It may sound like an insensitive statement, but the cold hard truth is that there are a lot of stupid people in the world, and their stupidity presents a constant danger to others. Some of these people are in positions of power, and some of them have been elected to run our country. A far greater number of them do not have positions of power, but they still have the power to vote, and the power to spread their ideas. We may have heard of "collective intelligence," but there is also "collective stupidity," and it is a force with equal influence on the world. It would not be a stretch to say that at this point in time, stupidity presents an existential threat to America because, in some circles, it is being celebrated.
Although the term "stupidity" may seem derogatory or insulting, it is actually a scientific concept that refers to a specific type of cognitive failure. It is important to realize that stupidity is not simply a lack of intelligence or knowledge, but rather a failure to use one's cognitive abilities effectively. This means that you can be "smart" while having a low IQ, or no expertise in anything. It is often said that "you can't fix stupid," but that is not exactly true. By becoming aware of the limitations of our natural intelligence or our ignorance, we can adjust our reasoning, behavior, and decision-making to account for our intellectual shortcomings.
To demonstrate that stupidity does not mean having a low IQ, consider the case of Richard Branson, the billionaire CEO of Virgin Airlines, who is one of the world's most successful businessmen. Branson has said that he was seen as the dumbest person in school, and has admitted to having dyslexia, a learning disability that affects one's ability to read and correctly interpret written language. But it wasn't just reading comprehension that was the problem — "Math just didn't make sense to me," Branson has said. "I would certainly have failed an IQ test."
[...] We are all victims of the Dunning-Kruger effect to some degree. An inability to accurately assess our own competency and wisdom is something we see in both liberals and conservatives. While being more educated typically decreases our Dunning-Kruger tendencies, it does not eliminate them entirely. That takes constant cognitive effort in the form of self-awareness, continual curiosity, and a healthy amount of skepticism. By cultivating this type of awareness in ourselves, and making an effort to spread it to others, we can fight back against the stupidity crisis that threatens our nation.
Interesting stuff from cognitive neuroscientist
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Revek on Friday February 24, @09:59PM (23 children)
They don't know it and its because they are stupid. They never check their facts or preconceptions and refuse to change their opinions in the face of insurmountable evidence to the contrary.
This page was generated by a Swarm of Roaming Elephants
(Score: 5, Insightful) by cmdrklarg on Friday February 24, @10:40PM (7 children)
The worst part about that is that they are proud of this.
Answer now is don't give in; aim for a new tomorrow.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 25, @01:52AM (4 children)
The problem is the US culture - being smart and knowledgeable is seen as a negative thing. Even the politicians often have to pretend to be stupider than they already are in order to win votes.
Whereas in many other places that's not true. If you're smart and knowledgeable it's not something to be hidden or ashamed of.
Lastly there are people like the Flat Earthers, many of whom are so stupid that they think they're the smart ones who know something that others don't.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by khallow on Saturday February 25, @06:29AM (3 children)
I'm pretty sure there's a lot of the world with this aspect of "US culture".
Let's give a dated example of how this can happen: tobacco companies funding smart and knowledgeable experts to tell us that smoking doesn't cause significant health problems. A big part of the negativity comes from a huge devaluing of smart and knowledgeable expert opinion over the past century by such mercenary tactics. And it comes from everywhere. You can find experts to give any spin you'd like on something through a combination of politics, greed, and ideology. And then media puts their own spin on it to sex it up. I guess we live in an era where there's a lot of exposure to the failings of social signals of intelligence and knowledge.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Opportunist on Saturday February 25, @04:10PM
A pretty good analysis, but hardly limited to tobacco. We've had a load of "experts" being paraded out by corporations to tell us that anything they do is good for us, and time and time again we have later learned that, nope, we've been lied to.
What kind of reaction do you expect?
And since these people also never learned how to verify what they're told, all they can do is turn to someone else to believe blindly.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 26, @07:48AM (1 child)
I'm pretty sure there's a lot of the world with less than 100 IQs. Hooah! USA! Not the worst yet!
