What if we Were More Intelligent?

Last month, I watched the movie Lucy on the plane. Even though it was not one of the best movies I ever saw (far from it), I still keep thinking about it. The interesting thing about it was the particular set of questions raised by it. In short, the movie is about a woman called Lucy (played by the beautiful Scarlett Johansson) who involuntarily consumes drugs that enhance her brain capacity from ten percent (the film works with the premise that this is the norm for humans) to the total of 100%. A brilliant neuroscientist (played by the amazing Morgan Freeman), who devoted his entire life to hypothesize the outcomes of humans being able to utilize more of their brain’s capacity, can witness Lucy’s transformation. The way the movie plays this plot out is not so interesting to me, because it seems forced at times, but I rather enjoy the larger questions that it raises: What would happen to the world and us humans, if we were able to become more intelligent? What would the world look like? How would humans interact with each other? Would there still be violence in the world? Would people still waste time on petty little things or would we focus on the bigger, pressing issues that need to be addressed.

I enjoyed the naming of the protagonist and the film as Lucy. It wasn’t a coincidence, but was carefully chosen and makes perfect sense. The protagonist is named Lucy, because the name indicates a connection between her and the first known female, our almost human (Australopithecus afarensis), ancestor who lived 3.2-million-years ago and who scientists discovered in Ethiopia in 1974. National Geographic reported that scientists named her Lucy after the popular Beatles’ song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds that was played again and again at the party to celebrate the unearthing of our earliest ancestor. The Lucy of the movie is the pinnacle of human evolution as she is the highest developed human who ever lived. So the name Lucy is linking the most primitive to the most sophisticated "woman" in human evolution.

Before going into the details of the hypothetical questions, we have to note that the premise of the movie, that humans only use ten percent of their brain’s capacity, is wrong. For many decades, scientists have unsuccessfully been trying to debunk it. The original statement that led to this false belief goes back to the 1890s, when a scientist first declared that humans only used a small percentage of their brains, but never actually attached a number to this statement. It kept getting repeated and in the 1930s, the figure of ten percent became attached. Despite scientists' many efforts to destroy the common misperception and a number of conclusive studies to show that humans activate “most parts of their brain” during every day and "many parts of the brain" remaining active while we sleep, the myth still persists until today. The movie plays into this and will unfortunately help to spread the myth even further.

Despite the false premise, the movie raises many interesting questions. Even if we humans use most parts of the brain throughout the day and many parts even during the night, there seems to be still a lot of room for improvement. So what if we (the human race) were to become more intelligent? What would that look like? How would we interact with each other and in what kind of world would we live in?

The movie made us believe that violence would still play a big part in everyday reality, even if we were more intelligent. I doubt that. I believe that if we were to be more intelligent, there would be no need for violence. If people would be more reasonable, we would come to the conclusion that violence leads to more violence and cannot be a solution. Using simple logic, we would realize that intolerance and discrimination of any kind are unacceptable forms of dealing with others. Period. People would realize that dividing people up in different groups worth different treatment makes no sense. Why would a human life in one region of the world count less than in others? Why would girls be valued less than boys? Why would one skin color be preferable to any others? All these differentiations, we would realize, make no sense.

If humans were more intelligent, intelligence would not only encompass hard factual knowledge or the ability to reason, but also social and emotional intelligence that leads to empathy and responsibility. Humans would be more aware of the inequalities that persist in this world today and more willing to help each other, because we are all one (the human race). Competition between nations would not persist. Exploitation would not be tolerated. Rich people would share their wealth with less fortunate, not because any government forced them, but because they would agree that the money needs to be invested in the most reasonable way. Food supplies, for example, would be divided up differently so that no person in inner-city districts in the Western world and in broad regions of the least developed world have to go hungry or starve to death. 

Humans would make sure, out of responsibility toward each other, that everyone lives in decent, acceptable living conditions and that every child receives a good education, not only because that is the right thing to do, but also because it is the best way to assure future political stability and economic well-being. We would realize that with increasing globalization and interconnectedness of the world, we need secure, clean, safe, and positive living conditions everywhere to protect ourselves against poverty, violence, and orthodoxy. 

Free Speech and Women's Rights

With the recent attacks against free speech in France, it is even more important to express ourselves freely. We cannot give in to any censorship. Freedom of expression is a fundamental right. I am particularly worried about is the rights of women, because I have two daughters and wish that they can grow up freely and safely. As long as people believe that feminism is a bad word, there is no chance of gender equality. Feminism just means that women should have the equal rights as men do.

Women have been fighting (more or less fiercely) for equal rights since the 18th century, but we really haven’t come all that far yet. Okay, we do have access to education and many have professional jobs in the West as well as in other nations, but there are not many countries where women earn the same pay for the same work as men. Sweden and other Nordik nations set a great example in changing gender roles where fathers are almost equally involved in the raising of their children and doing a good share, if not half of the domestic work, so that women can also keep pursuing their professional careers. But in other countries, it is socially still not accepted that mothers go back to work after the initial few months after childbirth spent with their kids. Of course this is a tricky issue: mother’s are guilt-ridden, if they go back to work. There is a social stigma attached to those who do. Social stigma usually confronts women who would like to be more active, more in the public, or more outspoken than culturally acceptable in their specific cultural, religious, or geographic contexts. Sometimes, even here in the West there is a social stigma if a woman wants to go for a walk alone or if she wants to go running alone. In the back of the minds, a few people may condemn the actions of the women thinking that “they may have asked for bad things to happen” simply because they differed from the norm. That is such a weird logic. As if any woman wants to be assaulted or raped. Unfortunately, this logic is still repeated these days, e.g. the recent comment by Phyllis Shlaftly.

Women should be able to go about their lives without constantly second-guessing themselves in terms of their clothes and their behavior. Even being intelligent was not considered appropriate for women in the West until really recently and writers had to adopt male pseudonyms to get their books published. Even the most essential rights are currently not secured for women. In many countries women still cannot walk the streets alone feeling safe. Women are still considered prey. The recent incident in India, where a Japanese researcher of ancient Buddhism was lured to a secluded place by her tour guide, gang-raped by him and his friends and then held for a month when the raping continued, is just one example of this. The recent Uber scandal also in India highlights this point further.  

I am so glad that the UN is stepping up and initiated a few campaigns (e.g. #HeforShe) this month that highlight the need for gender equality. Of course men play a significant role in this campaign as they openly proclaim that they are for gender equality and that is to persuade/convince others of the same. Another of the arguments that is gaining a lot of traction and is more likely to win around conservatives is that the national GDP or most countries will rise significantly, if more women are educated and have professional jobs. Similar to the old argument at the time of abolition that slavery was obsolete, because it wasn’t economically viable any more. Now the economic argument is used to empower women. Fine with me, but I do prefer the basic philosophical argument that women are equal human beings and thus deserve the same rights as men!  

So, as women, what can we do in this political climate? Express ourselves. Speak up. Be brave. Be smart. Be strong. We cannot let traditional behavior patterns decide our lives for us. We have to keep up opening new doors for the next generation of women, so  that they have safer lives, experiences fewer or hopefully no incidences of domestic violence. We have to keep working on making sure that more and more women actually gain the basic human right to decide freely over their bodies and minds. We have to raise our girls to become brave and smart and strong with a knowledge that they should have the same opportunities as boys and we have to raise our boys in such a way that they respect girls on all possible levels.