The Strenght Beyond Smartness and Hyperspecialization
Published in Nietzsche’s Philosophy
Aug 23, 2023 (Medium.com)
You must have heard that “Knowledge is power” right? Almost all of us think intelligence is a sign of strength, right? Most of us think that intelligence helps us in our survival, right; But up to what extent?
Then why most of the species in the world are still surviving even if they lack basic intelligence? Human beings can trap any species including lions or any big fish with their intelligence. But still, we have found that intelligence is very rare among most of species.
You may have heard about the fact that intelligent people work all day just for their survival and livelihood but there are many people who are less intelligent and do less work but make more money than intelligent people and these people are in the most powerful positions in our country including politics and topmost business positions.
You must have noticed that less intelligent people make more money in the stock market and live a more lavish lifestyle. Less intelligent people spend extravagantly and live a less stressful life than intelligent people.
As per my experience, wherever I have seen a highly intelligent man, I have seen a man with inborn frustration. A man who is ready to argue on any topic. A man who just wants to win the argument but does not appreciate the differences.
I can surely say that joyfulness and intelligence work against each other. The more intelligent you are, there is more chance that your body must be producing more cortisol (stress-producing Harmon) as compared to normal human beings.
These people take lots of stress about everything whatever is happening in the world. That is why they are more prone to lose their calm. I am not saying all people who are intelligent are not joyful people.
But I have found that people who are very intelligent live in their own subjective world. They have their limitations of topics and beyond those topics they do not want to hear and talk.
For example, when I was at IIT, I used to hear people just talking about conferences, exams, grades, and assignments all the time. I can understand that those things are important but there are many things and topics like philosophy and psychology where people do not want to talk but are of equal value.
People are stuck in their hyperspecialization field and only want to talk with people who have at least a little knowledge about those fields. The worst part is that most people think that their own profession is better than someone else.
For example; artists think that their work is more valuable, businessmen think that their work is more valuable and difficult, and writers, doctors, and engineers think with the same logic.
What I have understood is that “Thinking kills actions”. Most of the people who are very intelligent are less action taker, they takes very less and calculated risk, whereas people who have less knowledge are ready to do new things. They are ready to burn themself in the quest for new horizons. They are the one who really creates history.
People who are very intelligent always face the problem that their creative work has been stolen, these are the people who usually assuced other people to use their ideas and formulas. These are the people who file intellectual property rights claims on their business partners.
I am convinced that the more intelligent you are the more struggle you will face in making great connections with other people. The more intelligent you are, it is for sure more you are going to mess up with your relationships and sexual life.
Even Albert Einstein has been accused of not giving proper time to her wife and she was about to file divorce against him.
There is a problem with more intelligent people, they suffer a lot for no reason, and they are more prone to depression and other mental problems. They sleep less.
They sleep with sleeping pills and most of them use so many health supplements just to survive their normal day. They complain and criticize everything about this word. You can easily see them complaining about the system and life itself.
These people are the ones if you meet with them they are more likely to observe negative traits in you instead of talking about your positive traits. Most of the females must have observed this while dating so-called hyper-intellectuals.
These people are just looking for problems in the world because they claim themselves problem solvers. Therefore their brain is nurtured in a way to only see defects in the world.
But they have to understand that the world is more beautiful when things are not perfect. Perfection kills the real beauty.
For example, when we visit a forest or nature we feel more joyful as compared to when we visit a perfectly designed building or skyscraper.
An AI can write better and perfect articles but still, we prefer to read articles written by humans because in AI articles that imperfection is missing. That magic is missing that gives us the feeling of connection.
Now comes the main point of the story.
Our obsession with intelligence reveals our inner weakness. People who are less intelligent actually value more intelligent men. People who are cowardly enjoy action movies.
There is something that Sigmund Freud called death drives inside each of us. But due to societical constraints, we cannot enjoy this dead drive therefore we start loving people who love to fight because we are too weak to fight and therefore we enjoy someone else fighting and winning. For example, children love to play shooting and Death Valley games.
