Human's Becoming Stupid?

[dafunk5446]

If you don't believe the average population is getting dumber, go to Walmart on a Sunday and tell me your feelings haven't changed. Also, dont try and cover it up with the common sense bull shit. People are less knowledgeable in academia AND commonsense wise. Its the Twinky's and reality tv shows eating away their brains.

[ilikemyusername]

It's just people covering their asses. Of course we know coffee is hot and curling irons are for external use only (Although what "internal" things need curling is beyond me...but that's probably not what they mean *shudders*). Companies are tired of losing their money to desperate morons who can do nothing in life but exploit a judicial system for undeserved rewards.

The fact that these judges/juries give them anything is what annoys me. "It's coffee, it's hot, you're an idiot. GTFO."

+1

For every stupid warning label in place, you have to figure SOMEONE has done it before, or it wouldn't be there. I guess that just goes to prove...

+1

Yes, they are.....and it pisses me off to no end.

The problem is without the weight of responsibility on one's shoulders, people will stop thinking for themselves, and then they become stupid (your brain....use it or lose it).

I see this at my past job all the time.....do you really need a warning on a machine that uses microwave radiation, when you have been trained in use of it, and nobody without training can enter? (the entry badge checks your training records...no current training, access denied...even the CEO can't enter....glass window tour only).

Survival of the fittest is a sound concept....when you remove it, those that would have been weeded out remain, and guess what....the stupid (and thus more likely to fall from this) tend to reproduce more often in a subconscious attempt to preserve their lineage...the logic being one of them will make it. Well in today's world, that means all of them make it...thus our entire populace is more stupid as a result.

This leads to shit like "Is that chicken sandwich real chicken?" ....No, it's actually Human....you know Canadians are made of white meat, right? /rolleyes

The same can be said for people that can't see in the conditions they are driving in, then run over people....then they get off the hook....I say screw that, they knew they couldn't see, and continued to operate that machinery despite that....they are 100% responsible for the mishap....enjoy the bus.

Either way....just expect to see more stupid warning labels, and more stupid behavior.

+1

If you don't believe the average population is getting dumber, go to Walmart on a Sunday and tell me your feelings haven't changed. Also, dont try and cover it up with the common sense bull shit. People are less knowledgeable in academia AND commonsense wise. Its the Twinky's and reality tv shows eating away their brains.

+1000

[cheezerman]

Human's Becoming Stupid?

Delightfully ironic!

[*HOT&SMOKING*]

Human's Becoming Stupid?

Delightfully ironic!

???

-H&S

[mitchard]

Hint: '

[DarkParade]

burn >.>

[gaia.plateau]

Human's Becoming Stupid?

Delightfully ironic!

???

-H&S

I guess I was somehow more subtle when I put it this way on the first page...

Delightfully ironic. Unintended, one hopes.

[*HOT&SMOKING*]

Human's Becoming Stupid?

Delightfully ironic!

???

-H&S

I guess I was somehow more subtle when I put it this way on the first page...

Delightfully ironic. Unintended, one hopes.

F**k it ...hehe definitely not intended...Sorry gaia I saw yours and was going to ask, but then forgot and carried on with the discussion, and then saw the next person mentioning it....

But yes my bad, sorry for the mistake in the title...

-H&S

[gaia.plateau]

But yes my bad, sorry for the mistake in the title...

-H&S

Not at all as I said, it was delightful.

[*HOT&SMOKING*]

But yes my bad, sorry for the mistake in the title...

-H&S

Not at all as I said, it was delightful.

Well then at least we had some entertainment..

-H&S

[Stuie]

Idiocracy - Directed by Mike Judge.

It's hilarious, yet frightening on how close is to being accurately prophetic.

that's my 2 cents...the human race is doomed.

[Mndgame]

At least we are all smart of enough to ignore the warning labels on shisha, right ? "Warning: Smoking is the main cause of lung cancer." It is hard to quantify "stupid" or "smart" into a way of measuring though so you can't really say we are that much more stupid than previous generations. I agree with mustang steve that since there is no natural selection occurring to a large extent and that humans may get more stupid as a result, but maybe its just that we're the only organism able to comprehend it. Edited April 11, 2009 by Mndgame

[smokeytheclown]

I have been informed by a coworker that in the Dept. of Motor Vehicles in a major city in California there is, on staff, an employee who gets paid to translate KLINGON. Not spanish, italian, or any other actual human language, but KLINGON. I'm betting it's somewhere near Silicon Valley. I admit I haven't researched the validity of this, but I have trouble doubting it.

DEVO was right.

