Humans Circa 2015: Stupid (?)

[Patrick S]

Has anyone noticed, perhaps, a slow but very apparent erosion in basic human intelligence? I'm interested to know because I'm convinced that people are becoming - by and large - morons. I'll give a few basic examples that I see every day.

I work in a downtown area. Multiple times each day I witness people midlessly walk into traffic. They realize they are about to be killed and they either start running or they start flipping the bird and screaming obscenties at the people driving who didn't, you know, expect to see a person appear in front of them on green light.

People are simply unable to operate self-checkout kiosks at the the grocery store. I'm sure they've used these things before, yet....it's a fiasco. Things go wrong. They spiral out of control. You see it happening and try to help..but it's too late. The light is flashing. The attendent comes over. And we must all wait.

People can't drive. Cars cross the double yellow. Cars drift into your lane. Cars stop in front of you.....for no reason. Red lights are run. Green lights are ignored until they turn yellow...then cars are floored to make the light. My son will be driving in a few years and I'm training him now. I say, "Watch this guy. He'd going to pull out in front of me." I'm always right. I have told him that he must assume everyone on the road is either an a$$hole or an idiot. If he expects them to behave as such....he'll be alright.

I have a friend who owns a restaurant. He tells me that about half of people can't do simple addition when adding the tip to their meal and record an incorrect total. He has been in the business for 20 years. He says it used to happen a few times a week. Now, dozens of times...per day.

[kensei]

You are so right. I live in a community that's kind of known for its bad driving. Right turns on red lights seem to be a popular misunderstanding and people think they can do it any time even when there's a red arrow or even a sign that clearly says "No right turn on red." And people seem to look at speed limit signs and just say, "Hmmmm, no. I'm not doing that." 50 in a 30 is common, or 70 in a 55. I often think that if all laws were regarded like that then people would think "Well it's ok if you only kill a few people once in a while." They often cite the so-called "fast lane" on the left and seem to actually believe that if you're in the fast lane it allows you to go faster than the posted speed limit.

When it comes to the self checkout kiosks though I have to admit to being one of the people that has problems with them and tend to think of it in terms of stupidity on the part of those who designed them. There are times that each time I scan something and put it in the bag the voice says "Unexpected item in bagging area- please remove this item." After a few times in a row of that I give up. Seems like the only reason there is a human attendant standing there watching is because they know the things are pieces of junk that often don't work right.

[Shaggyrand]

You make a fine argument. I just do not buy that the species is getting dumber, we've always been fairly stupid. I would say that some of those are down to laziness or modern self centered culture more than stupidity.
People have always dashed out suicidally into traffic in breathtaking numbers, they just no longer have a sense of fault, no more "My bad for running in front of you, causing you to stomp your breaks and get rear ended" when they are almost hit.
To be fair about the self checkouts, I have never dealt with one that was not a moment away from breaking down completely. The screens are rarely properly calibrated, the scale in bagging is broken, it doesn't give proper change, the scanner doesn't work. Yes, I'm sure they are beyond some people but for the most part- self checkout kiosks are garbage. So I'll call that one a draw.
People have never been able to drive. Ever. You only thought they could because you didn't know better yet. In DC once it hits time for people to go home from a long day traffic lanes become suggestions, very loose ones at that, and not dividers and a three lane road becomes a five lane highway. It's always been that way from what I've seen. Have you ever seen traffic in Cario, Egypt or any where in Russia? It's like millions of people playing a video game with real cars.
Ok. That last one, I got nothing. Your friend should start printing out "with tip" totals at various percentages on the bottom of checks. Might improve turnaround if the customers no longer have to take their shoes off to count past ten.

[Patrick S]

I tend to think that, as a species, humans are intelligent. Technologies advance...all that. Yet, it seems that the individuals who utilize technology are either so distracted by it or so dependent on it that they become....well...stupid...or lazy.....or just an a$$hole.

