53. When being dumb is smart !

Like others of my generation, I offered unsolicited advice to my young niece to be smart enough to shun modern gadgets, as obsession for mobile handset makes one dumber. Far from taking it kindly, she chided me for my naivety and suggested that I better read the Dunning-Kruger effect to stand corrected. Even before I could make any sense of it she quipped nonchalantly ‘why acquire new knowledge when less of it can do the trick’, and moved on with her unfinished task on the mobile.  

I haven’t got the academic credentials to challenge the researcher duo of David Dunning and Justin Kruger at the Cornell University who created such an ‘effect’, but have been intrigued by their conclusion that ‘the dumber you are, the more confident you are that you're not actually dumb'. What’s more, they have identified a human trait that prevents a person from acquiring new knowledge to become smart..   

Although it will take time for the DK effect to sink in, I find living evidences in gadget-zombies roaming all around that being 'smart' may not be the in-thing it used to be in not too distant past! I may not be the only one who seem to have sensed it. Wear your thinking cap or glasses or shirt or whatever, and you will get to feel it - 'smart’ has ceased to be what most of us have grown working towards in our younger days! 'Smart' is no longer a virtue, being 'dumb' adds value to your profile. 

Whether you doubt it or accept it, this change is right upon us. While most parents remain somewhat circumspect, youngsters are undoubtedly in awe of themselves. Loaded with self-belief, and lots of selfie, they go beyond the natural brashness of being young. They are no longer windbags that many had thought of them in the past, they are smart err dumb enough not to carry any baggage of knowledge as much of it is only a click away. 

No wonder, my telling the young lady to be smart was not taken kindly by her. Youngsters like her seem to be telling in no certain terms that smart as a goal of life is anything but passé. They would appreciate parents to be less persuasive on their children to be 'smart'. "If with an average IQ George Bush Jr. could rule the USA and the World for almost a decade, what the fuss about being smart is all about', she questions.  

And, the catch is that letting people think a little less of you is always helpful to get away with some silly stuff without it being counted against you. Smart people are known to make stupid mistakes while the stupid escape getting caught for the same. There are any number of examples to prove the point, perhaps the reason for my niece to press home the idea. She even went to the extent of telling me that humans have lost the evolutionary pressure to be 'smart'.

Having used our intelligence to create artificial intelligence, I doubt if there is much left for humans to get any further. Rightly so, as it is better to be dumb when things around are becoming 'smart' - from smart phones to smart kitchens and from smarts cars to smart cities. Let everything else be 'smart' but for us. Amen!  

First published in The Tribune, issue dated July 2, 2019, and in Deccan Herald on Sep 23, 2019.