"Were the Ancient Greeks Smarter Than Us?" (and are smartphones really smart?)

Mr. Mathew Smith has asked us a question today. He says:

 "I was recently reading about ancient Greek history, and it struck me that, thought many seem to think--and say--that society and people have greatly improved since the ancient times, the ancient Greek architecture, and everything they made, seems to exceed modern things in many respects. For example, though the ancients lacked many tools and technology, their buildings and sculptures and other works seem often to be much more beautiful and well made than many of those made in the 21st century. If you can, please explain more about this and why this is. 

Thank you."

To illustrate Mr. Smith's point, compare these photos of an ancient Greek building (left) to a 21st century building (right).

Humans in ancient times had very creative brains and were highly capable of independent thinking, even with empty hands. In modern days, many humans are sadly disabled, with the power to think straight only with a certain object in their hands. This object is sometimes known as an iPad or computer, but is more commonly a "smart phone", an object not very common among the ancient Greeks. 

Let's look more at the science of it. As you can see from the drawings below, the ancient Greeks' brains were the source of their ideas. Their thoughts were connected to their brain, which sent messages to other parts of their body. Thus thinking, though it could take some time, came directly from the brain. 

(Some) modern humans (seen in the left of the picture above) have no such mechanism. Their brain is connected to the object held in their hand (which they typically bend over), where the thought takes its source. The thought then travels to the human's brain, where they can then send a message to any parts of the body--if the thought involves moving. Often this range of movement is restricted to eating pizza, or getting in your car to go to what is, according to your phone, the best fast food place in town--with a working drive thru, of course, so you don't need to get out of your car. 

As you can see, then, for the ancients, the thought originated in the brain, then it sent out the message. However, for modern humans, the thought originates in the phone (I refrain from calling it a "smart" phone), travels to your brain, then to wherever your brain sends it, creating a zig-zag. 

Because of these people's reliance on a "smart" phone, and because all of their ideas come from it, they never have to come up with their own ideas--ideas originating in their brain--and so, often, they become incapable of it. 

So now we come to the question: is a "smart" phone really smart? If so, then why would Mr. Smith ever have to ask his question? Why do the modern people whose brains are connected to the phone not seem to be able to emulate, or even work up to the level of the ancient Greeks? 

If a "smart" phone is taken to be smart, and replaces the brain, it gains control. If a person's brain is connected to the phone, the person becomes incapable of imagining new, beautiful things through their brain and doing them well. This is probably why the ancient Greeks, who got ideas and thoughts from their brains, seemed to be able to put much more thought and effort into things, and create more beautiful things than many people do today. 

I said "many" and not "all" for a reason. There are those--even today--whose thoughts originate in their brain. Are you one of them? We hope so.