Intellectual advancement

[Ozzie]

Does intellectual advancement of the human race have an aim, is it a means to an end? If so what end? I don't think it is a source of power. How dumb are animals really compared to us who realise our place in the universe could be expanded?

 

[PureX]

Does intellectual advancement of the human race have an aim,...

Yes. Intellect is our species' special ability. Some animals are very fast. Some are very large. Some are very aggressive. Some are difficult to see. Each of these traits are their way of surviving and thriving in a world where life forms must kill and eat each other to live.

Our method of survival is by understanding and manipulating our environment. We survive and thrive by cunning. And this is why humans have developed such a powerful intellect.

... is it a means to an end? If so what end?

As with all form of life, the desired "ends" is continuation of the species. And as we now inhabit almost every corner of the planet, and we dominate most other life forms, I would say that our intellect turned out to be a very powerful and successful advantage.

Our intellect is so powerful, in fact, that it has brought us to a new level of existence, where our own cunning is so acute that it threatens even our own extinction if we can't gain some control of it. We now need to begin using our intellect to protect us from our own selves. And so far we don't seem to have come to fully realize this, yet, as a species. And we will need to do so fairly soon, as it appears that we're running out of time. We are going to destroy ourselves if we don't get control of our own cunning.

 

[Ozzie]

Yes. Intellect is our species' special ability. Some animals are very fast. Some are very large. Some are very aggressive. Some are difficult to see. Each of these traits are their way of surviving and thriving in a world where life forms must kill and eat each other to live.

Our method of survival is by understanding and manipulating our environment. We survive and thrive by cunning. And this is why humans have developed such a powerful intellect.
As with all form of life, the desired "ends" is continuation of the species. And as we now inhabit almost every corner of the planet, and we dominate most other life forms, I would say that our intellect turned out to be a very powerful and successful advantage.

Our intellect is so powerful, in fact, that it has brought us to a new level of existence, where our own cunning is so acute that it threatens even our own extinction if we can't gain some control of it. We now need to begin using our intellect to protect us from our own selves. And so far we don't seem to have come to fully realize this, yet, as a species. And we will need to do so fairly soon, as it appears that we're running out of time. We are going to destroy ourselves if we don't get control of our own cunning.

So would we be better off being dumb to our own cunning if it is self-defeating? Or in the scheme of things is our capacity for intellectual advancement simply neutral as an expression of what we do as a species?

 

[Valjean]

I agree. We're not only polluting and destroying the habitat of all the other creatures of this world, but we're depleting the very resources upon which our current civilization depends.
Now it appears we're rapidly altering the planet's climate itself.

Our "cunning" has been so successful that we've bred beyond the carrying capacity of the planet. We're clever enough to thrive, but not quite bright enough to curb our numbers when we become an infestation.

 

[PureX]

So would we be better off being dumb to our own cunning if it is self-defeating? Or in the scheme of things is our capacity for intellectual advancement simply neutral as an expression of what we do as a species?

It is our path. We will either walk it into a long and happy future, or we will walk it into self-annihilation. What we won't do is suddenly become something that we are not.

It's the way of mankind to be cunning. It's become the way of mankind to become so cunning that we are actually a danger to ourselves as well as to the rest of the Earth. We need, now, to become more wise than we are cunning. Can we do this? I honestly don't know. I suspect it will take a great global disaster to get us to fully recognize and understand how profoundly we need to change the way we live. But will we even survive such a disaster? And if we do, will we really learn anything from it?

The very unfortunate thing about human beings is that although our ability to learn and be clever is passed on from generation to generation, WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED is not. And so generation after generation, we keep having to relearn the same lessons, and making the same mistakes. And so as a result we become more cunning as time passes, but not more wise.

There is no going back. We can't unknow what we know, or make ourselves be less clever. The best we can hope for, now, is to learn how to control our cleverness. To learn that just because we can figure out how to exploit some aspect of our environment, doesn't mean that we must exploit it, or that it's our God-given right to exploit it.

I fear for humanity's future. It's not looking very good right now.

 

[Ozzie]

I agree. We're not only polluting and destroying the habitat of all the other creatures of this world, but we're depleting the very resources upon which our current civilization depends.
Now it appears we're rapidly altering the planet's climate itself.

Our "cunning" has been so successful that we've bred beyond the carrying capacity of the planet. We're clever enough to thrive, but not quite bright enough to curb our numbers when we become an infestation.

Denoting intellectual advancement in terms of "cunning" assumes an adversary. So are we our own worst adversary?

