Greetings Alex and Preston,
I greatly enjoyed your essay, and I agree that the mind is the central issue, with the capabilities of the human mind being our major road to salvation, and the expansion of the mind's capacity an essential component of implementing solutions to pressing problems adequately. I deal with one root cause of the brain power shortfall in my essay, which talks about how playful exploration and experimentation is essential for learning about the universe. I think the human brain has plenty of 'headroom,' but only if young brains are encouraged to develop to the full extent nature's developmental template allows. Researchers have observed that infants are like little scientists, but we need to nurture that quality from the time it first appears - if we want to make full use of it later in life. The very young are naturals at Science, but very few have the mind or mindset for it later in life, and part of this shift is from societal pressure or inhibition.
The same has been observed for Music, where the very young are uninhibited and willing to sing out - and it is mostly melodious though a little rambunctious. For groups of an early age, almost everybody sings out. However; groups of older youngsters tend to feature only a few strong voices, a handful of the timid but willing, and a bunch of non-participants. What I've learned seems to indicate that where the activity is tolerated or nurtured, it persists and/or develops, but otherwise it tends to be replaced by other activities that are accepted or rewarded by elders and caregivers. Part of the larger problem is that knowledge is too often treated as a collection of facts, or is taught that way, and this cuts short the playful exploration that leads to the ability to solve problems. But I am also painfully aware of how modern society fails to provide for those adults who could solve the world's problems with human brain power, and forces them to deal with mundane matters instead.
So while I agree with most of your essay, and endorse its central thesis, there are a few points of variance with my philosophy and experience.
All the Best,
Jonathan