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday February 26, @10:01PM
(Score: 5, Informative) by JoeMerchant on Saturday February 25, @01:33PM (1 child)
I'll just leave this here:
https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/florida-county-republican-party-votes-to-ban-the-covid-19-vaccine/ [cbsnews.com]
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Saturday February 25, @04:12PM
Well, if Covid finally gets a bit more lethal in a few incarnations, it might actually solve the problem...
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 24, @11:51PM (7 children)
"Sartre deploys his concept of bad faith as he develops his argument. For Sartre, the anti-Semite has escaped the insecurity of good faith, the impossibility of sincerity. He has abandoned reason and embraced passion. Sartre comments that, "It is not unusual for people to elect to live a life of passion rather than of reason. But ordinarily they love the objects of passion: women, glory, power, money. Since the anti-Semite has chosen hate, we are forced to conclude that it is the state of passion that he loves." He chooses to reason from passion, to reason falsely "because of the longing for impenetrability. The rational man groans as he gropes for the truth; he knows that reasoning is no more than tentative, that other considerations may intervene to cast doubt on it." Anti-Semites are attracted by "the durability of a stone." What frightens them is the uncertainty of truth. "The anti-Semite has chosen hate because hate is a faith." He has escaped responsibility and doubt. He can blame anything on the Jew; he does not need to engage reason, for he has his faith."
Sound familiar? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Semite_and_Jew#Bad_faith [wikipedia.org]
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 25, @06:12AM (6 children)
People weren't as dumb as they appear today.
Jews were expelled 1031 times. For good reasons. By smart people. If Americans were smart, they would expel the jews too.
https://www.jewworldorder.org/jews-expelled-1030-times/ [jewworldorder.org]
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday February 25, @06:35AM (4 children)
Like people wanting their stuff. We know how this game is played.
(Score: -1, Troll) by eckeck on Saturday February 25, @06:51AM (3 children)
Like jews invading Palestine and murdering its people and taking their stuff. We know how this game is played.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday February 25, @07:45AM (2 children)
I guess they'll have to do it 1030 more times to be as bad as the rest of us, eh?
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Saturday February 25, @10:17AM (1 child)
The account was created last July, but it is the first time that the account has been used. Account numbers are now in the 25000s series.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday February 25, @03:51PM
(Score: 3, Funny) by PiMuNu on Saturday February 25, @11:26AM
Also expel the Protestants. Edict of Nantes wasn't wrong, that's all I'm saying.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Opportunist on Saturday February 25, @10:01AM (6 children)
They never learn to do it. The school system doesn't allow it.
If you want to succeed at school with minimal effort, and let's face it, who puts in more than that when you're a teenager, the correct process is to soak up whatever nonsense the teacher wants you to soak up, barf it onto the test, then clean out the brain to make room for more bullshit to soak up. Understanding not required. Actually, trying to understand may even undermine your success since you'd be asking a teacher uncomfortable questions that teacher is very likely not capable of answering. And quite a few teachers teach with the idea that first and foremost, you're supposed to learn obedience and believing what you're taught and second to get any kind of relevant information.
Now fast forward into adulthood when people realize that they're being bullshitted. They have been lied to. The system doesn't work, the whole American dream is a lie and they'll never amount to anything. Because their education is abysmal. So they now know, they've been duped. But what now? They never learned to figure out what is and what isn't true. All they ever learned was to believe what they're being told. And they don't want to believe what they were told. So they search for something else to believe.
Unfortunately, their train of thought doesn't go "I realized A is wrong, so let's find out what is right". They have no way of doing that. All they can do is "I realized A is wrong, there is someone saying B, B is different from A, so I now believe B instead".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 25, @03:16PM (5 children)
Dude, it's beyond that. It's wilfill, malign, misunderstanding - bad faith in other words. Sounds like you need some more Satre.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Opportunist on Saturday February 25, @04:29PM (4 children)
It's Sartre, and yes, I know Réflexions sur la question juive. Please don't quote that without putting it into context, because the fun bit is that the core of its statement isn't just anti-semitism. It's hate and the source of hate in its entirety. The core essence is that the Jew isn't hated by that antisemite for what he does, not even for what he is, but simply because he needs something to hate to avoid hating himself. It's the attempt to create a focal point for all the bad things happening. 500 years ago, the devil was the culprit (and is again today with a bunch of religious loonies) who will then easily identify whatever group they deem fit for persecution for being "of the devil". That kinda got out of fashion when people stopped believing in superstitious nonsense (but, again, it has a big revival right now).
