This article got me to thinking not about intelligence, which was the actual intent of the piece, but rather about clumsiness. If all intelligence is situational intelligence, this means that being in a less than optimal situation is a result of not being able to shape the situation to our advantage, even with all the talents or advantages we were blessed with starting out. Shaping the situation jumps out to me because it's precisely what we do in the martial arts - we take a bad situation and somehow turn it into one that favors us. This means that shaping things to our benefit is a skill that has wider implications than was previously thought. It also means that starting out in a less-than-ideal situation is the norm as well as the consequence for failing to reverse things.
A skill is proficiency and artistry combined, that is being able to do what you want and being able to think of novel ways to apply what you know. To gain skill one starts out clumsy, but through long and intensive refinement one moves away from always being clumsy to being so less often. Skill also takes focus, and if focus wavers even the most skillful can look like amateurs.
Nothing in life is always clear-cut, and perhaps recognizing this is why we derive enjoyment from media that are vague or ambiguous. Things that don't have neat endings engage our imaginations, and things that don't go smoothly are more interesting to see. Perhaps there's an element of schadenfreude there as well. We hate awkwardness within ourselves though, and despise it in others. This is why it is so important to have one's grand achievements seem effortless in execution.
I think we tend to equate effortlessness with familiarity of something, the opposite of being clumsy. After all, back in the early days of our species' evolution a clumsy situation was more of an annoyance - do something wrong and your people could be wiped out.
And I don't know how to render a proper ending to this train of thought, so in honor of the subject I'll be tabling this as it is right now.
Nothing in life is always clear-cut, and perhaps recognizing this is why we derive enjoyment from media that are vague or ambiguous. Things that don't have neat endings engage our imaginations, and things that don't go smoothly are more interesting to see. Perhaps there's an element of schadenfreude there as well. We hate awkwardness within ourselves though, and despise it in others. This is why it is so important to have one's grand achievements seem effortless in execution.
I think we tend to equate effortlessness with familiarity of something, the opposite of being clumsy. After all, back in the early days of our species' evolution a clumsy situation was more of an annoyance - do something wrong and your people could be wiped out.
And I don't know how to render a proper ending to this train of thought, so in honor of the subject I'll be tabling this as it is right now.
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