Humans are an intellectual beings.

Wow, my computer has been acting up lately, but I'm back for some rebuttals; 1. Failure to control emotions - Your criticism of our failure to control our emotions is a noted one, but it doesn't make sense when you get down to the core of it. Since when did humans have to control our emotions all the time to be considered intelligent. Throughout history, extremely intelligent men and women have made blunders, but that doesn't mean we lack intelligence. Intelligence can still be compatible with emotions, such as in the case of brutality. I don't want to get to graphic here, but if you have a victim (for any reason), it would be more intelligent to gang up on them than to go in alone. This emotional response is wrong on almost all accounts, but as already stated; intelligence comprises of many factors, including working together, for right or for wrong. 2. Space and technology - I agree, staying with our current models and technologies of space exploration would make our push away from Earth far slower over time, but you also must remember, we still need to discover, produce (on a mass scale) and sell these future technologies. Materials such as carbon nano-tubes have taken years to create, and it will be even more years before we can actually create them on a mass scale. Using our intellect and combined knowledge, we will be able to achieve this in far fewer years than ever before. 3. Global warming - I get the point you're trying to make, but humans had the knowledge they were limited to before the evidence for global warming began to appear in the 1950's. If we did not have the knowledge beforehand, we would never of known what could, or could not have happened. This is the same as the nuclear bomb; debate raged over what the bomb could do, and it would be humans first testing of it in 1945 in which we finally found out. Whilst this didn't stop us from dropping the bomb on Japan, we have been able to learn from these mistakes, and since WW2, we have been able to avoid nuclear war, using our knowledge and intellect. We now have the knowledge and intelligence to be able to bind together and stop global warming in very much the same manner as avoiding nuclear war since 1945. My final thought on this point is that governments are combining quickly to put an end to climate change and the runaway greenhouse effect. The Kyoto protocol has been in effect since 1997, and in that time, the vast majority of nation-states have joined (with either binding or non-binding) targets of ending global warming. The same goes with the internal USA; whilst the government may support growth of the polluting corporations, the majority of citizens within the US do want to protect and defend the environment. Just because a minority of humans are "not intelligent" doesn't mean the rest are. 4. Medical advances - Yes, many advances have occured by accident, but a large amount has not. Take Louis Pasteur for instance; his advances in the field of micro-biology, vaccines and medicine have significantly improved the health and well-being of men, women and children across the globe. Taking the knowledge and information he had been given, he used his intellect to make significant leaps forward for the human race. Whilst his story may only be one, it is one of many, as thousands, if not millions of humans throughout history have been able to set aside differences and work together, using the knowledge they had available, and advance as a species using their collective intelligence. Conclusion - Intelligence comes in many forms, either for good or for bad, it encompasses many aspects. From the deceleration of a war, to the ability to work together to advance humans overall well-being, we use our collective knowledge and intelligence to move forward everyday. And whilst some, the vast minority for instance, may have other plans for our world and our species, I can assure you that the vast majority is ready and willing to actually use the organ between their ears and progress.