We are unexceptional. We are borg.

Yeah, and I know lots of people who just coast by in life and rely on their looks to get them through. Well, looks fade, and then whatcha got?

### @sean-king, sometimes people will say *Life is so unfair!*

Well, it depends on the preference or perspective of an individual whether he/she values more the beauty or the eloquence of a person. And with that, we cannot judge them by doing that. 

For me, as long as we are doing the morally right things,then it's their problem if they don't see who we are and what we do in life!

I think that the idea of inner essences has done incalculable damage to the human condition. I used to be extremely dismissive of people who made their way in life relying on beauty and brawn, but I have now accepted that intelligence is also arbitrary.

Great post!

Excellent

Intelligence you have to develop and nurture. It is hard work, people respect that.

If you were born beautiful it was pure chance, and it takes only basic maintenance to keep that going. It does not take hard work, and people do not respect that.


Do you respect the bratty offspring who inherited a fortune? Do you respect that persons wealth?

Yeah, me neither.

> Another is born eloquent and gets upvoted in life too. Neither "earned" it. Neither "deserves" it. It's just luck of the genetic or social lottery, that's all.

You are not born eloquent. You can be extroverted, have a disposition for more communication than others, have a social intelligence and an easiness to  relate to others. You can have a fluency in speaking or a sharp mind or a more pronounced sense of observation.  Yes, these can be genetic.

But you can improve all these with hard work. For example a child with speaking issues can be helped by a speech therapist.

So, you are not born eloquent. You have a disposition and a easiness  for fluency, sharp observation and so on.

> Does that mean she has "earned" her subsequent living? No, at least no more than the beautiful one who spent equal amounts of time grooming, staying fit and studying make-up tutorials to look his very best so that he too could earn his way.

There are so many and important differences between all types of effort that it's not fair to put on the same level a University Professor  and a Playmate. It's not fair from neither perspective.  A mechanic is working hard. A farmer also.  A doctor also.  But everybody is using different parts of the human being.  You know why a flight controller retirees  at 40 ? Because the responsibility, therefore the stress is maximum. It drains all the energy from that person. Should we compare it with a hostess ?

> We identify with intelligence and articulateness more than with our physical bodies simply because we irrationally believe that "we" are ultimately immaterial--that "we" are an inner essence, an inner intelligence, a soul that is separate from our material flesh. However, once we abandoned the illusion that we have an immaterial essence, as science suggests we should

We can't verify that this is true or false. Scientist just "say" we should liberate ourselves from the burden of religion (if we please). Because it harms us and there is nothing scientifically provable there.  I think this is the reason. They are humanist. They care about humans (and sacrifice most of their lives discovering medicines and cures for sick people).

> We are not our bodies. And we are not our minds. 

Of course. I completely agree. Our intelligence is one characteristic of a human being as beauty is or strength. But you know what ? Intelligence helped us more than beauty, sex, art.  I like all of them, I really appreciate it, but engineers build bridges, architects build houses, doctors "repair" us, philosophers help us understand the world outside and the chaos within...

> How about we celebrate the exceptional among us in whatever form it appears? Life's a lot more fun that way.

Of course. But, please don't put an equal sign between intelligence, power, beauty, strength, etc.  We all are useful in our way to each other. 

I know, the comment seems a negative one. I'm sorry for that. It wasn't my intention. I wanted to clarify some things, that's all.

I like this perspective, but in an slightly different way.

Cheers.

>  Why do we as a society believe that people who were born with brains or brawn, and exploit those assets for their economic benefit, have "earned" their way in the world, why those who were born with beauty, and exploit that asset for their economic benefit, have not? 

It might be because to make use of that brain you have to study for years, and of top of that they have to work hard.

E.g. somebody whom you might call a genius coder probably spent 15 years studying and practicing before he got any economic benefit exploiting his brain. Nobody  was born with innate knowledge of programming/science/business etc.

On the other hand, beauty is natural. You don't have to work hard to attain it. Stuff you listed are largely optional. People who are naturally not very attractive have to compensate it with good make up and so on.

If there is something that I dont like in human is ENVY. No matter how someone rationalize it, if someone complain about another success it boils down to envy...because if they were in the other person shoes, they would have probably done the same as them to get a payout.

Both beauty and intelligence can be developed given enough time. Each one must determine what type of investment they want to make.

