The Oil Drum

Oilmanbob, I have thought about the problem that is created by the disparity of intelligence of people but this is one of those subjects that is almost never discussed. I believe that many intelligent people purposely 'dumb down' as a means of camoflage because they dont want to be seen as 'different' than whatever group they find themselves in. After all, to be different is usually a cause for one to be ostricized. These smart people have chosen to remain in the tribe over seeking knowledge that they dont have and sharing it with those in the tribe that really need it so that all can make informed decisions. I suppose that acting dumb to remain a member is a survival instinct but it also puts the entire tribe at risk. I think it is a better action to give the tribe the information that they need than to remain silent and humble. That is probably an altruistic view. I read 'The Bell Curve' a some years ago and found nothing in it particularly disturbing and then I was astounded at what an uproar that book caused in the population. I dont know if the information contained in that book was all accurate but I supposed that it was since it was written by people knowledgeable in their fields. In any case, there are very smart people of all ethnicities and some not so smart. I remember as a child hearing the preamble to our constitution for the first time and even at that early age there was something about it that did not ring true. Later in life I realized that it was the line 'that all men are created equal.' I didnt buy that as a child and I dont buy it now. A person with intelligence and armed with knowledge in a modern society is not equal to one without those assets. One of my favorite scientists and writers is Sir Fred Hoyle (unfortunately he is no longer with us). Mr Hoyle was sort of a maverick but well educated in Physics, Astronomy, Genetics and Microbiology ..
an all around curious type of person, he was. Mr Hoyle was one of the formulators of the 'steady state' theory of the universe when the 'big bang' theory was being embraced by most scientists in the field. Mr Hoyle wrote many books but one of the most interesting was 'The Intelligent Universe', in which he took on Darwinisim. Its difficult to summarize such a book but basically Mr. Hoyle thought that evolution was caused by the earths constant bombardment by microrganisms that can do everything from give us a common cold to causing great leaps in evolution. Not only that, Mr. Hoyle after a lifetime of study, stated that their was no way that life originated on earth and that the enzymes in our cells are far too complicated to have arisen by chance (he likened the odds at a nine followed by forty pages of zeros to one)...he claimed that an intelligence must have been behind the complicated objects that are cells and the very complex structures within them. Mr. Hoyle also advised back in 1955 that the earth had finite resources and that once they are used up that no other society following us would have the resources to accomplish what we have. I would say that was pretty good reckoning for 1955. Mr hoyle also believed that in some cases disease was beneficial for it had occasionally turned ordinary students into extrodinary scientists. I am glad that Mr Hoyle chose not to be humble because he has given me much to ponder even if I dont agree with him on all that he said. I feel sure that is what he intended to do, make us think.
My wife and I recently watched an interesting documentary on Link TV. It was titled 'Who Killed The Electic Car.' It was a murder mystery that was solved during the course of the documentary. My first guess prior to seeing the show was 'big oil', turns out I was wrong. The electic cars were on the road for about ten years and they never needed anything. It turned out that the auto manufactures were the culprits for the electric car would have destroyed their business model...dealerships and the repair trade. Worth the watch if you have the opportunity. BTW, they were loved by the folks that had the opportunity to lease one and they had the equivalent impact of reducing gas costs to sixty cents per gallon. The electric car served the needs of 90% of the population when they were introduced in 1996 and acheived 60 miles at highway speed prior to needing a recharge. By 2006 their range of new experimental versions had been increased to 300 miles. Another great feature is that they can be recharged at night when our electrical grids are sitting idle. I would think that the developing world would see the advantage of electric cars and manufacture them on a large scale and if they do maybe we will get a shot at buying one from China? Are you listening, China? I know Detroit isnt!
I think you are right about what we are in store for when the realization dawns on people that their station is out of gas and they dont know when or if more will arrive. If just the 30% that are in a coma and still support Bush go ballistic then we are in for quite a time! Of course we have to discount that percentage because some of those people are so overweight that they will be incapable of causing much havoc. I walk a lot and have been riding motorcycles since a child so I dont use a lot of gas. I also have a good bicycle that has seen use for over 30 years and a couple of overhauls. I think the first few weeks of the chaos will be the worst and reccommend holing up during this period if possible.
As you well know and observed democracy and empire cannot coexist for long. The Rubicon has already been crossed by the numerous misdeads of this admistration. Suspension of habeus corpus is the most vile of all to me, just ahead of torture. Bush is definitely expecting trouble from the population, otherwise I dont believe that he would have placed all states national guard under his command instead of the state governors. I wish it were not so but I think as you do, tsigthtf soon. I dont see the 'unwashed masses' suddenly giving up their humvees and sitting down to computers for a bit of enlightment. Just typing that line gave me a good laugh!