thanks.

Brad

Though if I were looking at it from the pig’s perspective and didn’t know any better, maybe I’d want to remain dumb and satisfied.

I know a great number of people, many illiterate, that many would consider ‘dumb.’ But ultimately the gap seperating them from the intellectual elite of this planet has more in common with the gap between a rock and a hard place than they do with gaps like the grand canyon or the distance between us and alpha centauri.

So are we talking omniscient vs. barely sentient? Or just relative to humans? Because, as I recall, if one takes the Bible at it’s word, the wisest among mere mortals was one King Solomon, and judging by many assessments of his ultimate standing before God at the end of his life I’d dare say he came about as close to the ultimate in “smart and bitter” that we could see as plausibly existing on this planet.

And if you take the route of the secular humanist or the atheist then you run into the problem of the generally agreed upon limitations in human intelligence. Even then, the logical choice–if lacking a belief in the supernatural or the probability of such–is still ultimately happiness over intelligence. Such a belief has them taking into their bodies substances that provide pleasure at a known expense to life longevity and overall health.