I would definitely agree that we should rely on our own intelligence. The only problem is that as I look around, I see that younger people are used to getting information (well, almost) instantly, and so they do tend to be quite impatient; at the same time they do not want to invest their time and efforts into research to find answers to their 'problems'.

Oh, and modern education doesn't help it either - students are allowed to use their iPods to record teachers' lectures, the use of calculators and computers allows them not to run "complex" calculations in their head, and so on... Looks like soon youngsters will not know how to read, write, or do math by themselves, without using all the gadgets...
Ironically, it seems that best computer 'wizzards' are people who can do very well without a computer... It's like that: If you can think, you can use a computer to be much more productive, but computer can't do the thinking part for you.

Just to make it clear: when I talk about age and being young, I mean 'mental age', or 'level of maturity' if you wish... I am 27 myself but sometimes when i'm outdoors, I feel like I'm surrounded by a bunch of kids... In that sense, any Perl Monk seems to be between 30 and 40 - the age when all the potential is fully utilized and there's still a long road ahead till Alzheimer's :)