Selfish, lazy and easily distracted I can give you…. But not buffoons. While it is rather easy to look at the current population and see tremendous amounts of stupid, when compared with previous generations we have moved far beyond the capabilities of their thought processes.
Every person makes their own decisions yes…but we are shaped by our experiences and the environment we grew up in. The human mind did not genetically evolve into something different in the last 20 years. We weren’t all magically born angrier, lazier and with higher IQs. The difference between us and any other generation is a product of where/how we were raised, meaning that yes our parents were a huge part of the reason we are who we are today for good or bad. If you and one of your parents were to swap places in time chances are high that you would match the role the other took fairly closely assuming there are no major differences in physical attributes (especially major medical issues).
While I think it is great that you are getting all fired up and excited/motivated, the article that has brought you to that point is written specifically to appeal to a common emotion while ignoring the facts. Your last sentence referring to America as being “in a funk” is simply incorrect. While traditionally it has been THE superpower it is making its move to A superpower, a move that is natural and expected especially given the reason we actually became such an influential world player. If you are under the impression that America got ahead by working harder, having better school systems etc. you are mistaken and should read the rather long response I posted below somewhere. Second to last paragraph explains how we got where we are.
While some of the points in this article are valid, it seems that it mistakes correlation for causation and is leaving out tremendous numbers of variables when coming to conclusions. Yes, America has become extremely lazy….. However, our persona is primarily a product of two things, our environment and our ancestry. Both of which can be attributed directly to our parents and ancestors. Yes we have the ability to make our own decisions, but the way we were raised and our family line plays a solid role in the decision making process.
Also on a side note, perhaps another part of the reason we are less active is simply that it takes significantly less effort to achieve similar results. All technology and information advances that boost our functionality aside, the average person now operates at a completely different level than those before us. Average IQ has fluctuated approximately two standard deviations in the last 100 years (30 points). To put this in perspective, the average college graduate has an IQ of 110 whereas the average non graduate has an IQ of 100. (Google search “Jim Flynn” to learn more about this). This is more than a substantial difference especially taken into account that the line is likely skewed towards the present rather than being a steady increase. So if most of the readers here are an average college graduate, that would mean you would be near a genius IQ were you to be sent back 100 years. This also means that an average person brought forward from 100 years ago would score the same as someone with downs syndrome today. Anyways, because of this we are able to move through processes more efficiently, actually allowing for the time to be lazy, a luxury not afforded to most that came before us.
Don’t get me wrong, I dislike the lazy as much as yourself-but to lay the blame on our generation specifically is unrealistic. Regardless of whether one believes in creationism or evolution, human evolution did not suddenly jump hundreds of years into the future (especially since technology vastly reduced the darwin effect). This leaves very little else to blame for what is referred to as a vast change except the environment in which you find yourself. Were you to swap our generation with one 50 years ago the present would likely not be noticeably altered.
I’m not even going to get into the fact that in some states you literally make more money by being on welfare than if you had a full time minimum wage job.
Before I conclude, I’m going to poke a quick hole in that whole “America woohoo” thing that is going on here. America is not great because its population is naturally better at anything in particular. America has been a powerhouse in the world because at the start of the fastest technological period of advancement in history (by leaps and bounds) we had something not offered elsewhere. We had relative freedom from religion, a less intrusive government and a much less developed wealth of natural resources. Because of this we had an array of the brightest minds from around the world migrate to this country. This allowed us to build a massive economy fueled on the migration of intelligent minds to our borders. The effect was self perpetuating as the opportunities available were vastly higher if you came here and because they kept coming we stayed on top. Not only that, but every other country was pushed down as they no longer had that wealth of intelligence. However, this is no longer the case. Most other major economic powers have their own silicon valley and the rate of immigration of specialists has stagnated. While I doubt we will become just average, our golden age as THE economic power, as THE military power is over.
Anyways, I’m starting to wonder off on tangents here so I’ll try to sum it up based on the last bit in the article. The idea that we should work to become the next great generation is silly. Two thousand years ago people bathed once every year or two, traveled what was it? An average of 5-10 miles max from their birthplace through their entire life? They were the greatest generation to date. One hundred years ago most people worked on repetitive, menial tasks that are almost entirely automated now because they are no longer worth the energy for a human to do. Yet they were the greatest generation to date by leaps and bounds. The development and progression of the human mind dictate that each new generation (ignoring the stagnation and slip backwards that occurred in medieval ages as that was nearly entirely the fault of religion) will be more than the next. As our generation comes into its prime we will do things no one before us could fathom, just as subsequent generations will surpass us.
