A Generation of Spocks

I was reading a book on Emotional intelligence by Daniel Goleman who emphasizes the importance given to intelligence over emotion. He says ‘Conventional wisdom among cognitive scientists held that intelligence entails a cold, hard-nosed processing of fact. It is hyperrational, rather like Star Trek‘s Mr Spock, the archetype of dry information bytes unmuddied by feeling, embodying the idea that emotions have no place in intelligence and only muddle our picture of mental life’. The first character that came to my mind when I read this was that of Sheldon’s from ‘The Big Bang Theory’, a famous American sitcom. No TBBT viewer would deny that this description of Spock best suits Sheldon. The reason for this is that Spock is a character that Sheldon most identifies with as he believes they are both intelligent, logical and unemotional. 

Although Spock and Sheldon may just be two famous characters of entertainment among their respective audiences (and have both gained their fair shares of profit), Daniel Goleman shows us that these characters may be the reality of today’s young population!

Today’s generation has an overwhelming number of highly intelligent individuals who can solve complex problems and challenge the ways of the world. Getting a straight A on a test or topping the SATs is no more considered a miracle. Hard work is required, but it isn’t impossible. The importance that IQ (and technology) has gained over the years has led to the innovation of two kinds of machines. The kind that simplifies our tasks and the other kind- the one that is slowly being drained of emotion.  The innovation of smarter machines in today’s world has led to the regression of humans into hard-wired prototypes, lacking in emotion. We not only fail to recognize another human’s affective state, but we often deny our own. And what has this resulted in? A breeding ground for negative emotions. We are impulsive, we make rash decisions, we become self-centered and arrogant. As social animals, failing to maintain healthy social relationships leads to our own downfall. 

The first time the bell curve was introduced to the public, it received mixed reviews. Was intelligence that very important? Was it true that all of us vary in our level of intelligence? Was intelligence the new factor that determined ‘survival of the fittest’? Scientifically, biologically and technologically, it is true. Intelligence promotes higher levels of creativity, can have an impact on life expectancy, the list goes on. There can be no existence without a minimum IQ level, especially in this technological era. (Haven’t we all felt a little silly trying to figure out some aspect of new tech!) But the more we dive deep into this, the more superior we consider our cerebral cortex (responsible for cognition), we stray further away from our basic instincts, we begin to dilute (maybe forget) the roles of the old brain and the limbic system. 

Our generation today can easily express emotions with the help of emojis and texts… VR is a great human innovation! But we struggle to recognize real, natural facial expressions and body language. Emotional intelligence and cognitive intelligence must be in equilibrium. What good is cognitive intelligence when we fail to recognize basic emotions of mankind? Let us not build an empire of Spocks.