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>when human beings are concerned a solution to a problem may involve nothing more than swaying the minds of people, something people with high intelligence often seem comically unable to do.

So you're advocating that we select for charismatic, persuasive people of average intelligence? Seems like a rather short-sighted plan, considering this would describe most used car salesmen.

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I advocate nothing of the sort, just note that it is just as likely to work as the author's "plan", which (like most texts, really) is more of a testament to his personal psychological issues than to his reasoning abilities. Do we have a good reason to believe a society made of used-car salesmen would be worse than that made of Aspy scientists? :) If I advocate anything, it is that we base our social policies on careful study of actual society rather than a simplification made for people who are unable or unwilling to grasp the complexities of the human condition.

Nice response. A society of used car salesmen would probably be better in most ways actually. The current global IQ is 95, I think. This makes me personally believe that having a very large demographic of 'average' people is fairly stabilizing, for various reasons. If some technology came out that did raise the global IQ to 110 or 120, I suspect things would become chaotic and self-destructive in short order. That's not to say it won't happen though, progress marches on.

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