The Dangers of Being Smart

Discussion in 'Human Science' started by KilljoyKlown, Jun 14, 2012.

  1. KilljoyKlown Whatever Valued Senior Member

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    This is a great article, now I don't have to wonder why I might be smarter than I think <Just kidding> So I have a few problems. They aren't because I'm IQ challenged. Then again who knows. Maybe you all should give the article a read and think about how it might apply to yourself.

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    http://bigthink.com/against-the-new...ed_6_13_DangerSmart6_13_2012&utm_medium=email
     
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  3. R1D2 many leagues under the sea. Valued Senior Member

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    “intelligence seems to make [such] things worse.”

    I think that's true some of the time.
     
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  5. Hipparchia Registered Senior Member

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    I have found that if I imagine a viewpoint I hold is actually held by someone I hate and wish to prove wrong it enables one to be highly critical of that position and thus achieve a more balanced view.
     
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  7. Buddha12 Valued Senior Member

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    "The Emperor's New Clothes" (Danish: Kejserens nye Klæder) is a short tale by Hans Christian Andersen about two weavers who promise an Emperor a new suit of clothes that is invisible to those unfit for their positions, stupid, or incompetent. When the Emperor parades before his subjects in his new clothes, a child cries out, "But he isn't wearing anything at all!" The tale has been translated into over a hundred languages.

    A vain Emperor who cares for nothing but his appearance and attire hires two tailors who are really swindlers that promise him the finest, best suit of clothes from a fabric invisible to anyone who is unfit for his position or "just hopelessly stupid". The Emperor cannot see the cloth himself, but pretends that he can for fear of appearing unfit for his position; his ministers do the same. When the swindlers report that the suit is finished, they mime dressing him and the Emperor then marches in procession before his subjects, who play along with the pretense. Suddenly, a child in the crowd, too young to understand the desirability of keeping up the pretense, blurts out that the Emperor is wearing nothing at all and the cry is taken up by others. The Emperor cringes, suspecting the assertion is true, but holds himself up proudly and continues the procession. After this experience, the Emperor vows never to be so vain again and take his position more seriously.

    http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...h4TsBQ&usg=AFQjCNFHzeW71WLBqLwex3O3arc1a7MqSw
     
  8. KilljoyKlown Whatever Valued Senior Member

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    Interesting, but yes one of the signs of inelegance is having the flexibility to win arguing either side of a position. Which also means your ability to justify a belief in say creationism and even build a following would be pretty easy, even though it's a wrong belief.
     
  9. KilljoyKlown Whatever Valued Senior Member

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    That's an interesting story, I'm just not sure how it applies to this topic. Just saying, the king is not coming off as very smart.

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  10. wynn ˙ Valued Senior Member

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    Oh. Another antitheist thread.

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  11. R1D2 many leagues under the sea. Valued Senior Member

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    Well.. I thought this was about the dangers of being smart!
     
  12. KilljoyKlown Whatever Valued Senior Member

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    Well if the examples fit the topic, should they be avoided? Anyway my purpose for posting this topic had nothing to do with theology. But I will admit there are a lot of very smart theist. So it might be hard for this topic not to find some very good examples there.
     
  13. spockster Registered Member

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    could also be that being smarter makes you feel superior to others and thus results in a snob effect
     
  14. KilljoyKlown Whatever Valued Senior Member

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    Snob effect, yes that's true, I'm sure we've all run into those types before.
     
  15. R1D2 many leagues under the sea. Valued Senior Member

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    Being a snob don't necessarily mean that there smart.
    Ever seen smarter than a 5th grader.
    We are all smart in certain areas. Even then we are not always right,or correct..
     
  16. KilljoyKlown Whatever Valued Senior Member

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    But we are talking about smart people are we not?
     
  17. Hipparchia Registered Senior Member

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    I am sure you could persuade yourself that that was true.
     
  18. KilljoyKlown Whatever Valued Senior Member

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    I've seen lots of evidence that backs up my position and zero evidence for creationism. Not much persuasion needed.
     
  19. steampunk Registered Senior Member

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    I agree with smarter people being able to navigate out of inconsistencies. This is allowable by recognising a path of principles within that inconsistency that are connected. This path can be used to form a secondary interpretation of the mess. It's not always successful.

    I don't agree with smarter people not being able to transcend bad beliefs. Atleast the smartest of smart people. Chumps will believe anything and it is only luck if they have the best thing planted in them. Children are often the victims of bad beliefs in this way. Smart people may tie themselves up in a mess with their own convictions, as the article points out. But, the smartest people know how to be a chump just for the sake of the argument, just enough to build a small model of the belief being considered. If it begins to make sense, it can wind up debunking unjustified views and bad beliefs. The smartest people have to be able to start at ground zero and say, "What if?", and try to grow a new belief and let it compete with an existing contradictory belief. Bigots won't even plant a seed for the hell of it. Some people just can't muti-task mentally to carry on several competing theories at once, so they must submit to default conditioning.
     
  20. Buddha12 Valued Senior Member

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    I threw this in the mix because it shows that sometimes even the smartest can be decieved and the clever can make them look like fools.
     
  21. wynn ˙ Valued Senior Member

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    Possibly you see much evidence to back up your position
    precisely because you already hold that position.

    It's not like you started off neutral. Nobody does.
     
  22. KilljoyKlown Whatever Valued Senior Member

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    Maybe but for me to accept creationism, I'd have to accept a conservative right wing religious belief. For that to happen I would first have to be convinced that there really is a God and that he really did pull an almost 5 billion year old Earth out of his magical hat 6,000 years ago.

    What do you think the chances of that happening are?

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  23. wynn ˙ Valued Senior Member

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    Creating a caricature of theism so that theism may then seem easy to reject is ... the mark of a person with integrity?
     

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