The Power of “Maybe”

I heard a rather dubious comment from one of the Democratic Presidential candidates about modern technological occupations requiring more intelligence than farming. Instantly, a voice in my head said “bullshit.”

First of all, agriculture was one of the great technological innovations of the human race, allowing us to move from extensive food production (hunting and gathering) to intensive (farming), which allowed more than 100X more people to live on the same stretch of land, as well as leading directly to higher birth rates, fallow seasons during which art and philosophy thrived, the creation of written language, and more.

Are farmers smart? If intelligence is problem solving, they sure as heck are solving problems daily, regarding an infinite number of variables. More importantly, WISDOM is knowing which problems to solve (meta-intelligence, perhaps. Being intelligent about using your intelligence) and I’d say the deep sensitivity to the cycles of nature and life, the connection to the earth, the physical work itself teaches REAL lessons about life, real information, not theory, with rapid feedback about the validity of your approach. That little thing called “starvation” keeps your eye on the ball.

For those and other reasons, I considered this comment…ill advised. Unimpressive. I remembered hearing that the McDonald’s corporation LOVES farmers who become franchisees…that literally not a single one of them had ever failed. I doubt you could say that about Harvard MBAs. Anyway…thinking about that stuff reminded me of one…