So intelligent people never take risks or choose riskier lifestyles according to their own balance of self preservation and stimulation?

By that logic a truly smart person would only ever choose to live in a virtual bubble. There's basically no need to go outdoors for many people any more, so why would you risk it if you didn't have to?

What about all the idiots that drive cars!? Don't they know car's are dangerous? (waaaaaaaaaay more dangerous than an Alligator!)


Life is risky, in fact last time I checked it had a 100% mortality rate. Each of us has a (probably genetic) pre disposition towards a particular balance of risk and preservation. The diversity of this mix is VERY important to maintaining a healthy gene pool and social structure.

We need risk takers, they are the ones that forge ahead into new territory, test new & dangerous technologies and thrive performing essential tasks that the rest of us are too chicken shit to do like rescue people from burning buildings (or more trivially removing alligators from pools lol)


I would also like to point out that many a dumbass couple has produced genius children, just as many genius parents have produced dumbass children. Genetics are only half the story & intelligence in particular does not appear rigidly linked to your genetic history.

The nightmare Idiocracy scenario you are so worried about has a lot more to do with education than genealogy

The gene pool needs cleansing...and this guy is pretty clearly from the shallow end. Do I really need to spell out why? I truly don't want Idiocracy to become a documentary.

Idiocracy?

Married and with 2 kids by age 21... Idiocracy before our very eyes.

I do have some anger issues-The crux of that issue perhaps possibly, my perception that I might be living in an era of mass-hypnotism of the planet's inhabitants through technologies envisioned originally to afford power now hi-jacked (and historically so) by charlatans posing as world leaders?

Another obvious turd lodged in my craw? How about a social-evolutionary path akin to Bradbury's "Fahrenheit" or Orwell's "84" turning an entire continent of what formerly consisted of self-determined, practical, and classically educated hard-working sorts into a cast of extras from "Idiocracy?"

Yeah, it pisses me off that so many people are distracted by what they are being told about some illusory process in which the common citizen might take part to imagine some bright future for mankind falling somewhere between the golden rule and the code of Hammurabi. The planet is being hi-jacked by a new breed of criminals frighteningly similar to the most egregious of old-For everything there is a season my friend, Solomon's wisdom in Ecclesiastes 3 it just as pertinent today as it will be for humans for the next 10,000 years-"a time to kill and heal, a time to break down, and a time to build up."

I'd like to imagine the new-construction-upon-the-ashes to include projects both organic and nano-technological in nature with the transformation of our specie's bodies, minds, souls and spirits as a prime objective.

You are living in these wonderful and frightening times, consider this incarnation your most favorable having been born when, where, how, why, and what you are-You are an amazing collection of cellular consciousness manifest in the wonder of flesh.
It's pretty fucking cool actually, and these are the ideas upon which I try to meditate upon every waking hour.

Oh yeah, and I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore, Hail Satan, Hail Eris, Jesus Saves.


(BTW, to answer your inquiry as to the "knowledge" that administrations keep in the dirty-little-secrets folder? Do you really have to ask about need-to-know information that would end the lives of yourself and everyone you know, because that's what the United States can do for you alla-Hoover, alla-Bush, alla-New World Order Über Alles.
What you think you know you don't, and you can't form an opinion or come to a conclusion on a subject for which you have incomplete data with which to arrive at those opinions or conclusions. Simple deductive reasoning or even a pragmatic model of the scientific method should make this screamingly clear to anyone who distrusts the anemically hostile Babylonian system .

Yep Quad, another thing you might consider; Americans have been groomed through the purification of language by journalists and politicians combined with a systematic elimination of critical thinking skills, to let themselves be raped by a handful of assholes. These same assholes speak of an out-of-date document in desperate need of revisions (many of these Kool-Aid drinkers on this very forum) and continually propose adjustments which send the experiment further down the highway to bankruptcy, diversion, ignorance and idiocracy.
Welcome to Earth, humans may present a problem, enjoy your stay.

yea but the forces acting on evolution currently skew to favor what some would see to be less fitness ... evolution doesnt favor the smart, or the best, just the most fit.

It seems this life and world are most fit for people who dont really care.... and survive through no effort of their own... i mean he could have really fucked up a major artery but no... and i bet he will fuck someone without protection and etc... we've all seen Idiocracy... that is pretty accurate tbh.. he will live long and so will his offspring...

So only 40% of the voters are total morons. Idiocracy looks more like a documentary every day.

Upvote for the Nathan Barley reference. I can see the movie Idiocracy was "before its time" documentary rather than a parody. Fucking sad.

Take any one statement of Bill O'Reilly here (for example, "You can't be on top as long as the Fox News Channel has been on top, 'annnsell'-(slurred, cocktails @ 2pm) and sell a product that's inferior or dishonest, it's impossible in this country.")

What the fuck does that actually mean? Nothing. Anyone that has an I.Q. of 90 should see his blathering for absolute shit.
NOw...

