Are people generally getting dumber?

[Duke_Leto]

Article for reference.

I realize this is a fairly common and irritating sentiment; apologies.

I attend a private, relatively prestigious university. I feel that much of its prestige is overblown; there are many mindnumbingly stupid individuals who seem to be getting through it relatively well, and there are several professors who I firmly believe are less qualified to teach the classes they do than a reasonably bright high school student. Not to say there aren't fantastic professors here, but it's such a mix! Classes on literature, philosophy, or religion -- especially -- are tailored to fit the lowest common denominator; half the students here are functionally illiterate, and can barely express a coherent thought of any sort, let alone an interesting or halfway intelligent one.

It's easy to smugly proclaim that everyone else is a moron, but I'm not sure what else to think except that the general public is getting dumber. My emotions strongly influence my mood, and I've been anxious lately, so perhaps I'm overlooking something. But take media for an example. There is nothing genuinely good or original in mass media; whether in literature, cinema, music, or journalism, the quality is just bad. Examples seem unnecessary, but take Harry Potter, the Twilight series, the churn of superhero movies turned out ten times a year, pop, rap/hip-hop, country 'music', and, in the realm of journalism, its ongoing trend of becoming ever more dumbed down and substanceless (I'm a history major; ask any of us and we'll attest to this). There are five-minute Youtube videos on any subject you can imagine; take history, philosophy, or science. Invariably they're so simplified -- pandering to an audience with an attention span of five minutes -- they're either wrong outright or have so many details wrong or missing they make someone more misinformed than before they watched them. I have in-laws and acquaintances who think they've become experts on philosophy or history or politics because they've spent a fantastic amount of time watching these videos -- all the while I've never seen them pick up a book.

Anyway. Thoughts?

 

[Revoltingest]

Article for reference.

I realize this is a fairly common and irritating sentiment; apologies.

I attend a private, relatively prestigious university. I feel that much of its prestige is overblown; there are many mindnumbingly stupid individuals who seem to be getting through it relatively well, and there are several professors who I firmly believe are less qualified to teach the classes they do than a reasonably bright high school student. Classes on literature, philosophy, or religion -- especially -- are tailored to fit the lowest common denominator; half the students here are functionally illiterate, and can barely express a coherent thought of any sort, let alone an interesting or halfway intelligent one. Not to say there aren't fantastic professors here, but it's such a mix!

It's easy to smugly proclaim that everyone else is a moron, but I'm not sure what else to think except that the general public is getting dumber. My emotions strongly influence my mood, and I've been anxious lately, so perhaps I'm overlooking something. But take media for an example. There is nothing genuinely good or original in mass media; whether in literature, cinema, music, or journalism, the quality is just bad. Examples seem unnecessary, but take Harry Potter, the Twilight series, the churn of superhero movies turned out ten times a year, pop, rap/hip-hop, country 'music', and, in the realm of journalism, its ongoing trend of becoming ever more dumbed down and substanceless (I'm a history major; ask of us will attest to this). There are five-minute Youtube videos on any subject you can imagine; take history, philosophy, or science. Invariably they're so simplified -- pandering to an audience with an attention span of five minutes -- they're either wrong outright or have so many details wrong or missing they make someone more misinformed than before they watched them. I have in-laws and acquaintances who think they've become experts on philosophy or history or politics because they've spent a fantastic amount of time watching these videos -- all the while I've never seen them pick up a book.

Anyway. Thoughts?

I have met people who inspired the question....
How on Earth did they get where they are?

 

[Duke_Leto]

I have met people who inspired the question....
How on Earth did they get where they are?

That's middle management of any field -- H.R, managers, et. al. I think it's a conspiracy to make workers direct their anger to their direct managers rather than the owners of the company. Police too off the top of my head. And I once had an English professor, doctorate and all, who could barely understand the language.

 

[Twilight Hue]

I used to quip about intelligent people having so much information stored in their heads there's not much room for anything else, so the rest of it gets put in the stupid folder.

 

[dianaiad]

Article for reference.

I realize this is a fairly common and irritating sentiment; apologies.

