  So, hi. When I first saw this blog, I whined to Tanner that he hadn't invited me to join. Then I noticed that he had, repeatedly, but he'd been sending the invites to my old address. Then the invites didn't work. But I'm here now! Really! And now, in the interest of saying something meaningful, I will recount once more a conversation I had this afternoon over lunch on my break from nerd camp, which and oldish friendish kind of person is also attending.
Somehow we stumbled upon the subject of good and evil. Him: So, do you think that intelligence is good, benign, or evil? Me: (confused) I'm not really sure. I suppose I would hesitate to categorize it as any of those. Him: Well, _______ told me she believes that intelligence is inherently good, and therefore "evil geniuses" naturally have some defect, as in they were never really intelligent at all.
Me: Interesting. (long, pensive pause) I suppose it's very difficult to decide, since it requires a very generalized and absolute statement. I certainly wouldn't call it benign, because that implies that it can do no evil, and therefore it might as well be good. But I wouldn't call it good, either. I guess I think of it as a tool, and whether it's good or evil depends on how you use it. Him: (echoing) Depends on how you use it. Me: (thinking to myself) I totally stole that from Spider-Man 2.
But on my way back to class, I thought about it a bit more, and the tool analogy is very fitting after all. Hammers are neither good nor evil. A hammer exists. It can be used. It has no will, no bent towards good or evil. But when someone picks up the hammer, they can use it to build a house, or to destroy or even kill.
This is not the hammer's fault. The hammer did not tell the person to destroy or kill; the hammer didn't even make suggestions. There is nothing in the nature of the hammer that implies it must be used for either good or evil. If intelligence is inherently good, it negates all the cunningness and wit of these "evil geniuses," and it's obvious that many of the most "evil" people in history have also been extremely intelligent.
If it's inherently evil, shouldn't we all strive to be oblivious and vapid? (It seems as though far too many religious zealots seem to answer that question with a resounding yes, as though independent thought can somehow lead to Satanism, and blind acceptance of whatever we're told is the only thing that can save us. ) Use your hammers in whatever way you see fit, but when someone calls you evil, don't blame the hammer. 