I can’t imagine that would take much haha
Selfish, lazy and easily distracted I can give you…. But not buffoons. While it is rather easy to look at the current population and see tremendous amounts of stupid, when compared with previous generations we have moved far beyond the capabilities of their thought processes.
One of the few intelligent things said in this thread
Every person makes their own decisions yes…but we are shaped by our experiences and the environment we grew up in. The human mind did not genetically evolve into something different in the last 20 years. We weren’t all magically born angrier, lazier and with higher IQs. The difference between us and any other generation is a product of where/how we were raised, meaning that yes our parents were a huge part of the reason we are who we are today for good or bad. If you and one of your parents were to swap places in time chances are high that you would match the role the other took fairly closely assuming there are no major differences in physical attributes (especially major medical issues).
While I think it is great that you are getting all fired up and excited/motivated, the article that has brought you to that point is written specifically to appeal to a common emotion while ignoring the facts. Your last sentence referring to America as being “in a funk” is simply incorrect. While traditionally it has been THE superpower it is making its move to A superpower, a move that is natural and expected especially given the reason we actually became such an influential world player. If you are under the impression that America got ahead by working harder, having better school systems etc. you are mistaken and should read the rather long response I posted below somewhere. Second to last paragraph explains how we got where we are.
Second to last paragraph should have had “freedom of religion” rather than “freedom from religion.”
While some of the points in this article are valid, it seems that it mistakes correlation for causation and is leaving out tremendous numbers of variables when coming to conclusions. Yes, America has become extremely lazy….. However, our persona is primarily a product of two things, our environment and our ancestry. Both of which can be attributed directly to our parents and ancestors. Yes we have the ability to make our own decisions, but the way we were raised and our family line plays a solid role in the decision making process.
Also on a side note, perhaps another part of the reason we are less active is simply that it takes significantly less effort to achieve similar results. All technology and information advances that boost our functionality aside, the average person now operates at a completely different level than those before us. Average IQ has fluctuated approximately two standard deviations in the last 100 years (30 points). To put this in perspective, the average college graduate has an IQ of 110 whereas the average non graduate has an IQ of 100. (Google search “Jim Flynn” to learn more about this). This is more than a substantial difference especially taken into account that the line is likely skewed towards the present rather than being a steady increase. So if most of the readers here are an average college graduate, that would mean you would be near a genius IQ were you to be sent back 100 years. This also means that an average person brought forward from 100 years ago would score the same as someone with downs syndrome today. Anyways, because of this we are able to move through processes more efficiently, actually allowing for the time to be lazy, a luxury not afforded to most that came before us.
Don’t get me wrong, I dislike the lazy as much as yourself-but to lay the blame on our generation specifically is unrealistic. Regardless of whether one believes in creationism or evolution, human evolution did not suddenly jump hundreds of years into the future (especially since technology vastly reduced the darwin effect). This leaves very little else to blame for what is referred to as a vast change except the environment in which you find yourself. Were you to swap our generation with one 50 years ago the present would likely not be noticeably altered.
I’m not even going to get into the fact that in some states you literally make more money by being on welfare than if you had a full time minimum wage job.
Before I conclude, I’m going to poke a quick hole in that whole “America woohoo” thing that is going on here. America is not great because its population is naturally better at anything in particular. America has been a powerhouse in the world because at the start of the fastest technological period of advancement in history (by leaps and bounds) we had something not offered elsewhere. We had relative freedom from religion, a less intrusive government and a much less developed wealth of natural resources. Because of this we had an array of the brightest minds from around the world migrate to this country. This allowed us to build a massive economy fueled on the migration of intelligent minds to our borders. The effect was self perpetuating as the opportunities available were vastly higher if you came here and because they kept coming we stayed on top. Not only that, but every other country was pushed down as they no longer had that wealth of intelligence. However, this is no longer the case. Most other major economic powers have their own silicon valley and the rate of immigration of specialists has stagnated. While I doubt we will become just average, our golden age as THE economic power, as THE military power is over.
Anyways, I’m starting to wonder off on tangents here so I’ll try to sum it up based on the last bit in the article. The idea that we should work to become the next great generation is silly. Two thousand years ago people bathed once every year or two, traveled what was it? An average of 5-10 miles max from their birthplace through their entire life? They were the greatest generation to date. One hundred years ago most people worked on repetitive, menial tasks that are almost entirely automated now because they are no longer worth the energy for a human to do. Yet they were the greatest generation to date by leaps and bounds. The development and progression of the human mind dictate that each new generation (ignoring the stagnation and slip backwards that occurred in medieval ages as that was nearly entirely the fault of religion) will be more than the next. As our generation comes into its prime we will do things no one before us could fathom, just as subsequent generations will surpass us.