American wit and humor; Evolution (Biology) -- Wit and humor
We of course observe everything, or try to. We could spend our lives
looking on. Consider our museums for instance: they are a sign of
our breed. It makes us smile to see birds, like the magpie, with a
mania for this collecting--but only monkeyish beings could reverence
museums as we do, and pile such heterogeneous trifles and quantities
in them.
Old furniture, egg-shells, watches, bits of stone.... And next
door, a "menagerie." Though our victory over all other animals is
now aeons old, we still bring home captives and exhibit them caged
in our cities. And when a species dies out--or is crowded (by us),
off the planet--we even collect the bones of the vanquished and show
them like trophies.
Curiosity is a valuable trait. It will make the simians learn many
things. But the curiosity of a simian is as excessive as the toil
of an ant. Each simian will wish to know more than his head can
hold, let alone ever deal with; and those whose minds are active
will wish to know everything going. It would stretch a god's skull
to accomplish such an ambition, yet simians won't like to think it's
beyond their powers. Even small tradesmen and clerks, no matter how
thrifty, will be eager to buy costly encyclopedias, or books of all
knowledge. Almost every simian family, even the dullest, will think
it is due to themselves to keep all knowledge handy.
Their idea of a liberal education will therefore be a great
hodge-pod only. He who narrows his field and digs deep will be
viewed as an alien. If more than one man in a hundred should thus
dare to concentrate, the ruinous effects of being a specialist will
be sadly discussed. It may make a man exceptionally useful, they
will have to admit; but still they will feel badly, and fear that
civilization will suffer.
One of their curious educational ideas--but a natural one--will
be shown in the efforts they will make to learn more than one
"language." They will set their young to spending a decade or
more of their lives in studying duplicate systems--whole systems--of
chatter. Those who thus learn several different ways to say the same
things, will command much respect, and those who learn many will be
looked on with awe--by true simians. And persons without this
accomplishment will be looked down on a little, and will actually
feel quite apologetic about it themselves.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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