Can too many brainy people be a dangerous thing?

#1

Post by pseudolus » Thu, Oct 29, 2020, 10:48 AM UTC

Can too many brainy people be a dangerous thing?
economist.com

Re: Can too many brainy people be a dangerous thing?

#2

Post by xenocratus » Thu, Oct 29, 2020, 11:13 AM UTC

I believe the article they refer to is this one: https://www.nature.com/articles/463608a (full PDF is available)

Re: Can too many brainy people be a dangerous thing?

#3

Post by moonbug » Thu, Oct 29, 2020, 11:17 AM UTC

if they dedicate all their efforts to selling adverts, yes.

Re: Can too many brainy people be a dangerous thing?

#4

Post by boudewijnrempt » Thu, Oct 29, 2020, 11:19 AM UTC

I certainly found Secular Cycles a compelling read.

Re: Can too many brainy people be a dangerous thing?

#5

Post by Tokelin » Thu, Oct 29, 2020, 11:20 AM UTC

xenocratus wrote: post #2

I believe the article they refer to is this one: https://www.nature.com/articles/463608a (full PDF is available)

Also for anyone interested in the follow up study it's here: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal...

Re: Can too many brainy people be a dangerous thing?

#6

Post by spacemanmatt » Thu, Oct 29, 2020, 11:24 AM UTC

It's too bad history weighs in so heavily on the danger of stupid people.

Re: Can too many brainy people be a dangerous thing?

#7

Post by surajs » Thu, Oct 29, 2020, 11:26 AM UTC

yeah, for some

Re: Can too many brainy people be a dangerous thing?

#8

Post by akhilcacharya » Thu, Oct 29, 2020, 11:26 AM UTC

moonbug wrote: post #3

if they dedicate all their efforts to selling adverts, yes.

They aren’t though, a lot are dedicating their efforts to providing liquidity in financial markets

Re: Can too many brainy people be a dangerous thing?

#9

Post by durnygbur » Thu, Oct 29, 2020, 11:34 AM UTC

akhilcacharya wrote: post #8

moonbug wrote: post #3

if they dedicate all their efforts to selling adverts, yes.

They aren’t though, a lot are dedicating their efforts to providing liquidity in financial markets

Many are working on new ways to optimize taxes (not) paid by the largest corporations and wealthiest billionaires.

Re: Can too many brainy people be a dangerous thing?

#10

Post by jmeister » Thu, Oct 29, 2020, 11:34 AM UTC

Turchin uses the term “elites”, which is not the same as “brainy”.

Genuinely “brainy” people can find new ways to contribute to society, there can never be too any of them.

“Elites” on the other hand - highly credentialed and entitled - play zero-sum games.

There’s a lot of interesting critique written by heterodox leftists today, in the spirit of Chris Lasch, on how the current progressive movement is just intra-elite competition. Take BLM for example: how are Floyd/Blake policing incidents related to removing entrance tests from the super-elite schools and colleges, or shaking down super-elite art galleries until they show more POC artists? Or having a nominally black VP who’s made a career out of prosecuting black criminals?

Or the populist conservative movement appealing to the “non-elite” working class, who the progressives used to represent. This is happening all over the western world.

TLDR: Elite vs. non-elite seems exactly right, but let’s not confuse it with “brainy” please