What do you know and Why do you know it?

Back in the hey-day of the British Empire, circa 18th & 19th Century, if you were upper class, you proved it by knowing everything Greek & Roman. There was constant reference to Aristotle this, Narcissus that, Peristalsis this, Hydra-headed that. The schools of the privileged taught the kids all this Greek and Roman knowledge and you proved you were upper class by laughing at clever references to this fund of knowledge.

Those of you reading this post, and the person writing it, don't know diddly about the Aztecs, except that Hernan Cortez tricked them out of Mexico. You don't know squat the creation myths of the American Plains Indians. The list is endless of things about which we know nothing. One of the most important facts that we should be taught is that speaking categorically, humans barely know enough to come in out of the rain.

Luckily for the vast majority of the herd, there are individuals who want to know more about a certain topic than is currently known. These people have the Curious George gene. Without these people, with this gene, or gene set, Homo sapiens would still be Homo scratch-his-assiens.

But whom does society reward? A hint, it's not the knowledge gatherers. Too many of us have become Homo trendiens. So in today's culture we prove our superiority by knowing the names of the American Idols finalists. Zeus must be weeping.