I attend a private, relatively prestigious university. I feel that much of its prestige is overblown; there are many mindnumbingly stupid individuals who seem to be getting through it relatively well, and there are several professors who I firmly believe are less qualified to teach the classes they do than a reasonably bright high school student. Not to say there aren't fantastic professors here, but it's such a mix! Classes on literature, philosophy, or religion -- especially -- are tailored to fit the lowest common denominator; half the students here are functionally illiterate, and can barely express a coherent thought of any sort, let alone an interesting or halfway intelligent one.

It's easy to smugly proclaim that everyone else is a moron, but I'm not sure what else to think except that the general public is getting dumber. My emotions strongly influence my mood, and I've been anxious lately, so perhaps I'm overlooking something. But take media for an example. There is nothing genuinely good or original in mass media; whether in literature, cinema, music, or journalism, the quality is just bad. Examples seem unnecessary, but take Harry Potter,

HEY!!!

the Twilight series, the churn of superhero movies turned out ten times a year, pop, rap/hip-hop, country 'music', and, in the realm of journalism, its ongoing trend of becoming ever more dumbed down and substanceless (I'm a history major; ask any of us and we'll attest to this). There are five-minute Youtube videos on any subject you can imagine; take history, philosophy, or science. Invariably they're so simplified -- pandering to an audience with an attention span of five minutes -- they're either wrong outright or have so many details wrong or missing they make someone more misinformed than before they watched them. I have in-laws and acquaintances who think they've become experts on philosophy or history or politics because they've spent a fantastic amount of time watching these videos -- all the while I've never seen them pick up a book.

Anyway. Thoughts?

Wait. I can't believe that a history major hasn't actually read the sort of thing that passed for literature in the 17 and 1800's...the serials, "Pamela," or even better, "Shamela..."

or that wonder of English literature, the first gothic novel, "The Castle of Otranto" by Horace Walpole? I mean, you haven't LIVED until you have examined the IQ's of readers who gushed over the hero being saved because he was standing in the precisely correct spot to live through having a huge statue fall on him. He stood in the eye of the helmet...and everybody lived happily ever after....

Penny Dreadfuls?

'Yellow Journalism?" (well, that's still a loud and proud tradition; just look at CNN, MSNBC, the Huffington Post and the Washington Post...sheesh...)

I don't see that people are getting dumber, my friend. They are now much as they have always been. However, now all the dumb ones have access to Facebook and Twitter, and unlike their ancestors, who were dumb quietly and happily, now they are dumb loudly and proudly...and post it on YouTube.

As for me, I know that my IQ has dropped about fifteen to twenty points over the last few years, but I have an excuse.

I will admit, however, to enjoying The Castle of Otranto, out of sheer unbelievably. They PUBLISHED that?

Or my very favorite poet in all the world, Theophilus (or Theo) Marzials.

A Tragedy

DEATH!
Plop.
The barges down in the river flop.
Flop, plop,
Above, beneath.
From the slimy branches the grey drips drop,
As they scraggle black on the thin grey sky,
Where the black cloud rack-hackles drizzle and fly
To the oozy waters, that lounge and flop
On the black scrag piles, where the loose cords plop.
As the raw wind whines in the thin tree-top.
Plop, plop.
And scudding by
The boatmen call out hoy ! and hey !
And all is running in water and sky,
And my head shrieks—“Stop,”
And my heart shrieks—“Die.”
* * * * *
My thought is running our of my head ;
My love is running out of my heart ;
My soul runs after, and leaves me as dead,
For my life runs after to catch them—and fled
They are all every one !—and I stand, and start,
All the water that oozes up, plop and plop,
On the barges that flop
And dizzy me dead.
I might reel and drop.
Plop.
Dead.
And the shrill wind whines in the thin tree-top.
Flop, plop.
* * * * *
A curse on him.
Ugh ! yet I knew—I knew—
If a woman is false can a friend be true?
It was only a lie from beginning to end—
My Devil—my “Friend”
I had trusted the whole of my living to !
Ugh ! and I knew !
Ugh !
So what do I care,
And my head is as empty as air—
I can do,
I can dare,
(Plop, plop,
The barges flop
Drip, drop.)
I can dare, I can dare !
And let myself all run away with my head,
And stop.
Drop
Dead.
Plop, flop.
Plop.
(Theophilius Marzials, 1873)

Having read the above, can you really tell me that people nowadays are DUMBER?

 

[Duke_Leto]

HEY!!!



