Intelligence and Behavior
Many years ago I knew of a man who refused to discuss any subject until the terms to be used were defined. If a supposedly intelligent person behaved in a stupid fashion then the behavior was the defining term – the person was stupid.
If a micro organism behaves in a manner that acts towards the preservation of the individual entity and also the preservation of the species, then that behavior must be defined as intelligent.
If a man decides to wipe out, eradicate a micro organism of the variety Neisseria Gonococcus by the use of antibiotics, then to ensure its survival , the organism mutates into a form that is immune to antibiotics. In so doing it becomes more virulent to man and spreads over the face of the earth. It would seem that in terms of behavior the micro organism is intelligent and man is not.
A further instance of this is the fact that tuberculosis has been traced in dinosaur bones. The dinosaur died out. Tuberculosis survived and by definition is intelligent. Man thought to wipe out tuberculosis and for a while it seemed that this effort was successful. But the micro organism mutated and is now either difficult or impossible to deal with.
Scientists have shown that various micro organisms swap bits of DNA in order to become proof against measures taken by man, against them. Staphylococcus Aureus was a relatively harmless micro organism that was common in the throat of the human race. Under the assault of antibiotics it mutated into MRSA [Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus] a truly lethal organism. In terms of intelligence the organism was intelligent . The men who tried to eradicate it with antibiotics were stupid.
Now we have almost coincident with a so called “vaccine” against AIDS – the appearance of a Super AIDS virus. The AIDS virus has mutated and left the scientific researchers hanging by their fingertips to a cliff. Again in terms of behavior the micro organism is intelligent , man is stupid. It would not be too strong to characterize the behavior as Lemming like.
If a child behaved in the manner defined above it would have to don a Dunces cap and go stand in a corner until it learned some sense. But the people who act in this manner are bigger than children , they have strings of letter after their names and enormous budgets for research , How then do we deal with their inability to learn, their stupidity?.