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RANT: Why does each generation get dumber?
05-22-2013, 09:47 PM
Western nations are indeed getting dumber due to dysgenic fertility patterns (i.e. low-IQ, uneducated people outbreeding those with high-IQ and high educational attainment).
However, I've seen estimates of about
a one IQ point decline per generation--which is disastrous for a society in the medium to long run, but still probably too meager for us to have noticed over the course of our lifetimes, optically.
Every generation thinks the successive generation is dumber.
Young people are pretty stupid. The internet is a quick way to disseminate and publicize said stupidity.
There's a selection bias at work, as well: stories of grand stupidity are more entertaining (and self-esteem-boosting) than stories of smartness, so they are more popular and you see them more often.
Everyone feels better about themselves reading about some dumb bimbo hitting a cyclist;
a lot of people will feel insecure and bored reading about Shinichi Mochizuki and the ABC conjecture, for instance.
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RANT: Why does each generation get dumber?
05-22-2013, 09:57 PM
I saw the same article. I think it's easy to claim they "seem" dumber, and while they might be you can't blame young people for not understanding the far reaching ramifications of their actions. It's not something most people without any experience could.
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RANT: Why does each generation get dumber?
05-22-2013, 11:00 PM
How many generations have you seen grow up besides your own?
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RANT: Why does each generation get dumber?
05-22-2013, 11:07 PM
Yeah ya know all those dumbass 17 year old kids become millionaires writing code and apps....
Each generation will get both dumber and smarter, law of large numbers, unlesst here is a massive decrease in generation size.
Is what it is, I don't hate on younger generations because the game of life is constantly changing and its not like the USA is getting any easier.
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RANT: Why does each generation get dumber?
05-23-2013, 02:16 AM
Each generation is technically getting smarter. Google the Flynn Effect.
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RANT: Why does each generation get dumber?
05-23-2013, 05:40 AM
Quote: (05-23-2013 03:35 AM)bojangles Wrote:
Bet you were all laughing thinking Idiocracy won't happen
Really? I think most intelligent people were more worried it was becoming a reality much sooner than we think.
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RANT: Why does each generation get dumber?
05-23-2013, 05:54 AM
Bad parenting could be part of the reason. The fear of getting the shit beaten out of you at a young age is usually enough to keep you from commiting heinous acts into adulthood.
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RANT: Why does each generation get dumber?
05-23-2013, 06:59 AM
I think each generation is getting smarter, but now they're also getting less handy. Half the guys I know, and all of the girls can't even change a tire.
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RANT: Why does each generation get dumber?
05-23-2013, 07:02 AM
Quote: (05-22-2013 09:29 PM)samsamsam Wrote:
Side note: Then the rednecks complain about all these immigrants coming to take jobs. We import brains because our students focus on useless degrees.
You think all the immigrants are geniuses?
The tech industry is just using this to justify lowering wages.
But then again, the day of being a provider is over, so all the betas and foreign garbage can take the jobs, I just don't wanna pay for the cuckholdery by taxation
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RANT: Why does each generation get dumber?
05-23-2013, 01:36 PM
We are definitely getting dumber. Here's an excellent
example
A year from now you'll wish you started today
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RANT: Why does each generation get dumber?
05-24-2013, 09:42 AM
Funny how it's happening all across the West, not just in the UK or the US.
Perhaps except in Switzerland. I heard they do well there.
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RANT: Why does each generation get dumber?
05-24-2013, 11:25 AM
"Our youth now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for their elders and love chatter in place of exercise; they no longer rise when elders enter the room; they contradict their parents, chatter before company; gobble up their food and tyrannize their teachers.”
Guess who? Plato.
I'd say this sentiment is a historical constant. We only hear about the greats in the history books, because why would we read about the bottom 99% of dumbfucks in humanity?
Here's another great quote, although longer, from the movie Waking Life (one of my favorites):
"When you think of it, almost all human behaviour and activity is essentially no different from animal behaviour. The most advanced technologies and craftsmanship bring us at best up to the super-chimpanzee level. Actually, the gap between Plato or Nietzsche and the average human is greater than between that chimpanzee and the average human. The realm of the real spirit, the true artist, the saint, the great philosopher, is rarely achieved. Why so few? Why is world history and evolution not stories of progress but an endless and futile addition of zeros? No greater values have been developed. Hell, the Greeks 3000 years ago were just as advanced as we are. What are the barriers that keep people from reaching anywhere near their real potential? The answer to that can be found in another question, and that's this: "Which is the most universal human characteristic: Fear or laziness?"
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RANT: Why does each generation get dumber?
05-24-2013, 12:00 PM
I do agree that people looking down upon on youth as restless, unproductive and the like is nothing new.
At the same time, I do feel like our modern society contains elements that have made it way worse then it has been in the past. In the past there was no mass entertainment like television or video games or Twitter/Instagram/etc to keep young people perpetually distracted. There wasn't so much wealth that we could afford to have large amounts of people living in their parents basements smoking pot all day without society collapsing. There was no pornography on demand to easily sap the virility of youth. Even if the IQ of the average person has been getting higher, it doesn't matter much. Intelligence is nothing without a strong will to put it to use.
To sum it up: yes young people have always have a tendency to be boorish but the modern era and all that comes with it just makes that tendency even worse.
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RANT: Why does each generation get dumber?
05-24-2013, 12:48 PM
I don't think we are getting dumber because of health and technological advances. It's just that our life is now easier and we have begun to get lazier. Instead of being really good at a few things we now only have to be good at one thing to make it in life.
A man is only as faithful as his options-Chris Rock
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RANT: Why does each generation get dumber?
05-24-2013, 12:52 PM
You're right, we are getting dumber. After all living in caves and worshiping natural disasters was the pinnacle of human intelligence.
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RANT: Why does each generation get dumber?
05-24-2013, 02:18 PM
I use to think this way, but now I don't. Rather, I think that each subsequent generation blows the previous generation out of the water because they get the benefit of hindsight knowledge as well as the newest technologies (health/nutrition, tools, etc.), and I now think that viewing the younger generation as dumber is just a defense mechanism by the present generation as they get overwhelmed.
The barriers to entry for pretty much everything have risen and everything has gotten a lot more competitive than in the past, which is a testament to how each generation improves over the previous one. It's much harder now to get into good schools. I know that I can't get into my alma mater today with the credentials that I had then, and I think it's just going to get harder. I think the same is for entry level jobs now; I certainly would not get hired for a first job with the credentials I had then today.
Most people acknowledge that the newer generation would beat out the older generation in most sports. Bob Cousy at his prime would not make it to the modern NBA, and Maradonna would be too slow to be an elite soccer player in today's soccer leagues. I don't see why the analogy does not extend to intelligence and capability.