Dumberer and dumbererer

[Ace-Garageguy]

OK...this isn't "making fun" of anyone. It's not bashing the US, or Americans or anything at all other than ignorance-by-choice.

We, as a nation, need to collectively smarten-up. People ARE getting more and more out-of-touch with how the world works, and what was common knowledge in the past (and I don't mean obscure ancient and currently irrelevant trivia) is not so widely known today.

There are simple things about science, geography, history and math that you NEED to know to make wise decisions when it comes time to vote or choose medical providers or make purchases or engage intelligently in myriad other activities.

Food for thought.

Dumb & Dumber - Scientific Proof That People Are Getting 'Stupider'

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-08-25/dumb-dumber-scientific-proof-people-are-getting-stupider

[Earl Marischal]

Looking at some of the 'clickbait' surrounding the story you quote just seems to strengthen your case.

steve 

[Ace-Garageguy]

Looking at some of the 'clickbait' surrounding the story you quote just seems to strengthen your case.

steve 

I'll have to take your word for it. My ad-blocker kills all of that carp...14 items on that page alone. It's pretty smart.  

Oh...the stuff that's not advertising something useless? Mostly moronic, like most of the similar stuff out there in cyberland. Some kernals of truth, but it takes a functioning mind capable of critical thinking (no longer considered a necessity, apparently) to winnow the wheat from the chaff.

And for anyone thinking this is just some disgruntled old SOB writing an op-ed piece (and didn't bother to read all the way down) here's a link to an 8th grade exam from 1912.

How many of YOU can answer ALL the questions?  (I couldn't).

http://www.bullittcountyhistory.com/bchistory/schoolexam1912.html

Edited December 10, 2016 by Ace-Garageguy

[JollySipper]

In the 8th grade we were required to learn how to compose a proper paper with an opening paragraph, three body, and a conclusion..... I was lurking around on another forum and this college kid was doing that same thing, something he should have learned in middle school....... Maybe it's because of what is required learning nowadays?

[espo]

To many people seem to believe only what they see or read on the internet, "because the internet doesn't lie !"

[Cpt Tuttle]

If it makes you feel better, I can honestly say that it is not a pure american phenomena, I see the same tendencies in Sweden.....

[MrObsessive]

On that quiz, I bet most young people in school today couldn't answer those questions when it comes to civil government.

Why?? Because Civics for the most part isn't taught in school anymore. Witness what we just saw in the news what folks were doing after our election here. I don't want to turn this into a political skunk spraying match, I'm just stating what to me was VERY obvious.

Please no flame wars over this...........but what the OP started this thread with makes a lot of sense.

And no, I couldn't answer all the questions either on that quiz, and I consider myself to be reasonably "smart".

[10thumbs]

Thanks Bill for adding one of these kinds of topics.  Gotta love it.

In everyday life, I often can't believe what kind of un-intelligent younger people I'll run across in a day.

Just last week, an international study shows that German 8th grade kids have generally become somewhat more adept to modern times.  They've actually raised the rating from the previous study.  German kids rate 16th in the world.  Hard to believe such an ingenious and industrious folk could slip so far.

Now I'll check out the 8th grade test from a hundred years ago.

[Draggon]

Question 7 on that test is where things fall apart. "How many of each sex....."  Holy cow, someone would stage a protest if this was on a test these days. 

[kitbash1]

If it makes you feel better, I can honestly say that it is not a pure american phenomena, I see the same tendencies in Sweden.....

I see the same thing happening in Canada. So it's a world wide problem.

[peteski]

The less educated people are, the easier they can be controlled and the more gullible they will be.

Today's technology (the Internet and all those "smart" devices everyone seems to be glued to) seem to make many people dumber too.  You don't have to learn anything because you can just "Google" it.  If course this is a generalization, but it is also true for many people.

[Mike C]

That doesn't surprise me. Just look at all the nonsense on YouTube that they believe. Like the earth is flat, rockets don't work in space, it's just endless. There are people out there that are literally too stupid to know that they are stupid. I don't think these morons have made it past the 3rd grade.

Edited December 14, 2016 by Mike C

[Snake45]

I've often said that my Bachelor's degree is worth about my Dad's high school diploma, and my stepson's two Master's degrees are worth about my Bachelor's.