People who live boring lives enjoy comedy shows. In India, I have seen many people who work in great companies and are so-called very intelligent people who love to go to comedy shows on the weekend and they tend to laugh at even every stupid joke that reflects to me how lonely and boring their life is. That they need someone else to do lots of hard work and perform at comedy shows to make them laugh.
In India, parents who are less educated are obsessed with education and want to see their children studying in very prestige colleges because in their hearts they have this notion that they want their children to take such education that they were not able to take in their childhood days.
People who are poor are more desperate for money as compared to people who are rich. Still, both need money.
Friedrich Nietzsche saw this pursuit of knowledge, and intelligence as arising from a lack of courage to deal with reality.
Rather than appreciating and enjoying life, “highly intelligent people” trap themself in their own subjectivity and withdraw into abstraction, reason, and logic, avoiding too many risks and vulnerabilities.
Intelligent people just want to fight with everyone on a talking basis but they do not have any courage even to give any bold statement in front of powerful people.
These people are like those Instagram, Reddit, and Twitter Trollers or Army who just want to do only Talk! Talk! Talk! and no action in real life against any authority.
High intelligence acts as a buffer against the rawness of real actions and lived authentic and joyful experiences.
We see these archetypes of highly educated people endlessly gathering knowledge and studying about the world at a distance rather than directly participating in life.
These are the people who love to read books and watch movies on love stories and relationships and start thinking of themselves as relationship advisors but when the real love arrives in their own life, they mess up with it.
Society has the tendency to glorify the life of highly intellectual people while looking down on those who live a more primal and instinctual existence.
In Nietzsche’s view, the celebration and pursuit of intelligence is a sign of weakness and disguises a fear of life itself.
Those who pride themselves and label themself “highly intelligent” are wrapped up in concepts, logic, theories, logic, and mental construction.
There is a reason that highly intelligent people know everything about “How to reduce body fat” and “What diet is bad for them” but are still unable to reduce belly fat. They just go on Google and gather all the information about reducing visceral fat but when it comes to applying that knowledge into action they mess up.
This is why I said, “Knowledge kills action”.
While intelligence seeks calculated risks, safety, and predictability, true strength comes from embracing life’s contradictions and uncertainties. It means having the courage to trust one’s gut instinct and act spontaneously without always needing confirmation from a rational mind and reasoning justification.
This does not completely mean that we should reject our thoughts and knowledge and stop acquiring knowledge altogether. Nietzsche was not anti-intellectual but he was against the way we gather knowledge in our educational institutions and real life.
He did warn us against allowing our abstract ideas, logic, reasoning, and theories to dominate our direct life experience. The truth is found not just in books, Google, blogs, and facts, but in the wisdom of the body, its passions and directly engaging with life and people.
At worst, a fixation totally dependent on knowledge and intelligence can become a tool for the weak to criticize and complain to the strong. Those who feel powerless can compensate by claiming intellectual superiority over those who are actually in power and those they resent the most.
What you can see is a bullied intelligent but weak man who prides himself on being smarter than his athletic tormentors.
Nietzsche’s philosophy reminds us that true strength lies not in how much we know, but in our capacity to overcome resistance, capacity for awe, vulnerability, and commitment in the face of life’s mysteries. To taste the full human experience, we cannot remain protected behind a wall of logic, idea, reason, and technical analysis.
By acknowledging the limits of logic and rationality, we should open ourselves to forms of understanding beyond IQ. This could unleash a power, creativity, and new horizons that our cultural worship of intelligence rarely reaches and teaches.
The comfort of being intelligent and smart must be left behind for the exhilarating terror of being fully alive and joyful.
The solution may be a balance- valuing the authentic, imperfect, and raw experience but also engaging in contemplation when required to integrate with life. With creativity, art, joyfulness, authenticity, and courage, we can integrate heart and mind to fully experience and thrive.