Ben Carson stands out from the rest of the Republican presidential aspirants because he is a neurosurgeon with the attendant implied education, training and intellect. Maybe not. Neuroguy (who is a neurologist) covered the reality of this nicely http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2015/11/9/1447844/-Dr-Ben-Carson-is-Not-Smart?detail=email At this point, I should tell you that I am an internist and former engineering professor. If BC were not a physician, he would be just another occupant in the Republican presidential clown car. But, he is an MD and uses that as a major intellectual qualification. Again, maybe not.
Why is Albert Einstein mentioned in the title? Because subsets of the terms “smart,” “stupid,” “intelligent,” “conservative,” “liberal,” “ignorant,” etc. have been applied to both BC and AE. It may be enlightening to examine the actual meanings of these classifications from an educated non-polemic viewpoint, staying away from politics, theology, ideology, etc.
Before we get started, I came across an article addressing a topic well-known to most physicians, but perhaps not the general public: which MD specialties are conservative and which are liberal. http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/its-not-surprising-ben-carson-is-a-republican/article/2567059. Neurosurgery is a background factor in BC’s mindset.
Here are some commonly used classifications defined in non-political, non-theological terms…
Conservative: tending or disposed to maintain existing views, conditions, or institutions
Authoritarian: expecting or requiring people to obey rules or laws
Liberal: not bound by authoritarianism, orthodoxy, or traditional forms
Intelligent: having or showing the ability to easily learn or understand things or to deal with new or difficult situations
Ignorant: lacking knowledge or information about a topic
Stupid: lacking intelligence or reason
Education: learning how to learn and understand the views of others
Training: teaching a person or animal a particular skill or type of behavior
Some conclusions logically flowing from these definitions…
Stupid is impervious to logic or reason.
Ignorance is curable by education. Stupidity is terminal.
Every intelligent person is ignorant about something.
An intelligent person knows what he/she does not know.
Further…
Not all conservative people are stupid. All stupid people are conservative.
Whether a theory is scientific or not may be answered by one word: “falsifiable.”
Thus, conservative thought and scientific theory are generally immiscible.
Science is about “I don’t know, let’s find out,” and not “this is the way it is, don’t tell me otherwise.”
Carson and Einstein…
Albert Einstein was educated in science, mathematics and philosophy. He was liberal, intelligent and initially ignorant (as was everyone else) about certain aspects of physics. With his keen intellect, he fixed that. Albert Einstein was actually asked to be the first president of Israel (he declined).
Ben Carson was trained (not educated) in surgery. He is conservative, authoritarian, and apparently impervious to logic and scientific thought. He displays a broad scope of irreparable ignorance. Carson for president?