Beauty is about what a society thinks is attractive at any given period. In ancient times it used to be that fatter women with whiter skin was preferable compared to skinnier women or darker skin. Today we hear about tanning, about diets, all sort of stuff. One can work on those aspects, for sure. Makeup, training (fit body), hydration, proper color (not too tanned and not too white-ish) etc etc. And then you also have clothes to accompany the set.

Intelligence is typically equated with accumulated knowledge, so someone knowledgeable can be confused for someone intelligent. Whatever the case, knowledge can be built upon given the appropriate time investment. And intelligence can be cultivated to higher levels for those who understand what it is and how they can improve it.

I completely agree with your conclusions and will take them a step further. You are correct, we do not deserve credit for how we are made, God does.

> For you created my inmost being;
>   you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
> I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
>   your works are wonderful,
>   I know that full well.

Psalm 139:13-14

> Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.

Genesis 1:26-27

God has created all of mankind in His image. Granted, by our own actions we have sinned against Him and allowed evil to rule our world (we can get into that at a later time). I try view every person as an image bearer of God. Some are physically beautiful, others are intelligent, nurturing, empathetic, selfless, and many more, all by nature. Sure, I can train myself to be more empathetic just like someone can go to the gym to lose weight, or go to school to increase their knowledge, but some people are simply born with an aptitude towards certain things. We need to teach our children that there is value in every person, regardless of whether they provide value to you.

TO the folks hating on this:  

* We are not born beautiful/handsome, either.  
  * We create that.
* We are not born intelligent.
  * We create that.  

So chill, all.  There are advantages and disadvantages on both sides here, says the "definitley on autism spectrum" guy.....  Some are inherited and some are learned and some are exercised into being and some are trained, but the fact is that in the end we have agency and none of these things is any better than the others.  They are just attributes of what make us, us.

What you say doesnt ring true to me, but I think the commenters below covered most of the basic comon sense analisys.
Now, tangentially related with this what we see here in steemit is a lot of 
women hating on beauty because it opaques their beauty and "work",
here is an example
"I am planning on publishing once a week. Verification is not required, much like #secret-writer, we are not just focused on the face of the author. What I am looking for is the true Steemit: intellectuals, writers, artists and creators that make this place feel more like a community."
from https://steemit.com/steemit/@veralynn/women-of-steemit-vol-1
you will hear countless and infinite times women like @veralynn @stellabelle @lauralemons etc, complain about how their great intellects are not recognized because of them not being traditionally beautiful or past their prime, shaming men into valuing the intellects of women and not their beauty.

The interesting point to note is that you will never hear a young/beautiful lady say this, every woman that can use sexual empowerment just uses it while she can, then the same woman when she's past her prime will begin complaining about how unfair it is to compete with the beauty of a 20 year old girl.  

In short, hypocrites.

Great article.  Everyone has a hidden talent.  Many of those talents start as a seed and need to be nurtured to their full potential.

On an unrelated note,  when did @steemed-open get her tattoo? She appears to still be a blank canvas in this pic.

Great discussion, Sean. Reminds me a bit of a post I did on determinism. I think humans love to create symbols and connections to things in order to understand what they can't currently comprehend. The nature vs. nurture discussion is a good example. We don't yet know the impact of cultural norms on our development, or how epigenetics trigger various gene expressions, or how our DNA shapes our future. It's all relatively new stuff and until we can simulate all of human existence, including our unique, individual brains, we may never fully understand it. :)

I like your post.

I want to add, that beauty is a more fleeting value and usually only benefits the individual.
Intelligence can benefit society as a whole.
I think that's why it's more respected.

There are a lot of sad, lonely women, who believed they 'earned' their way in the world, but have come to realise that they only had their looks work for them.

Yes! I dont know how many times I grew up with people telling me I was lucky I was so beautiful, including my family. What kind of examples are you trying to set for your kids? Teaching them that beauty is so important is parenting failure in my book. Why not teach your kids about what is going on in the world and that there is always something you can do to help! Like the earth, only planet we have. Teach them the importance of our planet, not beauty. Neither will last forever and one is certainly more important than the other!

I disagree with your analysis. There is no scientific evidence that anyone is born with a better brain. It is the logical steps and rational analysis that makes people exceptional. Do you think @ned or @dan was born with some extra brain power? Nopes. They have the same brain as of you and me, but they used it properly to create this beautiful Steem platform. Hence, they earned it.