There was an episode on Simpsons where the smart people take over the town, with disastrous results.
"The Simpsons" S10 Ep. 22 - "They Saved Lisa's Brain" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avgMk_w38g0
Can too many brainy people be a dangerous thing?
71–80 of 292 posts
Re: Can too many brainy people be a dangerous thing?
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's a stupid definition, and it's wrong. Let's say I want to accumulate wealth, and I play the lottery and win, then, by your definition, I'm smart.
I believe, if you think you can win lottery and did it, you are smarter than average. Why not? Anyway, we are talking about a small percentage of people. I am used to generalization, couldn't help it :) Maybe I should not.
No, if you believe that winning the lottery is a good way to become rich, you're an idiot. If you actually do win, you're a lucky, rich idiot.
I'm not against playing the lottery, but it's objectively proven that it's not a good way to become rich, and a persons smartness has no bearing over whether they actually do win (maybe a negative one, smarter people will gamble less).
Re: Can too many brainy people be a dangerous thing?
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
Couple decades ago CS was dominated by people who wanted high income. Each class would 1-2 people in it that were genuinely interested in computers. Early web startup cultures were heavy on college drop outs who had passed the professors in “useful” skills.
Because the 'S' in CS is for 'science'. The degree is a study of the fundamental underpinnings of computer use. Not a tech-ed employment-training class. Sounds like folks who love the field but hate the job, should teach!
Sounds like folks who love the field but hate the job, should teach!
The trouble is that the students will see the instructor as the barrier between them abd a paying career.
Re: Can too many brainy people be a dangerous thing?
#74I believe the article they refer to is this one: https://www.nature.com/articles/463608a (full PDF is available)
From the abstract:
> In the United States, we have stagnating or declining real wages, a growing gap between rich and poor, overproduction of young graduates with advanced degrees, and exploding public debt
Quite interesting that this article only focuses on the 3rd entry of those
Re: Can too many brainy people be a dangerous thing?
#75Yeah right. Keep numbers of educated people to a bare minimum so that generic person would have shitty job paying unlivable wage and be happy about it.
Educated people (at least ones having good general University type education) at least have better chance finding something useful to do and creating new opportunities.
My advice for those "academics" would be to undergo voluntary lobotomy and improve the world in accordance to their views.
Re: Can too many brainy people be a dangerous thing?
#76The company TransMeta was mostly PhDs. They fooled around so long, arguing and redesigning, not releasing, that Intel ate their lunch steadily improving scalar performance. My colleague who was worth $100M in TransMeta options at one point, is back to work with nothing.
So yeah, too many brains are a dangerous thing.
Re: Can too many brainy people be a dangerous thing?
#77The hacker news comment section is proof of this.
Re: Can too many brainy people be a dangerous thing?
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
This. I'm lucky to have made it from a medium Eastern European city to a software engineer job in UK, but I can only imagine it would've been so much more difficult (if not impossible) if the pool of people with the same level of knowledge and interest was 10x bigger. Spending many years studying/working to end up in a job with no growth prospects would be a very bitter pill to swallow.
I studies CS back in the 80s and back then every student I knew was genuinely interested in the subject and motivated to learn. In my last job at a bank I regularly interviewed recent CS graduates and candidates able to demonstrate a genuine passion for the subject were few and far between. I know, I know, get off my lawn.
I've seen this as a teaching assistant. CS class size went from a few 10s to over a 100 in 1999-2001, then dropped again when the gold chasers went somewhere else.
I did not find the boom period as bad as I expected. Many of the students in it for the money were still very smart and motivated and interesting to talk to. But I preferred the non-boom periods nonetheless :)
Re: Can too many brainy people be a dangerous thing?
#79Dangerous for whom?
For the kind of people, who runs The Economist magazine?
Re: Can too many brainy people be a dangerous thing?
#80I believe the article they refer to is this one: https://www.nature.com/articles/463608a (full PDF is available)
For further context: this Economist article [1] references a letter to the editor by Peter Turchin [2], which is itself a response to the Nature 2010 opinion article "2020 visions" [3].
[1] https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2020/10/24/c...
[2] https://www.nature.com/articles/463608a.pdf
[3] https://www.demogr.mpg.de/publications/files/3706_1264687048...