"Let's see, Paulita, what is Don José missing?" These are the words of a teacher, played by Laly Soldevila, to the children of a rural school in post-war Castilla. The scene belongs to The Spirit of the Beehive, the best Spanish film, signed 50 years ago by Víctor Erice. Don José is a doll to which the students glue the different organs of the body, until it is Ana's turn, played by Ana Torrent. She discovers, eyes like headlights, what the doll is missing: "The eyes."
Don José seemed complete, but he lacked the ability to see. Like us: the more data and technology, the less we know who we are and what we want. Here is the paradox. If our body were a puzzle and we were asked which piece is missing, another Ana would answer: "Intelligence." The more scientific pieces we introduce into the figure of man, the more humanist pieces of the same puzzle –education, democracy, ethics, reflection– we push towards the margins and they jump out of the figure. That is: operational intelligence increases, but social intelligence recedes, through no fault of either.
Before, extraterrestrial intelligence was a concern and now artificial intelligence, when human intelligence as a whole continues to be incomplete and erratic. Are we as smart as we think? The world seems to become dehumanized and lose mental maturity. We perceive less curiosity, irony and tolerance. Is there a television program on literature, science or social debate? Is there interest in the humanities in a university with already parameters of a “knowledge industry”? If essay manuscripts hardly reach publishers! So we are not going to be able to complete our puzzle and show it happy. To understand the world and ourselves we are missing a key piece: a mature and open intelligence.
Data and instruments –information– we already have them and they will not be lacking. What we lack are clarity and values –communication–, what we are displacing towards the margins and deprives the puzzle of El ser humano of the possibility of being completed. Science and humanities, technology and culture are not communicating vessels, but they should be. If Don José lacked eyes, the current figure of man needs to be more intelligent.
