Professor Johnson brought up in class gender differences and how there was a study that showed teachers of younger grades are predominantly women and college professors are predominantly men. Why?
Like many equality feminists argue, "apart from the obvious physical differences, the human sexes are innately very much the same in mental endowment, so that any average differences in performance are due to the different sets of expectations, education, and social role that societies or cultures impose" (Stevenson 220).
We expect women to be caregivers. We expect men to rule politically and economically. It's part of our society, not part of our nature. For example, my second grade teacher, Mr. Frost, was really good at being sympathetic to our 8-year-old needs. Who said a man can't be just as good of a caregiver as a woman? The stereotypes we create aren't true, but they hold us back and make people unconsciously believe that men and women are innately mentally different.
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Intelligence in Society
If we could prove that intelligence was in fact something that could be "learned", how might that change our society?
I believe that if we discovered intelligence could be obtained by anyone, we would begin tests to see how one could acquire it. Then, we would start implementing it. If we could make people more intelligent, then certainly we would want to act upon that. But then how would that affect us?
We would certainly be hungry for more. Once people started reaching the highest levels of intelligence, they would not be satisfied - they would want to further improve. How could we ever be satisfied? We might set ourselves up for failure in this sense because we'll never be able to be more intelligent than we can be even though this might not be enough for some.
Would our brains enlarge? Maybe we would see more natural evolution taking place. Maybe a bigger head would be more attractive. Maybe our bodies would enlarge along with our heads to keep balance.
Those who are less intelligent or maybe don't have money to learn intelligence would be discriminated and looked down upon - we would probably see a line form between the intelligent and the not-so-intelligent. It could even lead to another Civil War, who knows?
Lots of aspects could change if we discovered that intelligence is something you can learn.
I believe that if we discovered intelligence could be obtained by anyone, we would begin tests to see how one could acquire it. Then, we would start implementing it. If we could make people more intelligent, then certainly we would want to act upon that. But then how would that affect us?
We would certainly be hungry for more. Once people started reaching the highest levels of intelligence, they would not be satisfied - they would want to further improve. How could we ever be satisfied? We might set ourselves up for failure in this sense because we'll never be able to be more intelligent than we can be even though this might not be enough for some.
Would our brains enlarge? Maybe we would see more natural evolution taking place. Maybe a bigger head would be more attractive. Maybe our bodies would enlarge along with our heads to keep balance.
Those who are less intelligent or maybe don't have money to learn intelligence would be discriminated and looked down upon - we would probably see a line form between the intelligent and the not-so-intelligent. It could even lead to another Civil War, who knows?
Lots of aspects could change if we discovered that intelligence is something you can learn.
Can we be Blamed for our Nature?
If a trait such as jealousy is passed on biologically, then can I be blamed for acting on my jealousy?
Maybe it's in my nature to be jealous, but is everything I do solely based off of my nature? No. There's been a long-lasting argument about nature vs. nurture, but really nature and nurture work together. Everything we do is explained by multiple things:
"1.) Natural selection operating on our ancestors over many thousands - indeed millions - of years to produce a variety of innate mental modules in the human species;
2.) The historical development of a variety of human economies and cultures over many centuries;
3.) The mixing of genes in sexual reproduction that gives every human being their own unique set of genes (except in the case of identical twins);
4.) The effects of the physical and social/cultural environment on bodily and mental development over the lifetime of each individual;
5.) The information processing involved in perception and speech recognition, the results of which ('beliefs') join with motivational factors ('desires') to be the immediate cause of particular actions" (Stevenson 232).
So can I be blamed for acting on my jealousy? Yes. Why? Because I have other traits (like kindness, respect, and sympathy) that work against it, I've been raised to be respectful to other people, society has taught me to look down upon jealousy, etc. Nature certainly doesn't dictate everything I do, and even if it did, other parts of my nature (mostly reason) would tell me to suppress my jealous tendencies.
