The Limits of Human Intelligence

The Limits of Human Intelligence is a stimulating probe into what it means to be intelligent and to behave intelligently. It traces our evolutionary development from ancestral species whose behavior was guided largely by emotional responses to their circumstances—coupled with primitive elements of the intelligence we ourselves experience today. Examining our evolutionary kinship with other animal species illuminates many of the sources of our own behavior, including the ways in which our intelligence is influenced by the modern remnants of our primitive origins.The Limits of Human Intelligence examines how our emotions influence our perceptions of reality; how our intelligence is often applied for no other purpose than to reinforce our emotional state; how our rationality can be used to twist and distort our subjective reality; and how all these influences shape our cultural, economic and political institutions. No only is the establishment of truth in our public communications subordinated to our desire to speak freely; in fact, most of us find rational thought so repugnant that we are busy inventing intelligent machines to do our thinking for us.Is there anything we can do to promote more intelligent behavior in our public and private affairs? In The Limits of Human Intelligence Dr. Thomas Lamar Atwood takes a penetrating, fresh new look at our ability to confront the massive intellectual challenges facing the world today. Read more