Don’t Be Blinded by Intellect

[robertjensen]

A professor sits with a farmer on a train.
Bored, the professor says to the farmer: "I ask you a question, if you can't answer it, you give me $5; then you ask me a question, if I can't answer it, I give you $500, what do you think?" The farmer nods. The professor asks the farmer: "What is the distance between the Earth and the Moon?" The farmer silently takes out $5 and gives it to the professor. The farmer asks the professor: "What animal has three legs when ascending a mountain and four legs when descending a mountain?" The professor thinks hardly but couldn't find an answer, so he reluctantly pulls out $500 for the farmer. The farmer takes the $500 and prepares to nap. The professor asks: "What animal is it!?" The farmer takes out $5 and gives it to the professor, then he falls asleep.

[randomopining]

Peterson has the ability to summarize a concept succinctly.

It's valuable.

Many times he's summarized what I'm thinking and feeling where I was unable to.

[laughloveshop]

“There’s a reason Christ was a carpenter, not a university professor.” 😂👍🏻

[As]

I have spent countless hours listening to podcasts and audio books doing mundane tasks working construction and it's made me far sharper and balanced than any university could have.

[trogglepope]

There is a huge difference between intelligence and wisdom. Wisdom is the navigator to guide intelligence in the right direction, and if there's a lot more intelligence than wisdom, it ultimately goes toward rationalizing insanity.

[john-ee]

Absolutely! I've gone to two of the top universities in the world and worked with others from MIT, Stanford, Cal Tech, etc. Highly intelligent people can be some of the most foolish, malevolent, and radical. They spend so much time being told they're brilliant they become in love with their own ideas and opinions, even when its opinions outside their area of expertise.

[gordonicus]

You are right. Knowing something is right (or wrong) doesn't necessarily mean that you can explain why.

[jayknable]

Thomas Sowell's Vision of the Anointed speaks to this issue. People who are drunk on their own intellect and have an 'ends justify the means' type of outlook.

[freedomisntfree]

"We're all ignorant when we get off the topic we were trained to do." - Will Rogers

[Valineris_The_Phoenix]

This is SO right!
Intellect means nothing if the heart is empty and soul is dark.

[gardenangel]

Common sense, not everyone is blessed with.

[avemarduk]

"Lots of people can see what's right without being able to defend it or explain it"

I've had this same thought for so long.
Good people, who unfortunately can't articulate their positions as well as clever liars and sophistry artists, *_doesn't make them wrong._*

So many liars and sophists, are simply truly gifted orators, and masters of persuasion, debate, etc.

And soooo many people mistake that as meaning that they must be *_correct._*

There's also the manner of them not wanting to be ostracized from their peer-group, for disagreement with the arguments that are more *_sophisticated._*

Lest they be dismissed, ironically enough by their fellow mid-wit as supposedly being too stupid to grasp just how correct it is lol.

As if the only *_possible_* reason for disagreement, can only be an *_inability to understand the position in the 1st place._*

And now you're under the spell of *_preference falsification._*
Where many will never escape from.

Because we human beings are social creatures, *_and they use that fundamental aspect of human nature, as yet just one among many facets by which to control you._*

[lisaclark]

We saw this play out with the Truckers protest! Blue collar people who knew what was happening, but not necessarily the best at articulating it.

[MeatVessel]

It’s the evil tongue. People can make insidious points to do bad things because they are very articulate and coherent. It’s always heartbreaking to watch videos of people that are in the right but outgunned by words.

[CitizenWea]

The light of the mind alone cannot burn away all darkness

[danpearce]

Very true, as an electrical engineer I can often identify the source of a weird fault (signal noise, unexpected volt drops etc.), without necessarily knowing how.It's something like your subconscious has its own pool of experience, or analytical tools...

[EscapeTheMatrixRightNow]

I think the reason you can't really articulate why you follow your moral compass is because, if I'm not mistaken, you learnt these values through a lifetime of experiences. From observing your parents' reactions to various situations as a child, to absorbing moral lessons from stories like 'The Boy Who Cried Wolf' or 'The Three Little Pigs, ' your sense of right and wrong has been shaped by an accumulation of influences. This process is often implicit and intuitive, making it difficult to pinpoint or explain the exact origins of your moral beliefs.

[curlygrain]

“Lots of people can see what’s right without being able to defend it or explain it. But that doesn’t mean that their vision is wrong, and I really think that’s typical of working class guys who really have to contend with the physical reality of the world. Because if they don’t respond properly to the evidence that’s right in front of them, well, they die. Or the thing they build doesn’t work. I come from a working class background - at least a working class town - and I’ve spent lots of time among educated people and I’ve never lost the sense that the intellect can go very badly wrong. There’s a reason Christ was a carpenter and not a university professor.”

[Ggdivhjkjl]

Wise men and shepherds come to Christ, but the shepherds get there first.

[richard]

Honestly one of the reasons I turned hard right over the past few years is seeing the vitriol from my "more intelligent" friends. I know my own limits. But wow, I've witnessed in the space of just 5 or 10 years friends who I always admired for their intelligence degrade into children based on their social media posts. It's been a disillusioning shock and made me reevaluate my own politics and the direction I want for the country.