Are People Getting Smarter or Dumber?

[Goremocker]

Simply put, without getting into much detail as to why it is I ask this question, do you think humans are getting smarter or dumber?

Personally, when watching the new generation of people, I can say with a fair amount of confidence that humans are definitely getting dumber for the most part. Of course there are the exceptions as made clear by most members here that there are still very intelligent people here and while I'd like to think that the dumb ones will merely die off as they would according to evolutionary theories, less intelligent people often produce more dumb offspring than more intelligent people produce, so I guess the worst case scenario is that the world just becomes a wasteland of retards.

So what about the Escapist? What do you all think?

Watch the movie Idiocracy...You'll then see the truth as told by the creator of Bevis and Butthead.

 

[WorldCritic]

Dumber, just look at some of my classmates.

 

[acosn]

People have always been stupid.

"Insanity in individuals is something rare-
but in groups, parties, nations and epochs is the rule."

-Friedrich Nietzsche.

What we're looking at right now is merely a period of unprecedented, unrestricted, uncontrolled stupidity and most of it has to do with the fact that at the moment really anyone can say anything, and an addled masses are willing to sit in front of their computers and TVs at stare apathetically away while they do everything in their power to remind themselves that everything is alright.

One of my all time favorite quotes.

Indeed people have always been stupid, but since almost everyone has access to the internet to spout their unfiltered thoughts of random dribble, it is much more apparent that there are stupid people.

In all actuality, there probably is no increase in the percentage of stupid people, there's just more of them along with more smart people.

If anything though, with the advancement in technology and the easy access to knowledge over the web, people are probably getting smarter, but then again, as stated before, that also just gives way to more people to stare blankly at a computer screen.

Just because the information is out there doesn't mean people actually bother to look for it. Its like the news of the last 20 years or so- we've completely sworn off opinion and demand news free of bias so now we have an over abundance of completely unprocessed information shoved in front of us and its done in the name of bias-free journalism while the same companies will then proceed to slip in incredibly fringe range opinions and merely add on some sort of bullshit, "but its up to you to decide here folks!" disclaimer at the end.

What's more the internet has come to serve as a common water cooler for what would otherwise be, again, the fringe. Suddenly groups are given a voice incredibly disproportionate to the actual demographic they represent and suddenly you get websites like http://christwire.org/ that want to be taken seriously. I think.

 

[FalloutJack]

Well, since you ask, I personally believe that the world is 90% inundated in stupid. That's referring to stupid as if it were made into a tangiable product. You see, I'm finding that it's hard to really judge the idiocy level on the grounds of the usual 'Person Or Set Group = Dumbass' setup, because the real problem is that even the brainiest people in the world can falter in the brain department. (Okay, maybe not Stephen Hawking, but you see my point, right?)

Now, this IS a very serious problem in the entire world because you have a wide variety of how stupidity is formed. It can be clumped or spread over a given area. You can have the supreme moron who screws it up for everyone, the one that nobody likes and he doesn't know he makes their lives miserable. Though, you can also have the many people who - on a good day - are fine and dandy, but they get into the mob mentality and ruin everything. Mostly, it's about normal people that get it wrong and don't fix it because of the Duh Factor, which we can attribute to not having the resources or the cleverness to right the wrongs. And some do it on purpose. Boy, we gotta hate those ones.

So yeah, I will have to say, we don't have a gaggle of geniuses on this planet, overall. We have people who try, people who success, and people who hold their own. But good people are outnumbers. If they weren't, would things be as they are in society today?

*Finds a crate and stands on it while a row of people hum something blatantly patriotic*

Would peace be something only made throughout the world by mutually-assured annihilation by nuclear deterent? Would the economy have ever collapsed and gas prices be so high? Would anyone have REALLY elected George W. Bush? No! No, I say, because people doing the proper thing instead of greedily gorging on everything in sight would produce a society that doesn't slip on the banana peel it throws down! We would not be told the way business and economics work and then screw the rules to line our pockets, or break someone's noggin for an iPhone! We would do better than that and never have to worry again over turning into the kind of society that maybe George Orwell or another sci-fi writer envisioned!

*Steps down and pays the wiseguy acappalla act to get lost*

I'm sorry, that post sort of got away from me. I went from bring informative and wise to somewhat silly and lots of deadpan snarking. Still, I make a point, maybe several. It's a jungle out there.

 

[Valiant The Gamer]

Well, We ARE getting dumber cause with humanity caring for everyone(In rich country's)There is no evolution cause the weaker survive and thus gens do not change.....

It's the truth, Sad but true.

 

[wootsniper]

I read somewhere that average I.Qs have actually been increasing Since the 1920s, which would make sense because of the accelerated dissemination of information due to the radio, television and internet.

the average IQ is always 100
thats the whole point of an IQ test.

 

[Maverick Siragusa]

most people think humanity is falling into retardacy but its just the amount of power morons have in the media and news around the world thats all

 

[Baldry]

Snip

Thanks for noticing that, I was hoping someone, somewhere would.

 

[ben---neb]

Snip

Thanks for noticing that, I was hoping someone, somewhere would.

Oh, now that was smart. For that implies your grammar was bad on purpose to make some really ironic joke or that you've cunning disguised the fact that you accidentally messed up your grammar by passing it off as a really ironic joke.

Either way you prove my orginial statement wrong. People are getting smarter, what a relief.

 

[Baldry]

snip once more

Thanks, I found it quite genius myself.

 

[Wardnath]

For every 1 intelligent person, their are 3 idiot.

Irony? In my Escapist?

It's more likely than you may think.

By the way, whoever ITT is saying we're getting dumber, hands up if you're 18 or above.

 

[DoW Lowen]

Look up something called the Flynn effect. People are technically getting smarter. Don't let popular culture fool you.

 

[Private Custard]

The dumb people never get into a position where they can influence humanity thank god.

I could go on.......!!!

 

[SliverBlade]

Definitely dumber if by dumb you mean lacking common sense and not thinking about what they do.

 

[Skops]

There are two sides to the brains of dumb people: Nothing is right on one, Nothing is left on the other

EDIT: Debatable on Jim Jong Il guy who put up his picture. Remember when he launched that missle into the middle of the pacific and it crashed in the middle of nowhere? He said 'It was a test' therefore getting away with it. Think about it, if it hit the US (which it was heading right for it) it was going to be a success in his mind.

 

[RUINER ACTUAL]

Destroy pop music and MTV and people will get smarter IMO.

 

[skeliton112]

This sounds like Idiocracy....