Maybe it's in my nature to be jealous, but is everything I do solely based off of my nature? No. There's been a long-lasting argument about nature vs. nurture, but really nature and nurture work together. Everything we do is explained by multiple things:
"1.) Natural selection operating on our ancestors over many thousands - indeed millions - of years to produce a variety of innate mental modules in the human species;
2.) The historical development of a variety of human economies and cultures over many centuries;
3.) The mixing of genes in sexual reproduction that gives every human being their own unique set of genes (except in the case of identical twins);
4.) The effects of the physical and social/cultural environment on bodily and mental development over the lifetime of each individual;
5.) The information processing involved in perception and speech recognition, the results of which ('beliefs') join with motivational factors ('desires') to be the immediate cause of particular actions" (Stevenson 232).
So can I be blamed for acting on my jealousy? Yes. Why? Because I have other traits (like kindness, respect, and sympathy) that work against it, I've been raised to be respectful to other people, society has taught me to look down upon jealousy, etc. Nature certainly doesn't dictate everything I do, and even if it did, other parts of my nature (mostly reason) would tell me to suppress my jealous tendencies.
Further Thought on Technology
So I've already concluded that advances on technology might decrease our breadth of knowledge in certain areas (while increasing our breadth of knowledge in other areas, which makes it a sort of give-and-take situation), but it in fact does not decrease our capacity for intelligence. However, it has been brought to my attention that advances in technology lead to an important outcome: more time.
Technology allows us to spend less time on simple tasks and give us more time to do other things. Wouldn't this be a good thing? Not necessarily. It all depends on how the time is being used.
Some people use this time to exercise, to learn, to educate, to travel, to be productive, but let's be honest: a lot of people use this time to sit on their butts and browse the internet or watch movies/television. Is this really a smart decision?
People do it because it's easy. Why do work when I could sit here and watch cartoons all day? So my next question is: Is laziness a part of human nature? Tell me what you think!
Technology allows us to spend less time on simple tasks and give us more time to do other things. Wouldn't this be a good thing? Not necessarily. It all depends on how the time is being used.
Some people use this time to exercise, to learn, to educate, to travel, to be productive, but let's be honest: a lot of people use this time to sit on their butts and browse the internet or watch movies/television. Is this really a smart decision?
People do it because it's easy. Why do work when I could sit here and watch cartoons all day? So my next question is: Is laziness a part of human nature? Tell me what you think!
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Are We Getting Dumber?
Will our intelligence decline as technology continues to advance?
This past week I remember someone saying that as technology advances we all get dumber and dumber. Okay... let me think...
Certainly we have become more dependent on technology as it has become more prominent. Younger generations can barely stay off their cellphones for a few minutes. I don't know what I would do without my laptop - I use it for a lot of different things, including staying in touch with friends, connecting with professors, writing papers (and blogs!), editing pictures, browsing the internet, testing music, checking my email, etc. But does our dependence relate in any way to our intelligence?
We often use incorrect spellings to shorten words when we text, and it completely deteriorates our sense of grammar. We also rely on spell check to fix our mistakes, so we don't really learn the correct way to write. Calculators do our math for us! Why waste my time reading when I could just look up the summary on Sparknotes? Yeah, we depend a lot of technology, and we end up paying for it in our breadth of knowledge. I'm not learning things I otherwise would learn without technology, but I am learning things that people without technology wouldn't be able to learn. It's a give and take situation.
This past week I remember someone saying that as technology advances we all get dumber and dumber. Okay... let me think...
Certainly we have become more dependent on technology as it has become more prominent. Younger generations can barely stay off their cellphones for a few minutes. I don't know what I would do without my laptop - I use it for a lot of different things, including staying in touch with friends, connecting with professors, writing papers (and blogs!), editing pictures, browsing the internet, testing music, checking my email, etc. But does our dependence relate in any way to our intelligence?
We often use incorrect spellings to shorten words when we text, and it completely deteriorates our sense of grammar. We also rely on spell check to fix our mistakes, so we don't really learn the correct way to write. Calculators do our math for us! Why waste my time reading when I could just look up the summary on Sparknotes? Yeah, we depend a lot of technology, and we end up paying for it in our breadth of knowledge. I'm not learning things I otherwise would learn without technology, but I am learning things that people without technology wouldn't be able to learn. It's a give and take situation.
