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[K-64]

First off, I shall just state a warning here, since I know this topic may turn very volatile with the topic. I could just not post it, but I'd rather think that people here are mature enough to keep things civil, and I have good reason to think folks here are just that: Mature. So, without further ado, I shall place the warning with red letters so it is seen better

This thread is not, and will not be about personal attacks on any person, forum member or otherwise. Any "case examples" must be left anonymous, if not for respect of that person, then just to keep things as civil as I want the thread to remain

Right, now to the topic at hand. Right, so I have noticed over my years on the internet, that humanity in general is on a decline in average intelligence, to put it rather bluntly. Yes, we still make massive achievements, like the Curiosity landing, but there are so many more people who can't tell the difference between a patio door and a reasonably sized window. I don't know whether this perceived downfall of mean intelligence is down to higher exposure to such... individuals, or whether there is a genuine degeneration of common and academic sense. I personally would've thought that more advancements in our species would mean that intelligence would only be advanced as well, I mean it's like learning to crawl before walking, and now we're learning to run, right?

Spoiler

You might be wondering what sparked this line of thought to create a thread, well I shall somewhat tell you. Like I said at the start, I will not name any names or give any rootable context. Well, in one of the numerous other forums I visit, there's also quite a strong modding community there, which one modder got on the wrong side of the moderators for saying things that were quite obviously against the rules (I won't go into detail here), and so he gets temp-banned for 3 days. He then posts on another site that the admins had picked on him due to racial/religious reasons (Note: This is a blatant lie). Of course, without any evidence to back him up, the people of that community clamour to his feet and essentially say "that site sucks, man. You're infallible". So when members of Site A come round to stand up for themselves, and put their side of the story up, with accompanying links, I might add, you'd think that the devoted followers would look at the links to see what the kerfuffle is about, right? Wrong, they would go on to not look at the link because they can "take sides without which is supporting what". Yeah... a real prodigy here, folks.

[close]

So there you have it, my tale of frustration towards the human mind and its withering. So, what are your thoughts and opinions of this apparent degradation of humanity? And as a final note, I don't want it to turn into a topic about the case example there, please


P.S. To Alex/Moderators, if this topic is out of line on what it's about, then I wholeheartedly apologise for being tactless and deserve a good smack across the back of my head
P.P.S. This topic is in no way a "I'm smarter than everyone" thread, I know that I am, in fact, not a super-genius

[sirboomalot]

I personally beleive that people have always been like that, and you simply see more of it over time.

[armoredcookie]

That's quite a situation you got there which got you to start up this thread. Haven't really heard that kind of chain of dumb actions before, especially on forums. I'd attribute that to some irrational thinking, revenge, human laziness (the TL DR), the first movers advantage you generally see in economics, and lastly the fact that people really don't express as much care on the internet as they do in real life (I mean that they don't know them personally, everyone is just an internet name and an avatar). I've found most people are like this, yet for some reason on this forum it's not visible at all (community here is great ).

Personally I have to agree that humanity is somewhat declining yet the average intelligence isn't really changing. There's a greater gap between the most intelligent people and the standard, and its the most intelligent people making things in society, pioneering new ways and ideas, and just do awesome things. Concerning the average intelligence, I guess it's just not what you'd expect it to be (since we have advanced so far due to the contributions of a few, and the rest of society is lagging behind), but it's much better than the decades before us and much better than the centuries before us.

I'd actually go far as to say that this degeneration is caused by being surrounded by endless free and mindless entertainment, where you don't have to put anything in to get something out. There's always new TV shows coming out, new games that play out exactly like older ones, and etc that are so much more appealing to society than reading a good book or newspaper or doing some design work. Things like reading a book or designing something isn't instant gratification while watching TV for instance gives you satisfaction immediately, and as human beings, we tend to naturally shift towards things that affect our immediate future, its human nature. We've all procrastinated here right? Or am I the only one that leaves homework for the last day   Either way, most TV programs and games tend to be nonsensical and requiring little thought put in. You press left click and you get points. You don't have to think about the possible outcomes of an action or tradeoffs or anything like that.

I personally beleive that people have always been like that, and you simply see more of it over time.

This too, the internet is a good way of revealing idiots that otherwise would've remained hidden 

[Thaago]

Ugg - thats a nasty situation . It reminds me of the current political situation in the US: many members of both sides refuse to listen to the arguments of the other. It doesn't help that 9/10 of the time the 'arguments' consist of shouting semi-truths. I of course think that my side does it less and that I support them for rational reasons (heh, irony).

