Re: Is Everyone in the Future Super-Smart?
Originally posted by Megamanfan
Just how smart are people in Trek? Can they do complex calculus equasions and stuff in their heads? This is something I've always wondered...is there anything out there to shed light on this subject?
The writers don't realize that the human brain develops in stages, and that though there is standard deviation, there are definite pointsfor certain skills to develop. Language and physical skills up to about 5-6, math skills do not crystalize until about 8-9 -- especially skills like division. Symbolic logic doesn't really stabilise until about the 11-15 range. So it is HIGHLY unlikely that they would be doing pre-calc at 7; the brain would not have developped the more basic concepts of conservation, etc by that time.
As for the teens/adults: you would see increased skills and knowledge bases, although it seems Starfleet is the 'elite' of the Federation. Most people, with the society they've created, would be involved in arts and leisure-related activities. Without the need to work for survival, most would choose jobs they 'love'. The sociological impacts would be interesting -- I could see heightened boredom and ennui in the core worlds; might explain the colonial enterprises -- an attempt to 'get back' to the more basic lifestyles; to challenge themselves.
I could see 'extreme' activities being very common: taking undue risks to find some kind of meaning in life.
(Can you tell we've actually been doing a lot of stuff inside the Federation in our campaign lately..?)
"War is an ugly thing but not the ugliest of things; the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feelings which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
John Stuart Mill