Does Covid time still drag? Try this somewhere private.
Ask yourself: Am I intelligent? Honestly.
If one discounts politician responses (“Depends on what you
mean…”) there are four adult answers: (1) Yes, (2) No, (3) Don’t know, and (4)
I don’t wanna play this game.
Interesting, the consequent questions to (1) and (2) are
identical: Can you prove it? As far as (3) and (4) are concerned let’s show
them the door. I wouldn’t drink with either, even if they were paying.
You can see where I’m going. “No” is far more fascinating than
“Yes”. Yes is going to say his conversation extends to abstractions
(self-centredness, parsimony, prescience, etc) and doesn’t include talking
about the weather, his relations, sporting events, voting patterns or pizza
preferences. And yes, you’ve noticed, I use the male pronoun. Women would
simply say: “Waste of time.”
But what’s No going to say? Trouble is it takes some
intelligence to know what intelligence is. Even more to conclude you haven’t got
any. I think No is going to talk about limits. He’s grasped multiplication tables
but falls short with topology. Could glue two pieces of wood together but would
hesitate to fashion a dovetail joint.
Me? I’m prejudiced. I can’t pretend I was a great success at
my trade but I fooled some people quite a lot of the time. Especially managers.
(“Go on, show me. Manage something.”) What I had from September 1951 until
August 1995 was a talent for doubt, an unstoppable urge to ask questions. I’m
not saying this made me intelligent but it left me undefined: perhaps I was,
perhaps I wasn’t. One of life’s maybes.
But seriously, folks. Try it out. Sit on the loo and ask
that question of the toilet roll. There’s eloquence in a stone, WS says
Socrates might have replied, "What is intelligence?"
ReplyDeleteAvus: Oh dear. I did specifically rule out politician speak. There are a million options of that sort. Temporising, avoiding a direct answer
ReplyDeleteAn unequivocal yes from me. Doh. (Native intelligence.) I think to say 'no' is a conceit.
ReplyDeleteGarden: You're not getting away with it that easily. The second half of the game is "Prove it!". Native intelligence is too vague. Native of what?
DeleteI've learned to say no...clearly and firmly and back it up. Life is too short to wander down a word maze of responses to avoid the inevitable 'NO'! I definitely fall into the 'waste of time' category! Always interesting, Roderick!
ReplyDeleteSandi: This is not a contest between you and me: the questions and their answers are confined to your noggin. It's a personal way of occupying yourself during Covid. Clearly you're fully occupied and have no need of additional diversions. In fact they've even written you a hymn:
DeleteWe plough the fields and scatter
The good seed on the land
But it is fed and watered
By God's almighty hand
He sends the snow in winter
The warmth to swell the grain
The breezes and the sunshine
And soft refreshing rain
Many would question those adjectives associated with rain. And you'll notice there's no mention of weeds.
Yes. Not interested in proving it. Waste of time.
ReplyDeleteColette: On that basis saying "Yes" was a waste of time. Gotcha!
DeleteIntelligence is "the ability to acquire and apply skills", so I'm going with yes. Cats are intelligent. Levels of intelligence, including social intelligence,might be a tastier consideration.
ReplyDeleteMikeM: It sounds OK until you examine it more closely. Suppose a child of six learned to keep a hula hoop in motion - something I am not only incapable of but cannot even precisely appreciate the principles thereof. The answer would be, perhaps, that this is a manual skill and may be nothing more than repettitively organising the muscles. If the six-year-old taught herself differential calculus that would be another matter.
DeleteMuch may hang on the difference between intelligence and intellect.
But I wanted to keep things simple in a way that avoided evasions and detours. Animal intelligence can be deceptive since it often manifests itself in abilities that are denied to humans. With cats, most things can be traced back to their evolutionary origins as hunter gatherers - in effect, staying alive. The human tendency to anthropomorphise animals - and especially cats - might be evidence that humans are intelligent. But the hell with that.
The basic flaw in what I proposed was to make it public. What I had in mind was a personal and silent dialogue between oneself and one's perceptions of oneself. An occupation for the longueurs of the pandemic. On the grounds, possibly the hopes, that the approach to this task, the processing of it and the final results would be different in every individual. A sort of definition of our uniqueness.
Naturally I came to some spectacular conclusions about myself. And immodestly offer this re-comment as proof that in more enlightened times I'd be voted Emperor of the Universe.
As far as Avus's reply goes, I think it would be Pilate who would ask, "What is intelligence?"
ReplyDeleteI am compelled to say "yes" on the firm (positively rocklike) basis that you your very own self recently told me that my "significance has increased," and also that you claimed the repeating thing about the hem of my garment. (An example of cosmic hyperbole, by the by.)
So I don't need to mention my books, right? Or that I brought up three children without running mad, right? I don't think that I've accomplished much else that needed a good brain.
However, I will admit that I'm not great when it comes to memory. My husband and one my children can remember all sorts of wonderful, detailed facts from their reading. History is always open to them, whereas I repeatedly look up stuff.
You might make a pretty good Emperor. Especially if you made V instruct the world in singing--we'd all be better off if we sung daily. Might even discover some missing depths in ourselves.
Insert "of" before "my children."
DeleteNot that smart.