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Dolphins, Apologies And Self-confidence

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Douglas Adams had what was likely an important insight into the nature of free will. If you were free to do what you will, what would you choose?

Before you take your pick, here is Adams’ point for you to contemplate, “It is an important and popular fact that things are not always what they seem. For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much – the wheel, New York, wars and so on – whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man – for precisely the same reasons.”

A particularly good time to do your contemplating is the next time you are doing the laundry or find yourself parked on the freeway during rush hour or trying to figure out how to negotiate the new login procedure for the office network. Your conclusion may be that Mark Twain had a point when he said, “I have been studying the traits and dispositions of the lower animals (so called) and contrasting them with the traits and dispositions of man. I find the result humiliating to me.”