The Seven Intelligences
While browsing through some of the blogs, I ran across one that posed this interesting question:
In the movie "The Day the World Stood Still," the alien, upon landing in Washington DC, asked that he be taken to the "smartest person on earth", so that they could discuss the dangerous state of affairs on Earth. The person he was taken to was a Physicist!
One can argue that if that alien spaceship landed in the sixties, the person who most people would identify as that "smartest" person is Albert Einstein.
So who would you put on your list, if the alien spaceship landed in 2005?
We'd take the alien to see George W. Bush, right? Okay, so much for the joke of the day. But, this did start me thinking about intelligence and the concept of the "smart" or intelligent person. But everyone is not smart in the same way. Actually there are seven intelligences:
I [had] a friend who prided himself on being "smart". In fact, it was his defining characteristic. I always found it interesting and a bit insulting that he tended to surround himself with people that he considered less smart so that he could shine in that arena. Funny thing is how unintelligent he was when it came to certain other areas. He had a vast vocabulary, was well read, scored well on the various "tests", and he could speak five languages, but he was an emotional mess, he couldn't hold a job, he had but a few friends ...only those who for a short period would tolerate his elitist demeanor.
His need for attention in this area was obvious to everyone but himself -- he couldn't see the pretentiousness in having an extended answering machine message in French that no one [calling him] would understand. Although most of his acquaintances simply allowed him his place in the spotlight, this did take its toll and many of his friendships were short-lived.
Whenever he would speak, there was always the flurry of eyerolls and exchanged glances. It's curious how when someone uses a twenty-dollar word, (especially when a simpler one would suffice), the reaction evoked is often one of annoyance and insult, spawning remarks like, "He thinks he's better than everyone else".
I've always found such comments strange since it would require [the person making this statement] to have a concept of a "better than himself". It's true that knowledge is power, but that's personal power, not power over others. Someone can only be "better than" if you consider yourself "less than". But then, I guess there are those who do de-value themselves ...for whatever reason(s).
Being human, we contemplate our existence and define ourselves and our purpose. Survival and procreation are not our reasons for existing. Despite the hierarchical nature of society, and the acceptance of the concept of alpha personalities, any power anyone has over you is the power you give them ...the power you relinquish. When one becomes "empowered", you don't attain power from some external source. You're just reclaiming that which was always yours.
- Mathematical and Logical (which is the area usually tested and the one that determines IQs and SATs)
- Physical (athletic prowess)
- Musical (musicians and composers)
- Spatial (architectural savvy)
- Linguistic (ability to master many different languages)
- Intra-personal (self-awareness usually working towards enlightenment)
- Inter-personal (people skills)
I [had] a friend who prided himself on being "smart". In fact, it was his defining characteristic. I always found it interesting and a bit insulting that he tended to surround himself with people that he considered less smart so that he could shine in that arena. Funny thing is how unintelligent he was when it came to certain other areas. He had a vast vocabulary, was well read, scored well on the various "tests", and he could speak five languages, but he was an emotional mess, he couldn't hold a job, he had but a few friends ...only those who for a short period would tolerate his elitist demeanor.
His need for attention in this area was obvious to everyone but himself -- he couldn't see the pretentiousness in having an extended answering machine message in French that no one [calling him] would understand. Although most of his acquaintances simply allowed him his place in the spotlight, this did take its toll and many of his friendships were short-lived.
Whenever he would speak, there was always the flurry of eyerolls and exchanged glances. It's curious how when someone uses a twenty-dollar word, (especially when a simpler one would suffice), the reaction evoked is often one of annoyance and insult, spawning remarks like, "He thinks he's better than everyone else".
I've always found such comments strange since it would require [the person making this statement] to have a concept of a "better than himself". It's true that knowledge is power, but that's personal power, not power over others. Someone can only be "better than" if you consider yourself "less than". But then, I guess there are those who do de-value themselves ...for whatever reason(s).
Being human, we contemplate our existence and define ourselves and our purpose. Survival and procreation are not our reasons for existing. Despite the hierarchical nature of society, and the acceptance of the concept of alpha personalities, any power anyone has over you is the power you give them ...the power you relinquish. When one becomes "empowered", you don't attain power from some external source. You're just reclaiming that which was always yours.
Quote of the Week: "Regardless of the consequences, you always have a choice, and in the end, you are the sum total of the choices you've made."
posted by gieau_sf (9:35:00 AM)
-- All non-relevant comments will be (have been) deleted!
1 Comment(s):
How's this for a bit of irony? In the last paragraph of this post, the phrase reads "reason for existing". Originally I used the common French expression "raison d'etre", which would've been most appropriate, but I had second thoughts since it seemed incompatible with the sentiment expressed in the post.
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