Like when we bought our Toyota Avalon, we suddenly noticed all the Avalons on the road, even though it's not as popular a car.
Not too long ago, I watched an interview with Chris Langan aka The Smartest Man in the world (link from: THE WIFE), in which he suggests that for humanity to advance, we need to let the smart people 'drive the car'.
And after that idea popped in my head, I started seeing more examples of this concept, most recently, this article by 'clever funnyman' Bill Maher.
Sarah Palin says she would never apologize for America. Even though a Gallup poll says 18% of Americans think the sun revolves around the earth. No, they're not stupid. They're interplanetary mavericks. A third of Republicans believe Obama is not a citizen, and a third of Democrats believe that George Bush had prior knowledge of the 9/11 attacks...
I think I'm starting to form an idea for the book that I want to write before I die, but I can't figure out how it'll develop.
The basic premise is this:
The smartest people are a minority, (and they would be by definition, the same way not everyone can be first in class or the fastest in a race) but the selection process is through a 'majority wins' approach, then we could have the dumbest guys on the planet running the planet, or the smartest guys could have no followers. (Chris Langan was a bouncer. In a bar.)
But say we lived in a world where the smartest guys ran the planet, and a near-majority (say 49%) were happy to follow them and accept their wisdom. What would get us to the 51% and beyond ? Would imperial rule of the smartest people be preferable to a libertarian, anarchic society ?
Hmmmm... would you want to read a book about that ?
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