this? He probably couldn't do algebra but took over the world and 1 in 200 people in the world share his bloodline. I only take exception to your use of "smarter" which is a lay-term with a poor definition, even amongst academics.
It is arguable that Renaissance and Age of Enlightenment names are amongst the smartest people ever born (IMO) but then there is the artisan(s) that created the Antikythera mechanism - who apparently created a calculator without the proven benefits of written celestial mechanics.
People always think the old, or their ancestors, are incomprehensibly dullards. |
