The opening of my latest column at EveryJoe:
“Intelligence is a human being’s most important asset.
“One sign of this is the amount of time we spend educating our young. For some species, such as squirrels and hawks, the learning necessary to become a full adult is acquired in a matter of months. For more intelligent species, such as chimpanzees and elephants, it takes a few years. But we humans need a dozen or more years of life to acquire the knowledge, the learning skills, and the judgment necessary for adult life.
“We do need to develop our physiques — muscular power, endurance, and flexibility — but most importantly we each need to develop our minds. A lion can overpower its prey with strength, an insect has the flexibility to find what it needs in nooks and crannies, and a goose has the endurance to fly hundreds of miles. But humans flourish primarily via the power of their thinking …” [Read more here.]
Last week’s column: Are You Smart Enough to Live in a Free Society?
In my opinion, your main premise has a major flaw: in my opinion, the minimum threshold for intelligence required to live as a free person is extremely low and 98+% of humans exceed that threshold. You provide no objective evidence to the contrary leaving this series seriously lacking. Show me any evidence that Einstein was more capable of living as a free person than a high-school dropout with a construction job and maybe I’ll change my mind.
I suspect that you’re mis-reading my conclusion, Bret.
Very well written article. It will be beneficial to everyone who utilizes it, including yours truly :). Keep up the good work – i will definitely read more posts.