Compare that statement to any statement taken out of context during a speech by either party's candidate to the presidency and you will hear he same rhetorical bullshit regarding fuck-all and who cares. FOR EXAMPLE:

"Are we going to make it easier for you to afford your degree and pay off your student loan debt? (Applause.) Are we going to build more good schools and hire more good teachers, so that our kids are prepared to attend colleges like Iowa State, and prepared for the 21st century workforce? (Applause.)"....to robots at Iowa State University,Barack Obama - August 28, 2012.

Meaningless phrases strewn together cliche', with positive verbal gestures and cued pauses inducing applause as to be rendered ephemeral as soon as they are uttered.
Now kids-Go back to your dorm rooms, remember to vote on Nov. 2nd for the Not-Mormon, and play some more Mario Cart for quarters.

All news channels in the UK and the U.S. are total, and complete, sheit....great for infotainment and a sort of barometer of our progress towards idiocracy.

Well that's just Idiocracy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_4jrMwvZ2A

>> ^NetRunner:

a battle to stop a group of committed fanatics without a shred of human empathy from pushing out the last vestiges of the flawed, inept, but well-meaning opposition standing in their way.


I steadfastly hold the view that those who are most suited to power are least suited to attaining power, and those who are least suited to power are most suited to attaining it. Those who feel no remorse are able to lie, cheat and steal their way to any goal whilst those who have the empathy we need in a leader would never dream of doing such a thing in return. The kind of leader we need now would never accept money from huge businesses in exchange for favours when they're in power. So they're never gonna get in power, and we're left to be led by those who are most capable of tricking us.

Think about it. If an extremely intelligent person decides (or is already decided) that they want something, it's very hard to stop them. It's simple to manipulate and trick people less intelligent than you are, we all know that, we've all surely experienced it at some point (perhaps through accident). The only thing that stops you is your conscience.

There are people in this world with immense intellect and empathy, people who are held accountable to their own conscience more than they could ever be held accountable in law. Yet we live in a world where we (on average at least) PREFER to listen to people who sound and look convincing.

There are people who spend their entire lives thoroughly investigating things to satisfy their own desire to understand the world - and we show skepticism towards THEIR opinion.

When a government drug expert reports upon scientific and statistical findings that show how marijuana and ecstasy are less harmful than alcohol (amongst other things), he was instantly sacked and replaced by someone who said something different.

We have government ministers in britain stealing from our pockets, getting caught in the act, and then later having the gumption to say "If you pay someone cash in hand, you are allowing them to dodge tax, therefore YOU are immoral." Do these idiots even understand the word "hypocrite"?

We actively shun and show disdain to intelligent people. We've become fixated on celebrity. When a huge news item comes along, we cut to katy perry's twitter feed to find out what she thinks, or a person on the street who knows nothing more than i do about the situation to hear what their opinion is. This is Idiocracy.

Fucking. Hell. I can't believe the kind of shit that passes for television in the US. Those people in the audience are the WORST.

If you've never seen the movie Idiocracy before, see it. It's what's in store for you America in the future.

It seems more and more evident to me the ones who have kids probably should not. Hah, the opening to Idiocracy. That's what this reminds me of.

Preamble: Much as I hate going through these sorts of exercises, they are sometimes necessary, particularly when a thread has gotten large. People forget what they're responding to; what the topic really is at the time they're responding, leaps of logic, etc. One thing's certain about these summaries: they're always helpful. <- Yes, that's a boast.
1. I posted some quotes from Roger Ebert's review (and blog) that I thought captured my own feelings about The Raid, including a brash comparison to the joke movie Ass featured in Mike Judge's hilarious flick Idiocracy.

2. I get dressed down by Sarzy for said comparison. Sarzy also claims Ebert said there was no craft or artistry to The Raid (which he never actually said, but never mind) and that The Raid is a martial arts milestone.

3. ChaosEngine makes an amusing ad populum argument and later makes a strong case for the merit of terse storytelling and inference of story elements.

4. I ask Sarzy why The Raid is a milestone.

5. Sarzy responds with many heartfelt testimonials by sympathetic reviewers, personal opinions, and lauds its choreography and direction.

6. I excise all the subjective-slanted testimony and focus on what is demonstrably true about The Raid: it was choreographed and directed with great care. I point out that without context (story), conflict is without meaning.

7. ChaosEngine gives it one last try with another amusing post about inference of story elements on the part of the viewer and indirectly calls me a prick. Classy!

8. I respond to ChaosEngine by inferring a wonderful storyline to Ass, instantly making it one of the best joke movies I'd ever watched.

9. Sarzy points out that plenty of other genres of film are short on story. The best examples are the "meditative" styles featured in art houses and the like.

10. I respond to Sarzy's excellent point by citing other possible gains (transcendence) by watching these "meditative" style pictures, gains that are not possible (in my opinion) with martial arts pictures. I remind him that I am responding to his point with, and I quote, "...I am merely responding to your point about the role of story."

11. Despite my reminder, Sarzy erroneously concludes that every film I see must transcend me to another plane even though all I was doing was attempting to shoot a hole in Sarzy's point about other films that are loose on story.

And that pretty much brings us up to date.

But do you see how helpful these summaries can be? They're my little innovation. You internet kids and your short attention spans made its creation a necessity.