A ‘Devil’s Advocate’ is someone who takes a contentious position on an issue or argument to provoke debate or test the strength of someone other’s opinion. I can do that. Sometimes I have trouble knowing whether or not to take sides or even weigh the options. I do sometimes get drawn into situations where there is disagreement, especially when there is some kind of moral caveat in play or someone thinks they already know what it is that I think or believe. I get sort of a knee-jerk reaction and I default to an Abraham Lincoln quote: “It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.” But I usually have an opinion, just not the one they want to hear. I tend to wander off course and away from what they want to discuss. My first reaction to any question that might show up on twitter or facebook is is to say, “That depends.” I try to change the subject to learn how much they really know about their own argument. When they remove all doubt I’ll ask something like, “How do you know that?”
This kind of ‘Outside the box’ distraction isn’t really appreciated by the people I meet. Those who know me allow some time and space for me to shake the tree and see what falls out. I can be for or against almost anything. At the root of my indifference is misgiving and general disappointment with intelligence and human nature. I am not a misanthrope, I love people, even jerks and wannabes. They can’t help it; they do their best. That pretty much applies to us all.
You know; people haven’t always been smart. It doesn’t matter when our brains changed but they did, a long time ago, enough that we were able to create language that in turn allowed us to communicate complicated ideas and connect unrelated bits of story. The better brain lets us ask and answer our own question; “What if . . .” Next thing you know we were controlling fire, cooking food, painting pictures on cave walls, making wheels for the chariot, arguing if there is or if there is not a god and whether or not to burn books that address gender identity.
What happened when we got smart was, it didn’t work the same in all situations. That wonderful, updated brain gave us wheels, pottery (if you thought I said poetry it gave us that too), shoes, steam engines and smart phones. We didn’t understand it, still don’t but we sure put it to work. It turns out the brain wasn’t a new brain after all, only an upgrade. The old, ‘I feel, I don’t care, I want what I want right now’ part of the brain is still there, still works like it always has. The new update gave us creative genius, ’This is how to make cool stuff, braid a rope, tie a knot, make bronze, build a skyscraper and figure out E=mc2’.
When it comes to (civilized) people vs. people behavior the ‘I don’t care, I want what I want right now.’ program controls human behavior. When it comes to people creating and improving things; mathematics, a better mouse trap, a better satellite, the updated program works like a charm. The selfish Me brain keeps giving us the same game plan; do whatever it takes, don’t get caught, lie if you do, wage war, kill people if necessary but take what you want right now. Every generation reinvents the aggressive, violent, weak people deserve to die, system. One brain system manipulates people for their own selfish interests while the other manipulates things for the sake of a greater good.
So why am I so disappointed with the human drama? I was supposed to go to Alpha Centauri on the other side of the Milky Way but ended up here on earth with high functioning primates who think they think. When I explain myself to wannabe smarty pants they dismiss me and my Devil’s Advocate persona. They fall back on, ‘Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is smartest of us all?’ Then they argue. If there was some money in it they might throw stones, break bones or get a good lawyer and take you to court.
This kind of ‘Outside the box’ distraction isn’t really appreciated by the people I meet. Those who know me allow some time and space for me to shake the tree and see what falls out. I can be for or against almost anything. At the root of my indifference is misgiving and general disappointment with intelligence and human nature. I am not a misanthrope, I love people, even jerks and wannabes. They can’t help it; they do their best. That pretty much applies to us all.
You know; people haven’t always been smart. It doesn’t matter when our brains changed but they did, a long time ago, enough that we were able to create language that in turn allowed us to communicate complicated ideas and connect unrelated bits of story. The better brain lets us ask and answer our own question; “What if . . .” Next thing you know we were controlling fire, cooking food, painting pictures on cave walls, making wheels for the chariot, arguing if there is or if there is not a god and whether or not to burn books that address gender identity.
What happened when we got smart was, it didn’t work the same in all situations. That wonderful, updated brain gave us wheels, pottery (if you thought I said poetry it gave us that too), shoes, steam engines and smart phones. We didn’t understand it, still don’t but we sure put it to work. It turns out the brain wasn’t a new brain after all, only an upgrade. The old, ‘I feel, I don’t care, I want what I want right now’ part of the brain is still there, still works like it always has. The new update gave us creative genius, ’This is how to make cool stuff, braid a rope, tie a knot, make bronze, build a skyscraper and figure out E=mc2’.
When it comes to (civilized) people vs. people behavior the ‘I don’t care, I want what I want right now.’ program controls human behavior. When it comes to people creating and improving things; mathematics, a better mouse trap, a better satellite, the updated program works like a charm. The selfish Me brain keeps giving us the same game plan; do whatever it takes, don’t get caught, lie if you do, wage war, kill people if necessary but take what you want right now. Every generation reinvents the aggressive, violent, weak people deserve to die, system. One brain system manipulates people for their own selfish interests while the other manipulates things for the sake of a greater good.
So why am I so disappointed with the human drama? I was supposed to go to Alpha Centauri on the other side of the Milky Way but ended up here on earth with high functioning primates who think they think. When I explain myself to wannabe smarty pants they dismiss me and my Devil’s Advocate persona. They fall back on, ‘Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is smartest of us all?’ Then they argue. If there was some money in it they might throw stones, break bones or get a good lawyer and take you to court.
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