this post was submitted on 19 Dec 2023
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No Stupid Questions

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To clarify here, I don't feel like I'm significantly smarter than most people, but I feel like people have a hard time doing any sort of thinking about stuff. Especially when it comes to verifying "facts."

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Well maybe not 90% but I do feel like smarter* than average but then again half of the population is so that hardly makes me special.

  • By "smarter" I don't mean that I know more things than others. Just that I feel like I posses the ability to think more clearly and objectively that most other people.
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[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Most people just don't care enough in my opinion. When it comes to politics, all they want is to be left alone. They just look for the first piece of media that confirms their biases and be content with that. I think that's why conservative fearmongering works so well. All they have to do is to convince those persons that the left wants to tell them how to live and that is enough for those people to trust that conservative media.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago

Everyone is stupid some of the time and after we've noticed all that it feels like we're surrounded by idiots.

Truth is we're just not seeing the competence.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

By what standards do you rank us? Half of us are stupider than average. We're all of very limited intelligence - the best we can do is to team together to function as one gigantic brain of humanity, drawing from the strongest qualities of all of us. That way the world can be brought forward by brilliant scientists who are completely stupid in their own way, and who would never survive a week on their own.

Politics are tricky, but I think it's more fruitful to think of people as brainwashed than stupid. The amount of propaganda we're subject to these days is unprecedented.

As for general stupidity, be charitable; judge people by what they're best at. Most people have one thing or another they are great at, and our differences is what makes humanity occasionally great.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago

I think a lot of it is that we all have topics which we are knowledgeable about. Common discourse then takes different topics, and some people will contribute to the discussion who don't understand the underlying stuff so much, they have different interests.

The problem is when you read a tech article as a tech worker, you laugh at how stupid the journalist and the commenters are. Then you read an article on some geopolitical event, or some natural phenomenon, and you take what is written as gospel, and even comment on it on forums, despite not having the same level of understanding as in your favourite topic. And you don't feel you're part of the stupid 90% then and there.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Human intelligence is segmented and specialized. People who are smart at few things are usually very dumb at others. A person who can speak 9 languages can't do more than basic math. An expert computer programmer, who can't figure out how to keep a plant alive. Etc...

Polymaths are very rare. Very few people have advanced understanding and skills in multiple areas.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago

Maybe people tend to specialize because they've been told that's how they should do it. The reality is there is no limit known to what the human mind can learn. I've found that I can do just about anything I set my mind to do.

I can do car repairs, electronics design and repair, plumbing (which I avoid if at all possible), music (guitar, keyboard, bass, and drums), painting, drawing, computer systems design and repair, basic programming (powershell and bash scripting mostly), carpentry, farming, chemistry, cooking, hunting, and math. Math was always pretty easy to me until I got into Calculus which kicked my ass initially.

When I was growing up we didn't have the internet or cable TV so I read books all the time. I've read hundreds of novels, and it gave me an excellent grasp of language and a massive vocabulary. Everybody should do that too.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Yep. Wanted to ask the same thing a while back, but was afraid of backlash.

And it's well over 90%, I'd say like closer to 95, 96.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago

I was feeling the same. I saw 90% and was immediately impressed at their optimism.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

Thinking is hard work and with easy access to pre-cooked opinions online, they don't need to put in any effort.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

Amen brother or sister

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

I feel this, but more along the line of chosen ignorance rather than actual stupidity. Either a new topic us overwhelming or they worry\fear they'll get it "wrong". Also, being from the south, where so much has been politicized, they fear the tribal back lash of thinking for themselves. I don't know what's wrong with me, I was never the type to "go with it".

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Well, that's the thing about average person. Half of them are below the average and other half is above.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

It's lower than 90% for sure, but I'd be comfortable putting the number at a solid 40%.

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