“Smart” People Are Terrible (1/2)

I don't see this as red, but Anne assures me it is bright.

Many people have attacked my position on eradicating malaria-carrying mosquitoes. (Not just me: George Monbiot; Nate Crosser; Works in Progress). My fav was “There are smart people who say we shouldn’t do it!”

Yikes.

Almost every “smart” person in history believed in some god. They did things - like burning “witches” – in the name of their god.  

99.9% of “smart” people believe there is some causeless cause in their brain, overriding the laws of physics. 

One of the very smartest people in US history owned other human beings and fathered children with at least one of his slaves – children he kept in slavery! 

The vast majority of “smart” people espoused the Population Bomb’s horrific cruelty – even for decades after it had been shown to be wrong.  

The vast majority of “smart” people today promote the horrific cruelty of the carbon cult.  

The smarter we are, the more likely we are to believe fake news and conspiracy theories. The smarter we are, the less likely we are to recognize our limitations. 

Being intelligent doesn’t make us more interested in discovering the truth. It just makes us better at rationalizing what we want to believe. 

Don’t be a “smart” person. Don’t defer to “smart” people. Be a thoughtful, questioning person who takes suffering seriously. 

I hope you never have to learn this first hand, but at this moment in time, real, actionable, serious suffering is the heart of what matters.