There are a number of things I am interested in, and new ones are added as I age. That does however not mean the number gets larger, as most of my earlier passions are dropped while others come to the forefront. These modifications may come about as the result of hormonal changes, memory loss and a number of other causes, but mainly because I am getting wiser. Wisdom, a pretty poor trade for youth perhaps, but what other choice is there?
Though a little loss of memory isn’t all that bad, the ability to recall book knowledge, and distant events in minutest detail, will do much to create an aura of intelligence. In reality it has little to do with it. Donkeys are reputed to be endowed with great memories, but can they add two and two? Computers and I have the same access to memory — the one in the cloud. It would be nice to have it all hanging around in the recesses of my brain, but for me and for most of us, the cloud will have to do. However, I’m easily impressed with people that appear to combine rapid, universal recall, with deep understanding. Add quick-wittedness such as that of people like Richard Feinman, Neil Degrasse Tyson, Pete Buttigieg, Richard Dawkins and, most of all, Christopher Hitchens, and you might think you are dealing with brilliance.
My latest Sharp Laptop
However, does one need to be quick-witted to be considered brilliant, or even just smart? Apart from memory, I would also eliminate quick-wittedness as an essential prerequisite, or characteristic of intellect. Rapid response and never being at a loss for a smart, smackdown type of retort, surely indicate smarts. Whatever it is, I am impressed with it and Christopher Hitchens, now no longer with us, is for me the prime example. That man had a quick mind and was relentlessly unforgiving of stupidity. Apart from that he was also very funny. When asked about Trump some years ago, he replied, “Well, he manages to cover 90% of his head with 30% of his hair. That must count for something.” One of his more serious statements, “What can be asserted without evidence, can also be dismissed without evidence.” And, “To the dumb question, ‘Why me?’ the cosmos replies ‘Why not?’”
Some people appear to think that it is a good idea to express their opinions with stickers on the rear of their vehicles. Perhaps they even think it is intelligent to let the world know they love Trump and MAGA. I recently drove behind an enormous pick-up truck that proclaimed that and also to FUCK DEM and Love Jezus. Apart from the fact that I don’t think it is a good idea to mix one’s metaphors, I hate being told what to do. I don’t want to fuck them and I simply LIKE Jezus. In general I don’t appreciate political messages and certainly not those that don’t support my point of view. You don’t have to answer, but how are you voting in 2024? Democrat or Loony-tunes?
You can’t fix stupid, but you can vote it into oblivion!!!!
Nowadays, I’m mainly interested in what my dog thinks. I know dogs do because they dream, sometimes quite wildly. If a brain can dream https://ups-and-downs-of-old-age.com/dreams/, I suggest that brain has some capacity to think. (I wonder if the guy who was driving that pick-up ever dreams.) I’m also interested in what people think, as in, “I wonder what the hell he was thinking?” I used to care what they thought about me, but no more. Leaves me totally cold. Well, most of the time. The other day when I walked, absentmindedly, into a lamp post — how else would anyone do such a stupid thing, on purpose? — I felt a little embarrassed and for a moment was wondering if people were asking themselves, “What the hell was that old fart thinking?”
Dreaming Dog
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