LS Re: Intelligence vs Intellect.


Hettinger (hettingr@iglou.com)
Sat, 18 Oct 1997 06:11:09 +0100


Hettinger wrote:

> Gene Kofman wrote:
>
>> Bodvar wrote:
>> > A Magnus Berg aware of his loneliness would soon loose his
>> > mind (literally), or he would join an animal society. Remember the
>>
>> > wolf-boy incident?
>
>> Not necessarily. Magnus could still retain social patterns and
>> intellectual
>> on top of them. I think, we all chatter inside our heads, constantly
>>
>> explaining what we already know. That would be the only case when
>> such
>> chatter served some more or less clear purpose. But, that's another
>> thread
>> too. In addition, that lone survivor's mind will protect itself by
>> relentlessly believing in existence of other survivors and, by doing
>> that,
>> it'll keep the Society from extinction.
>>
>
> I found an example of that in a novel I was reading last night. The
> book is The Great Hunt, by Robert Jordan, and it's part of a fantasy
> series that I really like.
> In it, the main character has just been told, to his surprise and
> chagrin, that he is second in command of a military group. He
> protests, and asks who knows this. Here's the answer to his question:
>
> All the lances. When we Shenerians ride, every man knows who is
> next in line if the man in command falls. A chain unbroken right
> down to the last man left, even if he's nothing but a
> horseholder. That way, you see, even if he is the last man, he
> is not just a straggler running and trying to stay alive. He has
> the command, and duty calls him to do what must be done. If I
> go to the last embrace of the mother, the duty is yours. You
> will [carry out the mission]. You will.
>
I've rethought this. Gene's example is an example of intellectual
patterns preserving social, (although the preservation ends when the
rhetorical Magnus dies).

My example (the Shenerians) is one of the social patterns preserving the
intellectual pattern. This could be either an advantage for the
biological entity (the individual person) if it inspires him to preserve
his life where he might have given up, or it could be a disadvantage, if
it inspires him to give his life for the cause instead of running to
safety.

Just ruminating aloud. Maybe when I get the distinction between levels
really figured out, this will be boring, but at this point, it isn't.

Maggie

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