There was a study that stupid people are more likely to rate themselves as being smarter than those around them. The intelligent people walk through life assuming everyone else is as smart as they are and being constantly disappointed. The stupid people walk through life smug and content.
It's a depressing confirmation of the fact that being smart really doesn't get you very far. I mean, genius level fine, you'll probably do okay - although, we really have no idea how many geniuses are just stuck in their parents basements, incapable of life, so maybe not. But just your everyday, garden variety, above average intelligence isn't much of a boon. Idiots prefer idiots, and it doesn't pay to be the only person in a meeting who wants to gouge out their eyeballs. People can tell.
But then I think, am I the stupid one? Is it possible I am so stupid I can't see that other people are smarter than me? When my peers discuss how fat our erstwhile accountant Donna is, and wax poetical on the nature of said fat, am I actually bored of a conversation that is just over my head? Maybe Donna's fat is a metaphor for something - the emptiness of life or the futile nature of our jobs. Maybe I am the stupid one, not understanding the social rituals of my tribe. Maybe it's just me.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Monday, September 5, 2011
Hobbies
It's time I took up a hobby. That's what my wife tells me every time she catches me staring morosely into space, wondering if it's too early to drink a beer (it's not). I usually nod my head at her seriously, like I've already begun thinking of what this hobby should be, like I'm sifting through a list in a my head - parasailing, duck hunting, trinket making...
Obviously I'm not going to do any of these things. There's no point to it, there's no end game. I don't even like duck. But I will concede there is a certain boredom in my life lately, more so than usual, and it's become clear, at least to me, that it's time to have a child.
I've found the generally accepted consensus to be that having a child should not be a goal pursued for your own selfish amusement - but why else would you have one? How does one unselfishly have a child? It's a non-entity that you are choosing to bring into existence because you happen to feel like it, which seems pretty selfish at the core of it. But maybe people believe that by procreating they are giving a gift to the world, a gift of superior genes, empathy and intellect? That's just disgusting. I'll pitch it to my wife.
Obviously I'm not going to do any of these things. There's no point to it, there's no end game. I don't even like duck. But I will concede there is a certain boredom in my life lately, more so than usual, and it's become clear, at least to me, that it's time to have a child.
I've found the generally accepted consensus to be that having a child should not be a goal pursued for your own selfish amusement - but why else would you have one? How does one unselfishly have a child? It's a non-entity that you are choosing to bring into existence because you happen to feel like it, which seems pretty selfish at the core of it. But maybe people believe that by procreating they are giving a gift to the world, a gift of superior genes, empathy and intellect? That's just disgusting. I'll pitch it to my wife.
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