The Economy of Brain Power

Everybody is concerned about the world economy. There are very rich people in the world, and there are very poor people. Economists are worried about this gulf in wealth distribution, and are trying various means to ‘bridge’ this gulf.

But while the world argues about the inequality of wealth distribution, it is unaware of a certain other inequality which is being created very rapidly, and poses a danger to the evolution of the greatest thing that ever happened to the universe – the human brain.

This gulf in the ability to think for oneself has never been equal, but while it used to be like the undulating plains of England, it is slowly growing into the dangerous mountains of the Himalayas, with colossal peaks and deep and dark valleys. But why is this happening?

It is progress, the very driving force of human civilization and intellect, which is now bearing down upon us to make us more dependent on things other than our own brain, and although it is impolite to say that it is making some of us dumber, well it actually is.

Believers of the leftist philosophy might raise a point towards the adoption of communism to practice sharing of intellect, so as to evenly distribute it, and even subsidise it, among the population. Which is a fair idea to bring back the human race into a state of equilibrium, but it is almost as practical an idea as trying to cool a furnace by blowing air into it.

But, we should leave behind the arguments and look into some examples of how the very superior human intellect is making us humans less intellectual every day.

There was a time when there was severe scarcity of resources like food and clothing and various amenities, war supplies and all the lot that keep us going. The scarcity could never be met by making clothes to wear or cars to commute or guns and tanks, by hand. Thus came the concept of the factory and the production line. With increase of productivity, came increase in supply, and an increase in funds, resulting in an increase in human resources, and all in all an increase in all the things that there was a scarcity of.

This was the most joyous time of human civilisation. This was the time when nothing could go wrong, and the time when all things that were being done were the right things to do, to be documented as the correct things to do to live in the best possible manner till the end of time.

Then the scarcity was met, and there was surplus in some regions of the world. Of course, when it is a question of productivity, the revolution did not occur evenly across the entire globe. Some regions with natural resources and human energy built up their factories and production lines rapidly. Other regions did not understand what was going on till they suddenly realised that while the rest of the world started to grow, they were still stuck in their infantile situation. This was like a wakeup call for them.

But, then came the time when human beings really had everything to live by satisfactorily throughout their lives without much trouble. Now, the human intellect searched for new avenues to explore. Thus started the revolution of the mind. The scientific revolution began, and with that the revelation that the mind has the ability to hold huge amounts of information without being consciously aware of it. The secrets of the mind had to be unravelled. The mind – it held the key to the universe, and the solution to all our existential crises.

Maths, physics, chemistry and biology was created, starting decades of accumulation of information, filling up huge library building all over the world, so much so that soon someone had to come up with an idea to make storage of information easy and compact. The computer was born.

But the information kept on accumulating. It kept on building up like human waste keeps building up in dumping grounds, like the mail keeps building up in the post office. The flow of information never stopped, necessitating further compaction of storage, and the ability to connect and distribute storage from one node to several nodes working independently.

How computers gained supremacy in the world is a story often told. How it has made life so effortless, is a feeling often experienced.

And now, computers have become really advanced. The curious quest of intellectuals have taken them so far that they have started building their own intellect into machines, and preserving them in a form that can be perpetuated forever even if all of mankind were to be destroyed. The mass production of intellect is the business in fashion in the 21st century, and it has become a necessary accessory to ‘enhance’ the experience of living for all and sundry. This mass produced intellect is astoundingly intuitive and able to replace any ordinary cognitive abilities that man might have tried to preserve and develop through the ages. It is like suddenly realising that you don’t need to strain your ears anymore to hear the music of the winds because there is a microphone and amplifier to make it louder, for your comfort. The lack of understanding this simple ‘necessary’ transition is almost embarrassing.

But that is where life is leading today. It is leading towards replacement intellects, into an age when humans will no longer need the use of their superior brains, because some extremely superior brains are selling their superior intellects to less superior mortals in user-friendly packaging.

Life is leading towards increasing the intellect of superior intellectuals and the numbing of the intellect of the lesser ones, somewhat like the disequilibrium the economy is going through, and what the leftists shout about, without having a clue as to how to deal with the situation.

My opinion seems to reflect the natural flow of life events. I believe that the increase in human intellect is required at all costs. But I also feel sad at the thought that for those who strive to be better are left alone by their own actions because their own intellectual betterment provides a more comfortable life to the rest of the human race, which creates a feedback loop making it unnecessary for those rest to use their intellect, thus numbing their cognitive abilities and eventually making them miserable. Quite the paradox, it seems.