Are atheists and liberals more “intelligent”?

Better check your definitions…

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Complete entry

Posted by meika  on  03/09  at  07:00 PM

"Savanna Principle holds stronger among less intelligent individuals than among more intelligent individuals"

if only!

Posted by veronica  on  03/10  at  09:15 AM

The National Geographic essay on this topic was titled "Liberals, Atheists Are More Highly Evolved? "

How can one tell -- no, let me ask how the heck can one tell -- whether one fellow is more "highly evolved" than his neighbor, or one community vs. another?

Given the wisdom of the person who formulated the title, I guess he must've been a religious believer. (sarc)

Posted by postfuturist  on  03/11  at  12:37 PM

They might possibly be more intelligent, but they they are more naive. Yet naivite' is necessary. For instance it is necessary a progressive should think justice can be legislated, when it cannot.
If it were up to conservatives, without restraints, the world would exist mostly to serve their own families-- tough luck for them such isn't the way the world works.
Atheists ARE almost certainly more intelligent, IMO; but self deception can sometimes be more intractable in the intelligent, as their thoughts are more sophisticated, thus the illusory memes are more insidious.

Intellectuals are tricksters, they sell their versions of reality; an intellectual isn't an altruist, and the academy isn't a charity. The intellectual is selling not only his body of work, the information (or misinformation & disinformation) but also his image, his ego.

Posted by Mark Thompson  on  03/11  at  12:42 PM

"We have free choice to make any decision we want..."

I don't agree with you on this. Our choices are contrained by our cultural and social contexts.

For instance, none of us is immune to our culture. I might consciously try to not to speak in a certain way or use certain idioms but as soon as I let down my guard, it becomes reflexive without my thinking. In fact, culture influences how we view each other without us being consciously aware of this. For instance, with regard to race. Many studies have been done to prove this.

Culture is compelling.

Posted by veronica  on  03/11  at  04:12 PM

Culture is indeed compelling, but determination to go against the grain can be even more compelling. Just ask William Kamkwamba from Malawi:
http://www.ted.com/speakers/william_kamkwamba.html

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