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Are humans getting dumber?

Are humans getting dumber?

  • Yes, absolutely.

    Votes: 15 38.5%
  • No, we are getting smarter all the time.

    Votes: 19 48.7%
  • I'm too stupid to answer this question.

    Votes: 5 12.8%

  • Total voters
    39
  • Poll closed .
Well, that's what I meant. But truthfully, what's typically perceived as "stupidity" is merely shallow and reversible ignorance bred by presently existing social conditions. There's also the nature of crudely biased perception as an element of popular sentiment that most people are stupid. For example, Rousseau commented of European perceptions of the "backwardness" of more primitive societies that "when I see multitudes of entirely naked savages scorn European voluptuousness and endure hunger, fire, the sword, and death to preserve only their independence, I feel that it does not behoove slaves to reason about freedom."
 
I don't think so. Using my children as an example, i feel there more worldly, savvy, and basically more intelligent.
they are 12 and 9 and we just had a great discussion on the film the boy in the stripped pyjamas

Or have i missed the question?

Paul
 
Nah, we are increasing our knowledge of the world and universe as technology expands
 
Nah, we are increasing our knowledge of the world and universe as technology expands
The question was if we are getting dumber, and not if we increase our knowledge.
Knowledge cannot decrease unless you erase it from the many existing databases, so obviously it'll only increase.
 
The question was if we are getting dumber, and not if we increase our knowledge.
Knowledge cannot decrease unless you erase it from the many existing databases, so obviously it'll only increase.

I don't think we are getting dumber.
 
People aren't getting dumber, but our society tolerates, even embraces stupidity.

The reasons for this are many. The one that disturbs me most, is that a stupid population is more easily controlled, and therefore more desirable on some quarters.
 
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People aren't getting dumber, but our society tolerates, even embraces stupidity.

The reasons for this are many. The one that dist rubs me most, is that a stupid population is more easily controlled, and therefore more desirable on some quarters.
That is exactly the answer I was looking for.
Society seems to give more voice for dumb people.
Free speech is fine but dumb speech shouldn't be tolerated.
 
That is exactly the answer I was looking for.
Society seems to give more voice for dumb people.
Free speech is fine but dumb speech shouldn't be tolerated.
It has to be tolerated, but -- and this is where we are manipulated, in need not be listened to.
 
The question was if we are getting dumber, and not if we increase our knowledge.
Knowledge cannot decrease unless you erase it from the many existing databases, so obviously it'll only increase.

Surely as knowledge increases our starting point shifts that much further ahead?

Paul
 
Surely as knowledge increases our starting point shifts that much further ahead?

Paul

Not really.

A child may be exposed to more as they grow up with the increasing knowledge levels, but they still start from the same point when they are born.

Unless it is possible to teach them while in the womb...Who knows? But still, they start somewhere in there.
 
No I don't think we are getting dumber. Dumb is allowed and some celebrate that fact.
 
Is intelligence increasing? I think so, but this begs the question:

Are we losing or ignoring wisdom in the process?

Voted no.
 
In certain aspects, we are gaining and advancing our knowledge and developing and testing new ideas and theories. In other aspects we have retarded some base skills that prior generations of our ancestors would hang their heads in shame, if they could see us now.

We might be able to teach more and more people physics and advanced algebras, but at the same time, the number of people that can balance their checking account is dwindling. We might have a more educated populace in regards to understanding the basics of evolution, yet the number of people that would die if lost in the wilderness on their own would be staggering.
 
Being the avid reader and a bit of a history buff that I am I have seen many references threw history in which the speaker/writer has commented on later generations. The trend in opinion seems to be each generation surpasses the previous generation in stupidity.

Personally I do not believe this to be the case but rather as we get older and wiser we see the idiocy of youth, the same youth and idiocy we were once guilty of. Overall I do not think we are increasing or decreasing in intelligence to any great degree.
 
IMO there is much more of an anti-intellectual sentiment than ever in my lifetime, and many people treat ignorance as a virtue.
 
Being the avid reader and a bit of a history buff that I am I have seen many references threw history in which the speaker/writer has commented on later generations. The trend in opinion seems to be each generation surpasses the previous generation in stupidity.

Personally I do not believe this to be the case but rather as we get older and wiser we see the idiocy of youth, the same youth and idiocy we were once guilty of. Overall I do not think we are increasing or decreasing in intelligence to any great degree.

I don't know about that. It seems to me that it is possible to be older and none the wiser, or younger and wiser than some other younger persons. It all depends on what specific situation you are speaking of.

Personally, I feel that, overall, people are less wise/smart now when compared to their level of wisdom/intelligence any given period of time ago.

But this could well be because of my own lack of wisdom/intelligence.
 
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