[Ace-Garageguy]

That doesn't surprise me. Just look at all the nonsense on YouTube that they believe. Like the earth is flat, rockets don't work in space, it's just endless. 

Funny how that works sometimes, and you can bet they all know how to do cool little thumb-things with their smart-devices...yet they don't know enough to check the oil in their cars, how to change a flat, calculate a 20% tip in their heads or do slightly harder arithmetic with a pencil on paper...but they look at an old fart who only has a flip-phone (but can fly a plane and if necessary make ANY part in it) like he's a Luddite moron.

Edited December 15, 2016 by Ace-Garageguy

[Psychographic]

The less educated people are, the easier they can be controlled and the more gullible they will be.

Today's technology (the Internet and all those "smart" devices everyone seems to be glued to) seem to make many people dumber too.  You don't have to learn anything because you can just "Google" it.  If course this is a generalization, but it is also true for many people.

If you look something up on Google, isn't that learning? I really don't understand why the source of information be the internet or a classroom, makes a difference. That does depend of course where on the internet you're getting your info. I know I've learned a lot of things I would never know without the web.

[Snake45]

If you look something up on Google, isn't that learning? I really don't understand why the source of information be the internet or a classroom, makes a difference. That does depend of course where on the internet you're getting your info. I know I've learned a lot of things I would never know without the web.

That's all well and good as long as the power stays on. But when it goes out....

Someone once asked me what's the difference between Mennonites and Amish. I said, "When the Iranians or Norks set off that nuke and the EMP knocks out our power grid, the Mennonites are going to be as mad, helpless and desperate as the rest of us. The Amish aren't even going to notice."

[Ace-Garageguy]

If you look something up on Google, isn't that learning? I really don't understand why the source of information be the internet or a classroom, makes a difference. That does depend of course where on the internet you're getting your info. I know I've learned a lot of things I would never know without the web.

On the surface, that seems to be a perfectly logical position.

Unfortunately, there's a lot of WRONG information on the internet (much of it repeated so many times that many Google results return the same incorrect gibberish from what appear to be multiple sources) so that someone lacking a STRONG base of what used to be termed "common knowledge", and with poor critical-thinking skills, is apt to accept mindlessly repeated BS as fact.

I encounter this constantly when trying to piece together ACCURATE information on a variety of technical subjects. I firmly believe that, at this point, a large number of internet "expert sources" are completely worthless, and "fact checking" before publishing material seems to be a largely unknown concept within the electronic media. What passes for internet "journalism" is often a joke (if the reader is at all familiar with the subject, anyway). My more intelligent peers agree. You HAVE to know a fair bit about something in the first place to be able to distinguish between fact, opinion, and just plain carp on the web...or anywhere else.

The whole purpose of primary education is, in theory, to provide a foundation of basic knowledge, and a minimum skill-set (reading, writing, 'rithmetic) so that someone can absorb more complex and in-depth information after they have a basis from which to understand and interpret it. From what I can tell, primary education is lately failing to provide that basis.

Edited December 15, 2016 by Ace-Garageguy

[Ace-Garageguy]

Re: Internet "learning"

Let's take two accepted sources of information and compare them...traditional encyclopedias and Wikipedia.

In the bygone days of my youth, you could rely almost 100% on whatever you read in something like Encyclopedia Britannica, because the entries were edited, in large part, by acknowledged experts in their respective fields. Effort was put into fact-checking extensively to insure that information presented was true and correct.

Now let's look at Wikipedia, the "source" many people now accept as the repository of all knowledge. Wikipee is great as far as it goes, BUT entries can be posted and edited by any fool who's mastered point-and-click, and who can type with one or two fingers...whether he actually KNOWS what he's talking about or not. I've encountered so many errors in Wikipee over the years I stopped counting. It seems to be getting more accurate, as more responsible volunteers make an effort to correct things that are patently wrong, but it's STILL subject to presenting information put up by idiots...and believed by masses of other idiots.

The internet is probably the greatest tool in the history of humankind for distributing knowledge, surpassing even the printing press. It also has the greatest potential for distributing lies and BS.

It takes an informed user with a sound knowledge BASE to know the difference.

[Snake45]

Re: Internet "learning"

Let's take two accepted sources of information and compare them...traditional encyclopedias and Wikipedia.

