I am indulging myself with The Bonnet Channel on this windy Saturday morning. It’s one of my favorites – The Adventures of Robin Hood with Errol Flynn. Big sigh for Errol Flynn – if only he hadn’t been such a dissipated rogue, although I guess that was a large part of his charm. (I’ll write more about Erroll, and about Robin Hood, one of these days.)
Watching this film, set in 13th century – though I must say Hollywood seems to think that fashion in the 13th century was much more regal than I imagine it actually was – I started thinking about how and why the world has changed in to the last 900 years. (Cue “Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy” intro narration.)
It is hard to separate the idea of native intelligence from the intelligence of this technology-driven world in which we live. I am certain that the men and women of the year 1266 were just as smart as we are today. So why could they not figure out the things we have been able to in subsequent centuries? We have always had the basic resources – which really come down to the four elements of which everything is composed, and from some variant/combination of which everything has been developed: earth, air, fire, water.
So were we just new enough that we were spending our evolutionary childhood figuring stuff out like infants and children do? I can’t get a peg on how long humans have been on earth; some sources say 200,000 years, others say 4,000,000, and still others guess any number before, after or in between. If we’ve been around for four million years and we were still in our childhood 900 years ago, then we’ve had a serious growth spurt in the last few centuries. Or else we’re now in our adolescence and we have an absolutely astounding adulthood before us. Unless we burn ourselves out and leave a decent-looking corpse.
Anyway, the question is, were people intelligent enough 900 years ago to figure out things like how to make plastic or microchips or cars? If so, why didn’t it happen then? Were they just too busy trying to subsist from day-to-day? I know most farmers don’t have the opportunity to spend their days or nights trying to create new inventions. It seems that the issue is less the intelligence of people 900 years ago than it is their lack of leisure time. But then the idle rich weren’t the ones who invented things – isn’t necessity the mother of invention?
Do you get what I’m thinking? I’m not sure I’m expressing myself very well, but I’m going to put it out there for discussion as is. I may come back to it later, once my brain has chewed on it some more.
It’s nice having deep thoughts again for a change. But it does help to have a dialogue about them.
10 comments
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February 26, 2011 at 2:41 pm
slpmartin
I suspect they were but had other concerns.
February 26, 2011 at 9:47 pm
Seasweetie
Such as, slp?
February 26, 2011 at 6:40 pm
TheIdiotSpeaketh
This is actually a very thought provoking question SeaSweetie! I have never heard anyone ask this question. Personally, I think in many ways, people were MORE intelligent way back then….without the benefit of computers doing all the work and math on everything….. Why these technologies were not invented centuries ago is a real good question. Glad to see you diving back in the classic films! I just watched “The Libeled Lady” on the DVR the other night. Don’t know if you have ever seen it. Old Spencer Tracy/Jean Harlow film. So sad that she died so young. I am taping the original Mutiny on the Bounty to watch in the next few days. Gotta love those old Marlon Brando flicks! Have a great day SS!
February 26, 2011 at 9:50 pm
Seasweetie
I’m sorry we didn’t have our Skype movie days before I went back to work! I have seen ‘The Libeled Lady’ and I didn’t feel like the role was a good fit for Spencer Tracy. Jean Harlow was a much better actress than she ever received credit for being — I still have the life goal of owning one of those Harlow-esque marabou-trimmed silk sating dressing gowns…
February 26, 2011 at 7:05 pm
Expressmom
I think about this too! I wonder if I was plopped in a jungle somewhere what would I do? I am positive I would not have the foggiest idea how to create plastic, glass, or even start a fire without a lighter! Sometimes I wonder what if the world was left as is, but I was alone. How would I get the electricity from the Power & Light company to feed into my house?
Even with all the tools at my disposal, every piece needed, I couldn’t build a toaster. I have trouble with a 1,000 piece puzzle, afterall!
February 26, 2011 at 9:45 pm
Seasweetie
I know! I had a friend in high school who had no clue how football was played. So I always felt like I was sitting down with an alien trying to explain it. I was thinking about that when I wrote this. Could we – if we had to in order to survive – figure out how to start a fire? It’s interesting….
February 27, 2011 at 12:28 pm
sogoldilocks
I too have often thought about being Robinson Crusoe – certain I would have starved…and I wonder which of the characters in Lord of the Flies I would gravitate to! lol. But back to the original post, I thought I was the only one who chewed on these thoughts! Indeed, they were as smart, thought-provoking, and intuitive as we are – as evidenced by Greek, Roman, & Medieval writings. Fascinating that they had the same problems we have, sans the trappings. Technology does not make us smarter, per se.
February 27, 2011 at 12:56 pm
Seasweetie
I agree, sogoldilocks. In fact, I think technology adds to the illusions we have about our own intelligence being greater than others. Or perhaps it is a different kind of intelligence – like street smarts vs. book smarts? But on which do we place more value? That’s another question I’ll blog about soon.
February 28, 2011 at 12:27 pm
Ignacio A
Hello everyone and especially Seasweetie,
I am new to this blog and this is the first time that I’ve posted anything on a blog.
Your question is very interesting. I believe that we as humans have ALWAYS had the intelligence necessary to create great works of art, architecture, paintings, etc. Unfortunately the one thing that they did not have back then was information. Nowadays it’s very easy for anyone to “invent” something which is in reality a modification of an already invented thing. We see the information and we modify it. Back then, the information was very scarce and only the privileged had access to it because if you control the information, you control the masses. Modern man has been trying to do the something, i.e., Hitler, Castro, and many other dictators, but as long as the information gets easier to obtain, they will keep failing to control us completely.
The one thing that people back then had tons of and now we don’t, is common sense. People new intuitively what to do and how to do it. and because their lives were deprived of many of our modern things they didn’t mind having to suffer through long walks, cold, heat, etc. If the world as we know it were to disappear from under us today and all our technology was gone, I’d wager that 90% of the population would die because they would not know what to do and they would not want to suffer without the comforts of modern life.
My two cents.
Ignacio A
February 28, 2011 at 9:03 pm
Seasweetie
Ignacio, I am honored and delighted that you commented on my posting. I too believe that we have always had the intelligence necessary to do anything we set our minds to. Your point about people not having the information – and that the people in power are the ones who control what information we have – strikes a remarkable similarity with how the media influences our thoughts today. I wonder if any of us has an opinion that has been developed from listening to truly unbiased facts?
There’s much in what you say about common sense and self-sufficiency. And about it’s absence in our technology driven society. Interestingly, I was just talking with someone at work about this very thing this morning. And right now, I’m thinking of Benjamin Franklin, one of the greatest proponents and examples of common sense, and the inventive spirit as well. It’s all so interesting to me.