'Present Generation' vs 'The Ancestors'

I am irritated at my own generation. We enjoy when we want to, we work when we want to, and we study when (and if) we feel like. We know much about the world, the universe, other customs and cultures. We know why the sky is blue or why the wind blows in a particular direction in a particular season. We know nearly everything from the bottom of the seas to the top of the mountains. We understand religion instead of blindly following it, and don’t blame the Gods for a comet being sighted. We recognize the solar eclipse and enjoy it instead of running to pray. We know what ailment is caused by which carcinogenic substances, and how to cure ourselves.  We are grappling with the mind boggling question of parallel universes, and have even started the construction of world’s first atomic fusion reactor.

But at the very last, whenever the question arises of intelligence, we say our ancestors were much more intelligent than us.

Why such paranoia? Why do we all believe that with so much intensity? We all have had the propaganda been dumped at us since childhood that we should respect elders, as they are much more intelligent than us. While obviously true at some point of time, it can’t stay true forever. But most of us are bound so intimately by that feeling forced upon us since childhood that we learn never to question it at all. We accept it as a universal truth, not to be discussed but simply to be agreed upon.

But that defeats the whole purpose of education, and defeats rationalism at its very roots. We as a race have gone through continuous evolution. So if we say that our grandfather’s generation was the most intelligent, what we are actually saying is that our parents ruined the human race. Because until then, information was passed on from a generation to the next- so the generation of our grandfather received the information and collective human intelligence worth thousands of years  of human knowledge, and hence was the most intelligent generation at their own time. But if they remain as the most intelligent generation even after the next few generations has come, as claimed by some, that essentially means that the whole human race has begun to devolve since them.

That brings us to the question-How do you measure intelligence? It cannot be based on an IQ  test, as IQ tests can be manipulated by practice and exposure to questions. It can’t be measured by amount of knowledge, as knowledge is directly proportional to schooling/opportunity to study (a gangster can be intelligent too, just not have too much knowledge).  Intelligence can’t be measured by wit (many top scientists lack a funny bone), and it can’t be measured by the speed of answers (Einstein spoke slowly, but no doubt he was among the most intelligent persons ever to have lived). It can’t be measured by money, by power, or by political clout. Rather, a mixture of all of it can prove who is more intelligent (and then too we must take margin of error as well as only average values).

We have no doubt learned from our elders, and they have fulfilled the duty of passing on the collective knowledge garnered by them to the next generation. Some information has obviously been lost in the process, and it may well have been the most important information source for our survival. So while it is non-negotiable that we have reached so far only because of our ancestral knowledge, that does not make them more intelligent. We have learned a lot more, and developed upon their ideas only, but that development is what has made us much more intelligent. (I wish to clear here itself, for any paranoid reader, that I am talking about intelligence, and not about them being wiser. Being wise is very different from being intelligent. Also, if one really has to compare, compare a 20 year old of today’s world with a 20 year old man in 1600s to clarify which one is wiser. Don’t compare a 20 year old with an 80 year old man).

No doubt our elder were much closer to nature than we are. As per the general knowledge, they never got sick, they were stronger, lead a wise life. They spoke slowly, and they listened with intent. They took care of everything around them, and seemed to know all about their neighbors.

Is all that really such a good thing? Yes, there were closer to nature. Obviously they were much closer to nature than we are. But the nature was all they had around them too. If we have only one thing to know and learn about in our whole life-time, I guess we’ll be very good at it too.

Here’s a revelation. Yes, they got sick too. They in-fact got much sicker than most of us ever will. And most of them died from their sickness. The fact is that those who survived were physically stronger and genetically more powerful. Not mental, but pure physical. They also were pure lucky to survive some of the worst epidemics that the human race then had no cure to.

They were physically stronger and more active, as they were used to doing physical labor much more than us. But human race is differentiated from other animals only because of their brains and mental capabilities. They could work more, we can think more.

They took care of everything around them, because they didn’t have the resources to buy new things often, and mostly lived on bare necessities. And this certainly has no connection to intelligence. As for knowing all about their neighbors, it’s just mollycoddling. Sitting around a fire for hours, discussing with hushed voices about the neighbor’s daughter-in-law is hardly my idea of positive knowledge.

And at the very last, about them leading a wiser life. No doubt they fought less (expect in times of wars), and had stronger bonds of friendship. But the question of them being wise is limited by exposure. They were wise in their particular system, their particular custom, but they were not wise to customs and cultures foreign to their lands. And they treated it with disdain and/or fear. They had got too particular with their zone of comfort, and were scared to step out of it. The fear of losing what little they had kept them hinged all the more to it. And I wonder how wise can a man become if denied the opportunity to learn more about things not yet known to him.

So, why are the elders considered bright? Why have we always sought advice from them? The simple fact is that they have lived longer, and hence have more experience with things we may be facing for the first time. We seek advice about the things that have not changed. While our elders do not possess the same learning capability as us (factoring in both- the era they lived in, as well as the fact that their neurons do not make new connections as fast as a teenager’s will), they will still make better decisions than most of us. This is due to the fact that while age affects short-term memory and learning capabilities, it does not affect long term memory. So the elders can use the templates gained from decades of experience, to give faster and more accurate predictions/results to the questions bestowed upon us. Also, they do not suffer from high hormone levels which might make them susceptible to rash decisions.

Again, while there is no denying that we have reached this far in the evolutionary scale because of our ancestors only, and they deserve all the respect for it, stating that they were more intelligent is disrespectful to our generation. At the same time, I have no qualms in agreeing that the future generations will be much intelligent than us (If they are not, that means that we destroyed the human race, and the fault will lie with us).The change may not be visible in 2-3 generations from an evolutionary point of view, but it is gradually happening and the difference is always apparent in around 10-15 generations. The reason for evolution is the labor of previous generation, and just being a little more evolved does not give the son a right to respect from his elders. But denying us of our position on the evolutionary scale is, quite frankly-dumb.

At the very last, we still have an option. There are lots of places in the world where one can still live without any technology, close the nature. One can still live like the elders used to, but we all chose not to. We have the option, but no one wants to avail it. And that proves that what we have is better, that option makes all the difference in the world.