Are People Getting Dumber?

[vfaulkon]

Are People Getting Dummer?

Fixed.

Wait...

 

[Ignignoct]

Colonial age slavery. End of conversation. Since disbanded, people seem smarter already.

That's just ruthless industriousness, like Nazi Germany.

Efficiency comes at a price =p.

Was it foolish for plantation owners to exponentially increase their profits through slavery of a people they were informed were base animals? Only in the moral sense by our standards. It was an economic no-brainer.

Hell, even the work we get illegal immigrants to do for cash under-the-table (next-to-nothing amounts) is amazing. I worked as a busboy at a nice restaurant for a year solid, so you nay-sayers can't say SH*T to persuade me otherwise =p.

Not a troll, just pointing out the difference.

 

[Ignignoct]

I came to the realization today that people are getting dumber. There was a kid down the street from my house that used a gun to shoot out the window of a landscaping truck to steal shit. The sound of the shots brought the landscaping crew running around the house to see what happened and saw the kid standing by the truck with his gun. They called the police and the kid took off running but everyone in the neighborhood knows who he is so he won't get away. Now, if you don't know, in the US there are things called Mandatory Minimum Laws and under these laws if you discharge a gun while committing a felony it is an automatic life sentence and there is no way around it. So, he kid pretty much threw his entire life away for maybe a couple hundred dollars worth of stuff. Do you think this is an isolated incident of stupidity or do you think it reflects the world at large?

Wow, just, wow. There are much better ways of breaking into a truck. Hell the butt of the gun probably would have done it. If you had met my brother you wouldnt have to ask if society was getting dumber. You would know the answer is yes. I swear I facepalm at about everything he asks me. He is a highschool student too.

That's my point, why the fuck would he shoot out the windows. He could have just shattered it with something and no one would have had any clue until the crew went to get back in the truck. It was the dumbest possible way to break into something.

I would've stitched a cat-suit made of discarded shiny leathers and crafted razor-sharp claws to cut a circular hole in the window during the dead of night.

...

And thrown a spray paint can into the nearest microwave and activated it for good measure.

 

[Nova Tendril]

Colonial age slavery. End of conversation. Since disbanded, people seem smarter already.

That's just ruthless industriousness, like Nazi Germany.

Efficiency comes at a price =p.

Was it foolish for plantation owners to exponentially increase their profits through slavery of a people they were informed were base animals? Only in the moral sense by our standards. It was an economic no-brainer.

Hell, even the work we get illegal immigrants to do for cash under-the-table (next-to-nothing amounts) is amazing.

Not a troll, just pointing out the difference.

Who said I was necessarily referring to those actions?

 

[bowserboy26578]

Do you really have to ask now that Fred is the top subscribed on youtube?

 

[Ignignoct]

Colonial age slavery. End of conversation. Since disbanded, people seem smarter already.

That's just ruthless industriousness, like Nazi Germany.

Efficiency comes at a price =p.

Was it foolish for plantation owners to exponentially increase their profits through slavery of a people they were informed were base animals? Only in the moral sense by our standards. It was an economic no-brainer.

Hell, even the work we get illegal immigrants to do for cash under-the-table (next-to-nothing amounts) is amazing.

Not a troll, just pointing out the difference.

Who said I was necessarily referring to those actions?

I'm sorry.

What "Colonial age slavery" were you talking about?

Was it the one in America, where the endless need for new manual labor fueled a booming slave trade?

 

[Shadow Law]

As the world around us gets easier the dumber we can be.

 

[Lord_Panzer]

No, people aren't getting dumber. IQ has been slowly going up because of the Flynn Effect. You're just more irritable of normal people because you go to this site.

Bet'chya Flynn's got an ego the size of Europa, being able to say that his effect is making IQ scores improve.

 

[Ignignoct]

[I can tell that you're using words but I don't think you know how to order them.

I can tell you're trying to sound witty but it must be mighty hard when one such as you has Aspergers syndrome.

I have proof, you don't.
The flynn effect.
You can see a chart here:
http://abagond.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/intelligenceflynneffect.jpg

Microsoft paint is a lot of fun.

I like the joke, however.

 

[Random Argument Man]

People always did stupid things. In this day and age, information is more accessible. Henceforth, people think society of today is getting dumber since they have more examples to give.

Also, define intelligence. Alot of people are smarter than you at physical,enviromental, and mechanical intelligence because they do things outside of their basement.

/thread

No, people aren't getting dumber. IQ has been slowly going up because of the Flynn Effect. You're just more irritable of normal people because you go to this site.

You sir (or miss) have a trollish nature. You compared this site with 4chan by calling us elitist and idiots. Might I suggest you stop giving those types of comment.

Calling people stupid on the Escapist tends to frustrate some of our "newer" members. True, they tend to go a little overboard with their comments.

However, searching anger is something you should stop doing. Maybe you would have some more mature comments further on.

 

[Crowghast]

I've seen plenty of those isolated incidents 'round my neighborhood.

But not enough for it to qualify as "natural decline in rational human thought".

At first I thought it had something to do with modern television poisoning the youth's minds. Then I realized that most of them don't watch television, and those that did, had poor parental education.

i.e. Teach your kids from an early age to do the right thing, and use common sense.

If they don't: Hit them.

Not enough to injure them, but enough to scare them into [i\]never doing it again.[/i]

But in all seriousness, you other guys have already picked the best arguments. Getting wiser and more experienced and therefor noticing more dumb people, our cultures beocming more "stupider", cynics that see everything as being stupid anyway, and my favorite: There have always been dumb people.

From the caveman who thought it'd be fun to fly after watching a bird, to the hundreds of subsequent people in history who have attempted to fly under their own power, and failed. I want to call it a vicious cycle, someone fucked up along time ago, and someone else thought it would be good to fuck up the same way.

Just remember those few hints of the past. Don't invade Russia if you're not prepared for winter, never enter a land war with Asia, never deal in death with a Sicilian...