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I wonder when we're going to collectively realize that this epidemic of stupidity is by far the greatest threat facing humanity. It's the reason we're having so

I wonder when we're going to collectively realize that this epidemic of stupidity is by far the greatest threat facing humanity. It's the reason we're having so much trouble addressing all our other problems, e.g. corrupt government, climate change, etc...

bshipp 7y ago
I can't agree with that conclusion. There are plenty of brilliant idiots and idiotic geniuses in the world and it can often be more difficult to change the mind of a "smart" person who has drawn the wrong conclusions than a simple person who has done the same. Individuals who draw their sense of self-worth from their perceived intelligence a more likely to stand their ground, argue semantics, and log every cheap rhetorical grenade they can until they are blue in the face. For evidence of the irrationality of intelligent people, I proffer the example of every pointless university faculty departmental meeting, ever.
- rnernento 7y ago
  Yeah, the legions of academics are definitely the reason the world is going to go to shit because of climate change. I'm sure they're also the ones who voted Trump into power. I bet they have very few good ideas about how to reduce corruption in government.
  - bshipp 7y ago
    The reason climate change is such a difficult political problem to handle is that it requires significant upfront cost but the resulting benefits are difficult to forecast and measure. As a society, we've encountered this time and time again over the past century. Think back to the whole 'acid rain' theme some of us lived through growing up. The phenomenon was discovered in 1972, but it took over 20 years before legislation with teeth was actually implemented, and 30 years before significant reductions were measured. And this was on a phenomenon with relatively few point sources responsible for a large portion of emissions, something fairly easy to regulate. There's no questioning the science behind climate change, IMHO, but the lack of definitive, practical action is due far more to an inherently myopic political process. Politicians have very limited incentive to look at any project with benefits beyond the date of their next re-election. You can blame it on Trump and his supporters, if it makes you feel better, but I'm hard-pressed to identify a democratic government which actually implemented policies which result in any significant real, measurable impacts on climate change. Democratic leaders are rewarded for appearing to take action, far more than would be if they actually did something.
    - rnernento 7y ago
      You're making this about republicans vs democrats. No idea why. My whole point is that politicians on both sides of the aisle are terrible and one of the reasons we have terrible politicians is because the general populace doesn't vote for them for the right reasons. Ad campaigns shouldn't be as effective as the are. Corruption is easily seen, it should be punished by the voters. The vast majority of the voting public is willfully ignorant.
CM30 7y ago
Eh, is there any evidence that being smart and being 'nice' are necessarily correlated? Seems like there are quite a lot of intelligent people who do morally questionable things or threaten humanity. Becoming a corrupt government official and lining your own pockets at the expense of the rest of the population isn't necessarily a dumb thing, nor is working in an oil company or developing weapons for the military. Every dictatorship through history has had scientists and academics working for them on all kinds of horrific things. That's not saying intelligence can't help fix problems or that being dumb is good. But being selfish or evil or sociopathic doesn't seem to have a lot to do with your intelligence, and the issues often come down to selfishness, greed or a lack of morals more than anything else.
- rnernento 7y ago
  Honestly I don't think the smart evil people are the problem. I think the fact that society is in general pretty good is strong evidence that they are outnumbered. I believe most people want to be good. I also thing the smart evil people are more likely to want to manipulate others than the smart good people. That's why a burgeoning population of people who are easily manipulated is such a problem.
pixl97 7y ago
This is just standard stupidity as we have always had. What has changed is the scope of the problem. While a few generations ago, stupidity affected ones local environment, now stupidity can have a global impact. People back then could not do any better. This isn't about intelligence, this is about intelligently working together. Something humans don't do a great job at in large numbers.
- rnernento 7y ago
  I'm definitely torn on this one, I hope you're right. Part of me thinks it's a combination of things though, also remember what the article this comment was on indicates. IQs are dropping in developed countries.

bshipp 7y ago

I can't agree with that conclusion. There are plenty of brilliant idiots and idiotic geniuses in the world and it can often be more difficult to change the mind of a "smart" person who has drawn the wrong conclusions than a simple person who has done the same. Individuals who draw their sense of self-worth from their perceived intelligence a more likely to stand their ground, argue semantics, and log every cheap rhetorical grenade they can until they are blue in the face. For evidence of the irrationality of intelligent people, I proffer the example of every pointless university faculty departmental meeting, ever.

rnernento 7y ago
Yeah, the legions of academics are definitely the reason the world is going to go to shit because of climate change. I'm sure they're also the ones who voted Trump into power. I bet they have very few good ideas about how to reduce corruption in government.
- bshipp 7y ago
  The reason climate change is such a difficult political problem to handle is that it requires significant upfront cost but the resulting benefits are difficult to forecast and measure. As a society, we've encountered this time and time again over the past century. Think back to the whole 'acid rain' theme some of us lived through growing up. The phenomenon was discovered in 1972, but it took over 20 years before legislation with teeth was actually implemented, and 30 years before significant reductions were measured. And this was on a phenomenon with relatively few point sources responsible for a large portion of emissions, something fairly easy to regulate. There's no questioning the science behind climate change, IMHO, but the lack of definitive, practical action is due far more to an inherently myopic political process. Politicians have very limited incentive to look at any project with benefits beyond the date of their next re-election. You can blame it on Trump and his supporters, if it makes you feel better, but I'm hard-pressed to identify a democratic government which actually implemented policies which result in any significant real, measurable impacts on climate change. Democratic leaders are rewarded for appearing to take action, far more than would be if they actually did something.
  - rnernento 7y ago
    You're making this about republicans vs democrats. No idea why. My whole point is that politicians on both sides of the aisle are terrible and one of the reasons we have terrible politicians is because the general populace doesn't vote for them for the right reasons. Ad campaigns shouldn't be as effective as the are. Corruption is easily seen, it should be punished by the voters. The vast majority of the voting public is willfully ignorant.

CM30 7y ago

Eh, is there any evidence that being smart and being 'nice' are necessarily correlated? Seems like there are quite a lot of intelligent people who do morally questionable things or threaten humanity. Becoming a corrupt government official and lining your own pockets at the expense of the rest of the population isn't necessarily a dumb thing, nor is working in an oil company or developing weapons for the military. Every dictatorship through history has had scientists and academics working for them on all kinds of horrific things. That's not saying intelligence can't help fix problems or that being dumb is good. But being selfish or evil or sociopathic doesn't seem to have a lot to do with your intelligence, and the issues often come down to selfishness, greed or a lack of morals more than anything else.

rnernento 7y ago
Honestly I don't think the smart evil people are the problem. I think the fact that society is in general pretty good is strong evidence that they are outnumbered. I believe most people want to be good. I also thing the smart evil people are more likely to want to manipulate others than the smart good people. That's why a burgeoning population of people who are easily manipulated is such a problem.

pixl97 7y ago

This is just standard stupidity as we have always had. What has changed is the scope of the problem. While a few generations ago, stupidity affected ones local environment, now stupidity can have a global impact. People back then could not do any better. This isn't about intelligence, this is about intelligently working together. Something humans don't do a great job at in large numbers.

rnernento 7y ago
I'm definitely torn on this one, I hope you're right. Part of me thinks it's a combination of things though, also remember what the article this comment was on indicates. IQs are dropping in developed countries.