Buffy is, like, smarter than David Hume and St. Thomas Aquinas. Seriously.

[stoney321]

I am having a major thought attack. A new book is out and it's absolutely fascinating to me. "Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking" has captured my brain and isn't letting go. The new philosophical mindset that it discusses could be shortened to Buffyism. And shows the genius of our girl. Don't believe me?

The premise of the book is "the less thinking and consulting you do, the better off you will be." Gladwell backs up this theory with miles of study on people such as cops, triage doctors, teachers, cooks, mothers, CEOs, you get the idea. The concept of "mother's intuition" isn't intuition, but snap, or "Blink Thinking." You have a sense that your child is in danger. In your subconscious, you Blinked the knowledge of: bike, rain, crazy friend, should be home already... Child is in danger.

Doctors in the ER have had years of experience in snap decisions. They retain the knowledge that led to sucess and drop the choices (all in the subconscious in theory) that led to death, etc. So someone comes in with something the docs have never seen before and based on snap decisions, the doc in charge makes a choice of treatment and saves the guys life. Because seconds count, and the doctor has learned to rely on her "instinct."

So how does this mean that Buffy is smarter than, say, Aristotle or John Locke? Buffy would reject (if she was faced with the word, because she rejected it in theory many times) the notion of Empiricism, which states that our theories should be based on our observations, rather than our intuition. The Watcher's Council entire philosophy is based on Empiricism. They study, they read, they experiment (in completely controlled environments) and as a result, their actions are arcane and stilted. Here comes our girl who fights with instinct. She relies on her instinct more than her book learning. At one point, Giles is angry with her for not wanting to "train" with a book-taught method. She sighs, he blindfolds her, hands her a ball, and hides, sniggering to himself that she hasn't studied enough of this particular method of "hunting" to find him with the ball. Without much thinking, Buffy bounces the ball off the wall and beans Giles in the head. She smiles and leaves.

According to Empiricism, "jumping to conclusions" is the worst thing possible. Today's method of thinking and solving problems encourages long detailed discussions, research, question the research, consult other theories, on and on. Buffy ALWAYS jumps to conclusions. Her Blink Thinking is without long, over-processed thought, and she is always right. A perfect example is her roommate in college. She immediately comes to the conclusion that the roomie is evil and should be killed. The Scoobie gang doesn't trust her, goes to extraordinary lengths to change her mind, and Buffy is proven to have been right all along.

Buffy immediately assumes an earthquake in Season 4 is a portent of doom. She (once again) is pooh pooh'd for her "rash" thinking. Guess what? It was yet another apocolypse. If she was able to sit still long enough and study Rene Descartes, she would have understood him completely. He argued that the source of all knowledge was human reason. If you start with intuitively-understood basic principles, you can deductively derive the truth without overblown research and analysis. Now the big question (for me, at least) is how is this instinct inherent?

Here's my theory, and I think it's founded in canon, even though Joss said he doesn't know science. NERD ALERT:

Slayers are genetically predisposed to be slayers. We know there is something in their biology that makes them unique. Their blood carries a certain property that makes it identifiable as "slayer's blood." this is referred to by Spike, by Faith and the Mayor, and by research from Willow and Oz. For the sake of my husband's glee, I'll refer to it as "midichlorians." And because Andrew called it that, as well.

There is a genetic heredity in slayers. Giles and Buffy discussed in Season 5 the passing on of previous slayers knowledge from one generation to the next. Since most slayers were far less successful than Buffy, it is possible that the previous slayers lacked the time to explore this inherent knowledge. Buffy is able to meditate (and do the hokey pokey in the desert) to connect to the First Slayer (in fact, the First Slayer comes to Buffy to share knowledge and advice on two separate occasions with her). For the sake of the panties that are getting in a wad with my husband about this, we'll say it is a mystic heredity. Joyce does not carry this in her.

I will go out on a limb and say that this "midichlorians" in the slayers is there from birth. Kendra was taken away at birth to be raised and trained. Something identified her from the beginning as a Potential. Same goes for the Potentials of Season 7, as well. Something about them (okay, honey!) mystically set them apart, but it resides in their biology. (Slayer's blood is different than other humans' blood.)

