Do you think the smartest people on the planet are doomed to deal with the consequences forced on them by the dumbest?

[TheSpaceGnome]

Do you think we should raise the bar on whats considered being a repsonsible and informed adult?
Do you think in the future everyone will be geniuses?
Do you think in the future there won't be enough problems for intelligence level differences to cause conflicts?

[nitsuj86]

Not really. The smartest people in the world realize there is always a way to get things done... if you have the money and the will. They let the dumb people fight over the scraps, and find their own way to "game the system"

If they can get the money, which should be no issue for someone so smart, then they won't have as many issues that are caused by outside influences (dumb people). The less you have to rely on other people for what puts food on your table, the more freedom you have to do what you want, when you want.

Do I think everyone will be geniuses? No, not unless genetic alterations become legal on humans. Even then, if EVERYONE is a genius, then no one is. That becomes the new "average".

If anything people are getting dumber, at least socially. Which will only lead to more conflict in the long run. Right now there is an illusion of peace, everyone trying to play nice. Well, if the world has proved anything, it's that peace doesn't last long, and nature always takes over.

[TheSpaceGnome]

Being rich only reduces a small portion of the problems. You cannot become rich enough to avoid society messing up aspects of your life.

[nitsuj86]

Sure, but that's why I said you would have LESS problems. People will always have problems, no matter how much money they have.

But ask a bunch of poor people what their problems are, then ask a bunch of rich people. I would rather have rich people problems 99% of the time.

And sure you can. Jeff Bezos and other billionaires could buy their own island, secure it completely and do whatever the fuck they want within reason. What society does wouldn't really effect that. Maybe it's not 100% but pretty damn close.

[TheSpaceGnome]

So people killing whales doesn't effect me on the other side of the planet?

What about other countries pumping out pollution that effects the air in the rest of the world?

What about access to resources? What about people going through rare earths too fast?

What if I don;t want to live on an island because it's geologically unstable?

I could list a million reasons why any problem i actually have or care about is something I can't rid myself of by being rich.

[nitsuj86]

Well... I'm not talking about the rest of the planet. A billionaire could definitely run his own island, and take care of their people. And fuck everyone else. They can deal with themselves. Not their problem.

Keep in mind, that I only have to care about my lifetime. What happens when the earth runs dry? Well, who do you think get's first ride of the planet to the new one /space station. Not poor people, I'll tell you that.

Money may not solve everything, but it gives you options. Say the world is ending cause of dumb humans, who would you rather be?

Poor person
Option 1: Die on Earth

Rich Person
Option 1: Die on Earth
Option 2: Go to space station
Option 3: New planet
Option 4: Etc...

Ok, I've wasted enough mental energy on this.

[HazyDaze63]

What I witness is a society based on false statistics. Schools are so worried about looking good that they have dumbed down education and found ways to manipulate data. There are schools that will not give a student a grade below 55 even if that student has never been to class or done any of the work. They feel that an F is still an F so why demean the student. If you do nothing at all, your grade should reflect that. Tests are simplified more and more. Kids graduate that can't read or write.

Sorry, but I disagree in the way the system works. So to answer your question, in the future there will be no distinction between the 2 types of people. The smart ones will be too busy dealing with the not as smart ones that were pushed through the system

[TheSpaceGnome]

In some schools it's worse than that, in which you can get a diploma despite F grades.

[oh_k789]

Education is, by now, only about getting certification that you are this or that on papers, and nothing else.

[TheSpaceGnome]

@oh_k789 Yup, :l

[Sixgunsound]

That is called social promotion in the US.

[alice55]

They're forced to remain depressed cause they know what the future is going to look like and being surrounded by idiot is horrible.
I mean I'm not the smartest but I'm not dumb either and I tried multiple time ti explain things to my mother (who's kinda dumb honestly) but she just doesn't get it or get angry and throw insult (even my father cannot deal with her anymore always saying she's annoying).

[Miristheiss]

Yes.
70 million people died... because Hitler, Stalin were in power. Ditto Japan and Italy.
Look at the suffering in Ukraine because Putin is in power.
We are shutting off our own fuel supply and production... because Biden is in power.

History is replete with corrupt, stupid, evil people being in power.

[TheSpaceGnome]

Accurate, but can that be changed?

[HighlyVolatile]

For clarification, do you consider Hitler, Stalin, and Putin to not be very smart people?

[HighlyVolatile]

I might be able to understand with respect to Stalin, but I especially don't understand with respect to Hitler if we think he wasn't smart. Malicious, yes, egotistical, hell yes, ruthless, absolutely, but definitely not lacking in intelligence as I see it.

