Saturday 3rd January

In a perverse reversal of common sense the gift of great intelligence is no guarantee of a lack of Stupidity, in fact the two quite often co-exist happily in the same brain.  It is not that there is a switch and the brain is sent hurtling into reverse; one minute solving Pythagoras in a new and novel way or understanding the technicalities of a hedge-fund swap option on the price of a commodity three months hence and the next making a really stupid purchase and not realising until you get home that the cupboard is far too large for the enclave it was intended for, or far more seriously insulting a friend or loved one by some poorly heeded comment (or even home truth) – no, the two things can and do exist at the very same moment.  In fact the propensity for stupidity is often enhanced by the self-knowledge (or suspicion) of great intelligence, as if simply knowing that you are clever means you don’t have to think about anything; you are clever therefore you must be right.

Wrong – and by Jove I have learnt the hard way.  Being able to answer around a third of the questions on University Challenge and the majority of general knowledge on Mastermind simply means that you memory is an overfilled store-cupboard of nigh-on useless information.  In today’s world knowing how to access information is far more important than holding that information in your brain – that’s what the internet is for….Durghhhhh !!!

In fact I suspect that great intelligence is simply a case of training.  I am fairly certain that most of us, yes even those who watch Emmerdale, are capable of far greater brain power and so-called intelligence than we have bothered to ever try to assimilate.  Much as scientists are now discovering about many animals who having evolved into a near-perfect state, it is only when they are environmentally challenged do they ‘learn’ new behaviour.   So, those of us who have spent years in intense study or even learning the intricacies of a profession may have great “intelligence” but are just as “stupid” as the rest of us when confronted by sometimes simple decisions.   In fact the “stupidity” of humans; this supposedly most “intelligent” of species must be truly staggering – otherwise why on earth would anyone vote for Nigel Farage.