[Mndgame]

I have been informed by a coworker that in the Dept. of Motor Vehicles in a major city in California there is, on staff, an employee who gets paid to translate KLINGON. Not spanish, italian, or any other actual human language, but KLINGON. I'm betting it's somewhere near Silicon Valley. I admit I haven't researched the validity of this, but I have trouble doubting it.

DEVO was right.

I don't know if I believe that. There was a false new story a ran across like 2 years ago that claimed some state hired a klingon interpreter for some reason.

[Sonthert]

Dumber than what now?

I think so. Even in the elements of practical knowledge, understanding the world around us and the people around us. I would point to digital perception, believing things in human affairs can be categorized as either A or B as being one problem. Reducing the requirements of students in school make them achieve less, in my opinion. Additionally, removing the "sharp edges" from life and making a sign warning everyone about something to prevent lawsuits doesn't challenge people to become smarter to stop themselves from "falling and hurting themselves".

Yes, I think people are becoming dumber, because complacency always follows the peak of an empire. I think the two are linked. We have lost ambition, industry, determination and motivation and that stops people from improving themselves and becoming smarter and educated. We have become fat, lazy and ignorant and even celebrating stupidity. Poor people 100 years ago were actually versed in practical knowledge, where they aren't now. Literacy rates have been declining for 80 years and they are becoming endemic and ignorant people have no business surviving in the wild are now teachers, teaching things they don't understand or have command or competency in. I appreciate some of them try real hard, but they are failing, partially because of a flawed educational system that nobody wants to address, partially of lack of resources, but otherwise they are failing in their jobs and failing the children. When did it become acceptable to do a shitty job in this country and forgive it because they try hard? You are failing, you should be fired.

That being said, they need to pay teachers a lot more and start firing the incompetent ones. Also, start expelling students who are persistent problems. Schools are not daycare facilities. The proposition that the streets would be teeming with crime if the bad students are expelled is absurd. It can't enter in the semi-professional world of education. We need to hold people and students accountable to standards and not let people get a free pass because it would be too difficult or too expensive to make it right. All of these permissive and defective philosophies are partly responsible for the failure of the educational system.

[judgeposer]

It is not necessarily that we are getting stupider, but rather we are losing common seance. The average person today knows more than the "Educated" person of 400 years ago. However the person from 400 years ago would probably have enough common seance to know that a cup of coffee is hot.

Yeah the thing is that maybe we are loosing our common sense, but as I stated before, we somehow have enough to still sue the company who's product inflicted our injury. People are, as some have now said , exploiting the justice system, and it should not be allowed!

-H&S

McDonald's coffee case: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v._Mc...27s_Restaurants.

[*HOT&SMOKING*]

It is not necessarily that we are getting stupider, but rather we are losing common seance. The average person today knows more than the "Educated" person of 400 years ago. However the person from 400 years ago would probably have enough common seance to know that a cup of coffee is hot.

Yeah the thing is that maybe we are loosing our common sense, but as I stated before, we somehow have enough to still sue the company who's product inflicted our injury. People are, as some have now said , exploiting the justice system, and it should not be allowed!

-H&S

McDonald's coffee case: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v._Mc...27s_Restaurants.

Yeah, I think there was also a issue similar with starbucks.....I mean I really feel sorry for the women, being burnt like that is terrible , and yes mac' donalds offer, didn't even cover the costs of her medical expenses, but the fact is that people should know coffee is hot, and maybe this case is an exception, as it might have been that the coffee was hotter than it should of been, but their are many other instinces, of rediculus warnings.

-H&S

[Bye bye now have fun]

no child left behind is stupid and so is standardized testing. instead of teaching the theory behind math and and science they just give you the answers so you can do better at the test. whats even worse than not knowing and knowing you dont know is thinking you know and not knowing.

[mustang_steve]

Don't get me started about standardized testing. It's a good thing, but only if designed by the type of people we want the next generation to be as good as on average.

Instead we have mediocre people making these tests. I am not a well educated person...I can fake one though (got 95% or higher on all standardized tests from grade 3to high school...got a 1050 on my SAT, without studying for it or really giving a damn about it). That's also what's wrong with this system...thank god I have the ability to gather information about something very rapidly, otherwise I'd probably be as dumb as some of those folks out there.

Now.....how can a kid that had a 1.5 grade average like me, get a 1050 on the SAT? How could he get 95th percentile or higher in all standarized tests? The grades don't match the tests....and that's a sign of a severely broken system.