[TheSpaceGnome]

Only people who aren't very smart think it's possible to be intelligent and malicious at the same time.

[TheSpaceGnome]

@HighlyVolatile Hitler was exceptionally stupid, he thought homogenizing humanity's genetics would make them superior, but it would just result in our species degrading and going extinct to have less genetic variety.

He also thought a god existed, even though there isn't one, and he killed himself to avoid being killed.

He commited genocide while trying to remain in power, and he also had anger issues, he got mad over others being critical of his shortcomings.

All very stupid.

How low is your bar that you think he is somehow intellgent?

[HighlyVolatile]

I was actually a former Mensa member here in Japan in the past but maybe the term, "stupid", is a bit ambiguous to me here. I might be going by an IQ mindset and I can use myself as an example of how even people with over 150 IQ can be incredibly stupid (I am a drunken fool). :-D But there's resourcefulness as another sort. I get the impression that most of these figures are resourceful, and with Hitler, I'm not even sure he believed what he said after reading Mein Kampf. We're talking about a figure who thoroughly believed in the power of propaganda.

[TheSpaceGnome]

@HighlyVolatile IQ is a poor measure of intelligence. It only measures memory and raw calculation, not comprehension or wisdom.

A robot can have a high IQ, but a robot is never aware of anything and does not understand anything it knows. Propaganda, in the end, is worthless, and the other stuff I mentioned still stands.

[HighlyVolatile]

By that definition, I can thoroughly agree. Cheers!

[Kaamraj]

I think many intelligent people suffer from a savior complex that they must be the one to better society when they dont want to be bettered. If you are smart and know it, then exploit it to go forward. No need to help others who do not ask for help nor are appreciative of it.

[TheSpaceGnome]

See, this is what I mean... 🤦🏻

First off, Anyone actually that smart, is already constantly bettering themselves, but is held back in certain areas BY society.

Secondly, it's not a savior complex lol, it's self and interest preservation.

It's trying to avoid "only going as fast as the slowest person", or avoid losing things or privilages or health or goals or even entire species and ecosystems because of stupid people's actions, or have scientific research canceled because of religious politicians.

You can't go through life in a magic, self sufficient, protective bubble.
The world around you, and the people in it, effect what happens to you on a daily basis GREATLY.

[oh_k789]

Isn't it the same with other attributes?
Don't the fairest, maturest, have to endure humankind's average maturity and fairness?

[TheSpaceGnome]

Life is not fair by any means, we can make it less shitty, but we cannot make it fair.

People physically mature at drastically different rates, with very different end results, and what is or isn't considered mentally mature, is usually based on an individuals comprehension skills and interests, which are part of how smart they are, and whoever is in charge tends to pick where the mature enough bar is set to, so if they are dumber than the smartest people, well you get the idea.

I thought it best to stick to things where a person being dumb objectively drags down, punishes, or holds back someone smarter. This is a small example, but for example locking save data to an account or system to prevent idiots from pirating games, also prevents smart people from backing up their own save data.

A more extreme example would be things like pollution caused by fossil fuel harvesting and use preventing people smart enough to know better from having a healthy environment to use and live in.

[josephinelcajon]

Smart people these days are only book smart they have little to no common sense to apply it to a real-world situation

[Sixgunsound]

That is a fairly complete working definition of Democracy.

[TheSpaceGnome]

Technically it could be. However, some of the absolute dumbest people that our country has, are the only ones to get elected.

There is never any astrophysicist presidents, never any ecologists, its all business ceos, oil moguls, and lawyers.

[Sixgunsound]

Well, the worst of the worst float to the top in most situations, but especially politics, regardless of party. It takes a special kind of horrible childhood that produces a horrible adult who wants to dominate and steal from their family and neighbors, make them fight each other because if they aren’t fighting each other they will think too hard about their political masters, potentially order them to their deaths overseas if tax profits are down too much for too long, and to work tirelessly to prevent them and their children from ever achieving their human potential all while convincing people it is for their own good.

[TheSpaceGnome]

Well my point is, because we vote on asshat presidents instead of bills, we have never had actual democracy.

[Sixgunsound]

You…actually make a fairly good point. Representative democracy does not mean the same thing as true democracy. Having a central bank adds a further barrier between the will of the people mattering to the will of the aristocracy.

[SAMI_DABBAB]

Being smart doesn't mean you'll do good, selfish people are the enemies whether they were smart or stupid, they are more dangerous when smart