Is the world getting stupider?

[Fantasmo]

Moderator's note: this discussion got going on Messaline's deep Fantasies thread, but it was heading a long way away from her theme, so let's continue it here:

it's what we dont like the "clubs" and we prefer to have a RP with our friends ... with some surprises ...

These days, where every idiot has a smartphone and feels it is necessary to take pictures of scenes and post them in Facebook, I avoid clubs as well...

 

[willowfall]

These days, where every idiot has a smartphone and feels it is necessary to take pictures of scenes and post them in Facebook, I avoid clubs as well...

Our 'smart' and 'social' technology will be the death of us and not our weapons.

And I'm having an internal debate between:

(1) Are humans getting dumber
(2) Are the dumb ones making it more frequently to puberty because of our level of technology and thus creating more dumb ones
(3) Since a group sinks to the lowest intellectual level of its members and doesn't rise to the highest is 'social' media driving us downward
(4) Does it just seem like there are more stupid people because there are physically more of us

Our club instituted a rule (long before we joined) as soon as phones had cameras they were banned from the club. Leave them in your car or don't bother coming in.

kisses

willowfall

 

[thehangingtree]

Our 'smart' and 'social' technology will be the death of us and not our weapons.

And I'm having an internal debate between:

(1) Are humans getting dumber
(2) Are the dumb ones making it more frequently to puberty because of our level of technology and thus creating more dumb ones
(3) Since a group sinks to the lowest intellectual level of its members and doesn't rise to the highest is 'social' media driving us downward
(4) Does it just seem like there are more stupid people because there are physically more of us

Our club instituted a rule (long before we joined) as soon as phones had cameras they were banned from the club. Leave them in your car or don't bother coming in.

kisses

willowfall

Excellent questions

 

[Fantasmo]

(2) Are the dumb ones making it more frequently to puberty because of our level of technology and thus creating more dumb ones

If you try to make the world "idiot proof" (what we do), all you get is "more idiots"...
We don't let Darwin have its way any more... (see how we handle covid)
We align the whole society to the weakest (what is not bad per se), and punish the strong for being strong...

Yeah, imho mankind was at its peak in the 70s-80s, the rate of stultification we are seeing these days is frightening.

 

[Fantasmo]

Our club instituted a rule (long before we joined) as soon as phones had cameras they were banned from the club. Leave them in your car or don't bother coming in.

The handy is not much of a concern indeed, when in a club that regulates such things, what most don't. But even if regulated, there all those easily accessible mini-spy cams and "camera glasses" of crap companies like Facebook, that are more of a concern. Hard to detect everything.
Handys are more of a concern when tying a girl to a tree outdoor, to give her her daily whipping!

 

[Hugin&Munin]

Our 'smart' and 'social' technology will be the death of us and not our weapons.

And I'm having an internal debate between:

(1) Are humans getting dumber
(2) Are the dumb ones making it more frequently to puberty because of our level of technology and thus creating more dumb ones
(3) Since a group sinks to the lowest intellectual level of its members and doesn't rise to the highest is 'social' media driving us downward
(4) Does it just seem like there are more stupid people because there are physically more of us

Our club instituted a rule (long before we joined) as soon as phones had cameras they were banned from the club. Leave them in your car or don't bother coming in.

kisses

willowfall

The problem is that the stupid have unprotected sex more often than the more intelligent people. As a result, the stupid multiply more and the average intelligence decreases.

 

[willowfall]

The handy is not much of a concern indeed, when in a club that regulates such things, what most don't. But even if regulated, there all those easily accessible mini-spy cams and "camera glasses" of crap companies like Facebook, that are more of a concern. Hard to detect everything.
Handys are more of a concern when tying a girl to a tree outdoor, to give her her daily whipping!

I guess I have a serious advantage in that we got sponsored into a high end club (way above our social strata) where the members have a lot more to lose than just being snickered at. There is always protection when wealthy famous SMART people have a lot to lose by doing something foolish.