Wait. I can't believe that a history major hasn't actually read the sort of thing that passed for literature in the 17 and 1800's...the serials, "Pamela," or even better, "Shamela..."

or that wonder of English literature, the first gothic novel, "The Castle of Otranto" by Horace Walpole? I mean, you haven't LIVED until you have examined the IQ's of readers who gushed over the hero being saved because he was standing in the precisely correct spot to live through having a huge statue fall on him. He stood in the eye of the helmet...and everybody lived happily ever after....

Penny Dreadfuls?

'Yellow Journalism?" (well, that's still a loud and proud tradition; just look at CNN, MSNBC, the Huffington Post and the Washington Post...sheesh...)

I don't see that people are getting dumber, my friend. They are now much as they have always been. However, now all the dumb ones have access to Facebook and Twitter, and unlike their ancestors, who were dumb quietly and happily, now they are dumb loudly and proudly...and post it on YouTube.

As for me, I know that my IQ has dropped about fifteen to twenty points over the last few years, but I have an excuse.

I will admit, however, to enjoying The Castle of Otranto, out of sheer unbelievably. They PUBLISHED that?

Or my very favorite poet in all the world, Theophilus (or Theo) Marzials.

A Tragedy

DEATH!
Plop.
The barges down in the river flop.
Flop, plop,
Above, beneath.
From the slimy branches the grey drips drop,
As they scraggle black on the thin grey sky,
Where the black cloud rack-hackles drizzle and fly
To the oozy waters, that lounge and flop
On the black scrag piles, where the loose cords plop.
As the raw wind whines in the thin tree-top.
Plop, plop.
And scudding by
The boatmen call out hoy ! and hey !
And all is running in water and sky,
And my head shrieks—“Stop,”
And my heart shrieks—“Die.”
* * * * *
My thought is running our of my head ;
My love is running out of my heart ;
My soul runs after, and leaves me as dead,
For my life runs after to catch them—and fled
They are all every one !—and I stand, and start,
All the water that oozes up, plop and plop,
On the barges that flop
And dizzy me dead.
I might reel and drop.
Plop.
Dead.
And the shrill wind whines in the thin tree-top.
Flop, plop.
* * * * *
A curse on him.
Ugh ! yet I knew—I knew—
If a woman is false can a friend be true?
It was only a lie from beginning to end—
My Devil—my “Friend”
I had trusted the whole of my living to !
Ugh ! and I knew !
Ugh !
So what do I care,
And my head is as empty as air—
I can do,
I can dare,
(Plop, plop,
The barges flop
Drip, drop.)
I can dare, I can dare !
And let myself all run away with my head,
And stop.
Drop
Dead.
Plop, flop.
Plop.
(Theophilius Marzials, 1873)

Having read the above, can you really tell me that people nowadays are DUMBER?

Stop; you're bringing back horrible memories! On car trips and such when I was a kid I'd sometimes get through the books I'd bring, and I'd have to read whatever eighteenth-and-nineteenth-century literature I could download from Gutenberg. You're right; there was a lot of terrible writing. (Did you know everything Bram Stoker wrote aside from Dracula was a steaming pile of dog excrement? I didn't!) As for The Castle of Otranto though, I've not read it (I follow a few lit websites warning me away from it), but I've heard ideas floating around that Walpole meant it as a joke (though from quickly searching online I've not been able to find much about that theory) and was intentionally written badly.

And 'yellow journalism' -- sure, that's always been around, but just compare a newspaper written fifty years ago to a newspaper today, even one online. Newspapers, both physical and digital, have been shrinking and providing shoddier and shoddier journalism. They rarely publish local news (which is to say the news most likely to affect the paper's readers), preferring exclusively national and international news because it's easier to plagiarize from other papers/journals. Even the most inflammatory papers in the past bothered to write compellingly -- now many articles look like they've been composed by an AI.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

Article for reference.

I realize this is a fairly common and irritating sentiment; apologies.

I attend a private, relatively prestigious university. I feel that much of its prestige is overblown; there are many mindnumbingly stupid individuals who seem to be getting through it relatively well, and there are several professors who I firmly believe are less qualified to teach the classes they do than a reasonably bright high school student. Not to say there aren't fantastic professors here, but it's such a mix! Classes on literature, philosophy, or religion -- especially -- are tailored to fit the lowest common denominator; half the students here are functionally illiterate, and can barely express a coherent thought of any sort, let alone an interesting or halfway intelligent one.

