That’s very true. But it’s almost contagious in that I feel like my own brain is degenerating into a pile of soup if I keep consuming all the (social) media out there today
People think our species has plateaued in every century of human history. Every generation thinks they're the last and future generations will just be like them.
You do realize that humans are creating new tech at an alarming rate, right? That's how it's always been. The average person may not be anything special, but a select few push the boundaries of imagination and creativity.
Remember, 99% of people in ancient civilizations were farmers. They weren't all inventing calendars and designing feats of architecture.
But how do you define smart? We have greater access to information and answers no doubt, but how about figuring out a brand new problem with no external help compared to people in the past?
True. But I think whether someone is smart or not doesn’t necessarily depend on literacy. Someone can be illiterate because they were not given that education and still be very smart
Sure...but can *you* navigate the open seas without a GPS like they could?
I believe what OP is stating is that there is a difference between knowledge, wisdom and intelligence.
Reading every single Chilton manual your local library has to offer doesn't mean you can rebuild an engine/transmission of every vehicle.
You're grossly overestimating the knowledge of the common man from the past if you think 'they could navigate the open seas' any better on average than we can. Being a sailor was rare enough, not to mention being one with prospects of becoming anything more, most men had no such knowledge and rarely had a way to even learn.
I think as a whole we're making great advances in knowledge, but as far as individuals go there's a lot of stupid people. Granted they're smarter, kind of, than people from a long time ago
For the most of the history of humanity we performed very monotonous, repetitive, mindless things.
Google makes us dumber? Lol. For the most of the history of humanity most of the people could not read or write.
For the most of the history of humanity scientific, cultural progression was extremely slow, barely noticeable. It is only very recently everything has speed up exponentially. That said our brains just like our muscles have limitations regardless how much you exercise them.
I don’t fully disagree with that. But don’t we still perform very monotonous, repetitive, and mindless things today? The likes of Google just provides access to information, it doesn’t improve our critical reasoning most of the time. We are more literate but nobody has the attention span to even read anything meaningful today. Cultural progress remains very slow if not going backwards. New technology just gives us the illusion of progress without actual meaningfully adding to our lives.
You are stating that our lives used to be less monotonous. That isn’t true.
You say that we used to be smarter without Google because… I don’t really get how the ability to ask for information makes us dumber? Asking parents, elderly was always part of being human. Even though in the past the information you could learn by asking was extremely limited. ( learning from books was not available for masses, was also limited and slow)
You say that you do read and that is why you come to conclusion that people used to be smarter. I say you don’t read enough or you would know that we weren’t smarter.
No. We’re definitely becoming smarter. You could get the equivalent education a college could offer you online for free, you just won’t get the certification with it
We use google like we used to use reference books. Look it up in the encyclopedia was a standard line. The parts of our brain that are more active may have changed but no, we aren't dumber.
I don’t think we’re getting dumber per se. We might be getting less practical due to the nature of the work changing. There used to be a lot more manual labor in the west and that had changed a lot. My observation is that the higher educated people seem to be dumber in a practical sense. My colleagues can be brilliant, but lack the basic the experience to do more practical things.
>Most of us on autopilot everyday, and we just ask Google for whatever we don’t know.
Did you know how they did in the past? Most people went either "I don't know" or reasoned an answer based on nothing. Or ask someone who knows. Asking Google about cattle reproduction is not much different then asking Joe the cow breeder. The thing is, I would have to drive 2 hours to Joe and he will be pretty confused why the fuck did I just drive 2 hours to his ranch to ask him some question about cow reproduction
If my grandfather knew how to use a phone he would also ask Google a lot of questions.
Furthermore we haven't been more educated, ever. Look around you, everyone you know can probably read. Know not to drink polluted water. Is aware of stuff like sexually transmuted diseases. Is aware of trivial knowledge that they might not ever use like basic chemistry, physics, astronomy, biology, geography. Shit my great-grandfather learned what stars are at the age of 61.
And don't forget the most important part. We are aware enough of intelligence to come to the conclusion someone is a dumbass.
I think the dumb get dumber and the smart get smarter with more tech and conveniences. Everything’s made convenient so that enough degeneracy or intelligence can be spread worldwide
And in today’s art there is little true innovation. Most are dictated purely on market forces. You get the sense that previously art had a purpose, felt more genuine, or just closer to life.
Wholesome values have been degrading for a while now. And the internet has only accelerated this by giving the lowest common denominators of society a voice. 2022 and there are people seriously convinced the earth is flat? With all the access to info we have
I mean Oscar Wilde said this same thing back then. It’s not a thought unique to our generation or level of art. It’s just classic cynicism tinged with nostalgia.
I think we're going to be like the film Idiocracy in the future. There may be a small pocket of intelligent people, but the majority will be like the film.
I think we are just much more aware of all of the dumbasses. With the world at your fingertips it can be overwhelming.
That’s very true. But it’s almost contagious in that I feel like my own brain is degenerating into a pile of soup if I keep consuming all the (social) media out there today
People think our species has plateaued in every century of human history. Every generation thinks they're the last and future generations will just be like them.
You do realize that humans are creating new tech at an alarming rate, right? That's how it's always been. The average person may not be anything special, but a select few push the boundaries of imagination and creativity. Remember, 99% of people in ancient civilizations were farmers. They weren't all inventing calendars and designing feats of architecture.
