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Are We Idiocracy Yet?

idiocracy.wtf

181–190 of 582 posts

Re: Are We Idiocracy Yet?

#181
post #20

Love it. Although I'm not sure which is the darkest timeline given https://www.howclosetoblackmirror.com/

Isn't it depressing that San Junipero, arguably the only happy episode, has the lowest progress score?

A handful of Black Mirror episodes land on a more optimistic (or at least not entirely bleak) note, though "happy" might be overstating it for any of them. Bittersweet, maybe.

Eulogy and Hotel Reverie from the newest season are at 70-75%, and I think they both end on a similarly bittersweet note like San Junipero. The one with Miley Cyrus is at 65% and is about as happy an ending as Black Mirror episodes get.

Re: Are We Idiocracy Yet?

#183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imho IQ scores aren’t a sufficient measure of intelligence, it’s very shaky science at best

> Imho IQ scores aren’t a sufficient measure of intelligence, it’s very shaky science at best What do you propose as a replacement metric to determine if humans are getting dumber or not?

No idea. Why do we need to determine if humans are getting dumber or not?

Re: Are We Idiocracy Yet?

#184
post #123

I attended an audience testing screener for Idiocracy before the film's final edit. I could not believe my eyes and ears, I loved it unlike anything I'd seen before, it was the hardest US culture satire I'd seen up to that point. Then the lights came up and the audience started giving their reviews, in an open mike fashion. They all identified with the "idiots" and were indignant insulted, and angry. I remember makin…

It breaks my heart when I hear people outraged about Onion stories, not because that they fall for them, but because they know they have a hard time telling truth from fiction.

I’m honestly not sure whether I believe these comments, or understand how to put them in context. Not for the first time I’m aware I do live in a cultural bubble, but: it’s hard for me to image anyone getting outraged by an Onion story (other than a religious right person stumbling across the “Why Do All These Homosexuals Keep Sucking My Cock?” piece, or something like that). Similarly, hard to imagine someone identifying with the over-the-top stupid people in Idiocracy.

Wild.

Re: Are We Idiocracy Yet?

#185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every scrotum on this forum has microplastics and phthalates in them, things shown to have effects on the endocrine and reproductive systems.

Hold on. Turns out some scientists found out the amount of plastic was over measured because it included the plastic of their own gloves. I've read it last week, can not found the source now. Sorry

No, they showed that the gloves could have introduced microplastic-like particles in some samples depending on how they are handled. It just feels like one of those studies secretly funded by an oil company to throw shade.

Re: Are We Idiocracy Yet?

#187
I just finished up Pluribus S01; to me this could have been a take on AI.

The AI could have been The Joined; a population of beings who want only to make the remaining humans happy, by giving humans what they want, but they (The Joined) also acknowledge that in the long run their approach will result in an almost an Extinction-Level , mass starvation, etc.

Re: Are We Idiocracy Yet?

#188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fair point, but why jump to genetics instead of culture (upbringing)?

Because the film itself implies that the idiocracy is due to stupid people breeding more, a classic tenet of Nazism and eugenics alike

Nazis also thought smoking is bad. The problem is their applied genocidal eugenics. Not whether they thought IQ is hereditary.

Re: Are We Idiocracy Yet?

#189
post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there any strong relationship between IQ scores and innate intelligence, as opposed to mental agility gained through education?

Yes. Which is why there are also IQ tests for pre-school kids. Besides the declining groups have the same education with the earlier ones.

All of these effects are explained much better by social factors. If you're poor or discriminated against, you get less nutrition, less education, and face barriers in trying to improve both.

Re: Are We Idiocracy Yet?

#190

I don’t share any of the pessimism. If you are at least tiny bit curious about looking beyond your IT bubble you know that the majority of population has always been dumb. It’s just biological fact of life. For better or worse hundreds years ago they didn’t get any power. Today they got internet, got exposure and got power. Nothing is changing on a fundamental human nature or statistical level.

>majority of population has always been dumb

But idiocracy is not about that majority. It is about the thought leaders becoming dumb. Internet, instead of elevating the majority to the level of intellectuals, dragged the intellectuals to the level of the dumb majority.

If you mix poison in milk, milk becomes poison and not the other way. Pretty obvious in hindsight..

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