Question Why is stupidity not painful?

Accepted:
October 14, 2005

Comments

Why should stupidity be painful? Perhaps because stupidity is an evolutionary disadvantage, and evolutionary pressures should have led us to find evolutionary disadvantages painful so we would avoid them.

There are lots of problems with this argument. Ill mention just two. First, the mystery seems supposed to be that we have an evolutionary disadvantage -- the non-painfulness of stupidity. But if you are going to be surprised at the existence of an evolutionary disadvantage, why not just be surprised at the existence of stupidity in the first place? Second, there are many disadvantages that are not painful, such as a genetic predisposition to have a fatal but not painful disease. Not everything that is bad for us hurts.

Why is stupidity not painful? Huh? It is painful. Every time I do something stupid, I feel the searing pain, I wince like a dog hit by a car. Really. This is supposed to help me not do stupid things, like putting my hand in the flame. Doesn't work much, does it? We continue to do stupid things and feel the pain. So much the worse for both Intelligent Design and Natural Selection.

Question Why is stupidity not painful? Accepted:October 14, 2005

Question Why is stupidity not painful?

Accepted:
October 14, 2005