A recent example. I had all the neighbors over this past weekend. They noticed a cord of wood, neatly stacked on a 16' long 4' high rack I'd made out of 2x2s. Took me fifteen minutes and required only a drill, some screws, and a hand saw. They were amazed at my "carpentry" skills and asked me questions about how I'd done it, as if I was Bob Vila instead of a guy who just didn't want his firewood on the ground all winter. THEN they spotted a porch I'd built for my shed out back! That took a few hours, screws, some decking, a few landscape timbers, and some wood stain. Between my brother, my dad, and me...I'm by far the worst carpenter. Yet, it seems they're going to erect a statue of me wearing a tool belt and holding a cordless drill, shirtless, with a nude woman grasping one of my legs and looking up into my eyes...admiringly...lustfully.

[Fleetwood Mac]

Has anyone noticed, perhaps, a slow but very apparent erosion in basic human intelligence? I'm interested to know because I'm convinced that people are becoming - by and large - morons. I'll give a few basic examples that I see every day.

I work in a downtown area. Multiple times each day I witness people midlessly walk into traffic. They realize they are about to be killed and they either start running or they start flipping the bird and screaming obscenties at the people driving who didn't, you know, expect to see a person appear in front of them on green light.

People are simply unable to operate self-checkout kiosks at the the grocery store. I'm sure they've used these things before, yet....it's a fiasco. Things go wrong. They spiral out of control. You see it happening and try to help..but it's too late. The light is flashing. The attendent comes over. And we must all wait.

People can't drive. Cars cross the double yellow. Cars drift into your lane. Cars stop in front of you.....for no reason. Red lights are run. Green lights are ignored until they turn yellow...then cars are floored to make the light. My son will be driving in a few years and I'm training him now. I say, "Watch this guy. He'd going to pull out in front of me." I'm always right. I have told him that he must assume everyone on the road is either an a$$hole or an idiot. If he expects them to behave as such....he'll be alright.

I have a friend who owns a restaurant. He tells me that about half of people can't do simple addition when adding the tip to their meal and record an incorrect total. He has been in the business for 20 years. He says it used to happen a few times a week. Now, dozens of times...per day.

No. And I think this ties in with the thread just down the corridor: "a very British response.....".

People here are sceptical in terms of any grand statement.

This is another.

People aren't any more 'stupid' than once upon a time, nor are we going to stop eating sausages on the back of some study, another study only different subject, which tells us these unassuming pieces of food are in it to attack us.

I said sceptical, and I'd add reasonable.

[Karl]

The notion that we are getting dumber rests on the assumption that we were any smarter in the past. Can that case be made?

[Graham]

I don't think people are any dumber than they were 20, 30, 50, 75 years ago. It's more to do with changing sociology and the dumbing-down of the teaching profession which produces people who have no concept whatsoever of right and wrong. Like today, I drove the 3 miles to the bank in what we call 'the village' and had to slam on my brakes 3 times when arse-holes pulled out of side-roads in front of me. Two of these were women with young children in their car. The attitude seems to be, 'this is my space, mine and no-one else's, so what the **** are you doing in it?'

I've also noticed with increasing depression that most people under the age of about 30 have little or no 'general knowledge'. We have a TV programme here (UK) called 'University Challenge', which is really just a highbrow quiz show. The people on it are (usually) way above what I'd call average intelligence, to be fair. Not so long ago a friend of ours was staying, and we watched this programme mainly because I like it and it was my TV so there. Our friend was astonished at what she saw as our amazing knowledge because between us we answered perhaps half a dozen questions - she didn't even know the name of the river that runs through Paris - yet later admitted that she had hardly ever read a book! Why not? we asked. Because she didn't see the need to - she had quite a good job and all she needed to do it were computer skills. She is not thick - she just doesn't know very much. It seems that the blinkered modern education system produces blinkered modern products.

