Dumb People In College

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that is simply how you have to get through life, just accept the damn facts. Which is what my problem is because I cant accept the fact that humanity as a whole won't wise up. Well its more like I have already, but I still cant stop thinking about it. That and getting past my hatred towards humanity/society because of the way humanity/society is. I know my hatred is probably seen as childish, but it kinda happened beause of my 'bubble of hope for humanity' kept on getting burst, so I end up becoming more and more jaded. I hope I get to the 'dont give two s**ts' stage soon, I need to stop thinking about the direction society is headed and just accept it fully.

Pretty much. That, and college teaches you little of value. It's more about political brainwashing than anything else. That's probably why so many people in it are dumb.

I don't think humanity as a whole are dumb. If you look around, you can find some fairly educated people. I have met many such people.

But maybe I am biased. Washington DC, where I live, is the metropolitan area with the most advanced degrees. We have half the people of the Los Angeles area, yet have more engineers than they do.

I'm not necessarily counting "education". I am talking about the actions and overall direction of society. Plus I have a belief that just because you have a degree doesn't count you out of being stupid. since the total lack of reasonable common sense is A very bad thing indeed. And im gonna definitely say just because there are some smart/good people out there. One of those big/huge lacks of common sense is one of the big things that wrecked the economy. People taking out huge ass loans just because they could and they couldn't even remotely pay them off. And whats funny is a lot of 'educated' people bought into the subprime lending s**t, but so did a large amount of uneducated people.

To be classified under my form of 'smart', you'd pretty much have to fit the following.
You have to have a good amount of common sense. It is something those people who have earned Darwin awards didn't have.
You have to think for yourself instead of following the damn herd blindly.
You must always question 'everything', asking questions leads to gaining more knowledge/wisdom
You must be able to stand up for your rights and beliefs, and use cold, hard logic and factual evidence to back them up.
Must be a pragmatist/think practically: for example if your in a fight, you do what is needed to win, even if it is considered a bit underhanded (like kicking someone in the nuts).
You must be able to learn new things when necessary.

some things that would be considered for 'bonus points'

Having an education (more points for further up the ladder you have gone)
Being a skeptic
Having good social skills
If I come up with more, I will add them.


And in regard to 'good' acts, they too can perpetrate 'evil'. A good example would be if you gave a poor person money, is he gonna spend it wisely or stupidly, or is he gonna hang onto the money. Now logically speaking the money can go both ways, or just stay a neutral factor based upon what happens because of you giving the person some money to help them out. I wont list every possible outcome, but ill list some to illustrate all points.

Good results
buy food to help keep their family aloft during financial struggle.
pay bills that are 'necessary' : mainly utilities/rent. I don't count internet/cable, you don't need them to survive, nor will I count car payments because depending on where you live, you don't NEED one either.

Neutral results
holding onto the money in case of a rainy day (could be classified as good, but because the money hasnt been used, I still am gonna count it as neutral.

Bad Results
buying illegal drugs/beer/cigarettes, or buying certain OTC medications to either make certain illegal substances, or to get high off of them.
You giving the money can indirectly cause a mugging of the person who had received the money (think back to knights of the old republic 2 and pay attention to Kreia's words of advice, especially the one particular scene in Nar Shadaa.)
Money is used to buy stuff that isnt a "NEED", stuff like games/movies and the like, especially if they already have trouble with bills and such.


Yes, I know; I am such a damn cynic. If it disturbs ya I don't care simply because I just don't. (yeah, My Cynicism is considered by those I live with as negativity, and any form of non-idealistic thinking sends them into a fit of anger at me for not thinking their way. So it does have its entertainment value sometimes.

demon agreed with your cynicism. i found lots of academics just parading around with their position and ranking of their university, writing the similar stuff just to count number of papers instead working for the betterment of the society.

anyway, i don't care about them. but i would disagree with the necessity of internet. i think it is very important to read about how to make a house or produce food from algae if the dark times come. i am really afraid of loosing internet.

That has nothing to do with it, I've met smart people with little education and stupid people with advanced degrees. Your educational credentials, your intelligence and how cultured you are are all different things. In that sense, the value of college as life experience is massively overrated.