It's easy to smugly proclaim that everyone else is a moron, but I'm not sure what else to think except that the general public is getting dumber. My emotions strongly influence my mood, and I've been anxious lately, so perhaps I'm overlooking something. But take media for an example. There is nothing genuinely good or original in mass media; whether in literature, cinema, music, or journalism, the quality is just bad. Examples seem unnecessary, but take Harry Potter, the Twilight series, the churn of superhero movies turned out ten times a year, pop, rap/hip-hop, country 'music', and, in the realm of journalism, its ongoing trend of becoming ever more dumbed down and substanceless (I'm a history major; ask any of us and we'll attest to this). There are five-minute Youtube videos on any subject you can imagine; take history, philosophy, or science. Invariably they're so simplified -- pandering to an audience with an attention span of five minutes -- they're either wrong outright or have so many details wrong or missing they make someone more misinformed than before they watched them. I have in-laws and acquaintances who think they've become experts on philosophy or history or politics because they've spent a fantastic amount of time watching these videos -- all the while I've never seen them pick up a book.

Anyway. Thoughts?

I am not sure if people are becoming less intelligent, though I have seen examples that make me wonder. I think that media and economic enterprises have contributed to the proliferation of a fast food mentality that demands simple answers that are easy to understand. Even if they are not much of an answer. Maybe we are not getting less intelligent, but are becoming lazy slobs that do not want to work for our understanding.

 

[We Never Know]

Article for reference.

I realize this is a fairly common and irritating sentiment; apologies.

I attend a private, relatively prestigious university. I feel that much of its prestige is overblown; there are many mindnumbingly stupid individuals who seem to be getting through it relatively well, and there are several professors who I firmly believe are less qualified to teach the classes they do than a reasonably bright high school student. Not to say there aren't fantastic professors here, but it's such a mix! Classes on literature, philosophy, or religion -- especially -- are tailored to fit the lowest common denominator; half the students here are functionally illiterate, and can barely express a coherent thought of any sort, let alone an interesting or halfway intelligent one.

It's easy to smugly proclaim that everyone else is a moron, but I'm not sure what else to think except that the general public is getting dumber. My emotions strongly influence my mood, and I've been anxious lately, so perhaps I'm overlooking something. But take media for an example. There is nothing genuinely good or original in mass media; whether in literature, cinema, music, or journalism, the quality is just bad. Examples seem unnecessary, but take Harry Potter, the Twilight series, the churn of superhero movies turned out ten times a year, pop, rap/hip-hop, country 'music', and, in the realm of journalism, its ongoing trend of becoming ever more dumbed down and substanceless (I'm a history major; ask any of us and we'll attest to this). There are five-minute Youtube videos on any subject you can imagine; take history, philosophy, or science. Invariably they're so simplified -- pandering to an audience with an attention span of five minutes -- they're either wrong outright or have so many details wrong or missing they make someone more misinformed than before they watched them. I have in-laws and acquaintances who think they've become experts on philosophy or history or politics because they've spent a fantastic amount of time watching these videos -- all the while I've never seen them pick up a book.

Anyway. Thoughts?

This short video will help answer that question lol

Shark puppet tries energy drinks

 

[SomeRandom]

Article for reference.

I realize this is a fairly common and irritating sentiment; apologies.

I attend a private, relatively prestigious university. I feel that much of its prestige is overblown; there are many mindnumbingly stupid individuals who seem to be getting through it relatively well, and there are several professors who I firmly believe are less qualified to teach the classes they do than a reasonably bright high school student. Not to say there aren't fantastic professors here, but it's such a mix! Classes on literature, philosophy, or religion -- especially -- are tailored to fit the lowest common denominator; half the students here are functionally illiterate, and can barely express a coherent thought of any sort, let alone an interesting or halfway intelligent one.

