I'm smart but I'm not smart enough.

Not smart enough for what?

For the task ahead of me.

And what task is that?

Why, the same task facing every human being alive today.  Keeping the human species going as long as possible, at least another couple thousand years, if we can.

Why do you say that?

Despite the fact that the Cold War died down quite some time ago, the big thing that made us afraid the whole time is still there.  There are enough bombs to wipe us all off the face of the earth.  And we have to make sure that doesn't happen.

And how are you going to make sure that doesn't happen?

I don't know.  Like I said, I'm not smart enough.  I just hope that, collectively, we are.

...

The secret is culture.  Culture, and intellect, are unique among evolutionary traits.  Sharp teeth, thick skin, camouflage, all of these things serve a specific evolutionary purpose.  But our brains?  Our intellect?  They have managed to get us ahead in the food chain terms of things, but the evolutionary purpose of intellect and society is much harder to get your head around than that for something like claws, or eyes.

...

The idea is that culture, like anything else life engages in, is an evolutionary mechanism.  Societal constructs of things like attractiveness help favorable traits to persist, and the most favorable evolutionary trait in a human, any human, is the mind more than the body.  When a culture loses sight of this, it loses evolutionary ground and falls within a few generations behind those who recognize the value of creativity and abstract thought enough to find it sexy.

...

I want to be sexy, is what I'm saying.