I think we are working on two different definitions of intelligence. My understanding of your argument is that intelligence is an inherent trait, based off logical reasoning and intuition. While I do not deny those traits exist, I feel they do not necessarily indicate one is "smart." Rather, they indicate a richly associative band of thinking. I personally believe this associative thinking is more common among neurodiverse people, though largely because we define our thinking patterns against those of NTs.

Intelligence is a functional trait, and cannot exist unless it is used. Used for what, may one ask? Anything. It can be for the betterment/destruction of mankind, self advancement, self survival, even nihilistic thinking allows for intelligence. My fellow classmate who came to tears was not necessarily dumb using your definition. He was dumb because he did not have the foresight to use my professor correctly AND develop a work ethic. Mind you, this course was a preprofessional course he chose to be in.

Education does not always equal intelligence, but it does show drive. Engineers did not wake up one morning and decide to be engineers, or if they do, they wash out quickly. Engineers consistently learn their trade for years. Same with doctors. Lawyers used to be that way, although its appearance as a get-rich-quick job has shamed the profession. But there are so many of them now that most lawyers can't find good jobs out of law school, so hopefully that will scare the faint-of-heart away.

So those are my views. Now are humans honest with each other or themselves? That I have serious questions about, and that is why, I believe, that we marginalize those whom we need to reward. But that's a different argument completely.

The real question one has to ask oneself is "How do you Define Intelligence". As a point to what I am gonna say is my answer, we both have different views upon it. Both of our answers, depending on who is reading it, is both correct and/or incorrect. It is a Schrodinger's cat of sorts. Intelligence is just an abstract concept in which there are many different interpretations. From my experience though, there are different types of it.

And also related to the first observation of "how do you define it?", Id also have to bring up, "Can you really quantify Intelligence?" That is one which I firmly believe no in. A good example of why I say no = IQ scores. You can have a really high IQ but yet still fail miserably in life. Yet someone with a below average/average would be able to. You would also have to put into perspective, WHAT form of intelligence does the system measure.

In response you your first part though, since I forgot to sqeeze it in earlier, I view logical reasoning and intuition as just one facet of intelligence. As I had also said above, there really is no -true- definition for it. Some people will just define it as awareness of ones self, others will just write it off as an IQ score.

That, and you can't dismiss the whole "herd mentality" of humans.

Put 100 people in the room with at least half with advanced degrees. In time, you'll see them gravitate towards the lowest common intelligence.

They have a desire to conform, that's all. The clever thinker knows not only how to think independently, but how to create the consensus. Humans have always been like this, and they always will be.

Of my college, most people there had to work extremely hard to get in and it is very diverse. So much so that the "flavor" of each department is very different and each building is alike a different world with a different culture.

The thing that annoys me though in that some departments, with subjects that most people would usually consider the more difficult subjects, they have to curve very generously to pass most of the students.

This is not because the students are "not intelligent" enough to understand the subjects, but rather, I feel it is a reflection of a teaching system which is not appropriate for these subjects. But rather than alter the system, which would cost a lot of money apparently, the school just curves.

In fairness to those academics, they have about 5 years at a research institution to demonstrate their ability to publish original research. If they don't, then they lose their jobs and face a stigma that will make it difficult to find another.

This isn't an incident of dumbness from my own college years, but rather something a friend witnessed in an English Lit class he took. While discussing Romeo and Juliet, a girl in his class said she thought the Shakespeare play was to derivative of West Side Story.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

This isn't an incident of dumbness from my own college years, but rather something a friend witnessed in an English Lit class he took. While discussing Romeo and Juliet, a girl in his class said she thought the Shakespeare play was to derivative of West Side Story.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

This isn't an incident of dumbness from my own college years, but rather something a friend witnessed in an English Lit class he took. While discussing Romeo and Juliet, a girl in his class said she thought the Shakespeare play was too derivative of West Side Story.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

This isn't an incident of dumbness from my own college years, but rather something a friend witnessed in an English Lit class he took. While discussing Romeo and Juliet, a girl in his class said she thought the Shakespeare play was too derivative of West Side Story.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer