Does intelligence make us better people? "Flowers for Algernon" & beyond

"Flowers for Algernon" written by Daniel Keyes is an interesting, beautiful novel full of contemplations on life and the place of intelligence in it. Does intelligence make us better people? And if it doesn't, what's this intelligence domain, why do we even need it?

My grade of the book: B (using the American grading system) - recommended!

This time I decided to make something different and make this book review more interactive, tell why I decided to pick certain quotes and (as it happens) spice them up with a few more questions. 

Quote 1

"Well, I'll tell you something. You think you're better than the rest of us here? Okay, go someplace else." "But what did I do to you?" "What did he do? Hear that, Joe? I'll tell you what you did, Mister Gordon. You come pushing in here with your ideas and suggestions and make the rest of us all look like a bunch of dopes. But I'll tell you something. To me you're still a moron. Maybe I don't understand some of them big words or the names of the books, but I'm as good as you are—better even."

"People resent being shown that they don't approach the complexities of the problem— they don't know what exists beyond the surface ripples."

True. I've noticed this in my life too, a lot. I blame myself for it. I feel that wise people need not only to have an understanding but also the ability to communicate their ideas without disassembling the ego of a friend.

Quote 2

"The more intelligent you become the more problems you'll have, Charlie. Your intellectual growth is going to outstrip your emotional growth."

Emotional intelligence is getting more and more attention nowadays. I hope the trend continues and we find ways to embed it in our societal structures. 

Quote 3

"Now I understand one of the important reasons for going to college and getting an education is to learn that the things you've believed in all your life aren't true, and that nothing is what it appears to be."

As David Foster-Wallace said, we are like fish that swim in the water and don't see it.

Quote 4

"Even in the world of make-believe there have to be rules. The parts have to be consistent and belong together. This kind of picture is a lie. Things are forced to fit because the writer or the director or somebody wanted something in that didn't belong. And it doesn't feel right."

What is this inner beauty of things that we are drawn to? Am I the only one who feels like we shouldn't have given up on classical art?

Quote 5

"Charlie, you amaze me. In some ways you're so advanced, and yet when it comes to making a decision, you're still a child. I can't decide for you, Charlie. The answer can't be found in books—or be solved by bringing it to other people. Not unless you want to remain a child all your life. You've got to find the answer inside you—-feel the right thing to do. Charlie, you've got to learn to trust yourself."

This is a good point. The voice of Yuval Noah Harari also echoes in my head though, what happens when algorithms will know us better than we know ourselves?

Quote 6

"He listened quietly, staring off into space, and I assumed he was collecting his thoughts for an answer, but a few minutes later he cleared his throat and shook his head. That, he explained apologetically, was outside his area of specialization. His interest was in interest rates, and he hadn't given military economics much thought. He suggested I see Dr. Wessey, who once did a paper on War Trade Agreements during "World War II. He might be able to help me. Before I could say anything else, he grabbed my hand and shook it. He had been glad to meet me, but there were some notes he had to assemble for a lecture. And then he was gone. The same thing happened when I tried to discuss Chaucer with an American literature specialist, questioned an Orientalist about the Trobriand Islanders, and tried to focus on the problems of automation-caused unemployment with a social psychologist who specialized in public opinion polls on adolescent behavior. They would always find excuses to slip away, afraid to reveal the narrowness of their knowledge."

"My most absorbing interests at the present time are etymologies of ancient languages, the newer works on the calculus of variations, and Hindu history. It's amazing the way things, apparently disconnected, hang together. I've moved up to another plateau, and now the streams of the various disciplines seem to be closer to each other as if they flow from a single source."

The novel explores the idea of the interconnectivity of knowledge domains. Is the path of specialization - the right path? It feels like in the 21st century we are learning the value of cross-disciplinarity.

Quote 7

"I don't know much about this kind of music. I have to think about it." "Don't think about it," she whispered. "Feel it. Let it sweep over you like the sea without trying to understand."

