No Stupid Questions

I feel like 90% of people don't put in the mental effort to resolve cognitive dissonance, not that they are incapable of feeling it.

If that counts as stupid, then I fully agree 90%+ of people are "stupid".

I think the issue here is that we're all genetically just apes and we live in a world where we're expected to know about geopolitics, outrageous technologies, all kinds of cultural artifacts, and a bazillion other complexities of modern life, in addition to the basics of feeding ourselves, finding a mate, and child rearing. At the same time, we have behemoth corporations in control of all media with a strong interest in keeping people dumb, angry and discontent. And education is... not what it should be.

No, humans aren't inherently evil or stupid or whatever. We've just inherited a world situation that we are not adapted for, and few people are able to learn and grow sufficiently to really understand and handle it all properly.

I do wonder how widespread Astro-turfing is. I just came from a discussion of EVs and some of the anti people were really obtuse in their claims. Just making wild claims that are completely against any actual real life data. There was similar for climate change, and smoking ….. sure I’m biased but people want to support the status quo against all reason. Is it some sort of stubborn stupidity? Are they malicious/trolls? Is it corporate propaganda?

I feel like 20% of people are stupid but they cause 80% of the annoyances in my life.

Epistemology, the theory of knowledge, especially with regard to its methods, validity, and scope. Epistemology is the investigation of what distinguishes justified belief from opinion.

People suck.

90% of the population think that 90% of the population are stupid.

There's a lot of things that can go into being "stupid", and it's important to remember that these are largely conditions that are debuffing them rather than inherent features of who they are. Most specifically, huge deaths of the population (61% as of Oct 2023) are living paycheck-to-paycheck in the US and have little to fall back on - that kind of perpetual, hopeless stress can greatly fatigue you and occupy your higher reasoning. Moreover, a number of people have become "locked in" to certain kinds of facts - for example the belief that America is inherently good or that God actively relieves suffering; they would have to put their axioms through substantial reevaluation and fresh information to be able to cross through uncertainty and then accept contrary facts, and their living conditions make that difficult.

Yes. But the 90/10 varies by topic.

And never assume you're in the 10%. Arguably, everyone thinking they are is the problem

You’re probably as stupid as the rest. I expect there’s loads of stuff you’ve just taken at face value that is completely wrong.

Sometimes, though I think it’s easier for anybody to be duped by things they’re already pre-disposed to believing in. Show me a fake article about Trump doing something stupid or evil and I’ll probably be like, “How is he still free?” without really double-checking the source, unless it’s blatantly questionable.

Meanwhile, somebody of the opposite political persuasion will similarly soak in anything that confirms that Biden is the worst president we’ve ever had in history, but their range of “trusted” news sources is completely different than mine. I’m not sure how we can even bridge that gap, since our definition of reality and accepted facts isn’t really even the same anymore. There’s just so many propaganda engines active in the US right now, it’s hard to imagine anything being done about it. If anything, it’ll get worse.

More like 90% of human actions are stupid, as I'm not sure if there's an even split of "the stupid" and "the smart", and plenty people mix both. (E.g. being oddly competent at something specific, only to vomit assumptions on something else.)

In special I feel like four types of stupidity became a bit too common, too harmful, too egregious. They're the failure to handle:

• uncertainty - or, "how your belief might be wrong, and you'll need to handle the case that it is wrong"
• complexity - or, "how small details have a profound impact on everything"
• undesirable possibilities - or, "how nature gives no fucks about your fee fees, and things don't become true because you roll in wishful belief"
• context - or, "how things are never isolated, and you need to look outside the thing to understand the thing"

They're intertwined, I think. And perhaps there's something more important than those, but those four are the ones that I notice the most.

It’s more of a mixture of stupidity, distraction, and willful ignorance

Especially when it comes to verifying “facts.”

"90%" doesn't feel very factual to me.

No, I don't feel (or think) that.

If 90% of the population was stupid there'd be no need to spend uncountable billions brainwashing them with propaganda at every turn, would it?

FYI... I once worked in the propaganda industry - propaganda doesn't work on the stupid (and I use that term lightly, since I'm not sure "stupid" is something that even really exists). The smarter you assume yourself to be, the more susceptible you are.

I wouldn't say stupid but I'd say most people believe they know what they're doing, and don't.

Covid showed me we are living in a asylum.

A lot of people feel the ways you do at one point or another in their lives, and that means you probably end up in their 90%.

A bunch of us recently gained access to global platforms.

A bunch of global platforms recently gained access to us.

Everyone is stupid some of the time and after we've noticed all that it feels like we're surrounded by idiots.

Truth is we're just not seeing the competence.

I mean if it is a bell curve, even an average person is smarter than half the world. There's a selection bias on social media because those heated and ignorant threads get memed and shared either by people who believe the nonsense or by outrage.

The under 25 crowd seems to be a bit.....off. I'm just an old guy now, so I'll be here yelling at my clouds.

Well maybe not 90% but I do feel like smarter* than average but then again half of the population is so that hardly makes me special.

• By "smarter" I don't mean that I know more things than others. Just that I feel like I posses the ability to think more clearly and objectively that most other people.

I'm not like those other dumb asses, cause I know I'm a dumb ass!