And if any of them did think so, I suspect Ghislaine Maxwell's conviction today will reverberate a little around the BDSM world and give them pause.

kisses

willowfall

 

[messaline]

(1) Are humans getting dumber
(2) Are the dumb ones making it more frequently to puberty because of our level of technology and thus creating more dumb ones
(3) Since a group sinks to the lowest intellectual level of its members and doesn't rise to the highest is 'social' media driving us downward
(4) Does it just seem like there are more stupid people because there are physically more of us

I'm mainly thinking of the 2 : it could seem that, currently, more our level is hight, and more everybody is following the great majority, that is the dived nose into a smartphone'screen without any communication with the neighbors ...
After all, if the're happy like that ... The problem is that it makes beautiful days for "Amazon, Google and so on" ...

 

[Fantasmo]

The problem is that the stupid have unprotected sex more often than the more intelligent people. As a result, the stupid multiply more and the average intelligence decreases.

The intelligent, performing people "waste" their energy at work... to pay via taxes for the stupids who have no job and are fucking at home (exaggerated, by no means I want to suggest "jobless = stupid", but not without a true core nevertheless)

 

[Fantasmo]

And if any of them did think so, I suspect Ghislaine Maxwell's conviction today will reverberate a little around the BDSM world and give them pause.

Not only that! These days, especially as a man, one basically cannot afford any more to do BDSM without written contract, or you have one foot in prison.
Even without doing anything, claims of child abuse and sexual transgression have become standard repertoire in divorces...

 

[Fantasmo]

I'm mainly thinking of the 2 : it could seem that, currently, more our level is hight, and more everybody is following the great majority, that is the dived nose into a smartphone'screen without any communication with the neighbors ...

Question: "What is the blurred thing around the handy screen?"
Answer: "Real Life!"

 

[willowfall]

Not only that! These days, especially as a man, one basically cannot afford any more to do BDSM without written contract, or you have one foot in prison.
Even without doing anything, claims of child abuse and sexual transgression have become standard repertoire in divorces...

I know my oldest brother, one of the nicest people in the world, was accused by his (then) wife of abuse in counseling. And when the counselor didn't accept her definition she stopped going to marriage counseling. And then in the divorce she tried to use the same tactic and even her (female) attorney told her it wasn't abuse.

The same thing in the work environment. If a man is accused of "harassment" (and I am NOT saying it doesn't happen) his career at that company is over even if it doesn't meet the legal definition of work place harassment (and YES in most US states there is a very specific definition) or even if the "harassed" says it wasn't it doesn't matter. Just someone has to be 'offended'.

But we really shouldn't expect much else from a culture that eschews personal responsibility, glorifies victimization (which is too bad for real victims) and for which those in power who wish to buy votes thru handouts paid for by taxing the "rich". [By the way America according to the 2010 census if your household income was over $107k you ARE the rich.]

kisses

willowfall

 

[Fantasmo]

As a manager, these days you learn to immediately leave an elevator when you are alone in it and a woman enters it: Never in an elevator with a woman and no other witnesses.
As a manager you have a problem to conduct the yearly appraisal interviews and need to find a meeting room with windows and witnesses...

I am not even mentioning that "unwanted compliments" (Generally, not in business environment) can be seen as a sexual transgression. (Granted, will not hold before court, but until there the damage to ones reputation has been done already)

That far we have come

 

[Loinclothslave]

I know my oldest brother, one of the nicest people in the world, was accused by his (then) wife of abuse in counseling. And when the counselor didn't accept her definition she stopped going to marriage counseling. And then in the divorce she tried to use the same tactic and even her (female) attorney told her it wasn't abuse.

The same thing in the work environment. If a man is accused of "harassment" (and I am NOT saying it doesn't happen) his career at that company is over even if it doesn't meet the legal definition of work place harassment (and YES in most US states there is a very specific definition) or even if the "harassed" says it wasn't it doesn't matter. Just someone has to be 'offended'.

But we really shouldn't expect much else from a culture that eschews personal responsibility, glorifies victimization (which is too bad for real victims) and for which those in power who wish to buy votes thru handouts paid for by taxing the "rich". [By the way America according to the 2010 census if your household income was over $107k you ARE the rich.]

kisses

willowfall

$107,000 isn’t so much for a double income household, and yes, is not poverty but hardly wealthy at all… and how do assets get counted? If you own almost any property in Sydney you are a paper millionaire (median property price is well over that) but you can’t use it to pay taxes or eat!