That "no child left behind" initiative was outright offensive...I had to work ma ass off to manage to graduate because I was honestly being a moron (and deserved to be left behind)....so in that manner I'm a fan of "all failing kids left the hell behind"

The thing is, success is not a teacher, success is a reward and failure is the teacher....without failures, without hardship, we never learn what we can really be. Now, do we want a bunch of mediocre people as our managers, our lawyers, our politicians, our doctors.....or do we want someone thats stared defeat right in the eye, laughed at it, then kicked it square in the nuts? I'd go for the latter myself.

I could go off on 50 tangents...I'll leave it here though. People need to keep learning after school though...it's that constant learning that keeps our minds razor-sharp, and that's what will separate us from the coffee-spillers. Edited April 13, 2009 by mustang_steve

[Canon]

off topic first, and adding to what mustang wrote
in junior high and high school my grades were crap, only because i NEVER did homework (my math teacher in freshman year was surprised that i managed to pass both semesters with a 23 (it was in the 20's or 30's) for my homework score.

i managed to get A's in senior year because they didnt give as much homework (except english, the one subject that i was never good at). infact i even took college courses in my senior year and managed to have one of the highest grades in college algebra in my class (i slept every day in that class and only was up during the test's. i didnt do the homework which had some of the test questions in there and if you did all of the homework the teacher added 3 points to your average)


on topic again
no child left behind.. i read in a magazine that the money spent on helping the stupid people pass (ones that just dont get it) is significantly higher then the money spent on the children who are gifted. personally i believe that if there is a child out there (this goes for middle and high school) that is not being challenged academically then they are being left behind.

[Sonthert]

100 years ago, in the United States, we were competitive with Europe in that a high school graduate knew as much, more or less, as a college graduate does now. It was free, of course, to get to that level of education, while in this day and age, you have to pay for it. A 12 year old was as educated as high school graduates are now. Stepping away from people 12-16 working, has made it necessary to waste four years of peak mental development for every American child. The optimal learning time for a child is from 6-12. 12 year olds should be ready to move into a modern college level environment. Also, the age-segregated educational level we use is a failure. Europe makes it work, but moves children along much faster. This general lack of education is what makes it seem like we're dumber. For instance, the percentage of Americans who believe in god, disbelieve in evolution, teen pregnancy rates, all connected with lack of education. Look up the percentage of Germans who participate in religion or believe in god, compared to Americans. Lack of education breeds belief in god. The religious right in America doesn't want us to be educated so it has more tithers.

[erufiku]

In related news, a woman at a German zoo goes into the polar bear habitat during feeding time.
Don't know if it's a joke but some people say she wanted to get a better picture.
Why are we rescuing these people?

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/04/11...tack/index.html

[Bye bye now have fun]

im not sure if it was no child leftbehind or a maryland thing but since my school sucked at the tests we got less funding and had to cut back on gt an ap classes. so pretty much because we had a bunch of retards (litterly retarded we had the most of any highschool in the county) and a bunch of people that pretended to live in the hood and not give a fuck me and the other top 10% got penalized. i feel the cheating was mutral tho i figured out the minimal amount of work i could do and still get a a/b. like in my ap physics i skipped homework every day because it was 10% of the class and got 100s on all the tests and did the extra credit and got an A until she changed the breakdown to 20% and i didnt notice and got a C

[judgeposer]

On supposed American or America's dumbing down, Michael Barone, the political commentator, wrote a book not too long ago, Hard America, Soft America. He tries to explain how (well enough) and why (though not too well) America seems to produce rather incompetent adolecents but competant adults. He notices that

from ages six to eighteen Americans live mostly in what I call Soft America--the parts of our country where there is little competition and accountability. But from ages eighteen to thirty Americans live mostly in Hard America--the parts of American life subject to competition and accountability.

That said, he also compares the comparative under performance of American adolescents to their (err, our) European counterparts, but says that for those American adolescents that do become productive members of the American workforce encounter fiercer competition and higher levels of accountability compared to those similar members of European society, which softens its adults by commonly generous social-welfare programs, producing shorter work hours, longer vacations, and overall lower expectations of productivity.

As much as we can say about the dumbing down of Americans, the competition experienced and pedigree required of American professionals has steadily increased. I can't compare the American professional class against any other country's, but in my own experience, entering the professional workforce has required me to obtain significant amounts of work experience well beyond what I know my professional ancestors (?) had to achieve for their ascendancy. The little I can conclude is that while American children might not generally outsmart their counterparts in other countries, those that do excel tend to do so quite well, and in the end, achieve career milestones well ahead of those that preceded them.

[Bye bye now have fun]

talking about soft america its like minors not being able to legally enter contracts. so in theory a 17 year old could buy a car wreck it and then say hes not bound by his contract and get his money back. now thats teaching responsibility