Intellectual Enrichment

We humans, as a species have come a journey, where other species in our blue planet simply can’t comprehend. It is time we take moment to look back and appreciate what our ancestral genomes have bestowed us, nourished and enriched by the evolution through great many nights and days in the past. The skills, instincts, and many other valuable traits have been passed along to us by our ancestors with the time.

From a caveman who merely struggled to survive through the day in a world full of threats and predators, we have emerged as a species who themselves can the tame the very nature it fought hard to overcome.

Humans have ventured this earth for almost 10000 years of collecting, adapting, and learning new ways of survival. Perseverance has paved the way for humans to flourish beyond the imagination.

Cognitive skills like Agility, vigilance, and collective behavior of homo sapience has helped us reach this state.

We lead a much more secure lifestyle than our ancestors. But the residue instincts of a caveman still reside beneath the civilized modern-day “concrete caveman”. Our ancestors had little or none to do with intellect and more to do with survival. They feared what they didn’t understand and worshiped the very things which struck fear in them.

The time has flown and we have emerged as a race who have dominated the world and keep thriving amidst the marvels of science and many other disciplines.

We may not take time to think why we crave an outing with a bonfire, maybe a BBQ as much as a full board weekend in a star hotel, or why men prefer to be silent after a hectic day of work when they made it home or why women see more colors than men. According to Prof.Alan and Barbara Pease these are the lifestyle and related traits or the daily routine our ancestors used to live, they gathered around a fire roasting the hunt they collected during the day, they used to spend evenings sitting around a fire, staring into the bursting flames and women had to keep an eye out for the predators while men were out hunting.

So back to the present. Most of us work in a cubicle or a workstation for the living at least if you are reading this you are. We hustle to the office, finish our shift, and return home, present-day cave. Is it enough? Does this lifestyle help us to lead a stress-free life? We need to invest our time more to admire art, listen to music, and elevate our mental status. It has been proved that psychologically enriched people are more productive and versatile.

According to Lamark as per his inheritance of acquired characteristics theory, we embed our practices and commonly used habits in genes, in laymen’s terms naturing the nurture and not the other way around. We need to think ahead and carefully consider what we need to offer our next generation or many generations to come. Do we need computer monkeys or do we need humans filled with humanity, humility, and enhanced cognitive traits?

It is a common belief that a learned man is what makes a society a better place. Nothing could be further from the truth. Wisdom, via intellect based on knowledge, should be our ultimate goal in this venture.

But where does the connection between the genetics and the intellect come in to play? Many studies rely on a measure of intelligence called the intelligence quotient (IQ). Genes are not the only factor affecting the IQ level and having a higher IQ does not necessarily mean that a person is intellectually enriched. Plenty of researches has been carried out on the connection of intelligence and genes throughout the world. It has been observed that there is no specific gene responsible, but a group of genes are cumulatively responsible for intelligence in humans. These genomes carry the traits responsible for the intelligence embedded in them from parents to the off-springs.

Can we prime these genes? Can we train our bodies to prioritize those genes selectively and gift them to the best generation by living an intellectually enriched lifestyle? These are the unsolved mysteries we have yet to decipher. But should we wait for these things to be solved by science itself? What is the cost of leading an intellectually enriched life.? It is our responsibility to act nonetheless the scientific backings as no harm will come to our society by leading an intellectually enriched life other than the sanity clarity and the sense of self-awareness even at the end of this life as our soul merges with the infinite universe until our next birth.