Buffy shatters the "tabula rasa" theory of empiricism. If we are born with a "blank slate," we wouldn't have the instinct to suckle, the knowledge to cry, the inherent reflexes we are all born with. In the "Tabula Rasa" episode, they are all "wiped clean" and revert to their true, pure selves. This helps the homosexual cause as Willow KNOWS she is gay and is instinctively attracted to Tara, and vice versa. Buffy immediately seeks to protect the weak, in this case, Dawn. When confronted with vampires, she is afraid, but when she is forced to make a Blink Thought, she stakes and kills a vampire. She has inherently retained the ability to fight, and to fight like a slayer.

I'd go a step further and say that Buffy's Blink Thinking is what saved the world over and over. Routinely she left the gang to research while she fought. They poured over books and papers while she did what she did best. "React to a bunch of vampires." Blink Thinking is a more modern approach to Rationalism, but that just puts Ms. Summers in the company of Kant and Descartes. And I'll wrap this geek-fest up with the words of Giles: I can defeat you with my intellect.

/end dorkfest

And let's not forget how well Buffy did on her SATs. And without studying. I need to back away from the coffee. Oh, look! Football!

Comments

[inlovewithnight.livejournal.com]

Iiiiiiiiiinteresting. ::makes note of title/author:: Good stuff.

Your brain is squishy and full of Good Things.

I'm laughing hard at that icon. What are you trying to say?

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Holy crap, the book is so good. This is the guy who wrote The Tipping Point, another interesting read.

I am, quite possibly, full of shit. And caffeine.

This is what happens when I stay up late with my husband, extolling the virtues of Buffy and turn him to the light.

[sangpassionne.livejournal.com]

Like that. But what does it say about vamps?

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

How do you mean? I know that throughout the series it has been mentioned by Angel and Spike (and argued against by Buffy) that thoughts and so forth of the human are carried over when you become a demon.

SO what are your thoughts and questions? I'm hopped up on coffee and have dug out my old philosophy text books. And possibly the Monty Python's ditty: Philosopher's Song...

[mirasol.livejournal.com]

So basically thinking things through gets us into trouble?
Yes, I can go along with that - sometimes it would have been better for me to go with my gut instinct on things.

A good, well-reasoned and explained look into why Buffy kicks major ass - as well as not being the dumb blonde she's expected to be.

As a side note, I really can't believe that Joss wrote this bit from The Freshman -
Xander: You up for a little reconnaissance?
Buffy: You mean where we all sculpt and paint and stuff?
Xander: No, that was the renaissance.
I like it on the one hand because it's a succinct quote showing that Xander isn't as dumb as some still assume. However, I hate it because Buffy SHOULDN'T have made that mistake. And Joss wrote that episode!
My faith is shaken to the core.

[mirasol.livejournal.com]

Jumping in here with a teeny comment. The humans that have been turned don't appear to be completely new personalities - and surely Angel and Spike would be in a better position to know about this than Buffy?
What they do seem to lack is a sense of guilt, whether this is through losing their soul or gaining a demon I can't say.

[sangpassionne.livejournal.com]

I guess it's the tabula rasa thing. Like a slayer, a vampire isn't a tabula rasa when it's 'born'. It carries over the personality of the original person whose body it stole. And yet it couldn't have inherited all their instincts - unless you argue that killing is instinctive in all humans, which is a tad Hobbesean for me.

So, using your model, it's blink think would be demonic, whereas it's rational thought would be that of the human it used to be, I think. And what does that mean for Randy?


Or maybe not. I haven't had enough tea. Or perhaps too much.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

OOoh, I'm so happy with your comment. One one hand, I completley reject the idea of a "blank slate." I like Joss' version: paring away the insecurities and the like to reveal your true self (in which, Dawn is shown to be a wanker. Ha!) if we go from the episode.

About Vampires... I wonder if you could argue that they transcend our philosophies and theories due to 1) they aren't human, 2) they aren't real. KIDDING!

Perhaps the "inherent instincts" could be discussed like the "inherent slayer insticts." It's something that is a "genetic makeup" of the vampire itself. I mean, they aren't alive, they don't have blood that pumps through their veins, so why doesn't the blood break down in their bodies, how could they recover from bruises, etc. I think I'm going to keep my head from exploding and focus on humans only with this.

