Our Greatest Misconception About Knowledge Is…
…we think it makes us Intelligent.
“Some of the lowest levels of stupidity can be reached only by the most educated.” R. H. Martin
Knowledge does not inherently eliminate Stupidity. Synonyms for Stupidity: foolish, senseless, brainless, idiotic, shallow, irrational, ridiculous, ludicrous, absurd, unintelligent, irresponsible, shallow-brained, misguided, injudicious, imbecile, lunatic, insane, moronic, touched, narrow-minded, incoherent, childish, outrageous, far-fetched, preposterous, unreasonable, asinine, useless, unwise, thoughtless.
Most of the global educational system is based on the belief, knowledge inherently makes us intelligent. Give enough a few years of education and they’ll deduce the origin of the universe, everything in it, figure out how it works, why we behave the way we do and use it to man’s advantage eventually discovering how to achieve human immortality (See 2045 Initiative). It’s terribly absurd our confidence in our Godless pursuits. Hope in atheism is no less thinking we can and will eventually pull a rabbit out of the rabbit hole that’ll save us when there is no rabbit. In fact, teaching God’s simple yet profound life-giving, relationship saving morality has been deemed a hindrance, even unlawful to increasing one’s intelligence. From grade school up it’s ingrained in our thinking ‘the more knowledge you get with the less polluting of that knowledge with moral teachings the more intelligent you’ll be.’ And with this intelligence comes success for life. Life defined as that extremely limited stretch between leaving the womb to entering the grave. In the USA we’ve been seduced into pursuing the American Dream assuming somebody doesn’t decide everybody would be better off if you were never born, or kill you immediately upon leaving the womb before you can take a hundred or so breaths. Of course, if your reading this you’ve made it this far and you can be certain in spite of every effort not to, you’ll make to the end. We all do.
The assumption knowledge inherently cures stupidity has led to one bad assumption piled on another. From the top down we’ve a well-constructed, stratified hierarchy of elitists cascading down to those considered on the bottom rung of humanity good only for menial tasks, to be pitied or discarded. Some of the highly educated feel the need to help make life tolerable for the less knowledgeable, less intelligent. This is where socialism comes in to soothe consciences. Compassionate bunch. The knowledgeable not in a place to drive, only support the socialist machine are comforted by the fact there are the compassionate political geniuses.
And we wonder why the world is such a mess! We wonder because we think if we’re getting so much more knowledgeable why does this thing continue going south. You don’t think it is? Might want to take an objective look. If you know it’s going south ‘wondering’ is good because it’s the burr under the saddle telling us something ain’t right. It can lead to realizing the conspicuous fact knowledge doesn’t cure stupidity. Many have tried to point this out by writing novels about us creating dependencies on inventions threatening not only our survival but other species as well. (UN Environment Programme: 200 Species Extinct Every Day, Unlike Anything Since Dinosaurs Disappeared 65 Million Years Ago (https://www.huffpost.com/entry/un-environment-programme-_n_684562).
Movies have been made about the potential horrors of nuclear weapons, global warming, documentaries pointing out moral deficiencies in governments run by knowledgeable people, and even jokes like the two Martians sitting safely in their spaceship looking down on Earth. One says to the other, “They now have satellite based nuclear weapons.” The other says, “Oh, so they’re evolving to higher levels of intelligence.” The first, “I don’t think so. They’ve got them all pointed at themselves.”
The list of “here’s your signs of how intelligent you really ain’t” is almost endless. If we face the fact knowledge doesn’t cure stupidity, we can objectively ask What does make us Intelligent? The rare condition of humbleness is required to find the correct answer. Note: It’s been consistent throughout human history that those inflicting the greatest suffering, brutality on others have been those who thought themselves the most knowledgeable, most advanced, the elitists. Survival of the fittest demands the elimination of those burdening the evolution of man. Now instead of relying on chance evolution to rid us of dead weight we’ve evolved to a level of intelligence where we’re capable of taking matters into our own hands. We’ve the new state priesthood, scientists. (Science Set Free: Rupert Shaledrake)
So, what does humbleness have to do with finding out what makes us intelligent? Webster’s definition of Humbleness: having or showing a consciousness of one's defects or shortcomings; not proud; not self-assertive; modest. In short, humbleness is the result of an accurate assessment of self. To totally rely on a formal education to provide what’s needed to accurately define one’s self is once again, ludicrous. But of course, many do define themselves according to their formal education.
Another grave consequence to the belief knowledge eliminates stupidity. Recently I was discussing this topic with a man who dropped out of high school. When I said those lacking in a formal education can and often are lacking in self-confidence, experience feelings of inferiority he replied, “And this can be passed on from one generation to the next.”
Epigraph from Pertinae’s Garden the soon to be published sequel to Introrse: Where the Spirits Speak and Introrse: The King’s Whisper.
‘The devil’s handbook: How to destroy Mankind: Get him to worship his own intellect then give him knowledge.’