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our ancestors had to be adaptable but not too adaptable. They had to be calm, accepting, thick-skinned and slow-witted to survive the harshness and boredom of daily routine. In contrast to this long-term disposition, on the other hand, they had to be responsive to emergencies and ready to adjust quickly when circumstances demanded a speedy and novel reaction. This basic duality of a long-term/conservative, short-term/innovative mentality made each step in cultural adaptation an optimistic gamble at best, as it rarely was absolutely clear at the time of decision if conditions warranted a new policy to deal with the problem at hand.
If balance was the key to survival, it was a balance of extreme potentials subjectively applied to naturally and culturally selecting conditions: e.g., sensitivity to environmental stimuli is necessary for survival, but either extreme (i.e., hypo/hypersensitivity) can cause a stupid response. Insensitivity provides a basis for stupidity in that what we do not know can indeed hurt us, so one measure of stupidity is what we fail to consider—what we fail to perceive, refuse to learn or omit from reckoning. At the same time, and in exactly the same way, insensitivity eased the way, for what we do not know cannot worry us. For example, insensitivity toward killing, blood and suffering was of survival advantage in our not so distant past. To the extent that fighting and killing determined survival, brutality was a necessity and sympathy a luxury. Further, to the extent that people were inured to suffering, suffering was an acceptable way of life and death. Thus, the power of dullness made our last million years such a struggle and contributed to our acceptance of our struggling condition. However, with the mean of sensitivity as the balanced ideal, those who reacted to cold, hunger, abuse and injustice died out. Those who were insensitive to such conditions endured and transmitted their passivity to their descendants. This selective pressure was somewhat balanced by the simultaneous elimination of those insensitive to immediate threats and dangers. Thus, the human psyche was shaped for long-term tolerance and acceptance of difficult conditions while being responsive to short-term challenges of the moment. The wonder of human culture is that anyone manages to grow up with anything like sanity and sense. Consider the fact that most people start life with the handicap of parental love. Of all forms of emotionally induced blindness, this is the blindest, and most of us get a double dose. As with others who love, parents are blind because they want to be, and for nearly two decades, the child is helpless to escape the best efforts of his parents to distort his self-image and sense of importance. Whatever limitations culture may have, it certainly is efficient at transmitting stupidity from one generation to the next (as well as developing itanew).
 stupidity.net 
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