Intelligence is Situation-Dependent
This is not just an abstract observation – it is based on my recent life, where I have gone from being (relatively) intelligent to almost an idiot. I am left wondering “Am I the same person?” I don’t answer the question; it’s too embarrassing.
I went back over what I read yesterday on the bus on my weekly shopping trip to connect with the affluent world (shopping at a Wal-Mart store and picking my mail that had been flown in from Miami). I had been reading an article in the National Geographic What’s Up with the Weather? It hit me like a ton of bricks, along with The New Dust Bowl.
Costa Rica is favorably situated for the effects of Global Warming. It may not have much else, but it has plenty of rain and no violent weather patterns (hurricanes and tornadoes). The food is nothing remarkable (mainly beans and rice) but there is enough of it to make everyone fat.
But it doesn’t take a genius to see the world (especially the US) is in trouble. Economically, Costa Rica is part of the US – even if it has tried desperately to move closer to China.
Once I am hit with this basic fact, everything else seems to fade in importance. I have been lucky, I have been able to live as an American on a Social Security income. (Not that I recommend this, Gringos return to the States every day, unable to live such a strange place).
I return to my study of Emily Dickinson, Globalization, and Complex Adaptive Systems.
Of the three, Emily is the most reassuring – she was crazy like me.
“I’m nobody. Are you nobody too?” Love Dickinson!
I hate to break the news, but you sound pretty sane to me, or maybe I am just as crazy as you and Emily.