In the bygone days of my youth, you could rely almost 100% on whatever you read in something like Encyclopedia Britannica, because the entries were edited, in large part, by acknowledged experts in their respective fields. Effort was put into fact-checking extensively to insure that information presented was true and correct.

 

The information would also be at least two years old, and that's if you were working with the very latest edition. In some cases I realize this might not make much if any difference.

[Ace-Garageguy]

The information would also be at least two years old, and that's if you were working with the very latest edition. In some cases I realize this might not make much if any difference.

The world didn't change as fast when I was a kid, so not-quite-current information wasn't as much of an issue in science and technology as it is today.

BUT...you'll find a lot of outdated information on the web, too (besides being just flat wrong). I always try to find dates on what I find on the net, and quite often it's at LEAST two years old...when it's dated at all.

That is why I subscribe to several technical and scientific journals and web services and belong to the Society of Automotive Engineers (as well as other professional technical groups)...so that the information I consider to be important will be relatively current when I get it, or so that I have access to searchable and DATED databases for same.

I certainly don't disagree that having the web makes current and correct information available better than ever before in human history (as I've stated before in different words), but to get full value from a particular resource, you need to be able to judge its validity, and this requires a broad knowledge base that's becoming lacking in today's "educated" masses.

And THAT is what the main point of this thread is.

Edited December 15, 2016 by Ace-Garageguy

[Psychographic]

On the surface, that seems to be a perfectly logical position.

Unfortunately, there's a lot of WRONG information on the internet (much of it repeated so many times that many Google results return the same incorrect gibberish from what appear to be multiple sources) so that someone lacking a STRONG base of what used to be termed "common knowledge", and with poor critical-thinking skills, is apt to accept mindlessly repeated BS as fact.

I encounter this constantly when trying to piece together ACCURATE information on a variety of technical subjects. I firmly believe that, at this point, a large number of internet "expert sources" are completely worthless, and "fact checking" before publishing material seems to be a largely unknown concept within the electronic media. What passes for internet "journalism" is often a joke (if the reader is at all familiar with the subject, anyway). My more intelligent peers agree. You HAVE to know a fair bit about something in the first place to be able to distinguish between fact, opinion, and just plain carp on the web...or anywhere else.

The whole purpose of primary education is, in theory, to provide a foundation of basic knowledge, and a minimum skill-set (reading, writing, 'rithmetic) so that someone can absorb more complex and in-depth information after they have a basis from which to understand and interpret it. From what I can tell, primary education is lately failing to provide that basis.

"That does depend of course where on the internet you're getting your info."

 

You did read that sentence , didn't you?

[Ace-Garageguy]

"That does depend of course where on the internet you're getting your info."

You did read that sentence , didn't you?

Yeah, I read that sentence. I understood it too.

That doesn't change the fact that you need a broad general-knowledge base to intelligently determine where on the internet to search, and to determine where you find accurate information, based on an ability to think logically and follow a chain of reasoning.

The broad general-knowledge base of high-school graduates (and many university graduates, as well as advanced degree holders) is becoming sorely lacking.

Not requiring essay-style answers and research papers that help develop logical reasoning skills and comprehension compounds the problem.

Reading comprehension in general is falling rapidly too.

Combine those three factors, and you get a populace that can't determine the validity of the information they're confronted with...no matter WHERE it comes from.

This is why we get large groups of people who believe that the Earth as a sphere (more-or-less) is only a "theory", mindless and ignorant racism (though the study of mitochondrial DNA has just about proven beyond doubt that everyone on the planet is descended from a common, probably BLACK ancestor), the idea that the climate isn't getting warmer (it really is), that the warming is man-made (nobody really REALLY knows)...and a host of other things legions of people believe because of ignorance.

[afx]

My son is doing his part to raise the SAT average, he recently scored a 1370.  Puts him in the 95th percentile.

[Ace-Garageguy]

My son is doing his part to raise the SAT average, he recently scored a 1370.  Puts him in the 95th percentile.

Most excellent. It's always great news to hear somebody is bucking the dumb-is-cool trend.  

[DrGlueblob]

Hi folks, been off-site for awhile. Missed y'all.

Funny, when the Internet first started to catch on, I figured it would make people want to be MORE literate..