Invisible wrote:
> For some reason, we live in a culture where it is seen as "desirable" to 
> not be cleaver. People who are good at football are regarded as gods, 
> but anybody who claims to be good at (say) trigonometry is regarded as a 
> pathetic failure of a human being.
> 
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7435023.stm
> 
> The article focuses specifically on maths, but it seems generally 
> "fashionable" to be bad at anything that looks "technical". Maths, 
> science, computing, etc.
> 
> Some of the comments submitted are interesting too. My particular 
> favourite:
> 
> "I have always liked maths, but I remember that at school, being good at 
> maths was a sever issue. Those who made any effort towards being good at 
> maths and science were ostracized by the rest of the year group."
> 
> Yes... this is my life...
> 
> Everybody hated me for being the "teacher's pet". Just because *they* 
> were a bunch of thick idiots... :-P

I found that the most venom came not from the kids would were incapable 
of the higher challenges, but from the kids who were capable, but who 
had dumbed themselves down in order to get along.

The solution is for the math-adept people to build spaceships to another 
world and leave.  To keep those who lost the chromosome lottery from 
impeding our efforts, we will say that the planet we're going to has no 
beaches, skiing, or professional sports, and that once we're gone we'll 
quit making them take algebra classes.

Then, when we are safely away, we'll send occasional messages for the 
purpose of messing with the heads of the people we've left behind:

* Robots now do all the work.
* We were mistaken about the ski slopes.
* And the beaches, too.
* And silly us, we've realized that just because there are no sports 
doesn't mean you can't start some.
* There's an herb here whose sole effect is to cause excess body fat to 
melt away.  Unfortunately, this herb cannot be exported.
* Since the robots do all the work, we spend our mornings doing tensor 
calculus, and spend the afternoons skiing, playing other sports, or 
lounging at the beach.
* Immigration is closed for now.

Regards,
John

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