The "hater" (in Sartre's essay, the antisemite) is in a negative situation and is looking for a reason. The honest man would look to better himself by working on that situation or to actually seek to rectify his own position or behaviour to improve it. This, though, first requires you to accept that you might be wrong. And that's anathema. And hardly a new one, it's been anathema forever. We get that instilled already, again, in our youth.
Making mistakes is seen as bad. Horrible, even. Making mistakes means you get a bad mark on your test, you get bad grades, you get reprimanded or even punished. People who make no mistakes are praised and used as examples.
You know what I call people who make no mistakes? Slackers. Show me a person who never makes mistakes and I show you a person who never worked a day in his life.
Mistakes are a growing opportunity. Of course, you shouldn't repeat them but learn from them. But even that is verboten. Because making mistakes is such anathema, you must not analyze them. Or at the very least, you get heavily discouraged from doing so. Your best course of action is to just try to ignore them. Brush them under the rug. Imagine they never existed. I.e. the worst you can do.
But since it's so unfathomable that you make mistakes, someone else has to be to blame for your situation. It can't be you. So we need a culprit. And that culprit is easily found because there's always someone who can benefit from giving you one. You're not to blame for your situation. You're the poor, poor victim, the real culprit is someone else.
Who it is now depends on what someone wants you to believe. For an antisemite, it's the Jew. For the racist, the blacks. For the misogynist, the feminazis. For the feminists, toxic masculinity. For the liberals, Trump. For the conservatives, Biden. And so on. Find your preferred target for your 10 minute hate and have fun with it.
Change? No. That doesn't change anything. It doesn't better your situation at all. But that's also not what it's for. It's to keep you busy and keep you in the camp you're useful for.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 25, @05:11PM (3 children)
Yes obviously it's not specific to anti-semitism. It's about bad faith arguing. We see in the House ample evidence of bad faith led by - let's call it for what it is - fascist Republicans. The noise about "space lasers" and "national divorce" are bad faith arguing to distract, to mock, to debase the idea of good faith argument. Why suffer the agony of trying to make a just case when you can rattle a toy and yell to drown out the opponent?
For what? To hide the thumb on the scales giving them advantages at the expense of the Other. (The jews, or whoever). Plus delaying the inevitable consequences of their lying and corruption. Slavery? Not us - it was the Democrats. Slavery was good for them. Slaves had it better than black people now. Go back to your own country if you don't like it. The civil war was about states rights. It was a long time ago, forget about it. Move on snowflakes.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Opportunist on Sunday February 26, @09:19AM (2 children)
The cynic in me would still say that slavery was abolished when we noticed that owning people is more costly and risky than renting them. A slave, I have to buy (with a huge up-front cost), then feed and shelter, now compare that the the slave-driver wages paid today, and if the worker gets sick, I can fire and replace them, when my slave gets sick, I have a loss, and a huge risk because if that slave dies, I'm out of money. If that worker dies, pfft, not my problem, I just rent another one.
Aside of that, I can agree, bad faith arguing is just way more convenient than trying to argue in good faith. You're addressing emotions rather than ratio, and with almost all people, that works better because it hits more directly. Plus, it circumvents any kind of logic and reason. You eliminate the need to give good reason, all you have to do is pull the heart strings.
The two key "animal" motivators for humans are greed and fear. Not hope and fear, mind you, greed and fear. Both are very powerful tools in the bad faith toolbox, because you can use either of them to make people hate someone. You can either use them to create hate for a group by fearing they could do something, or you can use them to create hate for a group by envy for something they allegedly have. Neither of which need to be true, by the way, the accusation alone is sufficient because, as stated before, the argument circumvents logic and reason and hits directly the reptilian part of our brain.
