Frank Stoic
New member
It is evident that our society values intelligence and intelligence is normally considered to be the most important quality for those in the scientific establishment.
Now, I need some well-researched answers for why we need intelligence at all. You might say we need it to make technological developments, but ultimately it is all for experiencing greater happiness. That we need technology to be happy is primarily a Western assumption. The Native Americans and Africans, for instance, would very well say that they have been happy all along until colonisation happened and their society became destabilised. They, of course, did not need technology.
So why do we need intelligence apart from just making new machines? Why not just learn the real "art of happiness" (such as that propounded by Epicurus and Aristippus) and have fun rather than making the straineous effort of trying to increase intelligence?
By intelligence, I mean many more things than just the standard confines of IQ.
By the "art of happiness" I mean learning how to handle one's emotions and ambitions in order to maximise happiness. It is purely internal to one's self, and is found to be spontaneously available in certain "happy go lucky" people, and does not have to do with understanding and manipulating nature.
Now, I need some well-researched answers for why we need intelligence at all. You might say we need it to make technological developments, but ultimately it is all for experiencing greater happiness. That we need technology to be happy is primarily a Western assumption. The Native Americans and Africans, for instance, would very well say that they have been happy all along until colonisation happened and their society became destabilised. They, of course, did not need technology.
So why do we need intelligence apart from just making new machines? Why not just learn the real "art of happiness" (such as that propounded by Epicurus and Aristippus) and have fun rather than making the straineous effort of trying to increase intelligence?
By intelligence, I mean many more things than just the standard confines of IQ.
By the "art of happiness" I mean learning how to handle one's emotions and ambitions in order to maximise happiness. It is purely internal to one's self, and is found to be spontaneously available in certain "happy go lucky" people, and does not have to do with understanding and manipulating nature.