Isn't that beautiful? 

Quote 8

"Don't interrupt me!" The real anger in her voice pushed me back. "I mean it. There was something in you before. I don't know… a warmth, an openness, a kindness that made everyone like you and like to have you around. Now, with all your intelligence and knowledge, there are differences that— 

When you leave the apartment, I have to stare in the mirror and scream at myself: 'No, you're not growing duller every day! You're not losing your intelligence! You're not getting senile and dull-witted. It's Charlie exploding forward so quickly that it makes it appear as if you're slipping backwards.' I say that to myself, Charlie, but whenever we meet and you tell me something and look at me in that impatient way, I know you're laughing. And when you explain things to me, and I can't remember them, you think it's because I'm not interested and don't want to take the trouble. But you don't know how I torture myself when you're gone. You don't know the books I've struggled over, the lectures I've sat in on at Beekman, and yet whenever I talk about something, I see how impatient you are, as if it were all childish. I wanted you to be intelligent. I wanted to help you and share with you—and now you've shut me out of your life.

As I listened to what she was saying, the enormity of it dawned on me. I had been so absorbed in myself and what was happening to me that I never thought about what was happening to her."

There is something self-absorbing in intelligence. I guess it makes you think that you are right. That's when you stop listening to others.

Quote 8

"You think I'm wrong?" "Just that you've come a long way kind of fast," he said. "You've got a superb mind now, intelligence that can't really be calculated, more knowledge absorbed by now than most people pick up in a long lifetime. But you're lopsided. You know things. You see things. But you haven't developed understanding, or—I have to use the word— tolerance. You call them phonies, but when did either of them ever claim to be perfect, or superhuman? They're ordinary people. You're the genius."

This is a very interesting dynamic too! Have you ever felt this? Again this self-absorbing quality of intelligence makes us tunnel-focused.

Quote 9

"She was terrified of me."

That happened to me too. Being unable to relate is lonely for one and scary for another.

Quote 10

"He treated me—even then—as a human being. It may sound like ingratitude, but that is one of the things that I resent here—the attitude that I am a guinea pig. Nemur's constant references to having made me what I am, or that someday there will be others like me who will become real human beings. How can I make him understand that he did not create me? He makes the same mistake as the others when they look at a feeble-minded person and laugh because they don't understand there are human feelings involved. He doesn't realize that I was a person before I came here."

Are you still human if you grow up outside civilization or have down syndrome? There are a lot of uncomfortable questions connected to the hierarchy of intelligence. In my own field, for example, high IQ is associated with better learning outcomes. We can't start selecting people who attend the training by their IQ though, eh?

Quote 11

"I've learned that intelligence alone doesn't mean a damned thing. Here in your university, intelligence, education, knowledge, have all become great idols. But I know now there's one thing you've all overlooked: intelligence and education that hasn't been tempered by human affection isn't worth a damn."

"Intelligence is one of the greatest human gifts. But all too often a search for knowledge drives out the search for love. This is something else I've discovered for myself very recently. I present it to you as a hypothesis: Intelligence without the ability to give and receive affection leads to mental and moral breakdown, to neurosis, and possibly even psychosis. And I say that the mind absorbed in and involved in itself as a self-centered end, to the exclusion of human relationships, can only lead to violence and pain."

The book was published in 1959. Still true? Very smart but not very wise.

Quote 12

"PS. please tel prof Nemur not to be such a grouch when pepul laff at him and he woud have more frends. Its easy to have frends if you let pepul laff at you. Im going to have lots of frends where I go."

But my ego is more important! (haha)

Quote 13

"The human mind is an incredible thing. It can conceive of the magnificence of the heavens and the intricacies of the basic components of matter. Yet for each mind to achieve its full potential, it needs a spark. The spark of inquiry and wonder. Often that spark comes from a teacher."

Finally, a beautiful reminder of the power of mentors and teachers in our lives.

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