Before 2020, I used to think that stupidity was the absence of intelligence. I realize now that having limited intelligence and being stupid are two different things. Stupidity is a malfunction of intelligence not a limitation of it. I understood that with my friends and family. I though they were intelligent because they were intellectually complex, but most of them took the jab, despite the numerous warnings and data I gave them. And on the opposite end, some of my co-workers didn't take it, despite being simpler intellectually speaking (I work in a hotel restaurant). That puzzled me for a while then I understood that intelligence is not made only of intellectual capacity, but is composed as well of strength of character, common sense, instinct and faith. By being simpler their intelligence has less chance to dysfunction. This is like a car. An older car is usually more reliable than a modern one, full of electronics. Sophisticated minds are more prone to being deceived because they are better at lying to themselves. Double-thinking is easier the smarter you are. The fact that I work everyday with simple folks grounded my intelligence and made me listen much more to my common sense, my instinct and my faith, rather that just my mind. I hope I've been clear enough.
What the covid taught me about stupidity
🤔💭 Theory 😲💡
For a little historical context...
Friedrick Nietzche spoke of this phenomenon in his great philosophical work, 'Beyond Good and Evil' in 1886 (along with countless other fantastic insights and phenomenon). It's incredible to see how men in times far long past had such uncanny insight into future generations.
To paraphrase, he spoke of a kind of 'hyper-intellectualism' in man which comes from great knowledge and experience in a specific field. Man's downfall is so often a result of attempting to generalize said intellectualism to everything, or one's own arrogance; due to being generally well informed and successful in a specific field, men would believe themselves infallible in countless others. The term 'Educated idiot' comes to mind...
He said that the solution to this problem was to well round oneself in knowledge, and become aware of how much you really don't know as to prevent arrogance but allow oneself to shine in their respective professions of knowledge.
If only modern day education could resemble even a fraction of that. There's a lot of really important information tucked away in dusty old books.