Not dumber but there are just more people that are dumb and the internet is quick to show this. So is the fact that we elected Dubya...TWICE!
Yeah, the world's perceived collective IQ of the United States went down a notch or two because of that. :-(-
Bush was elected twice by a different generation of voters. So I am not certain which generation the OP is referring to. However, I am not old enough to answer the question in regards to past generations. Only those who can truly answer are the older, more senile crowd.:grin:
Being smart or an expert is no longer viewed as being better than being dumb, and as a corollary dumb people have been taught that their opinion is just as valid as a smart person, so stupid people have no problem saying stupid things and thinking they are equal to smart people. So we are just as smart, it is just that the stupid people have gotten bolder in their stupidity. Also, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect
I think there is a lot more misinformation out there. People are now unable to to decipher between facts and hearsay. The amount of info is just so vast its difficult to evaluate what is the truth. Overall, I don't think people are dumber, quite the opposite. Its just that the less fortunate are now more susceptible to being taken advantage of because their intellect is far inferior relative to someone with a good educational background.
Less creative and lazier. More than likely due to how few people read literature in my generation. Majority of my friends have never read a book outside of required class reading. ADD could be the cause, who knows. Also look at the lack of creativity in TV/Movies now. p*rn has more complex story lines than network tv shows.
No, I think what's going on is previously when you had no knowledge on a topic and someone engaged you in a conversation you would say "I really can't make an informed opinion." The internet and 24 hour instantaneous newsfeed has kind of forced that everyone is aware of a topic but all we pick up are the little buzzwords and talking points. So we feel like we do have an informed opinion because we skimmed an article or read a headline rather than really understanding the issue thoroughly. Then we sound like idiots by voicing those opinions when in the past we would have humbly refrained from doing so.
Dumber? No. But the standards heaped upon us to be world leaders have risen leaps and bounds. Here's some of the causes/reasons that we face. -our priorities are different: we feel we need to spend to feel successful rather than saving or pursuing worthwhile interests. Paris Hilton and Kardashians got famous by being born rich and some leaked porno tapes. Ends do justify the means... -the sources to gather information has become balkanized: FoxNews, MSNBC, their online counterparts, etc... has carved our nice and profitable niches, while costlier investigative journalism is being paired down for sensationalist headlines. -Specialization/Expert worship has caused our worldviews to become narrower rather than broader: You can spend leisure time to catch up with what's going on around the world or you can watch Jersey Shore and laugh at how better and less trashy you are. The "experts" you trust in other fields offloads the time you would've spent on manual research. Whether they're right or not is inconsequential after you commit your trust to them... -Digital communications causes less social contact: Smrtness isn't just about knowing facts or reading books. It's about interacting and dealing with other people...face to face. People used to survive at night without Facebook or even TV! -Lack of real goals or crisises that forces people to respond: Back then, people believed in something, man... Now it's just funny cat pics on the interwebs. Someone else can do the grunt work, while I'll lead only if I'm asked. In the meanwhile, I'll fight my own way by signing digital petitions.... -Much more things to lose than to take a definite stand? We fight different and consecutive wars on different fronts, yet there are no whispers of draft or conscription. The weekly "death toll" list isn't front page material. In the meanwhile, I'll fight my own way by putting colorful ribbon stickers on my car. That's what freedoms all about.
I'm not sure how much of a problem I have with this as it at least gets more people into the political dialogue; and creates a jumping point off of which more inquisitive people will actually be able to reverse engineer the arguments to form a more evolved and nuanced opinion. Particularly on social issues; the commentary can seem a bit more tortured and obnoxious; but over slightly finer points of contention than in the past: if some of the older guys think about it a little, it's probably not too difficult to remember when the Fred Phelpses and Louis Farrakhans of the world would have seemed completely mainstream to much larger chunks of the population.
No, but in my opinion dumb people are loud and speak often, while smart people tend to listen more than speak. With the internet, youtube, etc. dumb people are more accessable.
I don't know about dumber than the previous ones but dumber than our ancestors. We have too many distractions like computers, television, etc. New technology is a blessing but a curse at the same time. I watch TV, use a computer and a cell phone so I guess we're all apart of it. We rely too much on crappy news networks to give us our information. The thing is, they mostly give us stories about people like Casey Anthony. Even worse, we let Fox News and CNN develop our opinions for us. A journalists favorite tool is google in today's age and that's a problem because there are less and less journalists getting out there and putting their nose where it doesn't belong. Who do you think runs these news networks? People of power. They want to keep us dumb and it's working. The richest people in the world own shares of the News Corporation and they most likely decide what information to put out there. Pretty much, people don't think for themselves these days. George Carlin has a way with words. Check out this video at about the 1:00 mark. Spoiler <object width="420" height="315"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/i9CjBtv7j78?version=3&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/i9CjBtv7j78?version=3&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="420" height="315" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>
We are more a collective herd. The ability for corporate interest to direct human behavior for profit is increasing. Public information is less independent, public opinion is directed, free thought is more rare. The people people listen to aren't independent, they are paid by someone to say what they say.
i think we are less of a collective herd. besides the rare punctuated spark of individual genius, things get done by rowing in the same direction. i think we are fractured and rudderless. where are we going?
This sounds like one of those Republican stump speeches about "good ole days" when "good ole days" was hardly something to be proud of. If you were to travel back 20 or 30 or 300 years, I can guarantee you'd think people back then are a bunch of sheeps. Because regulation of information was much easier when communication technology was much lower. And as for independent thinking, for most of human history, women were taught to be at home their entire lives. For most of human history, sons generally grow up to do the same thing their dad did. For most of human history, people in general were iliterate, didn't go to school, and lived on the whims of aristocrats who held most of the power both financially and politically. For most of human history, people believed in divinity of those in power and believed in a caste system where the poor are meant to be poor because they're born poor.Aand the rich are meant to be rich because they're born rich. Quite frankly, as someone who didn't come from wealth, I'm glad I was born in this day and age rather than an earlier time in history.
