Economist Bryan Caplan pushes back against the high-IQ misanthropes:
Out of all the reactions I’ve heard to Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids, the most disturbing are all variations on “Except stupid people. They shouldn’t have kids.” I could snark, “You mean people like you?,” but that would be dishonest. The latter-day proponents of negative eugenics have reasonably high IQs. But their misanthropy is still morally and economically mistaken.
Morally, I just have to ask the high-IQ misanthrope, “What did stupid people ever do to you?” Their complaints are pretty petty: The dumb kids asked annoying questions in class, made fun of your Star Trek costume, etc. Are these injuries even remotely awful enough to outweigh the fact that a human being gets to exist and enjoy life? In any case, once you reach adulthood, people of all IQs generally leave you alone if you leave them alone. If you want to give your kids a better childhood than you had, use your brains to make some extra money and move to a nicer neighborhood.
September 16th, 2010 | 7:24 pm
Along those lines: http://xkcd.com/603/
September 16th, 2010 | 9:51 pm
The idea of eugenics based on intelligence or anything else is loathsome, but the author of this article has clearly never worked in an environment where he was responsible for the productivity of less-intelligent people. There are a lot of people in this world who are capable of doing simple jobs,but make their supervisors’ lives much more difficult because their limited intelligence makes learning anything new or adapting to any changes in their workflow extremely difficult. That’s no reason to wish them off the planet; it’s just that it strikes me as rather ivory-tower to fail to recognize how lacking intelligence does make life harder both for those who lack it, and those who have to work with them on a daily basis.
September 17th, 2010 | 7:18 am
“Pentamom” refers to the task – one which requires wisdom + extraordinary patience – of preserving the God-given dignity of each and every human person, no matter how limited his or her abilities may be. To do this is to be “put to the test” on a daily basis and is, in my opinion, a sacred responsibility.
September 17th, 2010 | 10:02 am
Arts Artium: That was quite beautiful. Thank you.
September 17th, 2010 | 10:59 am
Ars Artium — agreed. It is character put to the test, not something to be despised by despising the value of the people who are the instrument of it. But it is real. Pretending that incapacities in persons don’t exist doesn’t increase their value; it is valuing them despite their (our!) limitations.
September 17th, 2010 | 11:00 am
Or I should say, pretending that incapacities in persons don’t create real difficulties isn’t what preserves their value.
September 17th, 2010 | 11:08 am
Even high iq misanthropes are vulnerable to the charge that there is someone else out there smarter than them.
September 17th, 2010 | 9:01 pm
What did stupid people ever do to me?
Not listen in class. Spend their time whispering and daydreaming and otherwise, so that I had listen to the teacher, in apparent hope that they would listen this time, repeat the lesson over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.
For years.
It also wreaked havoc on my study skills, since I never had to study while in the same schoolroom as they were.
September 18th, 2010 | 6:33 am
For the record, Bryan Caplan is very much a believer in the importance of IQ for earning money and functioning in a modern workplace. His point is that it simply is no one else’s business how many children a given couple have one way or the other.
September 19th, 2010 | 7:50 am
To Mary: Management of a classroom, creation of an environment in which children can learn, is a primary responsibility of the teacher. The situation you describe is not the fault of those who learn slowly (or not at all) but of a misguided if well-meaning teacher. But, it is critically important to remember that your patience and kindness to any afflicted or suffering person may have healed them in ways you cannot know. Your patience and kindness to others will certainly have affected and shaped your soul, benefiting you far beyond the lesson of any particular day. This is not to dismiss the importance of learning or learning skills. It is a consolation to know that those of higher academic intelligence can acquire these things on their own. On the other hand, the lessons of love can be learned only in relationship to others.
Links
Blogs
Find Us
Contact