I am not exactly sure about stupidity-traits which can make people actually stupider, but I was thinking the other day about this: our modern civilization, or whatever it should be called, asks the average individuals less than it asked in the past (both mentally and physically). It seems like everything needs to be “easy for everyone”, to be simplified because maybe people can’t understand this or that, can’t do this or that: everything must be leveled down to the lowest common denominator. Treat people like stupid ones, and they will become stupid—maybe just because they won’t find in reality any stimulus to push the use of their brain; or, in general, to challenge themselves. Thanks to our modern times, almost everyone can live or just survive with his/her “mediocrity”, and the System (let me leave this to readers’ fantasy) itself doesn’t require more than this; exceptions aren’t so common once their number is compared to the multitude living on this planet.
our modern civilization, or whatever it should be called, asks the average individuals less than it asked in the past (both mentally and physically)
You’re probably right about the physical part, but I don’t see how the mental part can be true. A few centuries ago most people didn’t even read or write, let alone learn algebra in school.
I think it’s plausible that many or most people today barely skate by on literacy and algebra when they’re in school and it all almost immediately fades away to the bare minimum they require to survive once they’re out of school. Note that Mauro was talking about what civilization required out of people, not what they were capable of doing.
I also think it’s plausible that while you didn’t need to read, write, and algebraize at some point in the past, you regularly needed other mental skills like...how to track animals or when to plant corn or whatever the heck you need to survive when there isn’t our modern civilization supporting you (obviously I’m suckling on the teat of modern civilization because I don’t know wtf).
Note that I’m not actually claiming that either of these are true, only that I can see “how the mental part can be true”.
I am not exactly sure about stupidity-traits which can make people actually stupider, but I was thinking the other day about this: our modern civilization, or whatever it should be called, asks the average individuals less than it asked in the past (both mentally and physically). It seems like everything needs to be “easy for everyone”, to be simplified because maybe people can’t understand this or that, can’t do this or that: everything must be leveled down to the lowest common denominator. Treat people like stupid ones, and they will become stupid—maybe just because they won’t find in reality any stimulus to push the use of their brain; or, in general, to challenge themselves. Thanks to our modern times, almost everyone can live or just survive with his/her “mediocrity”, and the System (let me leave this to readers’ fantasy) itself doesn’t require more than this; exceptions aren’t so common once their number is compared to the multitude living on this planet.
You’re probably right about the physical part, but I don’t see how the mental part can be true. A few centuries ago most people didn’t even read or write, let alone learn algebra in school.
I think it’s plausible that many or most people today barely skate by on literacy and algebra when they’re in school and it all almost immediately fades away to the bare minimum they require to survive once they’re out of school. Note that Mauro was talking about what civilization required out of people, not what they were capable of doing.
I also think it’s plausible that while you didn’t need to read, write, and algebraize at some point in the past, you regularly needed other mental skills like...how to track animals or when to plant corn or whatever the heck you need to survive when there isn’t our modern civilization supporting you (obviously I’m suckling on the teat of modern civilization because I don’t know wtf).
Note that I’m not actually claiming that either of these are true, only that I can see “how the mental part can be true”.