As to human decay... I think there have always been many many idiots - perhaps it is that now in the information age they are readily heard. History has many examples of troubling thoughts about humanity however:

Warning: disturbing examples (wikipedia):

Spoiler

Read the wikipedia page on the Holocaust. Read the Ethnic Cleansing page for more examples. Or the firebombing of Dresden. Or the casualty statistics on wars. Or the practice of kidnapping/enslaving young women as sex workers that is ongoing today. The more you look the more you will find.

[close]

I would like to think that humanity is fighting hard to get better, despite our own idiocy. But I could just be being naive.

[K-64]

Those examples are of an entirely different kind of idiocy though. I could make another thread about the abhorrent nature of some people, if they can be called that any more. The type I was talking about was the hard-headed type. Usually just extremely frustrating to talk to. Your point about politics is rather interesting. I tend not to subscribe to any of the traditional political views for that very reason, instead I am quite a social darwinist, as can probably be seen from the way I talk in this thread. It's just a shame such a term is cast in such a bad light. But I honestly do feel that those that are ignorant that don't attempt to cast off said ignorance have no place in society. Anyway, I'm getting sidetracked again.

It is very possible that it is just that the idiots of today are more accessible, but there is a definite widening of the intelligence gap at the other side. I know it's very informal and not the best source for stuff, but even though this site is made for humour, it illustrates my point rather well, I think

[BillyRueben]

I'd always figured technology had an effect. For example, spell check. Why learn to spell words properly when your browser will fix them for you?

As far as internet people, the ones I can't stand are the "Google Scholars". You ask a question, then some douche does an internet search and quotes their findings word for word. If I wanted the answer from a search engine, I would have done it myself.

[Chancellor Meatsteak]

Something to consider is that idiots (especially the "hard-headed" types you describe) often don't know when it is appropriate to be quiet, while decent individuals think more about what they say. I consider myself to be a usually vaguely reasonable(ish) individual most of the time, and on very many occasions I wanted to post something on this forum but was held back by the thought "Wait, is that actually right?" and refrained from posting, letting an expert comment on the subject instead.

This is highly exacerbated by the anonymous nature of the internet. Tell me, does the observed decline of intelligence occur only on the internet or in real life as well? I don't get out much (at all...whatsoever) so I can't say for certain but it seems that this is mostly localized to the internet. On the internet you know only of those who wish to talk. Sure, on some forums you might see the number of guests displayed, but otherwise if someone doesn't have anything to say then they effectively don't exist. In real life it doesn't seem like there are as many idiots because for every moron spouting nonsense you know for a fact there are dozens of decent individuals around; even if they don't say anything ever you still see them going about their daily lives. In real life when you ask a question you usually direct it at someone in particular, someone who you think can give you an answer and thus someone you already know to be at least somewhat intelligent. They might say "I don't know" and perhaps say a guess, or more rarely not say anything at all, but in either scenario you know you talked to someone and that someone most likely isn't an idiot. Even if you don't get into any sort of sophisticated discussion with anyone you will still get an idea of how smart people are when you ask them what is the best place to get coffee or the directions to the local pet store or some-such, or even simply observing them as they talk to someone else or perform some task. On the internet, however, questions are almost universally open to whomever wants to respond. Most people will either not want to answer or assume that someone else will, and often that someone else is someone who doesn't know when it's best to stay quiet; but unlike real life where you only have to deal with a few such individuals at most, on the internet that question can be answered by every single idiot with an internet connection on the entire planet.

The following is merely conjecture, but I think the observed decline in intelligence over time is because the internet is a relatively new technology. Even if you are born in the information era you still don't know the intricacies of the web straight away. You learn to talk to others before you start using computers, and when you do start using the internet first you probably stick to some basics things, like email and Wikipedia. As you continue to use the internet, visit more webistes, and start looking into forums and message boards you are exposed more and more to the idiots prevalent on it. It seems like its getting worse, but the reality is it was always like this, you just know about it now.

Also, I want to apologize if my post is overly long-winded, unorganized, or self evident.

[Tarran]

I'd always figured technology had an effect. For example, spell check. Why learn to spell words properly when your browser will fix them for you?

Because sometimes the spellchecker will get things wrong. And, at least for me, it feels better to get the words right rather than having a program--which is far less complex than my own brain--do it for you.

/Halfunrelatedpost

[BillyRueben]

I'd always figured technology had an effect. For example, spell check. Why learn to spell words properly when your browser will fix them for you?

Because sometimes the spellchecker will get things wrong. And, at least for me, it feels better to get the words right rather than having a program--which is far less complex than my own brain--do it for you.

/Halfunrelatedpost

I guess tone doesn't show up well when using text...

[Tarran]

Of course it doesn't, text doesn't have a voice. That's what we have emoticons for.

[robokill]

human intelligence has not decreased we just now know how many idiots there are

thank you internet bain and glory of my existence