Re: (NDC) The Senate

On Thu, 6 Nov 2008 12:44:51 -0800 (PST), "Neil X." <neilxk@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

DGD wrote:

Is memory the same as intelligence?  I spent years in classes devoted to
math and chemistry yet today I couldn't tell you how many atoms are in a
Mole if my life depended on it.  Okay, I just looked it up and recognized
the number once I'd seen it, but I sure couldn't have recited it from
memory.  Does that make me stupid?  Hell, this morning I couldn't find my
favorite coffee cup.


That's not a good series of analogies. Once you have learned the
concept that Africa contains many countries, you aren't going to
"forget" it. I could see it if she just couldn't name any countries
in Africa, but not knowing that it was a continent, not one monolithic
nation is a basic piece of information central to any level of
comprehension of world geography. It isn't something that an
intelligent person would ever "forget."


I bet we all know people who are intelligent and successful in some specific
area and yet display what we consider startling ignorance of things we
consider commonplace.  Is a successful lawyer or engineer who appears to
know little about literature or history or art really stupid?


No intelligent engineer or lawyer, no matter how absent minded, would
"forget" that Africa had more than one country.


Palin didn't become Governor of Alaska by being dumb.


No, but she did become governor of Alaska despite it.


the odds are against someone
being able to climb that particular ladder without having a lot of the sort
of smarts politicians need.


The empirical data suggests that said odds are clearly greater than
zero.


 She's obviously uneducated in comparison to
someone like Obama, but is that the same as being stupid?  How many of the
regular posters to this group could become Governor of their state if they
decided to devote themselves to it, how many of us would have the set of
characteristics needed to excel in that arena and go from a small-town
council membership to Governor in only a decade?


The majority of posters to RMGD are well capable of doing that, IMO.
Of course, it takes a good deal of luck, too--the luck to find a
handler willing to groom you for power.

Peace,
Neil X.

Ambition is probably at least as important as luck.

JimK
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: (NDC) The Senate
    ... Is memory the same as intelligence? ... I could see it if she just couldn't name any countries ... in Africa, but not knowing that it was a continent, not one monolithic ... but she did become governor of Alaska despite it. ...
    (rec.music.gdead)
  • Re: Random Restarts
    ... Good luck in ... >> In memory of our dear friend, MVP Alex Nichol: http://www.dts-l.org/ ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: Unable to install SP2
    ... | task manager- there is lot of memory HOWEVER the CPU usage goes to 100% ... |>> my pccillin virus check agin no luck. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsupdate)
  • RE: Computer completely shuts down when playing games
    ... and with a bit of luck the new driver will solve your problem. ... run some checks on both your hard drive and memory to see ... I can play games on the internet just ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support)
  • Re: Cat Four Progress Report 2
    ... that cats have a short memory. ... I think he will return but within his own comfort-zone time-scale (if you ... meowmie lets him out instantly. ... Lots of luck with him, ...
    (rec.pets.cats.anecdotes)
Loading