How: Dave Eggers’s The Circle Redefines a Hypothetical Concept into a Standardized Meaning

“Intelligence is a hypothetical concept, rather than a tangible entity, that is used by psychologists and other scientists to explain differences in the quality and adaptive value of the behavior of humans and, to some extent, animals. Its meaning and the theoretical models used to explore it are as varied as the field of psychology itself.” Ebscohost.com

When does enough become enough when analyzing, synthesizing, and directing intelligence? Don’t get me wrong, intelligence is what brings us new inventions and discoveries every day and I commend the ones who are responsible. In the book The Circle by Dave Eggers, I see the main character (Mae) as a manikin that wears clothes desired by everyone, but that clothing is the only set in the whole world. Unbeknownst to the people of this world, the creators of these clothes are using it to form opinions in the way, shape, and form to reach their desire. Basically, the circle as a corporation is an overgrown computer club that was started by a handful of people in order to discover, obtain, and “share” information in order to gain this so called “intelligence”. However, they have it all wrong, the world wasn’t formed from all people sharing the same knowledge. It was shaped from the individual societies sharing and discovering more and more over time. What sense does it make to have a single company develop what seems to be the perfect system so that everyone will be a part of an “identically opinionated circle” (A world where everyone is expected to have the same train of thought, which happens to run on the same train track, destined for a non-diverse and all gray world. The Encyclopedia of Health published in January of 2014 gives us the breakdown of why diverse intelligence provides greater opportunity for mankind.

“The idea that human beings differ in their capacity to adapt to their environments, to learn from experience, to exercise various skills, and in general to succeed at various endeavors has existed since ancient times. Intelligence is the attribute most often singled out as responsible for successful adaptations.” Ebscohost.com

It is common, these days, to have a conversation with someone all the while thinking that the other person is of lesser intelligence than you. Stupidity is an instantaneous judgement made by most when talking to a person who lacks proper manners/dialect. This reminds me of an event in The Circle (page 186) where Mae is having a simple conversation with Denise and Josiah and things turn into an offensive opinion war.

“You kayaked?” Josiah said. “Where?”

“Just in the bay.”

“With who?”

“No one. Just alone.”

Denise and Josiah looked hurt.

“I kayak,” Josiah Said, and then typed something in his tablet pressing very hard.

“How often do you kayak?” Denise asked Mae.

“Maybe once every few weeks?”

Josiah was looking intently at his tablet. “Mae, I’m looking at your profile, I’m finding nothing about you and kayaking. No smiles, no ratings, no posts, nothing. And now you’re telling me you kayak once every few weeks?”

“Well, maybe it’s less than that?”

Mae laughed, but Denise and Josiah did not. Josiah continued to stare at his screen, while Denise’s eyes probed into Mae.

This conversation reminds me of an ancient Roman gladiator fight, except it is two gladiators on horse and carriage with swords versus one gladiator with only his self-dignity. It is almost as if Denise and Josiah are trying to strip Mae of her self-dignity. After all, the only reason the two were acting salty and obnoxious was because they had no knowledge of one of Mae’s hobbies. Although, that hobby of Mae’s was intended to not be shared because it is one of her releases from the rest of the world. If that doesn’t clearly represent my opinion on this topic in the book, then the statement made by Josiah a little later in the text will certainly help clarify a little better. After Mae explains that she identifies the wildlife she sees (while kayaking) with a “foldable guide” A.K.A. a pamphlet, and this is how Josiah reacts:

“Josiah rolled his eyes. “No, I mean, this is a tangent, but my problem with paper is that all communication dies with it. It holds no possibility of continuity. You look at your paper brochure, and that’s where it ends. It ends with you. Like you’re the only one who matters. But think if you’d been documenting. If you’d been using a tool that would help confirm the identity of whatever birds you saw, then anyone can benefit- Naturalists, students, historians, the Coast Guard. Everyone can know, then, what birds were on the bay that day. It’s just maddening, thinking of how much knowledge is lost every day through this kind of shortsightedness. And I don’t want to call it selfish but-“­­­”

This is exactly what I am sourcing my opinion from. No, Josiah shouldn’t want to call it selfish because it isn’t. He is the one promoting selfishness. Why give someone the option of watching another person’s hobby at just the click of a button? All the while, they are missing out on their potential hobby, which has yet to be discovered due to watching some girl have the time of her life on a kayak. This is what I call selfish. The Circle portrays a world in which the standards are set high in the eyes of lower class and not-so intelligent young people. These young people are what shape the future for their children and so on, But in this story, they’re doing more cloning than shaping.

This book gives me similar vibes throughout its entirety. For every “ying” you do in life there is a “yang” that comes along with it, and The Circle is producing and managing all of its “yings” on credit with its “yangs” (the bill) dangling above society like an industrial sized anvil. Embedding identical intelligence into the youth will cause problems with the way the world turns. Point. Blank. Period.