I think we are taming ourselves

[zombierelic]

For a cure to low intelligence breeding watch America's funniest home videos, no "purging" needed and no cost to tax payers.

[grannywils]

Ok, maybe I am one of those people you might have thought needed "selecting" out; but I am reasonably intelligent, and I cannot even believe I am reading this. Maybe I just don't understand it.

 

The human brain is capable of much more than it's being used for today. We are gradually discovering its potential. Are you suggesting that the unused part is just a vestigial organ such as the appendix? Are you suggesting that those among us who are unable to use theirs to the fullest potential possible might need "weeding out"

 

As I said, I am probably (hopefully) totally misunderstanding the thread, and if so I apologize in advance.

 

[brokenergy]

You do realise that humans use more brain power now than 200 000 years ago. You also realise that in the last 50 years alone, our society has improved dramaticly. How does that show stagnation of the human species? Just because we don't live in the jungles anymore or jab ourselves with a needle don't mean that we are stagnating as a species.

[Sync182]

Brokenergy -

 

I think the point is not that humanity as a species has advanced rapidly of late (and your comment about not jabbing ourselves with needles like we used to do? Come on, there's a squillion drug users who'd disagree with you as they get their next hit - how smart is that?); rather that our advancements are going to dumb us down.

 

For all our advances in technology, we're relying on them more and more. As machines get smarter, people get dumber. When machines start to think, people will stop.

 

A case in point: a short while ago I was doing some shopping. The total came to an odd amout - I don't know what it was, but for argument's sake, let's say it was $15.75. I handed the checkout chick a $20 and started fishing around for coins. While I was getting coins, she'd rung up the $20 and had got the amount of change I was due. At that point, I handed her the 75cents portion of the total so that I could get an even-dollar amount in change. She had no idea what to do with the extra coins because she'd already completed the transaction on the register, and didn't know how to do the math in her head. That is basic arithmetic that I could do in my head when I was 5 years younger than she was then, but her reliance on a machine has stopped her from thinking.

 

I'm all for better, stronger, more versatile technology; but there should be limitations how how "smart" it can be, so that mankind doesn't fall by the wayside in terms of thought power.

[brokenergy]

I have no time machine so I can't comment about the future but there is no physical evidence to suggest that humans are going to be dumb down. Stating that technology and other factors are going to stagnate the enitre human race is just dumb.

[marharth]

I have no time machine so I can't comment about the future but there is no physical evidence to suggest that humans are going to be dumb down. Stating that technology and other factors are going to stagnate the enitre human race is just dumb.

Its logical thinking, its not some kind of magical future prediction.

 

Like in evolution, if something loses its purpose it starts to go away.

[evilneko]

You're extrapolating a single individual--whom you know very little about--to an entire species. Nice.

 

I think we're done here.

[Sync182]

Not really - that example is representative of the way things are going.

 

There are any number of cases you can point to. Heck, in this wonderful (and I use the term loosely) education system here, grades are adjusted to the Lowest Common Denominator, so that no-one fails anything (unless you're really, really hopeless). Social engineering is tweaked to make people feel good about their achievements, in spite of the fact that they've really achieved nothing, and that leaves them woefully underprepared for reality. Kids are being sent to High School when they are less capable than kids of my generation were 2 years earlier.

 

Real talent/ability is not rewarded because it might make those less talanted/able feel inadequate, so the talent is lost amidst the "why should I bother?" reaction.

 

It's not fantasy - it's happening now.

[evilneko]

That's just the failings of the education system, it really doesn't prove anyone's less intelligent, just less educated. There's a very large difference between the two.

 

There's no real proof that the intelligence of humans as a species is decreasing. On the contrary, IQs have actually been going up, although it's debated whether actual intelligence is going up or if various factors of our modern society is/are skewing the results. In other words, there's no proof either way, but the data suggests intelligence may be rising.

[Sync182]

An increase in capacity to reason and deduce does not automatically confer the desire to do such.

 

Humans are essentially lazy people. If we weren't, there wouldn't be the general increase in obesity that there is. We want machines to do things for us. Eventually, the range of things that machines will do for us will expand to include thinking - unless steps are taken to prevent it.