This afternoon, I found myself thinking about my former brother-in-law.
This was a really intelligent young man, and you might say that he definitely had a brain — at least from the perspective of being very intelligent; being offered a full-ride scholarship to Architecture School at the University of Texas — yet he was also someone who had zero desire to be involved in any activities that required "thinking."
In fact — he was in his late teens and early 20's at the time — he chose to be a landscaper's helper (in the hot Texas sun) and when he wasn't digging holes, cutting lawns and trimming branches from bushes, and whenever he wasn't working, his preference was to sit under a tree with a beer and get "baked," long before the legalization of marijuana.
I bring him up here simply as an illustration of how "having a brain" really doesn't mean anything, in and of itself.
It invites the additional statement "Sure, you have a brain. But what are you DOING with it?"
Well-Versed?
I have met plenty of "super smart" people who pretty much weren't capable of tasks as simple as going grocery shopping or doing a load of laundry. But they certainly were book smart. And they would engage in seemingly endless gyrations of intellectual masturbation while sitting in their tiny apartments, surrounded by a pigsty of old food delivery containers, empty beer cans and pizza boxes.
I've also met some fairly brilliant people who might be described as being as close to "truly EVIL" as you are likely to get. Sociopaths sometimes can be quite charming and brilliant. Sociopathy doesn't by any means imply stupidity.
Conversely, I know plenty of pretty middle of the road brains who absolutely make the most of what they do have, all the time. Typically, they are some of the more well-balanced people I encounter.
So where am I going, with all this?
What Does "Proof of Brain" Really Mean?
Moreover, who gets to be the arbiter(s) in making such an assessment?
I ended up down this particular rabbit hole as a result of encountering those who seem to think that the "Proof of Brain" community is some kind of intellectual think tank, and unless you have an IQ of 150, you might as well not show up.
Which I have not at all found to be true.
Considering this whole ball of wax brings to mind a different question that has often been punted around, in the context of Hive and its communities: "Quality Content" vs. "Adding Value."
I have never really been a slave to quality content, as long as whatever is being submitted to the information stream adds VALUE, in some sense. And even that is pretty ambiguous, since what's "valuable" to one person may feel like a boring waste of time to another.
Of course, what does tend to grind a lot of people's gears is the commonly held belief (particularly by "smart" people!) that if somebody can't see and agree with their perspective, they must be lacking in the brain department.
So maybe the real "Proof of Brain" happens when we're able and willing to recognize our own cognitive biases...
In many ways, I am like my former brother-in-law... at least in the sense that I have failed to live up to the external world's perception of what I SHOULD have done with my life. But I'm not convince that "Proof of AMBITION" is the same thing as "Proof of BRAIN!"
Thanks for reading, and have a great remainder of your week!
How about YOU? What do YOU think constitutes "Proof of Brain?" Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!
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Created at 20210728 23:45 PDT
0309/1552