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Is Stupidity Expanding? Some Hypotheses
291–300 of 307 posts
Re: Is Stupidity Expanding? Some Hypotheses
#292I find it stupid that intelligent people gather together in this echo chamber to talk about stupid people. Wise people just don't care
Re: Is Stupidity Expanding? Some Hypotheses
#293Earlier quoted context omitted.
There was research last year that showed that cynicism is a way for less intelligent people to protect themselves from being taken advantage of. Basically, if you know you're not smart enough to figure out if other people are genuine or out to scam you, defaulting to assuming that all strangers are lying is a winning strategy. The same kind of logic fuels conspiracy-minded people. The one thing they all have in commo…
>There was research last year that showed that cynicism is a way for less intelligent people to protect themselves from being taken advantage of. Basically, if you know you're not smart enough to figure out if other people are genuine or out to scam you, defaulting to assuming that all strangers are lying is a winning strategy. That narrative is ridiculous - what does intelligence have to do with it ? I guarantee you…
That doesn't follow. If I have to make a consequential decision involving finance or some other important commitment, I research it first. I'm not generally moved by the specter of opportunity costs or indeed sunk costs.
Re: Is Stupidity Expanding? Some Hypotheses
#294Counterintuitively, people love reading about and engaging in what they consider "stupidity". Internet companies capitalize on this by bringing an optimized stream of stupidity for your viewing pleasure. Take a look at the front page of Reddit (logged out, default subs): Half of the content highlights stupidity of others: /r/IdiotsInCars shows the worst drivers from around the world, /r/insanepeoplefacebook shows the…
I am convinced the world is "stupid", but it's not because I passively browse the front page of reddit more than I should. In fact, before you pointed out that it's mostly a stupidity concentrator (nice term btw), I didn't even notice that. When I read the front page of reddit I don't deduce the average intelligence of the participants by the most popular (mostly negative) posts of the day, I'm banking on the most up…
"I'm banking on the most upvoted posts being somewhat entertaining to me, nothing more." - i do the same and i get stupider everytime it seems. i just watched for the first time on youtube "judge calls" which is basically video snippets of us american tv of judges sentencing ppl - i never knew such things existed before and i find its allowance on tv first and on youtube second pretty disgusting and inhumane.
Re: Is Stupidity Expanding? Some Hypotheses
#295Earlier quoted context omitted.
well the experts were saying in March, 2020 that masks do not work and are not recommended. I was basically attacked at work as being xenophobic and insular for saying if we are going out we should wear a mask. so where were your experts on that one? sure f*#!ed up that one.
> well the experts were saying in March, 2020 that masks do not work and are not recommended. As I recall, at the time experts were saying "Don't recommend that everyone wear a mask, we have a shortage and need to save them for health care workers."
No, they said they didn’t work. They lied to get people to stop buying them. Look one level up thread.
Re: Is Stupidity Expanding? Some Hypotheses
#296Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I really think social media companies are deliberately promoting stupid and blatantly wrong beliefs. I don't find them particularly worse than the major mainstream media. > If you've ever watched someone be completely wrong about something you know a lot about This happens whenever I read a mainstream media article about something like airplanes.
“Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect is as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray’s case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward—reversing cause and effect. I call these the “wet streets…
I, for one, don't forget. I suspect most stories in the paper are bullshit. It isn't even because the paper is agenda-driven, it's because the journalist is either lazy or simply has no idea what he's writing about and mangles what he was told about it, or he asked the wrong questions, etc.
Sort of like me being assigned to write an article about culinary arts :-)
P.S. For more decent articles about airplanes, Aviation Week is far better.
Re: Is Stupidity Expanding? Some Hypotheses
#297Earlier quoted context omitted.
Experts haven't exactly done themselves any favors. -------- "Seriously people- STOP BUYING MASKS! They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus" U.S. Surgeon General, February 29, 2020 [0] -------- "Stigma, to be honest, is more dangerous than the virus itself. Let's really underline that. Stigma is the most dangerous enemy." Tedros Adhanom, Director-General of the World Health Organ…
I was very surprised to read your quote attributed to the U.S. Surgeon General, as it doe sound like a rather stupid thing to be saying. So I Goggle it and sure enough he did say as much. However, you did not post the full statement which means the context is lost. With the full quote and the resulting context the statement makes perfect sense: Seriously people- STOP BUYING MASKS! They are NOT effective in preventing…
With the full quote, the statement not to buy masks makes sense. There is no context that "They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus" makes sense outside of lying to the public, or gross incompetence.
Re: Is Stupidity Expanding? Some Hypotheses
#298Counterintuitively, people love reading about and engaging in what they consider "stupidity". Internet companies capitalize on this by bringing an optimized stream of stupidity for your viewing pleasure. Take a look at the front page of Reddit (logged out, default subs): Half of the content highlights stupidity of others: /r/IdiotsInCars shows the worst drivers from around the world, /r/insanepeoplefacebook shows the…
I really think social media companies are deliberately promoting stupid and blatantly wrong beliefs. It's good for engagement. If you've ever watched someone be completely wrong about something you know a lot about, you know how strong the urge to correct them is. On social media, promoting clearly wrong beliefs and ideas (Flat Earth, for instance) is good for business because people will similarly jump in to correct…
I can't believe the word "advertising" isn't in this thread yet.
It's simple. The dumber you are, the easier it is to sell something to you. Susceptibility to "influence" is a highly profitable trait, so it's selected. That's why the idiot networks need to aggregate as many fools together in one big writhing swarm of stupidity. Their revenue comes from advertising, and as long as that continues you should not expect it to get any better.
This realization may also lead to the solution: Don't regulate the content. Regulate the advertising.
Re: Is Stupidity Expanding? Some Hypotheses
#299It is a well known phenomenon that the news is more violent than reality (if it bleeds it leads, and all)... this is simply because the mundane and peaceful happenings are not interesting to watch. People like being scared a bit, and they also like feeling "at least that bad thing didn't happen to me!" I think there is a similar phenomenon with stupidity on the internet. Because of social media and the internet, we h…
But if all other things are equal , we should be seeing more frequent intelligent debates too, which is not the case. In fact if you challenge someone at best you d get a downvote
People, in general, would rather laugh and ridicule stupid people than watch intelligent debate.
Yes, there are more intelligent debates available for you to access than ever before.... but those don't get the million shares that stupid people get
Re: Is Stupidity Expanding? Some Hypotheses
#300Earlier quoted context omitted.
But if all other things are equal , we should be seeing more frequent intelligent debates too, which is not the case. In fact if you challenge someone at best you d get a downvote
People, in general, would rather laugh and ridicule stupid people than watch intelligent debate. Yes, there are more intelligent debates available for you to access than ever before.... but those don't get the million shares that stupid people get
actually my impression is that there aren't as many as i would expect to find .. but i d need a thorough survey for that