It's easy to smugly proclaim that everyone else is a moron, but I'm not sure what else to think except that the general public is getting dumber. My emotions strongly influence my mood, and I've been anxious lately, so perhaps I'm overlooking something. But take media for an example. There is nothing genuinely good or original in mass media; whether in literature, cinema, music, or journalism, the quality is just bad. Examples seem unnecessary, but take Harry Potter, the Twilight series, the churn of superhero movies turned out ten times a year, pop, rap/hip-hop, country 'music', and, in the realm of journalism, its ongoing trend of becoming ever more dumbed down and substanceless (I'm a history major; ask any of us and we'll attest to this). There are five-minute Youtube videos on any subject you can imagine; take history, philosophy, or science. Invariably they're so simplified -- pandering to an audience with an attention span of five minutes -- they're either wrong outright or have so many details wrong or missing they make someone more misinformed than before they watched them. I have in-laws and acquaintances who think they've become experts on philosophy or history or politics because they've spent a fantastic amount of time watching these videos -- all the while I've never seen them pick up a book.

Anyway. Thoughts?

Unwashed masses have always delighted in poop, dick and fart jokes. Even the Bard was not above a yo momma joke.
Though there is something to be said of modern day complacency and indolence. We have the world’s information literally at our fingertips 24/7. There is a certain expectation these days that reading a Wikipedia article elevates your knowledge of a subject to that of expertise levels.
I’m completely unable to voice my thoughts in a coherent manner. I can write them down, using the full range of my weird vocabulary, I just can’t say them out loud.
Course I’m an idiot in general, but still.
As for being basically literate, perhaps that could be due to dyslexia.
I’m not saying that is the case where you are, just that there is sometimes more going on with a person than just being “dumb.”

I have to make a small defence of Harry Potter, which is replete with in jokes from classical mythology. It’s clear that Rowling is a classics nerd. And it did inspire a generation of readers and even classical myth enthusiasts.
So it’s not all doom and gloom.

Popular fiction has always been dismissed as mind numbing tripe. Only to be “reevaluated” by some boofhead boffin elite and suddenly revered as part of the illustrious canon.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

Unwashed masses have always delighted in poop, dick and fart jokes. Even the Bard was not above a yo momma joke.
Though there is something to be said of modern day complacency and indolence. We have the world’s information literally at our fingertips 24/7. There is a certain expectation these days that reading a Wikipedia article elevates your knowledge of a subject to that of expertise levels.
I’m completely unable to voice my thoughts in a coherent manner. I can write them down, using the full range of my weird vocabulary, I just can’t say them out loud.
Course I’m an idiot in general, but still.
As for being basically literate, perhaps that could be due to dyslexia.
I’m not saying that is the case where you are, just that there is sometimes more going on with a person than just being “dumb.”

I have to make a small defence of Harry Potter, which is replete with in jokes from classical mythology. It’s clear that Rowling is a classics nerd. And it did inspire a generation of readers and even classical myth enthusiasts.
So it’s not all doom and gloom.

Popular fiction has always been dismissed as mind numbing tripe. Only to be “reevaluated” by some boofhead boffin elite and suddenly revered as part of the illustrious canon.

I think you summed it up rather well.

 

[Jumi]

There have always been "dumb" people. At one point writing stopped being a sign of the elite and voices were heard that didn't reflect any practical issues, but more about various desires turned to opinions. That made it seem like they "appeared" and now with the internet they have their ways of being heard en masse. They've always been there, especially in places with low education. The better question is who should be held responsible for the low education and feeding of thinking models that do not serve people?

 

[Skwim]

Liked this from the OP link

​

But even for me, with a college education, this would be damn frightening exam.

.

.​

 

[Dan From Smithville]

Liked this from the OP link

​

But even for me, with a college education, this would be damn frightening exam.

.

.​

I know the answers to some of those, but I do not see me getting a straight A. I do know that the eligibility to be Governor of Kentucky involves something to do with having more than three teeth. I think.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

Liked this from the OP link

​

But even for me, with a college education, this would be damn frightening exam.

.

.​

On number three under arithmetic there is a spelling error. Dodr should be door. Do I get extra credit?

 

[siti]

Unwashed masses have always delighted in poop, dick and fart jokes.

But that's not because the great unwashed are unintelligent, its because the jokes are funny. Ben Franklin wrote an entire pamphlet on the subject of flatulence...and it is funny. Anyway, that's all by the by really, to the OP's request for our...

Thoughts?

...
I think the OP sounds a bit like something I might have thought 30 years ago...I was young enough then to imagine that I was smart, in the interim, life has made me smart enough to realize that I was not, am not and, at least without an appropriate sense of humility that would preclude me ever claiming to be so, never will be.

