The ancient sexy

(For Swedish version, see: darkside.se/s.php?a=v&id=8889)

Some say "smart is the new sexy". That's not true.

In fact, smart is the ancient sexy. Smart has always been sexy. That's how we got to be so smart in the first place.
Obviously, being really stupid decreases your chance of surviving, so by simple evolution, people should achieve a certain level of intelligence. But as long as you're smart enough to know the difference between stuff you can eat and stuff that will eat you, that's quite sufficient, as can clearly be seen by the fact that most other animals are pretty dumb.

So one could even go as far as to say that the human brain is mainly an ornament. You know, like the peacock's feathers. Those huge feathers don't help the bird to survive, it just has it to impress the ladies. But how did it get them in the first place? Why do the peahens like the big feathers?

Presumably, by some chance, a bunch of hens long ago decided they liked cocks with big feathers. This meant that for the males it was an advantage to have big feathers, and that in turn meant that it was an advantage for the females to like big feathers - if you're even more into big feathers than the other chicks, you're even more likely to get the guy with the biggest feathers, and therefore have the kids with the biggest feathers, and since the other chicks also like big feathers, that means your kids would have an advantage.

It seems that the same thing applies to human brains. Some women decided they liked guys with big brains, and it just sort of spiralled from there.

But there might be more to it than that. In fact, the big feathers might be there for the very purpose of making it more difficult for the bird to survive. Basically, the female thinks "wow, that guy has huge feathers, which makes him easy for predators to spot, and makes him clumsy when moving around; since he still manages to survive, he must be really great!" (Except the birds don't actually think that, it's more of an instinct, obviously.)

Human brains, similarly, have lots of disadvantages. For example, we easily get back problems - gorillas very rarely suffer from back aches. It also makes it difficult to give birth, since women have to squeeze out such a huge head. And then the babies are not even able to move by themselves, unlike almost all other animals, just because it's difficult to lift such a big head. And we can't solve that by letting the baby develop further in the womb before popping out, because that would make it even more difficult to give birth.

So, in conclusion, it might well be that we are too smart for our own good. We'd be better off if we weren't so clever. Ignorance is indeed bliss. Maybe the only reason there are smart people is that women think "wow, that guy is so bright, he must have really been bullied at school; since he's survived, he must be really great!" (Or instinct, etc.)

On the internet, of course, you find plenty of people who are clearly not too smart for their own good. So I was thinking, maybe I should try to be more like them? Maybe stupid people really do have more fun? Then the question is of course, how to become more stupid. Maybe I should take up drinking? Drunk people seem to have fun, so that strengthens the hypothesis. If only the taste of alcohol wasn't so horrible.

I wonder if playing video games will make me the right amount of stupid?

Worth a try.