Robert Anton Wilson said something along the lines of this (can't find the real quote online now):

The Ultimate Intelligence Test:

• If you are feeling that the world is bigger, brighter, more enjoyable and fuller of opportunities with every day, you are getting more intelligent.
• If you are feeling that the world is smaller, darker, less enjoyable and lacking opportunities with every day, you are getting dumber.

For me, this is one of the most therapeutic sentences that you can give to "rationalists" (like most programmers are).

Christian Lemburg
Brainbench MVP for Perl
http://www.brainbench.com