Once you realize that, using people as you see fit is easy. You don't even have to buy them first, they come to you for free.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday February 26, @10:06PM
Some people didn't notice that and started a costly war that killed half a million people.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 28, @07:06AM
> owning people is more costly and risky than renting them
Yes, after you have first got them to build your farms and infrastructure. Then you let them go free. What?? You're free now. OMG you're so lazy. It's your own fault you don't have a farm or own anything. Tsk tsk, shouldn't order so much avocado toast.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Beryllium Sphere (r) on Friday February 24, @10:16PM (1 child)
One of my friends has a standard response to anything that agrees with her beliefs. She demands proof. It's how she protects against confirmation bias.
Another example: to make sure he wouldn't accidentally forget or somehow overlook conflicting data, Charles Darwin kept a notebook dedicated to observations that didn't fit his current hypotheses.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by krishnoid on Saturday February 25, @01:00AM
I guess her price of knowledge is eternal vigilance. At the very least, if you yourself can't spend the time to do that, you can find a friend like that and make them do all the work.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by EJ on Friday February 24, @10:18PM (4 children)
I think too many people overrate the value of intelligence in the grand scheme of the universe. The Earth was doing MUCH better when mostly "dumb" people lived here. The "smart" people figured out that you can drill down into the ground to bring up this black liquid to burn.
The universe doesn't care how "smart" you are or think you are. All that matters is reproductive viability. Watch Idiocracy. "Smart" people may eventually breed themselves into extinction. I don't care if I get downmodded for this, but I feel confident that the world would be better off if people spent more time wiping themselves out than overpopulating.
When all is said and done, this planet will be swallowed by our sun. A universe without humans would not look very different.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by krishnoid on Saturday February 25, @01:05AM (1 child)
I thought the premise in Idiocracy was that the smart people weren't breeding [youtu.be].
Well worth remembering [youtu.be] -- and IMO, improved by visualizing.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by EJ on Saturday February 25, @02:41AM
Well, yeah. True. I meant anti-breeding, but didn't have the words to express that the way I wanted.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Beryllium Sphere (r) on Saturday February 25, @01:38AM (1 child)
What if one of Straczynski's characters is right and we're the Universe's tools for figuring itself out?
We've done an impressive job and I hate to see regression like the people on Bad Medical Takes denying germ theory.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 25, @03:21PM
We are the Universe's tools for figuring itself out -- but we also cause the Universe's delusion, our own delusion, by refusing to see ourselves as we are. I.e. we hold the lens of vanity in front of our own eyes, pretending not to be able to see.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by turgid on Friday February 24, @10:23PM (4 children)
I recently stumbled upon this link [sproutsschools.com] about something called Bonhoeffer's Theory of Stupidity and I was going to make a journal entry about it, but you know, busy and all that.
It didn't end well for Bonhoeffer.
Current events?
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 4, Interesting) by krishnoid on Saturday February 25, @12:58AM (3 children)
Then you definitely may not have time to watch Idiocracy, but maybe you have five minutes to watch the opening [youtu.be] at least. I thought the whole movie was worth a distracted watch, at least for the simplistic (but well-realized) dystopian imagery within.
(Score: 4, Touché) by esperto123 on Saturday February 25, @01:46PM (2 children)
we joke that Idiocracy is not a movie, it is a documentary... and it is ever becoming closer to not being a joke anymore
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 25, @03:25PM
I bring you Hershel Walker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llwgHjfagBo&t=23s [youtube.com]
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Sunday February 26, @08:07AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v435y5TNMjQ [youtube.com]
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by krishnoid on Saturday February 25, @12:36AM
Don't be stupid [youtu.be], stupid. Of course you can't "fix" it, it's not like it's a mechanical failure -- you have to take a pill [nih.gov] for it.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Saturday February 25, @03:24AM (4 children)
American stupidity is a threat to the world.
Not saying America has more stupid people than other countries, but America is the most militarized, more hegemonic country in the world. When idiots take charge in America, the world shudders.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 25, @03:30PM
Gotta love the irony of stupid white people flocking to white supremacy ideologies. You just do - even if it costs another World War that shit is quite funny.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 25, @06:09PM
Also the US has a lots of nukes. The US president can launch nukes unilaterally and that's by design. And there too high a chance that lots of stupid voters would one day vote in a US president that might just launch those nukes for bad reasons.