Not so long ago someone else I know happened to mention to me that he had to take his car to the garage that afternoon. For what? I asked. To have the oil level checked, he said. Huh? What? Yes, lifting the bonnet (hood) of his car and removing the dip-stick and reading it was beyond him. He didn't even know what I meant by 'dip-stick'...he thought it was a Simpsons insult. Seventy years ago men of his age were flying Spitfires.....................

Dim? No. Uneducated? Yes. Hopeless? Without a doubt.

Graham

[Limehouse]

I don't think people are any dumber than they were 20, 30, 50, 75 years ago. It's more to do with changing sociology and the dumbing-down of the teaching profession which produces people who have no concept whatsoever of right and wrong. Like today, I drove the 3 miles to the bank in what we call 'the village' and had to slam on my brakes 3 times when arse-holes pulled out of side-roads in front of me. Two of these were women with young children in their car. The attitude seems to be, 'this is my space, mine and no-one else's, so what the **** are you doing in it?'

I've also noticed with increasing depression that most people under the age of about 30 have little or no 'general knowledge'. We have a TV programme here (UK) called 'University Challenge', which is really just a highbrow quiz show. The people on it are (usually) way above what I'd call average intelligence, to be fair. Not so long ago a friend of ours was staying, and we watched this programme mainly because I like it and it was my TV so there. Our friend was astonished at what she saw as our amazing knowledge because between us we answered perhaps half a dozen questions - she didn't even know the name of the river that runs through Paris - yet later admitted that she had hardly ever read a book! Why not? we asked. Because she didn't see the need to - she had quite a good job and all she needed to do it were computer skills. She is not thick - she just doesn't know very much. It seems that the blinkered modern education system produces blinkered modern products.

Not so long ago someone else I know happened to mention to me that he had to take his car to the garage that afternoon. For what? I asked. To have the oil level checked, he said. Huh? What? Yes, lifting the bonnet (hood) of his car and removing the dip-stick and reading it was beyond him. He didn't even know what I meant by 'dip-stick'...he thought it was a Simpsons insult. Seventy years ago men of his age were flying Spitfires.....................

Dim? No. Uneducated? Yes. Hopeless? Without a doubt.

Graham

Agree with much of what you've have written Graham - but if anyone has dumbed down the teaching profession it's not teachers but various government 'initiatives' (of the 'left' and the 'right') which, over the past 30 years or so, have valued exam passes above actual skills. As an example, I berated a student of mine who has good GCSE passes in English literature and Language for his poor grasp of punctuation. His response was that 'I actually do know how to use punctuation but I've got the grades I needed to pass so why should I bother continuing to use correct punctuation? What's the point?'

Have to agree about general knowledge. It's astonishing that people have an information superhighway at their fingertips and yet can be so woefully ignorant. I have been asked by young adults I work with 'Is Prince Phillip the Queen's son?' and 'Does the Queen have any children?' and 'Is Bristol and Island?'

As a general response to the theme of this thread 'are people getting dumber?' I would say that many people live in a bubble in which only they exist. They are not dumb but selfish. Thus, people jump red lights (especially cyclists), park on double yellow lines and then complain when they are fined, and drive too fast because they think they know better than the experts who have set the speed limit for that road. People are unable and unwilling to accept responsibility for their own actions even when they are in the wrong and always believe they have been unfairly punished for doing wrong. The response given to police officers when they have stopped someone for speeding or not wearing their seatbelt or parking so that they cause an obstruction and danger to others is often to retort 'why don't you spend your time catching real criminals instead of coming after me for something so trivial?' Standards of personal behaviour and conduct have plummeted, I feel.

[Graham]

Hi Julie,

you are perfectly correct. It's a "me, me, me, me" thing now - consideration and good manners have gone out of the window.

