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Computers and mind viruses.
I was one of those kids who scored really well on aptitude tests - the kind of tests where you have to pick the next shape or symbol in a series, and that kind of thing. If having a high IQ automatically translated to good grades in school, I ought to have been a straight-A student; but it doesn't, and I wasn't. The things you need to be successful in school - or in life - have very little to do with having the kind of intelligence that's measured by those tests.
I graduated high school with B's and C's on my report card, and joined the military, where I spent a total of 10 years active duty in two branches (USAF and USMC) as an enlisted man. The things I learned in the military helped me far more than any college or university would have. I took college courses throughout my adult life, mostly in subjects that interested me, but never earned a degree.
Eventually I went to tech school and earned an entry-level IT certification, and these days I work in IT. Sure it would have been cool to become an astronaut, or win the Nobel Prize, or discover the cure for cancer, but I'm OK with where I am now.
Now I work providing technical support to engineers. Part of my job is setting up laptop computers - regular laptops for the admin workers, and high-performance computers for the engineers. Suppose a new engineer who's just joined the company comes to the IT department, and I set him up with an engineering laptop. It's going to be a brand-new, top-of-the line, high-end machine with one or two terabytes of storage, maybe 64 or 128 gig of RAM, fastest processor and graphics card, and all the latest engineering software, Matlab and AutoCAD and so on. And that engineer can go and do amazing things with that computer.
But now suppose that computer gets a virus - or malware, or even just a bad driver update. Now there's a million garbage processes running on that computer, tying up all the resources so that the computer takes 20 minutes just to open Outlook. Now that laptop won't even perform as well as an ordinary admin laptop, and the engineer can't get anything done.
Your mind can get viruses too. If you are dealing with traumas, anxieties, dysfunctions, or any of the millions of issues that can mess with your mind, then it doesn't matter how high your IQ is - you're not going to be able to accomplish much in life, not until you get rid of the mental malware and debug your brain.
Fortunately, a human being is not a computer, and as individuals we have reason and free will to make our own choices in life. And as members of the human community, we can draw on the experience and wisdom of the past, and we can plan and create a better future. [489]
I graduated high school with B's and C's on my report card, and joined the military, where I spent a total of 10 years active duty in two branches (USAF and USMC) as an enlisted man. The things I learned in the military helped me far more than any college or university would have. I took college courses throughout my adult life, mostly in subjects that interested me, but never earned a degree.
Eventually I went to tech school and earned an entry-level IT certification, and these days I work in IT. Sure it would have been cool to become an astronaut, or win the Nobel Prize, or discover the cure for cancer, but I'm OK with where I am now.
Now I work providing technical support to engineers. Part of my job is setting up laptop computers - regular laptops for the admin workers, and high-performance computers for the engineers. Suppose a new engineer who's just joined the company comes to the IT department, and I set him up with an engineering laptop. It's going to be a brand-new, top-of-the line, high-end machine with one or two terabytes of storage, maybe 64 or 128 gig of RAM, fastest processor and graphics card, and all the latest engineering software, Matlab and AutoCAD and so on. And that engineer can go and do amazing things with that computer.
But now suppose that computer gets a virus - or malware, or even just a bad driver update. Now there's a million garbage processes running on that computer, tying up all the resources so that the computer takes 20 minutes just to open Outlook. Now that laptop won't even perform as well as an ordinary admin laptop, and the engineer can't get anything done.
Your mind can get viruses too. If you are dealing with traumas, anxieties, dysfunctions, or any of the millions of issues that can mess with your mind, then it doesn't matter how high your IQ is - you're not going to be able to accomplish much in life, not until you get rid of the mental malware and debug your brain.
Fortunately, a human being is not a computer, and as individuals we have reason and free will to make our own choices in life. And as members of the human community, we can draw on the experience and wisdom of the past, and we can plan and create a better future. [489]