Intellectual Elite Quotes

“They were really willing to pay to avoid any trouble. No doubt they had overestimated the ability of academics to make a nuisance of themselves. It had been years since an academic title gained you access to major media.... Even if all the university professors in France had risen up in protest, almost nobody would have noticed, but apparently they hadn't found that out in Saudi Arabia. They still believed, deep down, in the power of the intellectual elite. It was almost touching.”
― Michel Houellebecq, Soumission

“Brain Scientist's Diary of Kindness
(Sonnet 3015)

There is such a thing as neuroscience of religion,
and neuroscience of criminal behavior,
and neuroscience of tribalism,

but there is no such thing
as neuroscience of kindness,
well, there is, but that's not the point,

the point is, if you're looking for science
behind kindness before you're kind,
you've already failed kindness,
and one who fails kindness fails humanity,
no matter how big they become in brain.

Talking in fancy scientific jargon,
like mirror neurons, oxytocin, evolution,
doesn't make a person kind and wise -

not everything needs to be scientifically
validated, you can study, of course,
to develop a deeper understanding of life,
but empathy must precede intelligence,

otherwise, unregulated intelligence produces
more gas chambers, nakbas, hiroshimas,
and school targeting algorithms,
than it benefits humanity.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Naskar Goes to Earth: Field Notes from A Planet of Apes