 

[Beate]

My thesis is as follows.

1. the total intelligence of mankind remains the same, but the number of people increases.
2. there used to be a self-purification in nature. Those who behaved too stupidly were absent at dinner.
3. the technology around us is becoming safer and safer. Today, if you take a bath with a hairdryer, you don't die as a rule.
4. there should be many more graduates of the Darvin Award Academy. It would be better for all of us.
5. the mother of idiots is always pregnant.

 

[Fantasmo]

My thesis is as follows.

1. the total intelligence of mankind remains the same, but the number of people increases.

If I look at the way how we handle Covid (on all levels, politics, media and population) am am NOT so sure if this is true.
It's also not so much a question of intelligence.

I know very intelligent people who are stupid like shit!
On the other side I know people with a much lesser degree of intelligence and education who are smart!

It's called "common sense", an increasingly rare good these days (besides egoism superseeding any social responsibility)!

 

[Beate]

In the past (in my time) we were asked to estimate what the rough result should be and then to carry it out using the rules of mathematics.
Today, this estimation has often been forgotten and can no longer be used. In adult education, I also meet young future people who might be calculating bridges, building skyscrapers, etc.
We had a case where they had to find out how much the length of a 5-kilometre-long bridge changes when the temperature changes from freezing cold at night to 42 degrees Celsius.
The results were lengths ranging from several metres down to 10 centimetres.
Very few made a rough estimate of whether this could be the case.

 

[twonines]

If I look at the way how we handle Covid (on all levels, politics, media and population) am am NOT so sure if this is true.
It's also not so much a question of intelligence.

I know very intelligent people who are stupid like shit!
On the other side I know people with a much lesser degree of intelligence and education who are smart!

It's called "common sense", an increasingly rare good these days (besides egoism superseeding any social responsibility)!

Unfortunately, the problem with common sense these days is that it is not very common.

 

[Fantasmo]

The results were lengths ranging from several metres down to 10 centimetres.
Very few made a rough estimate of whether this could be the case.

Another great example of just that problem is the current energy debate.
In German language countries, especially Germany, there is this "belief" that solar panels and wind wheels can provide enough energy.

Nobody, including the politicians seemingly ever made the rather simple estimation if that is even possible, even if it is simple math: Solar panels roughly produce 100kWh per year per m2. So: 100kWh/m2 * area of all roofs = yearly energy production (It's not even remotely enough).

I think the politicians know that they don't have a solution that does not include atomic power. It simply is not possible that they are THAT stupid. They just run the standard politicians strategy:
1. Tell the voter what they want to hear, not what they should hear, in order to get reelected
2. Don't worry, the problem will pop up when one is no more responsible...

But we are getting FAR off topic here... don't want to spoil Messa's thread of fantasy and "joy"

 

[willowfall]

$107,000 isn’t so much for a double income household, and yes, is not poverty but hardly wealthy at all… and how do assets get counted? If you own almost any property in Sydney you are a paper millionaire (median property price is well over that) but you can’t use it to pay taxes or eat!

American classification of "wealth" for taxation purposes is usually based on income and not total net worth. So for example a million dollar home may be subject to property taxes (depends on the jurisdiction) but not income taxes. The investments in my portfolio don't get taxed until I draw them out and then I only pay taxes on the gains (as well as get credit for any losses).

The American middle class (again for income tax purposes at the Federal level) is a mathematical calculation based on the median income for a family of 4 (approximately $60k USD 2010) with a bottom and top level (in that case $107k). Every family with a total taxable income above $107k is classified as "rich".

As an example as a woman who makes $82k+ (72k+ Euros) a year I am in the top 20% of wage earners in the US.

So when a politician talks about taxing the "rich" most people believe they aren't but the reality is over $107k you are.

And the other reality is that the US tax code is so Byzantine that the wealthy and super wealthy can structure their income flow in such a manner as to avoid paying a lot of "income" taxes. Why do you think most compensation for CEOs is in stock options or deferred?

Bill Gates is estimated to be worth $40 BILLION. I can assure you that his "income" is substantially less and is the amount he actually pays taxes on.

kisses

willowfall