I will read any thing you have to say further on it. Really interesting concept. But I think I broke my brain.

Perhaps you could argue Spike's humanity on the "Randy" element. his blink think was that he was a human. Oooh, I like this train of thought...

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

"Thinking things through gets us into trouble" yeah, pretty much the philosophy. I don't the guy is drawing a line in the sand (I'm not finished with the book) but the idea is this is something that has been lost, and it isn't a good thing. We should stop saying that 'rash decisions" and "gut instincts" are bad.

So I used Buffy to prove him right. I mean, how many times did the girl save the world?

I'm going to pretend that Joss was just re-working his premise in his head with that line... *BG*

[mskakaako.livejournal.com]

You know I love you for your BRAIN and not just your body, right?
Wowee kazowee! <--Look how intelligent and literate *I* am!
You fill your brain with brainy stuff and I fill it with fart jokes and dumb laffs. Is never thinking the same as 'blink' thinking? Here's hoping! Um, can synapses atrophy? But, then...if Buffy is smart, maybe I am too!!!

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

I bet you use "blink thinking" in the classroom ALL DAY LONG. Do you have what people would consider "instinct" about certain kids? What's going on at home? if one of those snot-nosed brats was lying to you? See: you're Buffy.

Whatcha doing?

[sangpassionne.livejournal.com]

Bruises break down because the body is returning to it's previous state. Though how you can argue that and still have Harmony worrying about the fat content in pig's blood is beyond me.

I think that the reason why Randy was the way he was, is because Spike is pure construct. I'd argue that the demon's instinct is much like any animal's - it kills to feed and, when not hungry, the blood lust is quiet. Anything more is not blink think, it's instinct filtered through the rational human brain. Hence Angelus - on his own - would be much like the demon as we saw it in Pylea. Will kill in defence and for food, but can be lured away by Fred with blood. Note he didn't kill Fred, just fed. Once you introduce Liam into the equation, with all his hang ups and prejudices, you get evil bastard Angelus. Likewise, demon William will happily kill when he's turned but when he stops to think, he turns his mum. Randy, I would argue, is probably more like demon William was when he was first 'born', before Angelus fucked him over a few times and he invented Spike to protect himself.

Does that make any sense at all?

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

It does, and I agree about the construct of Spike and the trueness of Randy=William the (younger) Bloody.

I will stick to my earlier statement that this theory is meant to be applied to humans. Hee!

The whole demon/human inside/ do they poo stuff isn't the idea of this, and quite frankly makes my head hurt... I think I would veer off into Anne Rice-isms, and we all know what a freak she is.

(And from a phisiological stand point, bruises break down due to blood flow, which doesn't occur in vampires, and Stoney, Vampires aren't real so drop it.)

Do you think YOU Blink Think? My husband and I have been talking about this for days. He does in certain situations, I do all the time. Not to say I'm smarter, I just don't analyze things until AFTER I've decided, you know?

[mskakaako.livejournal.com]

Trying to YIM you!

[sangpassionne.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I certainly blink think, though how successful it is, I don't know. Some of my best/worst decisions have been made that way. Interestingly, I'd say anything involving the health and well being of the people and animals around me are best managed on blink think. Career and such things are better managed by rational thought.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Interesting. And I completely forgot to put in the part about Buffy doing the complete opposite with her love life. She constantly rethinks and second guesses her romantic life and asks everyone for their opinion and STILL gets it wrong.

I need to slow down when it comes to certain things, but mainly I'd say I'm doing okay with the blink think. Can you tell that I highly recommend this book? It's very interesting...

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

getting on line!

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

oh, oh, oh! and I've got another one for you.

who's the counterpoint to Buffy on this? that would be our Head Boy. he reads a prophecy that tells him Angel is going to kill Connor and even though everything in him tells him it can't be true, he studies and he agonizes, and he listens to stupid people, and he talks to hamburgers. and then with the best intentions, he ruins everybody's life. *apologizes to Wes for pointing this out. pets him. smooches him. pets him some more8

sorry, where was I? oh yes, when he overcomes all those filters and acts on instinct -- shooting his fake dad, f'rinstance -- he's a big damn hero. but it's hard for him to do that. . .

of course, there must be bad blink thinkers as well as good ones. . .um, Faith? is there a Faith in the house?

