Samantha Schermanhorn and Kaylie George: proof that humans are not an intelligent species.

Samantha Schermanhorn and Kaylie George, both 13, have recently, and rather unwittingly, proved that the human species is not an intelligent one. Indeed, their action does suggest that some humans are less intelligent than a typical wild animal.

Samantha Schermanhorn and Kaylie George decided to go sunbathing recently. Now, you might think there is nothing particularly stupid about sunbathing (apart from the risk of skin cancer)...except that Samantha Schermanhorn and Kaylie George had a brilliant idea about just where to sunbathe. They chose to do so on the surface of a rural Pennsylvanian road. That is right, they were sunbathing in the road.

Now, here is where it gets even more stupid. They both fell asleep. Guess how they woke up? That is right. They woke up when they were struck by a car. Curiously, this car happened to have been driven by one of Schermanhorn's cousins. The 19 year old young man had stopped at a stop sign, then made a turn – before he ran over his dumb cousins. Apparently, though, both girls survived the collision and are now in the Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh, to which they had been airlifted. News articles didn’t say whether they were in a special ward, for the uniquely dumb.

Seriously, though, this incident does show that humanity is not universally intelligent. Commentators about the human species always speak of the “intelligence” of the human race – but frankly, modern man does not bear this out. There are many very stupid people in this world – people who do things a dog wouldn’t think to do. I very much doubt whether a dog would choose to sunbathe in the middle of the road. A dog would know that cars are going to come along and drive over him or her, if they did that. It seems, though, that these two teenage girls weren’t bright enough to see the danger that sunbathing on a road put them in.

Any discussion of the intelligence of the human species needs to be more honest about the situation. Humans are not universally intelligent. In fact, the average human IQ is just 90 – which is pretty dumb, really. However, this should be further understood to mean that half of humanity has an IQ LESS THAN 90. Really, there are billions of dumb people out there...and some of them, like Samantha Schermanhorn and Kylie George are REALLY dumb...life threateningly stupid.

So, future discussions of the “intelligence” of the human species should note that humanity has a small, intelligent minority, but that vast hordes of humanity are really not very bright at all. Just ask Samantha Schermanhorn and Kaylie George. I am sure their replies, to any question at all, would be pretty convincing on the matter.

Posted by Valentine Cawley


(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

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If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

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Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

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Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.) 

On the dumbness of "intelligence".

CIA stands for the Central Intelligence Agency. I understand that, by “intelligence” they are referring to information, rather than skill in its use – but, nevertheless, one does expect intelligent behaviour from an agency bearing that name and having that role. Recent events, however, suggest that, perhaps, the CIA should look at the quality of either its intake or its training.

Hezbollah has discovered more than a dozen CIA spies in Lebanon. It is feared that they are likely to be executed, if they have not already been. So, too, CIA spies in Iran have been uncovered and apprehended, in a double blow for the iconic agency.

I was struck by reports that the CIA spies in Lebanon were meeting, in a large group, at a Pizza hut. Apparently, the code word for the venue, in their “secret” conversations, was “pizza”. Hmm. I wonder if anyone could guess what that meant? Former officials were the source of the code word. Present officials deny the code word “pizza” was used. My take on that is to ask: who has “face” to lose? Those who no longer work in the US government – or those who do?

Regardless of whether or not that particular code word was used or not – which, if it was, is a spectacular instance of catastrophic dumbness – the other aspect of the situation is equally troubling. Is it not conspicuous for a large number of agents and their contacts to be meeting in a public restaurant all at the same time? Is this not likely to attract attention? Indeed, it did...with the result that the spy network was apprehended and rolled up.

If these reports are true – of a ludicrous code word and attention grabbing meetings – then I have to wonder at how such things can be. It would seem that the CIA’s agents in the Middle East, have been living life without a full appreciation of the risks of their role. They have lived as if in a TV show – where the good guys are never caught and nothing ill ever happens to them. No-one who truly understood, deep down, the risks of the job, would choose to meet, in a large group, in a public place...it is just too likely to be noticed. A little thought, without any special training at all, would suggest many different ways to organize meetings, that are much safer, and less likely to be noticed. However, this was not done, it seems: foolish risks were taken, instead, as if, in fact, there were no risks at all.