 

[Ozzie]

It is our path. We will either walk it into a long and happy future, or we will walk it into self-annihilation. What we won't do is suddenly become something that we are not.

It's the way of mankind to be cunning. It's become the way of mankind to become so cunning that we are actually a danger to ourselves as well as to the rest of the Earth. We need, now, to become more wise than we are cunning. Can we do this? I honestly don't know. I suspect it will take a great global disaster to get us to fully recognize and understand how profoundly we need to change the way we live. But will we even survive such a disaster? And if we do, will we really learn anything from it?

The very unfortunate thing about human beings is that although our ability to learn and be clever is passed on from generation to generation, WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED is not. And so generation after generation, we keep having to relearn the same lessons, and making the same mistakes. And so as a result we become more cunning as time passes, but not more wise.

There is no going back. We can't unknow what we know, or make ourselves be less clever. The best we can hope for, now, is to learn how to control our cleverness. To learn that just because we can figure out how to exploit some aspect of our environment, doesn't mean that we must exploit it, or that it's our God-given right to exploit it.

I fear for humanity's future. It's not looking very good right now.

What you have identified seems to be a fairly dogmatic style of thinking about what it means to be human. Do you think a circuit breaker is necessary in the form of an environmental catastrophe? Would this lessen dogmatism, competition or cunning? If the world really is on a flashpoint in terms of environmental catastrophe due to human activity perhaps we should be writing our memoirs now as a civilisation.

All of this seems to reduce intellectual advancement to a behavioural criterion. It describes a mind that does not understand what the body is doing.

 

[Valjean]

Denoting intellectual advancement in terms of "cunning" assumes an adversary. So are we our own worst adversary?

Sorry -- I was quoting from the original post.

 

[PureX]

What you have identified seems to be a fairly dogmatic style of thinking about what it means to be human. Do you think a circuit breaker is necessary in the form of an environmental catastrophe? Would this lessen dogmatism, competition or cunning? If the world really is on a flash-point in terms of environmental catastrophe due to human activity perhaps we should be writing our memoirs now as a civilization.

All of this seems to reduce intellectual advancement to a behavioral criterion. It describes a mind that does not understand what the body is doing.

At any given time on Earth, there will be a few human beings that can see the human predicament with some accuracy, and who could therefor be very helpful in developing a course of action for the future that would be a benefit to all. But for them to actually be of use, they need to be in positions of power and influence, and they need the rest of us to be willing to follow their vision. And this is not usually the case.

So as a result, what we get are outsiders who may well be seeing a future calamity coming, accurately, but who are dismissed by the insiders who are always only concerned with business as usual, and with maintaining the status quo because in that status quo they have the power and money. My point is that people with vision tend to be kept away from positions of power and influence by the people who have power and influence and who inevitably want to hold on to it. With the result that vision and wisdom tend to become impotent, and the human species does not advance in these areas.

I'm not saying this to be "dogmatic". I'm simply pointing out that the way we human beings behave includes some characteristics that make our ability to recognize future problems accurately, and then change accordingly, very difficult, and sadly unlikely to happen. Instead, we tend to follow the status quo until the predicted disaster finally befalls us, and they we will finally try to make the changes that are necessary because at that point, it's the status quo itself that is being threatened.

When global warming, for example, finally begins to threaten the structures that establish and protect the powerful and influential among us, THEN we will see some serious consideration of change. But until that happens, the folks among us with power and influence will be doing all they can to discredit and diminish such warnings because the warnings imply a need for change, and these folks don't want any changes. After all, as things are, they have the power and influence, and they like it that way.

 

[michel]

Does intellectual advancement of the human race have an aim, is it a means to an end? If so what end? I don't think it is a source of power. How dumb are animals really compared to us who realise our place in the universe could be expanded?

Wow, lovely questions........

Intellectual advancement in man , I believe, has the aim of satisfying the need to "explore"; I would say it has no "power" as such except in when the intellect is used for innovation - and thewn it is a powerful tool.
However intelect can be abstract and spiritual. Animals, dumb ? I am not so sure about that; we humans are pretty dense.

From the moment we are born, we spend our lives losing the ability to "connect" with nature; animals are far more atuned than we are.

I look at various animals, birds, all of life's little creatures, and I don't think that they are dumb at all - in fact, I think that they have more sense than we do.

 

[Caina]

Our best potential is in destruction. Proliferation of our kind to the ends of the universe, so that every world can be tainted by our spawn