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

see, though, it's a recurring theme that Buffy always gets the names of things wrong. (one of the reasons that I love writing her -- "You know, that law firm. Heartworm & Wolf.") I don't think there's any intention of showing that she's dumb, or even not book smart. If anything, it indicates a higher-than-average verbal intelligence - that she's thinking about words a lot, to the point that they get jumbled up in her head, and also that she uses language impulsively. If you asked Joss, I'm sure he'd say that if you sat Buffy down and asked her the difference between Renaissance and reconnaisance, she'd know.

Willow & Wesley are much bigger with the "names of things" type of intelligence, but they don't necessarily process it as well as she does.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

GAH!!! Yes!! Wesley is the KING of empirical knowledge and thinking. Every good scholar knows his Thomas Aquinas, right? Think back to the Thomas Aquinas joke in Beer Bad. Wow. My nerdery knows no bounds.

As to Faith... Mr. Stoney and I talked at length how Faith did NOT have Blink Thinking. She is more akin to an animal (or vampires: want take have) than to the human inherent/instictual thinking of higher brain power. She is the QUEEN of bad split decisions. I think this is perfectly illustrated with the killing of the Mayor's guy. Wham! Bam! But Buffy knew IMMEDIATELY that he was human. Her instinct is to go to Giles or the police and straighten it out. She listens to Faith's "blink think" and it's obviously the wrong choice.

I loved the moments of heroism with Wes. Even in the first episodes of Angel (with him) when they have him as the slapstick, silly ponce, he has flashes of just action and he's terrific. The book would argue that he should trust all of the moments building up to the "fight" or moment, or what have you, and let him trust his gut when faced with a decision. And he did with the father-shoot, and it was RIGHT.

I wonder if he threw up because it signaled a need to depart the epiricism of his father/watcher's council, which means striking out on his own and trusting himself, which he was taught to NEVER do.

I am so in love with this conversation.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Willow is another fun one to do the Blink Think extrapolation on.

She is BIG with blink thinking. And it gets to the core of who she is. Perfect example: magic on OZ. magic on Glory. magic on Sunnydale.

I don't think Xander takes enough time off of "linoleum=sex. boobies, naked, boobies, sex" train of thought to allow himself to blink think. He did on occassion (army knowledge.. OOH!! That opens a whole other can of worms... In-laws have arrived. More later.

[kita0610.livejournal.com]

Does that make any sense at all?
------------------------------------------------------------------------



Somewhat. It's the Spike must be speshul argument that makes me cringe.

In Spin the Bottle, Angel defaults to human as well. He doesn't think he's a vampire any more than Spike does.

I would argue that a vampire's default Blinkthink is human (body memories are after all pretty powerful stuff, and vampires, as you say, retain the human host's memories and personality to an extent, albeit warped by the demon). However, the demon is more powerful than what remains of the human inside the skin, and when combined, we get demon which is the same no matter who it inhabits+human who displays genetic and evolutionary differences on the broadest scale possible= vampires who are all different from one another.

I find it hard to believe, for example, that Dalton's default setting wouldn't have been human as well.

[kita0610.livejournal.com]

I am so in love with this conversation.

Me too. Also, I may be in love with you for starting it.

[mirasol.livejournal.com]

Don't get me wrong, I totally agree that Buffy is prone to malapropisms (Al Franken, anybody?) and they always make me grin. I can see that her brain is working faster than her mouth, which sometimes leaves the wrong word coming out.

What seems wrong to me about that little exchange is that Buffy attaches the wrong definition to a word someone else has used, and it's a word that I can see them using often. It's almost like her misunderstanding "research" or "stake".
The exchange is humourous, and on first viewing, believeable. Just on later viewings I find it clunky and, perhaps, a gag too far. Just my opinion, though, and you know what they're as prevalent as... coz everybody's got one. *g*

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

I can agree that spike isn't special in many ways. I think they try to make him something unique in cannon, but then, I would argue the same about Angel.

All in all, your explanation above makes a lot of sense. Earlier in this thread, though, I said that I can't quite get my brain around the concept of blink think (as explained in the book) to apply to vampires. Mainly because of the demon element that throws everything off kilter.

Poor little Scoobies. Always left out in the cold... Who wants to tackle Giles?