Until I retired in 2011 - thank God - I worked in technical sales, and one day I had a call from a prospective customer regarding a letter he had received from my company's sales-office. He said it was all but indecipherable, so I asked him to send me a copy, which he did. It had been written by someone who had joined the company quite recently, who was in fact a very nice person, but who lacked the basic skill to compose understandable English. I re-wrote the letter, and at our next sales-meeting raised the subject of poor skills in written English. To my total amazement, the MD of my company sided with the person who had written that indecipherable letter, and more or less called me a 'knowledge snob' because I had criticised that person's English. I almost quit my job there and then. Later, the MD (full of good ideas, otherwise severely challenged) ordered me to lay off the boys and girls in the sales department, or else. This to me was a new low. Thank Christ, I retired shortly afterwards.

Graham

[Harry D]

When we start letting the technology do and think everything for us, what else do you expect?

[SirJohnFalstaff]

Has anyone noticed, perhaps, a slow but very apparent erosion in basic human intelligence? I'm interested to know because I'm convinced that people are becoming - by and large - morons. I'll give a few basic examples that I see every day.

I work in a downtown area. Multiple times each day I witness people midlessly walk into traffic. They realize they are about to be killed and they either start running or they start flipping the bird and screaming obscenties at the people driving who didn't, you know, expect to see a person appear in front of them on green light.

People are simply unable to operate self-checkout kiosks at the the grocery store. I'm sure they've used these things before, yet....it's a fiasco. Things go wrong. They spiral out of control. You see it happening and try to help..but it's too late. The light is flashing. The attendent comes over. And we must all wait.

People can't drive. Cars cross the double yellow. Cars drift into your lane. Cars stop in front of you.....for no reason. Red lights are run. Green lights are ignored until they turn yellow...then cars are floored to make the light. My son will be driving in a few years and I'm training him now. I say, "Watch this guy. He'd going to pull out in front of me." I'm always right. I have told him that he must assume everyone on the road is either an a$$hole or an idiot. If he expects them to behave as such....he'll be alright.

I have a friend who owns a restaurant. He tells me that about half of people can't do simple addition when adding the tip to their meal and record an incorrect total. He has been in the business for 20 years. He says it used to happen a few times a week. Now, dozens of times...per day.

Not sure if it's a sign of lesser intelligence, maybe more about paying attention.

[SirJohnFalstaff]

When we start letting the technology do and think everything for us, what else do you expect?

My problem with technology is "stop trying to improve it if it works fine!!!"

Facebook and Twitter update their apps twice a month. Sorry, but I don't have time to learn the new things, it was fine as it was 5 years ago.

New operating system every other year? I don't have time for that, yet, if I want to keep using my devices, I need to keep up otherwise support won't be available anymore.

That and programmed obsolescence.

[Karl]

Hi Julie,

you are perfectly correct. It's a "me, me, me, me" thing now - consideration and good manners have gone out of the window.

The ageing generations have been saying that since time immemorial. I'll bet when you were that young, the elders at that time said the same thing.

"Youth is insolent; it is its right – its necessity; it has got to assert itself, and all assertion in this world of doubts is a defiance, is an insolence…"
-Joseph Conrad

"Once he has outgrown his youth, a man will rarely remain a prisoner to his insolence. He had thought it was the only way to behave; then he suddenly discovers that, even for a prince, there are such things as music, literature, not to speak of standing for the post of deputy."
-Marcel Proust

"The whims of youth break all the rules."
-Homer

And so on, and so forth.

[Robert]

Whatever age you are, if you live long enough to look back, you'll see that you were still only young.

[Pcdunn]

Hello, Patrick, interesting topic.

We have recently become addicted to an odd, entertaining TV show called "The Science of Stupid", which is hosted by one of the fellows formerly on "Top Gear".
This show picks Internet videos of people doing idiotic stunts, then explains with visual aids and demonstrations of the way it should have been done, the physics at play.

Given the number of Internet videos they have to pick from, by people all around the world, I must conclude that your proposition is correct, and the Internet is to blame for it...