Human Evolution
Brandon asked the question in his blog: "Are humans the end of natural evolution?"
My answer:
We're constantly evolving! Homo Sapiens have existed for a long time. From Neanderthals to Ancient Egypt to The Dark Ages to the Renaissance to The Industrial Revolution to the Space Race to now we've seen a lot of change. Who's to say we can't continue? Humans are constantly looking for ways to improve upon the way things are. Right now we're putting most of our energy into technology.
There are a lot of concerns when we think of the advancement of technology. The main concern is artificial intelligence. What happens when machines can think like humans? Maybe that's the advancement that will continue evolution, but it's hard to know.
Another possibility is combining technology with the human brain. M.T. Anderson suggests what might happen if we were wired to the internet, and his illustration is a scary one, where language, intelligence, emotion, human interaction, etc. all seem to go down the drain.
My question is: Will our intelligence decline as technology continues to advance? Are we unfit in the realm of evolution?
My answer:
We're constantly evolving! Homo Sapiens have existed for a long time. From Neanderthals to Ancient Egypt to The Dark Ages to the Renaissance to The Industrial Revolution to the Space Race to now we've seen a lot of change. Who's to say we can't continue? Humans are constantly looking for ways to improve upon the way things are. Right now we're putting most of our energy into technology.
There are a lot of concerns when we think of the advancement of technology. The main concern is artificial intelligence. What happens when machines can think like humans? Maybe that's the advancement that will continue evolution, but it's hard to know.
Another possibility is combining technology with the human brain. M.T. Anderson suggests what might happen if we were wired to the internet, and his illustration is a scary one, where language, intelligence, emotion, human interaction, etc. all seem to go down the drain.
My question is: Will our intelligence decline as technology continues to advance? Are we unfit in the realm of evolution?
Tone of Voice
I was thinking about innate versus societal human traits, and I'm wondering how we acquire certain societal traits. The one thing that instantly came to mind was why our tone of voice changes when we talk to different people. In general, I have four main tones of voice that I use on a regular basis: 1) A relaxed voice when I'm around people I'm comfortable with, 2) A guarded voice when I'm around people I'm intimidated by or trying to impress, 3) An "in love" voice when I'm talking to my boyfriend, and 4) An annoyed, disinterested voice when I'm with people I don't care about or am irritated by. So how did I obtain these voices?
When I'm talking to people I'm trying to impress, my voice gets rather low and my throat dries up. Is this an instinct, or am I reacting because of societal pressures? I think it's a combination. Since I am nervous, due to societal pressure, I react in a nervous fashion, which is my natural instinct. Not everyone reacts the same way when faced with someone who intimidates them. Maybe someone else's voice would be high and squeaky when talking to someone they fear.
So I can conclude that we form these voices from the way certain people and situations make us feel. In society, a professor is seen as a person who should be respected by his students, and therefore when talking to a professor, I feel the pressure to impress him, which makes me nervous and inevitably brings my voice into a lower register and dries out my throat. However, since I feel so emotionally close to my boyfriend, I sometimes talk to him in a sweeter voice because I see him as someone I can trust (which is a societal norm), and it makes my voice soften.
When I'm talking to people I'm trying to impress, my voice gets rather low and my throat dries up. Is this an instinct, or am I reacting because of societal pressures? I think it's a combination. Since I am nervous, due to societal pressure, I react in a nervous fashion, which is my natural instinct. Not everyone reacts the same way when faced with someone who intimidates them. Maybe someone else's voice would be high and squeaky when talking to someone they fear.
So I can conclude that we form these voices from the way certain people and situations make us feel. In society, a professor is seen as a person who should be respected by his students, and therefore when talking to a professor, I feel the pressure to impress him, which makes me nervous and inevitably brings my voice into a lower register and dries out my throat. However, since I feel so emotionally close to my boyfriend, I sometimes talk to him in a sweeter voice because I see him as someone I can trust (which is a societal norm), and it makes my voice soften.
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