intelligence designed

The back of the... I don't even know what to call it... is it a book, a card game or just a curiosity on paper? I'm talking about Hypertheticals -- a bunch of "would you rather" type questions supposedly written by Chuck Klosterman.

Anyway, on the back of the package for it, one of the sample questions is something like "Say there's a drug that increases your intelligence by 10%, but a side effect is that you will seem 20% less intelligent to everyone else. Would you take the drug?"

These types of questions are probably based on Klosterman's interlude in Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs wherein he opens with "The twenty-three questions I ask everybody I meet to decide if I can really love them:" The interlude must be a very popular aspect of the book. Originally it was only three questions. Apparently he upped the amount in the next edition and then created a whole new medium with further questions later. Anyway, the reason I say all that is because by his wording in the original introduction to such questions, there is an implication that there are correct answers to these questions.

Back to the intelligence question. I think there's a right answer and that's to not take the pill. I have three reasons why.

1. Intelligence is actually not used by us as much as we like to think. We don't actually need to survive by our intelligence (or even basic wits). Nowadays our survival is based on our capacity for drudgery. Now, obviously some people do things in their daily lives that require more intelligence than others. I'll get to that in reason #2.

Intelligence has little use in survival and labor, but what about in pleasure? I suppose someone could say that certain things are more enjoyable if you're smart enough to "get it." Maybe, but the pleasure aspect is negligible and certainly not worth the side effects of the drug. You can fight me on this, but I maintain that dumb people are just as capable of pleasure, happiness and joy just as much as any smart person. In fact, doesn't it seem like intelligent people are more moody? I don't know why, but I certainly can't say they're happier.

Lots of people consider intelligence as one of the highest virtues. For some reason being conceited for physical reasons is abhorrent, but being conceited for mental reasons is justifiable. I don't see either as justifiable, they're both just blessings. Some people have one or the other naturally and some don't. Some people work for one or the other and achieve desired results, but it still doesn't justify conceit in either case. This is one reason why, for me, intelligence takes a backseat to compassion. You could be the smartest person in the world, but if you're not nice, you have less worth to me than the dumbest person who's just smart enough to realize that treating people right is simply a logical way to make things better than they actually are.

2. When we actually do use intelligence, 95% of its use is devoted to actually convincing people that we are intelligent. If people actually perceive us as less intelligent, the greatest by-product of intelligence, persuasiveness, would be nullified. Also, the taking of the pill would be actually be acknowledging that your current intelligence level is already below what is needed.

I've got it pretty good. I think most people think I'm more intelligent than I actually am. That's the way I would like to keep things.

3. 20% is more than 10%. I didn't even need to take the pill to figure that one out.