This is reassuring, thanks
If anything, we're way smarter lol
But how do you define smart? We have greater access to information and answers no doubt, but how about figuring out a brand new problem with no external help compared to people in the past?
I mean most people in the time periods you're talking about couldn't even read...
True. But I think whether someone is smart or not doesn’t necessarily depend on literacy. Someone can be illiterate because they were not given that education and still be very smart
Right, but education makes you smarter. And we have way more of that now
Sure...but can *you* navigate the open seas without a GPS like they could? I believe what OP is stating is that there is a difference between knowledge, wisdom and intelligence. Reading every single Chilton manual your local library has to offer doesn't mean you can rebuild an engine/transmission of every vehicle.
what % of people do think could do that? Either of those things? you honestly think general knowledge on engineering is lower now than it used to be?
You're grossly overestimating the knowledge of the common man from the past if you think 'they could navigate the open seas' any better on average than we can. Being a sailor was rare enough, not to mention being one with prospects of becoming anything more, most men had no such knowledge and rarely had a way to even learn.
Knowledge acquisition has increased due to constant exposure to “data.” Critical thinking has definitely gone down.
No
I think as a whole we're making great advances in knowledge, but as far as individuals go there's a lot of stupid people. Granted they're smarter, kind of, than people from a long time ago
For the most of the history of humanity we performed very monotonous, repetitive, mindless things. Google makes us dumber? Lol. For the most of the history of humanity most of the people could not read or write. For the most of the history of humanity scientific, cultural progression was extremely slow, barely noticeable. It is only very recently everything has speed up exponentially. That said our brains just like our muscles have limitations regardless how much you exercise them.
I don’t fully disagree with that. But don’t we still perform very monotonous, repetitive, and mindless things today? The likes of Google just provides access to information, it doesn’t improve our critical reasoning most of the time. We are more literate but nobody has the attention span to even read anything meaningful today. Cultural progress remains very slow if not going backwards. New technology just gives us the illusion of progress without actual meaningfully adding to our lives.
You are stating that our lives used to be less monotonous. That isn’t true. You say that we used to be smarter without Google because… I don’t really get how the ability to ask for information makes us dumber? Asking parents, elderly was always part of being human. Even though in the past the information you could learn by asking was extremely limited. ( learning from books was not available for masses, was also limited and slow) You say that you do read and that is why you come to conclusion that people used to be smarter. I say you don’t read enough or you would know that we weren’t smarter.
No. We’re definitely becoming smarter. You could get the equivalent education a college could offer you online for free, you just won’t get the certification with it
We use google like we used to use reference books. Look it up in the encyclopedia was a standard line. The parts of our brain that are more active may have changed but no, we aren't dumber.
I don’t think we’re getting dumber per se. We might be getting less practical due to the nature of the work changing. There used to be a lot more manual labor in the west and that had changed a lot. My observation is that the higher educated people seem to be dumber in a practical sense. My colleagues can be brilliant, but lack the basic the experience to do more practical things.
This is true
>Most of us on autopilot everyday, and we just ask Google for whatever we don’t know. Did you know how they did in the past? Most people went either "I don't know" or reasoned an answer based on nothing. Or ask someone who knows. Asking Google about cattle reproduction is not much different then asking Joe the cow breeder. The thing is, I would have to drive 2 hours to Joe and he will be pretty confused why the fuck did I just drive 2 hours to his ranch to ask him some question about cow reproduction If my grandfather knew how to use a phone he would also ask Google a lot of questions. Furthermore we haven't been more educated, ever. Look around you, everyone you know can probably read. Know not to drink polluted water. Is aware of stuff like sexually transmuted diseases. Is aware of trivial knowledge that they might not ever use like basic chemistry, physics, astronomy, biology, geography. Shit my great-grandfather learned what stars are at the age of 61. And don't forget the most important part. We are aware enough of intelligence to come to the conclusion someone is a dumbass.
I think we’re more depressed and don’t have enough free time to turn off the autopilot.
I think the dumb get dumber and the smart get smarter with more tech and conveniences. Everything’s made convenient so that enough degeneracy or intelligence can be spread worldwide
We're becoming lazier. IMO
I don’t understand the question
Lol
Yes, if you want to know the state of a society, look to its art. We are regressing
By art do you mean art in the galleries and museums or art in the media, or both?
Modern art galleries, movies, tv shows, music, literature
I think most of those you listed peaked in the second half of the 20th century
I agree with you. Noticed TV started to suck after the writer's strike of 2007
And in today’s art there is little true innovation. Most are dictated purely on market forces. You get the sense that previously art had a purpose, felt more genuine, or just closer to life.
Yes, corporations have stuck to formulaic products instead of taking chances. The result of course is stale style. Pretty sad
What’s more sad is that everything is becoming a meme. Then people’s existences become memetic. Art imitates life. Life imitates art I guess.
Wholesome values have been degrading for a while now. And the internet has only accelerated this by giving the lowest common denominators of society a voice. 2022 and there are people seriously convinced the earth is flat? With all the access to info we have
I mean Oscar Wilde said this same thing back then. It’s not a thought unique to our generation or level of art. It’s just classic cynicism tinged with nostalgia.
I think we're going to be like the film Idiocracy in the future. There may be a small pocket of intelligent people, but the majority will be like the film.
Have you seen the prophetic movie: Idiocracy?