See: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/08/09/what-if-the-president-ordering-a-nuclear-attack-isnt-sane-a-major-lost-his-job-for-asking/ [washingtonpost.com]
See also:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2018/12/23/trump-can-launch-nuclear-weapons-whenever-he-wants-with-or-without-mattis/ [washingtonpost.com]
https://www.wired.com/story/donald-trump-nuclear-weapons-system-reform/ [wired.com]
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday February 27, @04:35PM (1 child)
The usual suspects like Russia, China, and the dictatorships of the world are worse. They just aren't strong enough or influential enough at present to pull off a hegemony, US-style or otherwise.
At this point, the US is weakening. It's stupidity won't be quite as much a problem as in the past.
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 28, @07:10AM
>
It'sItsFTFY
(Score: 5, Interesting) by MIRV888 on Saturday February 25, @04:51AM (7 children)
It seems to me that a better understanding of the scientific method and peer review would help.
I realize I am knowledgeable (not an expert) about certain fields and trades. I also realize I don't know jack shit about a whole lot.
That being the case I have to weed out the BS experts and find people who are truly knowledgeable and vetted in their area of expertise.
The internet makes that very difficult sometimes. A bunch of hacks telling people what they want to hear vs the unpleasant truth offered by sciency people is a tough sell.
I think a better baseline education of the sciences would go a long way towards weeding out the hacks and snake oil salespeople.
My 2 cents
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Saturday February 25, @07:29AM (2 children)
Actually the schools doing a solid teaching of logical thinking would already go a long way. Add enough understanding of statistics that you cannot easily be lied to by using correct but misleading statistics, and the snake oil salespeople would at least have a much harder time.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Saturday February 25, @10:12AM (1 child)
The question would be, who can or would want to teach it? Do you think the average teacher even could teach that? And if, is there a political will to have an electorate that can see through lies?
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Saturday February 25, @10:32AM
Actually it is not needed that the average teacher can teach that; it only needs to be the teacher for the subject who needs to be able to teach that (and the subject would have to be mandatory for all students). Of course if done consequently, over time also the average teacher would be able to teach it, as all of them would have gone though that education in their own school time.
Now the political will is of course a completely different question.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Beryllium Sphere (r) on Saturday February 25, @08:36AM (2 children)
This is a popularized version of how scientists evaluate new things. It's Carl Sagan's "baloney detection kit".
https://www3.nd.edu/~ghaeffel/Baloney.pdf [nd.edu]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 25, @10:28AM (1 child)
What the hell is with the formating of that PDF?
(Score: 2) by Zinho on Saturday February 25, @04:18PM
Looks like it was formatted for display on a cell phone screen, if I had to take a guess.
"Space Exploration is not endless circles in low earth orbit." -Buzz Aldrin
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 25, @03:37PM
It's nothing to do with education. It's brainwashing.
People just have to remember, or be shown examples of, people not accepting the BULLSHIT that we presently lap up. The inherited wealth billionaires who talk about working hard. The people born on 3rd base with a silver spoon in their mouth who lecture on pulling oneself up by the bootstraps. Then praising themselves and creating laws that... favor themselves. Duh. This is some bullshit, folks, and we as a culture still fall for it - just look at who we elect. Our champions are millionaires from name-brand families who got all the helping hands available, to the detriment of you, your kids and millions of others.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Opportunist on Saturday February 25, @10:08AM (4 children)
It's just not legal, and the precedent [wikipedia.org] kinda kills any discussion about it.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by maxwell demon on Saturday February 25, @10:55AM (3 children)
Sorry, there's absolutely zero evidence that stupidity is inherited.
And before you come up with anything about inheritance of intelligence, let me quote the relevant part of the summary:
In other words, an unintelligent person that knows about their lack of intelligence and makes the best of those limited abilities is not stupid. A highly intelligent person maintaining willful ignorance is.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Saturday February 25, @12:18PM
Hmm. Then I guess something akin to Covid, just with higher mortality rates, might do the trick.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 27, @03:17PM (1 child)
While not all of it is inherited some of it should be inherited otherwise it'll go against most scientific evidence and research on genetics and inheritance.
Stupidity and intelligence are inheritable traits. If they aren't then humans wouldn't tend to fall within certain intelligence ranges, same for other species.
If you don't think so, please go train a dog or parrot till it's as smart as an average human.
