"... in modern society, natural selection has become indifferent toward intelligence, so that in a society in which intelligence is systematically debased, stupid people easily out-breed the intelligent, creating, over the course of five centuries, an irredeemably dysfunctional society. Consequently, the children of the educated elites are drowned in a sea of sexually promiscuous, illiterate, alcoholic, degenerate peers." Source.

As far as I know, Stephen Hawking doesn't have any kids. Neither did Einstein, Newton, Alan Turing, Dawkins and a bunch of other intellectual notables. The average middle class westerner probably has 2 kids max, in contrast to goat herders, slash-and-burn cultivators and dictators from the other parts of the world where some can have up to 14 children. Yup, the dumb ones are outbreeding the smart ones by as much as 10 to 1.

If you've been to the UK, you'll know that the best selling newspaper is The Sun. To put it bluntly, its a paper that smart intellectuals don't usually buy.

Do you think over time, we will become a planet of idiots as the smart ones die out and don't reproduce?

(Btw you guys put up some new topics lar... boring leh, not many topics to discuss.)

Let me guess, you saw Idiocracy as well, didn't you?

Stephen Hawkings has three kids ,
don't judge his fertility by his disability

This post has been edited by ComposMentis: Jun 1 2010, 02:06 PM

that is just because hundred year ago only intellectual read newspaper so only serious paper doing serious reporting are on sales, but improved education mean everyone can read, so tabloid become the top seller, because it is the kind of "news" the average people are really interested in.

This post has been edited by robertngo: Jun 1 2010, 02:03 PM

i dont doubt this, bcoz i can see more and more similar threads in lyn...

if all are "smart" breed then who exactly is smart?

ts, lolz!

The correlation between the intelligence of parents and their children is questionable. What matters most is the environment and education that a child receives.

A child "born" with a brilliant IQ won't go far in an environment where he has no room to grow, on the other hand a child of "average" intelligence, allowed to learn and experience the world, can achieve much more.

To talk about "dumb" people outbreeding the so called "intelligent" is not well thought out, to say the least.

As such, TS, I don't think you're all that smart.

This post has been edited by lycaphim: Jun 1 2010, 02:42 PM

i think the number of stupid people remain the same as usual, just the communication technology we have now mean we heard from these people much more that usual, one hundred years ago we only read about the idea of smart people in books, now every tom d*** and harry have blog and facebook and twitter and made all kind of stupid post. also tv are dumb down to include a lot of stupid people doing stupid stuff.

the irony of the subject title makes me laugh

lol
no one is really that smart
it is that he is being too particular

Haha, I sure did.

Glad you saw the joke.

On a slightly related note, a certain religion is taking over the world through sheer birth rates.

I am growing stupider every second. As result I do not have the ability to put up new topic that is interesting.

I think I am not the only one. When technology increases we had to catch up with it. Technology is increasing faster than we can learn it. As a result we are stupider

On a more serious note, one real implication of the shrinking intellectual pool is seen in how a society like America developed after their civil war. You see periods of time a population of high intellect is managed by someone of mediocre intellect, with deadly consequences that will take generations to undo.

This sort of ties in with my other threads about AI/robotics and the human killing machine in a scenario where people of mediocre intellect are more keen to press the nuke button than, say, someone like Sir Isaac Newton. Well maybe we'll never see an intellect run a nation. That's why they're smart. But with a sizeable per capita number of intellectuals, the theories of Hamilton and Dawkins suggest a moderating influence that lowers the likelihood of society developing self-destructive characteristics.

Put another way, the lower the number of intellectuals per capita, the lower the likelihood you'll find one in a position to influence tech development positively. This shrinkage reaches a tipping point and triggers a precipitous a brain drain. Societies become intellectually polarized, leading to a situation that we have today where the rich nations become richer and poor nations become poorer.

I'm just looking at this from a behavioural/social science perspective not political and trying to see how the lines might move forward in the two directions - one with intelligent machines and one without.

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Added on June 1, 2010, 4:14 pmNo lar.... from the comments I know the seniors here all clever clever one. Dun be shy.

