Yesterday I wrote a verse with the assumption that cerebral people might tend to choose democracy over its inverse of dictatorship, authoritarian rule. I was assuming that in writing this that I was indeed right, without really having any evidence of such. Assuming it wasn’t only pride at work in the writing, which I considered, I forced putting the words down. I followed up the writing with an internet search and was able to find backup for my assumption in one paper published online dealing primarily with intelligence and environmental policy. But indeed democracy weighs heavily into the discussion in consideration of democracy, environment and intelligence levels. I first wish to post my verse below.
A search of ‘democracy’ and ‘intelligence’ on X yielded the following.
The following paper touches on the premise of my verse. This paper is from two political scientists. The information on the two authors gleamed from X is shown below.
This paper from 2016 I found quite interesting to read. Below I have some relevant excerpts from it. A question has arisen in my mind a time or two on the overall level of intelligence of the environmental thinkers. This paper addresses this, and includes democracy within the discussion. Of interest is their addressing populism directly in the discussion. It seems to be somewhat a wild card in all things.
Environmental Research
Volume 147, May 2016, Pages 82-88
Intelligence, democracy, and international environmental commitment
Anastassia Obydenkova, Raufhon Salahodjaev
@anastas91641307
ABSTRACT
This paper investigates the determinants of nations' commitment to environmental protection at the international level by focusing on the role of national intelligence and the level of democracy. The [N]national intelligence is measured by [a] nation’s IQ scores. The findings based on a sample of 152 nations provide strong evidence that intelligence has statistically significant impact on ratification of international environmental agreements, and the countries with IQ 10-points above global average are 23% more likely to sign multilateral environmental agreements than others. The findings also demonstrate that it is the combination of [a] high-level of intelligence of nations and democracy that likely result in international environmental commitments.
…intelligence is also positively correlated with [a] higher level of democracy.
Democracy may increase search for populism, on the one hand, but it may decrease *rent-seeking, on the other hand.
*Rent-seeking is the act of growing one's existing wealth by manipulating the social or political environment without creating new wealth. Rent-seeking activities have negative effects on the rest of society. They result in reduced economic efficiency through misallocation of resources, reduced wealth creation, lost government revenue, heightened income inequality, risk of growing political bribery, and potential national decline.
…it is possible to conjecture that intelligence may indeed be negative or neutral in [a] relationship to this aspect of [the] environment. On the other hand, intelligence is also considered as a measure of human capital across nations. Indeed, past explorations document that willingness to contribute to environmental quality is directly linked to the human capital stock of individuals.
Similarly, more recent studies report that intelligence and education predicts political orientations such as likelihood to vote for a party with [an] environmental agenda.
The national government of a democratic state with [a] high level of intelligence of population, will be more supportive to demonstrate to this population its commitment to international agreements on environmental protection. Consequently, high-IQ societies would be inclined to pledge more resources to ecological conservation and to follow consumption patterns less destructive to the ecosystem vitality as intelligent individuals have longer time horizons.
As to democracy and populism, here the results can be more ambiguous. Populism may encourage [the] government to spend money on more visible electorate policies. That can be [an] even more important objective within the context of the Great Recession started in 2008 that still have [has] its negative impacts on the population of democratic states (especially democracies within the European Union that faced austerity measures imposed by their own national governments). On the other hand, the civil society as an element of democratic regime, is associated with environmental activism and ecological thinking. Thus, populism may still encourage the democratic government to take care of environmental issues.
Finally, Kanazawa, 2010, Kanazawa, 2012 Savanna-IQ Interaction Hypothesis (otherwise known as the “intelligence paradox”) posits that more intelligent individuals are more likely to acquire and espouse evolutionarily novel preferences and values that our ancestors did not possess. Concerns for the environment are distinctly evolutionarily novel. Our ancestors during the Pleistocene Epoch were not concerned about the environment at all, because there was nothing to be concerned about. There were too few humans on earth to do any significant and lasting damage to the environment, and our ancestors could not afford to be concerned about such things because they were in a constant struggle for survival. Thus the Savanna-IQ Interaction Hypothesis would predict that more intelligent individuals today are more likely to espouse an evolutionarily novel value of environmentalism, as they do with an equally evolutionarily novel value of representative democracy. By extension, more intelligent populations (with higher national IQs) are expected to be more committed to environmental concerns than less intelligent populations (with lower national IQs).
Several quotes which might add to the discussion from an old book Forty Thousand Sublime and Beautiful Thoughts by Charles Nowell Douglas. 1914.
“It is no proof of a man's understanding to be able to confirm whatever he pleases; but to be able to discern that what is true is true, and that what is false is false, this is the mark and character of intelligence.”
- Swedenborg.
Emanuel Swedenborg (Emanuel Swedberg; 8 February 1688 – 29 March 1772) was a Swedish pluralistic-Christian theologian, scientist, philosopher and mystic. He became best known for his book on the afterlife, Heaven and Hell (1758).
Swedenborg had a prolific career as an inventor and scientist. In 1741, at 53, he entered into a spiritual phase in which he began to experience dreams and visions, notably on Easter Weekend, on 6 April 1744. His experiences culminated in a "spiritual awakening" in which he received a revelation that Jesus Christ had appointed him to write The Heavenly Doctrine to reform Christianity.
“Intellect annuls [declares invalid] fate. So far as a man thinks, he is free.”
- Emerson.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champion of individualism and a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society. Friedrich Nietzsche considered him "the most gifted of the Americans" and Walt Whitman referred to him as his "master".
“The truest characters of ignorance are vanity and pride and arrogance.” - - Samuel Butler.
Samuel Butler (4 December 1835 – 18 June 1902) was an English novelist and critic, best known for the satirical utopian novel Erewhon (1872) and the semi-autobiographical novel The Way of All Flesh (published posthumously in 1903 with substantial revisions and published in its original form in 1964 as Ernest Pontifex or The Way of All Flesh). Both novels have remained in print since their initial publication. In other studies he examined Christian orthodoxy, evolutionary thought, and Italian art, and made prose translations of the Iliad and Odyssey that are still consulted.
“Ignorance is the night of the mind, but a night without moon or star.”
- Confucius.
Kong Fuzi (c. 551 – c. 479 BCE), commonly Latinized as Confucius, was a Chinese philosopher of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. Confucius's teachings and philosophy underpin East Asian culture and society, remaining influential across China and East Asia to this day. His philosophical teachings, called Confucianism, emphasized personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice, kindness, and sincerity.
“Christ was the first true democrat that ever breathed, as the old dramatist *Dekkar said he was the first true gentleman.”
- Lowell
James Russell Lowell (February 22, 1819 – August 12, 1891) was an American Romantic poet, critic, editor, and diplomat. He is associated with the fireside poets, a group of New England writers who were among the first American poets that rivaled the popularity of British poets. These writers usually used conventional forms and meters in their poetry, making them suitable for families entertaining at their fireside.Lowell graduated from Harvard College in 1838, despite his reputation as a troublemaker, and went on to earn a law degree from Harvard Law School.
*Thomas Dekker (c. 1572 – 25 August 1632) was an English Elizabethan dramatist and pamphleteer, a versatile and prolific writer, whose career spanned several decades and brought him into contact with many of the period's most famous dramatists.
So that’s what I have for today. I hope I spurred some thought, sparked some interest, answered a question or two, or at least addressed it in a cerebral way. Thanks for reading.
84th posting, August 30, 2023