Idiocracy: A disturbingly prophetic look at the future • Hacker News Board

Re: Idiocracy: A disturbingly prophetic look at the future

#31

Post by hall0ween » Thu, Dec 30, 2021, 4:34 PM UTC

malchow wrote: post #22

magikaram wrote: post #10

"The underlying message of course is that humans ought to take such things as science, research and knowledge seriously, lest we create our own Idiocracy." Rather, I felt the underlying message of the film is that the film is a critique of the consumerism and corporatism of the US. The 'idiocracy' with how the government runs, the downward trend of education in the US, and the pessimistic views of our future.

I think you're right. Idiocracy was much more Judge's critique of the lazy morality ("It's irresponsible to have kids!") and lazy voting ("burrito coverings") of the yuppie class. These days, you can even see wokeism being lambasted ("Welcome to Costco, I love you.").

I’m not sure you are commenting on OPs remarks. The argument of lazy morality and voting of yuppies from corporatism and consumerism? Many, many (many) people buy things they don’t meet that help fuel corporate power. Yuppies, non-yuppies. For instance, how many people do you know that bought things from Amazon lately?

Re: Idiocracy: A disturbingly prophetic look at the future

#32

Post by magikaram » Thu, Dec 30, 2021, 4:34 PM UTC

malchow wrote: post #22

magikaram wrote: post #10

"The underlying message of course is that humans ought to take such things as science, research and knowledge seriously, lest we create our own Idiocracy." Rather, I felt the underlying message of the film is that the film is a critique of the consumerism and corporatism of the US. The 'idiocracy' with how the government runs, the downward trend of education in the US, and the pessimistic views of our future.

I think you're right. Idiocracy was much more Judge's critique of the lazy morality ("It's irresponsible to have kids!") and lazy voting ("burrito coverings") of the yuppie class. These days, you can even see wokeism being lambasted ("Welcome to Costco, I love you.").

I even forgot about the corporate wokeism that is placated towards consumers for their 'one month a year gay pride twitter image', then not upholding the same morals year-round

Re: Idiocracy: A disturbingly prophetic look at the future

#33

Post by k__ » Thu, Dec 30, 2021, 4:35 PM UTC

alphabettsy wrote: post #25

borepop wrote: post #8

Don't Look Up, currently out on Netflix, seems to owe a fair amount to Idiocracy. And/or to the ways in which American culture morphed into Idiocracy over the last several years.

Yea, but while accurate it was terrible. Idiocracy is funny, Don’t Look Up was not to me.

It hit too close to home.

Re: Idiocracy: A disturbingly prophetic look at the future

#34

Post by hereforphone » Thu, Dec 30, 2021, 4:35 PM UTC

borepop wrote: post #8

Don't Look Up, currently out on Netflix, seems to owe a fair amount to Idiocracy. And/or to the ways in which American culture morphed into Idiocracy over the last several years.

"Boy, society sure has devolved into Idiocracy-world during the last couple of years" has been the claim since just after the movie came out.

Re: Idiocracy: A disturbingly prophetic look at the future

#35

Post by ZeroGravitas » Thu, Dec 30, 2021, 4:35 PM UTC

slibhb wrote: post #27

Per the Flynn Effect, people are getting smarter. The source of the problems mentioned in the article is not increasing stupidity, it's a breakdown of the relationship between the elites and the masses. You see this clearly in the article where the author complains about sharing a country with deplorables with nutty beliefs. You see it in the elite turn against free speech: elites wonder aloud "is free speech a good…

> The politicians we apparently prefer are those who can reliably generate viral content.

By prefer, you presumably mean elect, which in the US means using a voting system that has been shown to increase partisanship, because you can get elected by being loved by a minority even if also hated by a minority. Other voting systems encourage you to work for every voters vote and avoid a whole bunch of problems as a result.

Re: Idiocracy: A disturbingly prophetic look at the future

#36

Post by michaelt » Thu, Dec 30, 2021, 4:37 PM UTC

scotty79 wrote: post #4

First time I had a revelation that we are close to Idiocracy was when I saw the movie Crank which came out the same year. It a had vibe so close to "Ow my b*lls" movie featured in Idiocracy. And I was entertained.

Well, shows like Jackass and Za gaman were around long before Idiocracy.

It was certainly a mirror held up to society as it was at the time.

Re: Idiocracy: A disturbingly prophetic look at the future

#37

Post by haunter » Thu, Dec 30, 2021, 4:38 PM UTC

jollybean wrote: post #18

It's funny to see how 'one side' will completely miss the satirization of themselves in the work, and just laugh at the jokes targeted towards them. (And FYI I'm not 'taking a side' I can only imagine what 'some other' publication would make of the film) Judge was also mocking lack of education, slouching cultural standards, lack of competency, lack of moral fibre, conscientiousness etc.. In pretty much every scene.…

>it maybe a kind of IQ test or maybe 'personality type' test because I saw it with a friend and she didn't grasp any of the satire at all, to her it was 'stupid' and she literally fell asleep. I didn't know what to make of that.

Simply not everything is for everyone. The world is not black and white.

Re: Idiocracy: A disturbingly prophetic look at the future

#38

Post by 127 » Thu, Dec 30, 2021, 4:39 PM UTC

magikaram wrote: post #10

"The underlying message of course is that humans ought to take such things as science, research and knowledge seriously, lest we create our own Idiocracy." Rather, I felt the underlying message of the film is that the film is a critique of the consumerism and corporatism of the US. The 'idiocracy' with how the government runs, the downward trend of education in the US, and the pessimistic views of our future.

No matter how seriously you take science, research and knowledge, evolution is merciless. Given a strategy that uses less resources to reproduce, that strategy will win over time. It's so obvious that it feels like a tautology. Science and research is extremely expensive and time intensive strategy. Living on universal basic income, finding a mate and making lots of kids doesn't require anything outside having the ability to attract the opposite sex.

Re: Idiocracy: A disturbingly prophetic look at the future

#39

Post by dukeofdoom » Thu, Dec 30, 2021, 4:39 PM UTC

Covid hysteria made it all too real. My super woke prime minister doing afro and blackface, and the judge that ordered the pastor to read out a pro mandate statement he wrote for him, every time he speaks publicly against it, really took the cake in my country. More vaccinated covid cases than unvaccinated in Ontario from the safe and effective vaccine is the cherry on top.

Re: Idiocracy: A disturbingly prophetic look at the future

#40

Post by battles » Thu, Dec 30, 2021, 4:40 PM UTC

One of the best predictions from Idiocracy is our reliance on AI that no one understands anymore. They made all of these systems that did everything for them and decades later, after barely even needing to think for themselves for so long, they’re dumb as rocks and have no idea how anything works.