I learned a lot when I was young - how to count in English money - 12 pennies make a shilling, 20 shillings make a pound...completely useless skill before I even left primary school as we converted to a decimal currency system...how to measure in feet and inches - even today I have to do a mental switchback every time I need to order timber because my mind was conditioned to working with a system that no longer pertains in the hardware store...my education had both "built-in redundancy" and "built-in obsolescence" - but does that mean that younger people who don't know that 12 inches equals 1 foot are dumber than I am? I think not.

Likewise with some of the skills we used to think were important - mental arithmetic - even the ability to read and write are losing some of their purchase in the "necessary skills for humans" market. Anything you want to read can be converted to speech at the click of a mouse (do people still use 'mouses') and as for Wikipedia being the font of all wisdom, well there was a book in the 19th century called "Enquire Within Upon Everything" that Tim Berners-Lee credits as an inspiration for the World-Wide Web. I remember that book - my parents had a copy - I guess they must have got it from their parents...it had all kinds of information in it - much of it of dubious quality.

So no - I don't think people are getting dumber - they're just getting smarter in different ways. Unfortunately, IQ and SAT tests measure the kind of "intelligence" that's needed for a world that no longer really exists. But I guess there will always be a lag between what the world needs and what old 'farts' (to return to the drift of my opening expressions - if you will excuse the expression) like me think it needs.

 

[Shad]

Article for reference.

I realize this is a fairly common and irritating sentiment; apologies.

I attend a private, relatively prestigious university. I feel that much of its prestige is overblown; there are many mindnumbingly stupid individuals who seem to be getting through it relatively well, and there are several professors who I firmly believe are less qualified to teach the classes they do than a reasonably bright high school student. Not to say there aren't fantastic professors here, but it's such a mix! Classes on literature, philosophy, or religion -- especially -- are tailored to fit the lowest common denominator; half the students here are functionally illiterate, and can barely express a coherent thought of any sort, let alone an interesting or halfway intelligent one.

It's easy to smugly proclaim that everyone else is a moron, but I'm not sure what else to think except that the general public is getting dumber. My emotions strongly influence my mood, and I've been anxious lately, so perhaps I'm overlooking something. But take media for an example. There is nothing genuinely good or original in mass media; whether in literature, cinema, music, or journalism, the quality is just bad. Examples seem unnecessary, but take Harry Potter, the Twilight series, the churn of superhero movies turned out ten times a year, pop, rap/hip-hop, country 'music', and, in the realm of journalism, its ongoing trend of becoming ever more dumbed down and substanceless (I'm a history major; ask any of us and we'll attest to this). There are five-minute Youtube videos on any subject you can imagine; take history, philosophy, or science. Invariably they're so simplified -- pandering to an audience with an attention span of five minutes -- they're either wrong outright or have so many details wrong or missing they make someone more misinformed than before they watched them. I have in-laws and acquaintances who think they've become experts on philosophy or history or politics because they've spent a fantastic amount of time watching these videos -- all the while I've never seen them pick up a book.

Anyway. Thoughts?

Are you talking about introduction classes or a classes a year or more into a program?

 

[sayak83]

Liked this from the OP link

​

But even for me, with a college education, this would be damn frightening exam.

.

.​

My school was about a similar level in eighth grade. But it was a good school in India, so....

 

[SomeRandom]

But that's not because the great unwashed are unintelligent, its because the jokes are funny. Ben Franklin wrote an entire pamphlet on the subject of flatulence...and it is funny. Anyway, that's all by the by really, to the OP's request for our...

Of course they're funny. They're not mainstay staples in comedy because of random chance. I'm just saying that the masses have stayed relatively static in their entertainment tastes. Perhaps some science-y person can prove that wrong with a study. I dunno.

 

[SomeRandom]

Liked this from the OP link

​

But even for me, with a college education, this would be damn frightening exam.

.

.​

I could probably figure out some of the Maths and Grammar ones. Geography seems easy enough. Not American so Civil Government and History would not apply to my schooling. Physiology seems like the things I learnt in Biology class. The first, third and fifth arithmetic questions look like another language to me though lol

 

[SomeRandom]

I think you summed it up rather well.

Oh, cheers.