I am left to wonder at the age of the agents in question. Were they young and inexperienced...and, perhaps, a little unprepared for their roles? Did they see it as a game, and not as a very perilous life, indeed? No-one of any maturity, with any perspective on the consequences of being revealed, in such a role, could have behaved, as these “spies” are said to have done.

If it transpires that these operatives were, in fact, very young, it would be wiser, in future, to use older, more experienced field operatives, with a better appreciation of the fragility of life, and the precariousness of their position, as foreign agents, in the midst of hostile territory.

That being said, I hope the operatives, young or not, return home safely to their families, intact and untortured – though I rather feel that is as much a vain hope, as their actions were foolish, in meeting in Pizza Hut, in the first place.

That pizza better have been worth it.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175

To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

Japanese earthquakes and nuclear disasters

Japan is a nuclear bomb that ticks away, unbeknownst to the world. I say this because of a peculiar and rather dumb circumstance. Japan, one of the most seismically active places in the world, is also home to one of the greatest densities of nuclear power stations. That situation strikes me as not particularly bright or foresighted. In fact, in my title I was going to say “nuclear accident”, but decided against it, because there is nothing accidental about nuclear “accidents” in a nation so prone to earthquakes that actually builds nuclear reactors. In a very real way, Japan is asking for nuclear meltdowns on its soil.

In the wake of the Japanese earthquake on Friday, 10 out of 54 of Japan’s nuclear power stations, have been shut down. One of them, Fukushima Daiichi Plant Unit 1 is showing radiation levels in its control room of 1,000 times normal. Some reactors are running hot, because of failures of their cooling systems, whose power generators have been knocked out by the tsunami. Should emergency cooling efforts fail, these reactors could heat up so much, that they meltdown, releasing vast amounts of radioactive material into the surrounding territory. Indeed, Japan could face multiple Chernobyls, at once, if things go badly.

Japan planned for earthquakes, by building its nuclear plants on solid bedrock. Clearly, however, this precaution is not enough and has given a false sense of security.

Now, 30 per cent of Japan’s electricity comes from nuclear power. That percentage should be zero. It is irresponsible of Japan to build nuclear power stations when their nation is so seismically active. Not only that, but Japan is endangering much of Asia, with its nuclear policy. Should any of its reactors actually meltdown, radiation could be spread far afield, just as it was with Chernobyl. The only thing between the world and disaster, will be the nuclear reactor’s containment vessel: will it hold? There is no knowing.

It seems to me that a nation like Japan, so endangered by earthquakes, should not be permitted to build nuclear reactors of the conventional fission variety. Only in some future time, when fusion reactors become possible (which cannot meltdown), should they be allowed to have nuclear reactors. Japan may consider the implementation of nuclear power a sovereign decision, but it is one with potential effects on many other countries. So, it would seem reasonable, and foresighted, for the international community to require Japan not to build nuclear reactors, and to decommission those it has. Japan will have to find other ways to make electricity – or safer designs of nuclear reactor, that cannot meltdown, should those be possible.

The Japanese earthquake and its consequent nuclear problems is a stark reminder that a nation has not only a responsibility to its citizens, but to the world outside its borders. Japan, in having nuclear reactors, in an earthquake zone, is not fulfilling those responsibilities. I think it is time to have a word with Japan about its nuclear power generation. If none of the reactors melts down this time, nothing might be done. Yet, a lucky escape is not something that can be expected every time an earthquake strikes. Japan should be put on notice that its nuclear power facilities are a danger to the world, and should be phased out, in favour of safer alternatives. If they do wish to have nuclear power, I understand that pebble bed reactors are a safer design – so that might be considered. Whatever is decided, it should be done, immediately, for one thing is sure: one day, Japan will have a nuclear meltdown, if it insists on maintaining conventional fissile reactors, in its earthquake prone borders.

After all the clearing up is done and the losses in people and infrastructure totaled, it will be time to prepare for the next earthquake – and that means making Japan’s nuclear power programme either a whole lot safer – with new designs of plant – or abandoning it altogether.

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page. To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175

To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here: http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)