What if there were pills that made us smarter? Would you take them? What if pills that allowed you to learn faster, remember better, and just all around be better at school, existed?
It would make it a lot easier, wouldn't it?
But I'm not sure I would take them. I'm not sure anyone should. I was talking about this to a friend of mine, and I've been thinking about it since. There are both individual and societal ramifications.
As in individual, would taking a pill that changed my ability to learn change who I am? My level of intelligence (with both its positives and negatives) has made me who I am today. It's a lot of "I am", but it's quite important. It would change my personality completely... I'd be lazy, I think. Because I would show up to class, learn it all, never study for tests... The whole education system would have to change- or we wouldn't even go to school. We'd just read and read and read. What would I do? There's a whole economic side of things, where if everyone had this pill then no one would want to do the menial labor work, which could prove problematic, but that's another issue. What I'm talking about are relationships and personalities. Now that I think about it, we wouldn't learn humility because we'd rarely be wrong. There are lessons to be learned from mistakes, growth to be had from falling down- none of that would happen. If we were super-intelligent geniuses, our morality might go out the window.
As my mom says, "drugs, is drugs". Yes, she says "is", not "are". There are always side effects. If you aren't born with something, then you have to give something up in order to get something else. But if everyone had these pills- what would happen?
We'd depend on it too much. We would never work hard, or even think: we'd just take a pill and work. I think we might lose track of having fun and working. And then, if everyone could do anything, then we'd lose our individuality. No one would be different, or unique.
What I love about us humans is that we're weird. We're all quite different, and yet there is something that links together. I don't understand everyone, but I still love them just the same. Everyone has their own quirks that makes them, them. For instance, senior superlatives- what would we write for everyone if we all took little magic pills that allowed us to do pretty much anything? We wouldn't be different- I guess it would solve the inequality problem, but that's about it. And I don't think it will even solve that problem, because although everyone is given the same opportunities, it's okay to have different levels of intelligence. It allows people to think differently, and independently. If you have ever read Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, there's one point in the novel where Ender and his team of fellow classmates are battling the Queen alien, and Rackman (his mentor) tells him that his advantage is that he has independent and spontaneous soldiers while the Queen is the only one who thinks. The Queen is alone, and can only think (although really, really quickly) of one thing at a time, whereas Ender can be ordering army to do one thing, and then individual groups can then work together and act at the same time. What I'm trying to get at is that humanity is about a whole bunch of individuals who still manage to get along despite of (maybe even because of?) their differences.
Actually, now that I think about it, Ender's Game may be the perfect example, because he lives in a school with a bunch of kids with higher-intelligence than the norm. It's a good book, if you haven't read it.
It would make it a lot easier, wouldn't it?
But I'm not sure I would take them. I'm not sure anyone should. I was talking about this to a friend of mine, and I've been thinking about it since. There are both individual and societal ramifications.
As in individual, would taking a pill that changed my ability to learn change who I am? My level of intelligence (with both its positives and negatives) has made me who I am today. It's a lot of "I am", but it's quite important. It would change my personality completely... I'd be lazy, I think. Because I would show up to class, learn it all, never study for tests... The whole education system would have to change- or we wouldn't even go to school. We'd just read and read and read. What would I do? There's a whole economic side of things, where if everyone had this pill then no one would want to do the menial labor work, which could prove problematic, but that's another issue. What I'm talking about are relationships and personalities. Now that I think about it, we wouldn't learn humility because we'd rarely be wrong. There are lessons to be learned from mistakes, growth to be had from falling down- none of that would happen. If we were super-intelligent geniuses, our morality might go out the window.
As my mom says, "drugs, is drugs". Yes, she says "is", not "are". There are always side effects. If you aren't born with something, then you have to give something up in order to get something else. But if everyone had these pills- what would happen?
We'd depend on it too much. We would never work hard, or even think: we'd just take a pill and work. I think we might lose track of having fun and working. And then, if everyone could do anything, then we'd lose our individuality. No one would be different, or unique.
What I love about us humans is that we're weird. We're all quite different, and yet there is something that links together. I don't understand everyone, but I still love them just the same. Everyone has their own quirks that makes them, them. For instance, senior superlatives- what would we write for everyone if we all took little magic pills that allowed us to do pretty much anything? We wouldn't be different- I guess it would solve the inequality problem, but that's about it. And I don't think it will even solve that problem, because although everyone is given the same opportunities, it's okay to have different levels of intelligence. It allows people to think differently, and independently. If you have ever read Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, there's one point in the novel where Ender and his team of fellow classmates are battling the Queen alien, and Rackman (his mentor) tells him that his advantage is that he has independent and spontaneous soldiers while the Queen is the only one who thinks. The Queen is alone, and can only think (although really, really quickly) of one thing at a time, whereas Ender can be ordering army to do one thing, and then individual groups can then work together and act at the same time. What I'm trying to get at is that humanity is about a whole bunch of individuals who still manage to get along despite of (maybe even because of?) their differences.
Actually, now that I think about it, Ender's Game may be the perfect example, because he lives in a school with a bunch of kids with higher-intelligence than the norm. It's a good book, if you haven't read it.
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