Just because it's politically incorrect doesn't mean it's scientifically false.
The human brain is indeed very malleable and in many cases the potential can stymied due to poor education and training methods. Most parents aren't trained educators (children of good teachers tend to get closer to their max potential). The theoretical max is limited by genes, but the practical max is linked to environment, education and training.
See also these seemingly contradictory studies:
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn1520-iq-is-inherited-suggests-twin-study/ [newscientist.com]
https://www.psypost.org/2022/05/psychologists-found-a-striking-difference-in-intelligence-after-examining-twins-raised-apart-in-south-korea-and-the-united-states-63091 [psypost.org]
Given that the difference in species already prove that IQ is heritable, the logical conclusion is the US environment/education is bad for IQ.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Monday February 27, @08:16PM
Maybe you actually READ my post before responding to it.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 25, @10:20AM
http://harmful.cat-v.org/people/basic-laws-of-human-stupidity/ [cat-v.org]
(Score: 2, Insightful) by shrewdsheep on Saturday February 25, @11:07AM (2 children)
O.k. that's your definition of stupidity, clumsily as it is worded.
So RB has a low IQ but according to you, that is an unrelated concept to "stupidity". So why bring it up? Conclusion: see title (writing stupid things for the world to see, seems to fall under the definition).
Most likely he meant to discuss the other implication: low IQ ⇒ stupidty. Finally, he realizes that he was really discussing the Dunning-Kruger effect all along, but fails to express a cohesive thought. Sad puff piece.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by bzipitidoo on Saturday February 25, @05:08PM (1 child)
I don't like "stupid" as a label for this problem, because it's not accurate enough. If these people were only stupid, things wouldn't be so bad. It's that they are also hugely unfair, immature, malicious, paranoid, cowardly, prone to violence, and even sadistic. I've been casting about for better terms.
They can't be manipulated into any position, no, they're not stupid that way. They can much more easily be manipulated into prejudice than out of prejudice. Same with cults and conspiracy theories. Easier in than out. These things all feature the same elements of providing a rationale however poor for blaming everything on others, never having to admit fault or error, refusing all responsibility for their own actions, and latching onto some powerful seeming parental figure.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by JeffPaetkau on Saturday February 25, @05:57PM
The biblical term is “fool”
(Score: 5, Touché) by Nuke on Saturday February 25, @01:05PM (8 children)
I thought the Branson example was going to be of someone who scores a high IQ (IDK what his IQ score is) but is nevertheless stupid. In fact it is supposed to be the other way round. But Branson has always seemed stupid to me, after all he thought Musk's Hyperloop was a good idea.
Oh, I get it. The author of TFA measures how clever we are by how much money we have. A lot of historical geniuses would fail that test - most geniuses are not even interested in money, they are more interested in their subject.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 25, @03:44PM
The fact is you get one pass through life to figure it out. Most of us take a detour into something pointless - because that's where all our education pushes us - be a success etc. Which is nothing except pleasing other people. After a certain economic point, success is about discarding other peoples' notions of success and following your own ideas and thoughts - to the exclusion of all else. It is ultimately the only thing worth doing, the rest is just placating somebody else's vanity.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Opportunist on Saturday February 25, @04:02PM (6 children)
Tbh, I never really understood that obsession with money. Money is something I can make when I need some, time is the actual limiting factor in our lives. Yet people treat it like it's worthless.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by turgid on Saturday February 25, @08:07PM (5 children)
For many of us lucky ones, this is true most of the time. However, there are many others who, through no fault of their own, are not so lucky and we need to help them out, give them enough to have basic human dignity, and to offer them opportunities.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday February 27, @05:56PM (4 children)
Note that the first group is much bigger than the second. That's always a key problem with the narrative. Something made good luck really common. It wasn't the basic human dignity sensibility, but societal and economic infrastructure.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 28, @07:56AM (3 children)
> societal and economic infrastructure
Uh oh. Socialisms?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday February 28, @01:53PM (2 children)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 28, @09:58PM (1 child)
Most, not all. The others need the s****lisms. It's a bit like helping a family member or a friend except they are not in your family or they are a friend you have yet to meet.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday March 01, @01:04PM
That's the point.