We alone are strange

Intelligence is the most incredible ability that I know of. All other traits provide a particular advantage that will become obsolete sooner or later. For billions of years for a species to survive its gene pool had to be constantly updated to match the ever-changing environment. And whether the species succeeded or not had essentially been due to chance—indeed, most species have already gone extinct since there was no way for them to predict massive transitions in the environment and adapt quickly enough. But for the first time in history intelligence allows one species to sidestep evolution altogether and solve problems directly.

The most elementary aspect of life is survival and continuity (this is strictly tautological: that which does not survive is dead) and intelligence gives us the most powerful weapon for self-preservation yet. It is likely that no species before us would be able to survive a destruction of Earth (such as the one caused by Sun turning into a red giant in 5 billion years).

But we just might.

The price of values

Even so, intelligence could still be considered merely a means rather than an end. This is a valid objection. To tackle it we need to delve into the swamp of human values. Consider the following.

• A child that grew up on its own in a jungle.
• A member of a hunter-gatherer tribe.
• A member of the Islamic State.
• A person convinced manual work is a necessity.
• A person who believes science is no better than folk knowledge and intuition.
• A person who uses tarots to make important decisions.
• A person who has never thought about values and just continues doing whatever it is they have always been doing.

For all we know all of them are perfectly happy. Nevertheless, it seems unfortunate that the great potential that the human brain offers should be left to the whims of the environment—be it nature, religion, tradition or superstition.

I claim that certain sets of values—in particular the ones involving rationality—are objectively better than others. We can justify this by looking at pictures.

Rags to riches

People today are unbelievably rich and fortunate. And by people I mean you. There is but one reason this is so: the miracle of industrial revolution. Thanks to the virtues of philosophy, science, trade and technology we have in mere 150 years transformed most of the world from a place of subsistence to a place of prosperity. And as most people know, money can buy everything—like health.

This transformation has been incredibly complex, so let us only look at the scientific progress. Some people believe it had been due to big names like Einstein. This is not so—had he not been born others would have discovered the same facts in his stead. Today we have millions of people working on everything from quantum computing to gene editing to sociology of human brain emulations. We tend to revere scientists but we should realize that it is a job like any other than nearly anyone could be doing. Which is great because people will not have much choice after manual labor goes away because of full automation and robotics. At least until we give them money.

It is beyond doubt that human intellect, properly utilized, can produce miracles. The most powerful computer ever created sits between our ears and we can use it to fight poverty, make people’s life better or create beautiful things.

So we should.