Stupidity of Humanity

Ausama Anwar

By Ausama Anwar:
“Two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.” said Albert Einstein, one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century.  Such kind of quotes should not be taken for granted, without knowing their deep meaning and intention. So what we will do here is attempt to add an explanation to this quote from another perspective.

Certainly nowadays there are many acts and deeds which make Humans use the term ‘stupid’ about each other. Scientifically and even psychologically speaking, it’s been always possible to determine whether someone is stupid or not. But as a matter of fact, this adjective is often used on occasions of pleasantry and humor and seldom in other ways…

By definition, stupidity is a behavior that shows a lack of understanding or judgment. It refers also to a lack of intelligence. When we raise the question of humankind’s stupidity, contradictions sting our minds: how come that the most intelligent being on earth (Man) is called ‘stupid’, despite his grandeur and infinite potentials which we believe in as a general truth ?

Many people have tried to identify the feeble points in the human race through their writings, speeches or quotes. Alan Moor’s novel, ‘Watchmen’, is a prominent instance in which we find some super-human characters that are characterized by super powers that normal people lack. Among them there is someone named Doctor Manhattan whose intelligence has no match. I have noticed a powerful philosophy underneath the writer’s words and some discussionable quotes stemming from a great intellectual mind.

I have previously written about how those characters, especially Dr Manhattan, are more than mere humans and why humanity should be grateful for being genetically as such.

But this time, we may wish to see humans around us thinking like Dr Manhattan, i.e. in the way he thinks about wars and destruction. We may then come up with a clear comparison between Einstein’s viewpoint and Manhattan‘s perspective as expressed in the following conversation (from the movie adaptation of the novel):

Laurie, Dr Manhattan ‘s wife, asks her husband: “Humanity is about to become extinct, doesn’t it bother you?!”

He answers: “All that pain and conflict done with? All that needless suffering over at last? NO, that doesn’t bother me.”

There are other scenes in which he says that, even if he prevented the world war which is going to break out in the next few days, he thinks it will not be the last one. In fact, many years later, the war will erupt again in other ways and shapes. Therefore, the point of synergy between Einstein’s quote and Dr Manhattan’s idea is that stupidity lies in waging wars: Human’s stupidity resides in causing endless wars! Dr Manhattan describes wars infinite. So does Einstein about stupidity. There are also quotes in which he regretted partaking in the construction of the nuclear bomb. Einstein said: ”The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking. The solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker”. Indeed crafting watches would have made him feel better.

Nowadays, aggression, terror, endless threats of war and all the chaos we are living in and witnessing drove me to write about how stupid humans are. Humanity is the victim. But are not we existing and subsisting to preserve it? Are not we living for its sake?

Ausama Anwar was born in 1994, in the capital of the Kurdistan region, Hawler. He is a writer and author of two books. ‘A Gate to the Intellectual’ is dedicated to youth generally with an intellectual background. ‘Hidden Idea: Some Samples from Movies’ is a work of creative movie analysis. Ausama is also President of Zamwa Society Development Organization. twitter.com/Suaam

2 Responses to Stupidity of Humanity
  1. Kuvan Bamarny
    July 22, 2014 | 09:37

    Those who plan for aggression, terror, endless threats of war and all the chaos we are living are not stupid,but rather are intelligent but mentally sick suffer from arrogance,greed ,selfishness ,jealousy,descrimination and racesim.But mostly those who listen to them, take thier orders and implement the plans and plot of them are the one who are stupid.

    • Ausama Anwar
      July 24, 2014 | 00:51

      Thanks for the add, What I meant is that there are humans in general, despite their types or anything else, and they’re stupid in front of the bigger missions they could pursue instead of making wars and, for more understanding, you can notice the intelligence of other beings (in science fiction) and compare this with humans: you can simply see how stupid humans are in relation to wars, especially waging wars. Even in a philosophical way, Hannah Arendt, the German philosopher, has described those who commit crimes (war crimes) as mostly those who do not think (ever). Thanks.

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