This post has been edited by Beastboy: Jun 1 2010, 04:16 PM

Einstein does have kids. His son was a professor. Do your homework properly.

Really? Thanks for the tip!

Intelligent does not equal to wisdom. You said so yourself. Now you are getting confussing. As it is I am growing stupider already. You have to add to it by confussing me

True. Intellectuals grow old & I am banking on the hope old intellectuals have a higher chance of turning wise than old fools.

Now tell me, "is there a corelation between wisdom and intellect" ?

Yup. There's a nice treatise of it here with excellent citations:

http://www.eduquo.com/management/the-relat...and-wisdom.html

but quantity doesn't equate quality
this is why their countries remain backwards and unable to make a major breakthrough while other countries have been far ahead of them

which religion?

Err.. let's try to keep the discussion as religion free as possible.

If you clicked on Source in the original quoted text, you'll find it to be the summary of a movie called Idiocracy. If it sounds corny, it is, but I think the message behind it is worth a second look because if you spend enough time traveling as I do, you begin to see a pattern. How many countries have you been to where an intelligent population is shackled by idiotic policies, where the intelligent is sometimes sacrificed so that the not-so-intelligent* will live.

So on the one hand, we have this idea that natural selection has clear rules to ensure the survival of the species. On the other hand, we humans have been cheating that process for centuries with artificial intervention, creating imbalances that has no doubt changed the course of our history. How it will pan out from a social evolution standpoint is the question.


*I don't deny that everyone is capable of being intelligent, just like everyone is capable of being a millionaire. But just because I am capable of being a millionaire doesn't mean that I am one so I am speaking in the present tense, describing what is rather than what could be.

This post has been edited by Beastboy: Jun 2 2010, 10:23 AM

as TS mentioned above
keep religion out , so end this topic here

Why you like to say this in most of the topics you started. Hey, I am begining to think this theory does not work. There is no such thing as the survival of the fittest. It only sound logical but it is really bullshit.

Becoz I haven't got an answer yet to the conflict in that popular concept of evolution. Do you have an answer?

Ok, so rather than say this doesn't work that doesn't work, how about sharing with us a theory that does work?

Since you ask that so many times and applied it to so many situation, you still did not get an answer. My answer starting to shift to "it does not work". As to what works, I have not started to think about yet.

This post has been edited by faceless: Jun 2 2010, 12:06 PM

Cool, when you've thought about it then do come back and tell us what works.

Given that I am getting stupider every second, I may not get the answer

That may be because he can't have any, he's paralyzed.



I guess you just proved yourself right

Professor hawking has three kids and he's become a grandfather

Then I guess I've just proven him right too, how about that or it could be that this forum somehow attracts people who are not very intelligent

This post has been edited by wodenus: Jun 2 2010, 01:11 PM

Umm.. he does have children as pointed out. Welcome to the club, yay!!!

+1

I guess it must be the topic.

Wow faceless.

Hey, I admit I was getting STUPIDER.

I cant help but notice that these two intellect are not very wise people from the broken families.

hmm i agree but I wasn't the one who brought it in, you did, and now you're trying to avoid answering my question which shows you to not only be an instigator, but also a coward

Bone, cool it. Dont go in to war path. If you want to know, it is the one that practise polygamy.

This post has been edited by faceless: Jun 2 2010, 04:17 PM

haha kk you're right.. people who act like that just annoy me is all

my thought exactly

Okay, now we can go back to thinking if we had become stupider.

I think I had. Each time a new technology comes up or a new discovery is being stumbled into I become stupider.

This post has been edited by faceless: Jun 2 2010, 04:31 PM

the world isn't growing stupider per say.... but most people feel they are smarter then they actually are which inturn leads to stupidity

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This post has been edited by marsalee: Nov 8 2010, 12:56 PM

I dont see how this going back to the topic. I just dont get it.

By the way, my thoughts on polygamy is a feminist one. I have my own speculation on how it came about but I will not go into it.

people are just getting lazier, that's all.

I agree that people are getting lazier but lazy is not stupid. So you think people are getting stupider?