Intellectual Yet Idiot: The Thing from Another World (1951)

The term Intellectual Yet Idiot (IYI) was first coined by Nassim Nicholas Talebis. He defines an IYI as “paternalistic semi-intellectual experts with some Ivy league, Oxford-Cambridge, or similar label-driven education who are telling the rest of us… what to do… how to think…”

An IYI is highly educated and intelligent. Because of his academic learning, he will often reject the viewpoints of the common man. The chief character flaw of an IYI is hubris: “excessive pride or overconfidence, which drives a person to overstep limits in a way that leads to their downfall.” When an intellectual has hubris, he can become an idiot.

In Christian Nyby’s The Thing From Another World (1951) Dr. Arthur Carrington (Robert Cornthwaite) is an Intellectual Yet Idiot. He doesn’t want the Thing to be destroyed, even after it murders people. Instead, he believes the alien can be reasoned with because of its superior knowledge.

Carrington is an intelligent man. A Nobel prize winner, one of his character flaws is an obsession with knowledge. He says, “knowledge is more important than life.” He doesn’t want the Thing to be destroyed because its knowledge would benefit mankind. He doesn’t tell the captain that the Thing was in the greenhouse, which results in two men being murdered. Carrington’s obsession with knowledge has given him poor judgment.  

Unlike the other characters in the film, Carrington never laughs or tells a joke. He takes himself very seriously. He is confident in everything he says and never regrets his choices. Carrington is a proud man, and his pride makes him overconfident.

When a person is proud and overconfident, they believe they are always right. Carrington is blind to the obvious: the Thing is an evil monster that cannot be reasoned with. Although he says the Thing only regards humans as important for food, he denies the creature has come to conquer Earth. He believes the Thing is a victim who only acts in self-defence. Carrington is an idiot because he doesn’t believe an alien with advanced technology could be evil.

When an idiot is overconfident in a belief, they often act upon it. In the climax of the film, Carrington’s belief about the Thing is put to the test when he tries to become its friend. Soon after, the creature strikes him down, breaking his collarbone. If a man has hubris, he can only overcome it through failure. Carrington’s beliefs about the Thing are proven wrong through his experience. He survives his injury, and he may have learned some degree of humility as a result.

The Thing from Another World shows us why we shouldn’t always listen to intellectuals. They may have more knowledge than the common man, but that doesn’t mean they have greater wisdom. No matter how intelligent or highly educated a person is, they can still lack common sense.