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duderific

Not to mention Idiocracy, which is pretty much coming true even as we speak.

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Chairman of Sony Pictures interrupts Judge interview to take blame for spiking Idiocracy:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/13/magazine/mike-judge-the-b...

“I should’ve made it 10 years later and set in the present.”

https://xkcd.com/603/

It's teasing us. What is the refutation?

What makes you think Idiocracy is coming true?

http://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/114/5/E727.full.pdf

"In “Idiocracy,” the secretary of state is sponsored by Carl’s Jr., a company whose chairman very nearly became our current secretary of labor. In 2505, the Oval Office is occupied by an ex-wrestler and porn star named Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho; our president has been on the business end of a Stone Cold Stunner and once appeared in a nonpornographic segment of an otherwise soft-core Playboy VHS tape, dumping sparkling wine onto a limousine. His name is a brand name, too." [1]

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/13/magazine/mike-judge-the-b...

This is a level of superficial similarity that I could use to say Judge Dredd is coming true.

The Flynn Effect. People aren't getting more ignorant, we're becoming more aware of our ignorance. Of all the foolishness and idiocy in the world, if you look at human history it's always been worse than now.

Sure but the Flynn effect is just something measured and could well just be a 'low hanging fruit' environmental gains that will/already have run out.

What mythical better times are Idiocracy theory proponents even mourning? When have literacy rates and educational attainment for the masses ever been better than the present? As a species, we still have a long way to go before the low hanging fruit gains are realized.

To suggest that basic literacy and educational attainment are somehow indicative of above average intelligence or the ability to understand complex and abstract ideas is a bit of a stretch.

With grade inflation and babysitting modern age students, what are the realistic requirements to attain a university degree in a low-difficulty major at a mediocre school? 80 IQ? 85?

The literacy argument is trivially refuted in a similar manner. Reading by itself is not indicative of higher cognitive function above an elementary school child.

Also, proportions are what matter here. I doubt the proportion of people with high fluid/crystallized intelligence is higher now, than it was, say in 1850. The only difference is that now a higher proportion of the general population have degrees.

What IQ level is optimal? And what is the role of IQ from a societal standpoint, if you are to presuppose that mass literacy and contemporary education is meaningless? What is the benefit of literacy from your perspective, for that matter

You're dodging the question. When, exactly, was the peak of American intellectual achievement that we're now coasting downhill from? Name a decade.

Sure, 1970s

Do you have a single fact to back that up?

What made the 70's better than the 60's? In the span of a decade we went from idea (we will put a man on the moon) to execution (Apollo 11) for arguably the greatest scientific feat of mankind.

I realize we're talking about humanity as a whole, but I don't see the appeal of the 70's.

All right, now we're getting somewhere. Why?

For starters, the real-world trends Idiocracy bemoans are cultural and educational, not genetic. You fix ignorance with education, not fucking eugenics.

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