3 ms·

Honest question, despite what will undoubtedly come across as snark: Have we always been so stupid, or is this a recent development?

alphabettsy 1y ago
I think so. Now we have the internet and social media to connect people. It means we get to find like-minded individuals. It also means you’re exposed to the thoughts and opinions of people whom you might not have been otherwise.
- the_snooze 1y ago
  It used to be the town idiot's reach would be limited to just his town, or maybe the regional sports radio call-in show. Social media certainly solved that problem.
pfraze 1y ago
A better question is probably: have we ever treated so many random people’s thoughts as Monetizable Content?
ben_w 1y ago
Always. We're the stupidest and least capable that it's possible to be to develop all this tech in the first place, because if we weren't, we'd have done it sooner. IIRC it took us until Blaise Pascal or Fermat to realise the probability distribution of flipping two coins isn't 1/3 HH, 1/3 TT, and 1/3 a heads and a tails. Witch hunts on spectral evidence was a thing. I've heard 12th century european sailors sometimes thought that compasses were devilish.
- valbaca 1y ago
  > because if we weren't, we'd have done it sooner. This assumes a linear and only-forward progression of technology, which just isn't true. That said, it's an interesting way to look at things.
- soraminazuki 1y ago
  To be fair the science behind compasses aren't trivial discoveries.
cratermoon 1y ago
There's been a streak of anti-intellectualism in the US since the first European colonists. Richard Hofstadter's Anti-intellectualism in American Life covers it pretty well. Wikipedia has a nice quote https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-intellectualism#17th_century https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-intellectualism#17th_cent...
- guappa 1y ago
  USA invented the flat earth theory! Nobody since several thousands of years had that conviction. Greeks and Romans knew it was a globe, and everyone who could pick up a book and read it since then knew it as well. The first earth is flat book was written in USA about 200 years ago.
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
EA-3167 1y ago
Always. In fact people in the first world now are much MUCH more jaded and less credulous than even city-dwellers in ancient times were. You wouldn't believe what people in isolated villages would have fallen for a few thousand years ago. Consider: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycon > When the people gathered in the marketplace of Abonutichus at noon, when the incarnation was supposed to occur, Alexander produced a goose egg and sliced it open, revealing the god within. Within a week, it grew to the size of a man with the features of a man on its face, including long blond hair. At this point, the figure resembling this description was apparently a puppet that appeared in the temple. In some references, Glycon was a trained snake with a puppet head.
brador 1y ago
Recent. It is incredibly difficult to form a coherent thought when under screen addiction. Attach rate is currently around 30% of population.
johnea 1y ago
While "Always" would certainly be the correct answer in a running average sort of analysis, I think we're seeing a local maxima enabled by the recent technology enabled surge in internet brain rot... p.s. I only know this because I received a secret drop from the Q...

alphabettsy 1y ago

I think so. Now we have the internet and social media to connect people. It means we get to find like-minded individuals. It also means you’re exposed to the thoughts and opinions of people whom you might not have been otherwise.

the_snooze 1y ago
It used to be the town idiot's reach would be limited to just his town, or maybe the regional sports radio call-in show. Social media certainly solved that problem.

pfraze 1y ago

A better question is probably: have we ever treated so many random people’s thoughts as Monetizable Content?

ben_w 1y ago

Always. We're the stupidest and least capable that it's possible to be to develop all this tech in the first place, because if we weren't, we'd have done it sooner. IIRC it took us until Blaise Pascal or Fermat to realise the probability distribution of flipping two coins isn't 1/3 HH, 1/3 TT, and 1/3 a heads and a tails. Witch hunts on spectral evidence was a thing. I've heard 12th century european sailors sometimes thought that compasses were devilish.

valbaca 1y ago
> because if we weren't, we'd have done it sooner. This assumes a linear and only-forward progression of technology, which just isn't true. That said, it's an interesting way to look at things.
soraminazuki 1y ago
To be fair the science behind compasses aren't trivial discoveries.

cratermoon 1y ago

There's been a streak of anti-intellectualism in the US since the first European colonists. Richard Hofstadter's Anti-intellectualism in American Life covers it pretty well. Wikipedia has a nice quote https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-intellectualism#17th_century https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-intellectualism#17th_cent...

guappa 1y ago
USA invented the flat earth theory! Nobody since several thousands of years had that conviction. Greeks and Romans knew it was a globe, and everyone who could pick up a book and read it since then knew it as well. The first earth is flat book was written in USA about 200 years ago.

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

EA-3167 1y ago

Always. In fact people in the first world now are much MUCH more jaded and less credulous than even city-dwellers in ancient times were. You wouldn't believe what people in isolated villages would have fallen for a few thousand years ago. Consider: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycon > When the people gathered in the marketplace of Abonutichus at noon, when the incarnation was supposed to occur, Alexander produced a goose egg and sliced it open, revealing the god within. Within a week, it grew to the size of a man with the features of a man on its face, including long blond hair. At this point, the figure resembling this description was apparently a puppet that appeared in the temple. In some references, Glycon was a trained snake with a puppet head.

brador 1y ago

Recent. It is incredibly difficult to form a coherent thought when under screen addiction. Attach rate is currently around 30% of population.

johnea 1y ago

While "Always" would certainly be the correct answer in a running average sort of analysis, I think we're seeing a local maxima enabled by the recent technology enabled surge in internet brain rot... p.s. I only know this because I received a secret drop from the Q...