Debate: are people getting thicker?

[Uncle FEFL]

The most worrying thing is that the only way I can see of actually doing anything about the problem is...well, a war. And not one of these half arsed wars where America steamrollers a developing nation within a fortnight. A real war. Where everyone on Earth is fighting to survive. Or some sort of global cataclysm, like a meteor impact or some such. Think about it. If the world as we know it came to an end, how many of us would actually survive? Do you know how to...

I don't think a war would fix anything. What, a world war between countries completely fucking slaughtering each other? That's your wicked conclusion of our solution?

Even if I at all agreed with this, the top countries in the world would still come out on top. We'd all unite against those who were below us, because we still want to be on top (ie, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Russia, and perhaps China). My estimate is that if this actually happened we'd lose about three billion people, according to the apocalyptic mood you give.

Yeah, because only the United States partakes in one-sided wars, right?

@PharaohsVizier: It's hard to have faith in humanity when you see so many people doing the absolute bare minimum or below even that. I rely on our educated people to give us a better world, not our general masses. It's too big a responsibility in my opinion. Too many people would rather go into cosmetology rather than cosmology, too many people are happy with becoming a burger-flipper rather than a physicist. Obviously, the science field isn't for everybody, but people don't aspire to be what they can.

 

[CarbonX13]

I think it's because of the way our society is ran nowadays, and how the education system works. Students these days, are undoubtedly spoiled. They have everything done for them, and have no responsibilities in family or society. It's not as bad in Asian countries (namely China and Taiwan, not sure about others), but it's slowly evolving as well. Our society is becoming a spoiled era with people beginning to become more lazy, and stupid, because every is done for them.

 

[Magmorph]

The general population has always been stupid. We are stupid, but not as stupid as people from several centuries ago.

 

[Blood Fetish]

The general public is vastly more educated than they were even 100 years ago. Just look at literacy rates.

 

[Ryukouki]

Well, completely off here, just joining in here.

If someone said this, sorry. I think it's incredible how we learn things nowadays. Even though there's those dull people out there, it's only natural. My view on why we may be getting "dumber/thicker" is because of the rate at which technology advances. Back in the day, when not many good items/tools/knowledge existed, we had to do everything by hand manually, and in doing so we "learned something" in the process, didn't we? Sure, we're not doing everything manually anymore, it's just that we have new tools to make life easier. We're not dumbing down, we're just making life easier for ourselves by taking advantage of the better technology.

 

[Uncle FEFL]

It's hard to blame some people. Trying to be at the forefront of anything these days seems like a daunting task. Scientists of any field seem almost unreachable, even if you dedicate your life to an area it might not be enough. At the forefront of fields like physics, you'd can't just put effort into it, you have to be inherently talented, a true genius. It's really quite intimidating, there are just so many people in every field, career or job. Even if you wanted to be the best plumber around, it's no easy task.

I disagree. I don't think you have to be a genius to intelligently attempt to understand how the universe operates. It takes a passion for science as a whole, the ability to understand complex concepts, and a ton of math, which I personally find exciting, but that's beside the point. Plenty of people have the mindset for the science field, but few act upon it. So much so I could argue that those even considering anything in the fields of science know at least a little of how successful they could be.

I don't think a challenge should ever make you quit your ideal career.

 

[Shinigami357]

it's part of evolution. only now, it's our heads and our ideals that are evolving. if they wanna degrade themselves, let them be.

EDIT: friggin' spellin' !!!

 

[Blaze163]

it's part of evolution. only now, it's our heads and our ideals that are evolving. if they wanna degrade themselves, let them be.

EDIT: friggin' spellin' !!!

How are we evolving, though? What serious progress has mankind as a whole made for the last few decades? Think about all the mind blowing inventions of previous decades. We invented things like electricity, aircraft, a global information and communications network. We walked on the moon, sent probes into the furthest reaches of our galaxy.

Then we just seem to have taken a break. What's been invented in the last ten years or so that honestly rivals the kind of impact that electricity had on our society? When was the last time doctors cured anything? When was the last time we actually looked good as a species? Look at us right now. Teenage pregnancy rates are through the roof, unemployment figures are diabolical, homelessness is getting worse, even literacy rates are dropping in several countries, and I'm ashamed to say that England was one of them last I checked.

 

[Depravo]

We invented things like electricity

People must be getting stupider if they think we invented electricity.

 

[Blaze163]

We invented things like electricity

People must be getting stupider if they think we invented electricity.

OK, allow me to rephrase. We harnessed electricity. We learned how to use it.

 

[Youkai]

yeah ppl are getting fat (there already was a time in history where humans wanted to be fat [was a symbol of money])
and as well many ppl are geting very stupid ...
there are several "doku" series in tv showing mostly families with both parents beeing unemployed and most of them are really retarded,
hardly able to speak in an understandable language, not even able to count to 10 and hell just stupid and ugly -.-V

(not that everyone who is unemployed is like this, i was unemployed 2 years as well, just they mostly show the extreme retarded people in tv)

 

[Uncle FEFL]

How are we evolving, though?Our brains are getting larger. Like I said before, people aren't born idiots, they just choose to be.

What serious progress has mankind as a whole made for the last few decades? Think about all the mind blowing inventions of previous decades. We invented things like electricity, aircraft, a global information and communications network. We walked on the moon, sent probes into the furthest reaches of our galaxy.Those have HUGE time-gaps between each other.

Not our galaxy, our solar system. There's a big difference, brah. It would take a probe too long to get anywhere near anything outside of our solar system.


QUOTE

Then we just seem to have taken a break. What's been invented in the last ten years or so that honestly rivals the kind of impact that electricity had on our society? When was the last time doctors cured anything? When was the last time we actually looked good as a species? Look at us right now. Teenage pregnancy rates are through the roof, unemployment figures are diabolical, homelessness is getting worse, even literacy rates are dropping in several countries, and I'm ashamed to say that England was one of them last I checked.

Our era is not fixated around inventions, per se, but information. We are finding out so much information that others couldn't because they didn't have these inventions to work with!

How about the Large Hadron Collider (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_Hadron_Collider)? How about the tools being used to search for dark matter? How about the very chance of even discovering the type of universe we live in? This is an age of information, it's just that too many people are being misinformed, or choose not to be informed (for religious, cult, et cetera, purposes).

Notice how big the gaps are between the discovery of atoms and the particles that make them up? Stop being so ignorant; scientists don't come up with this overnight, dude. It could take decades of "layers of information," or it could even take thousands.

I just saw this last night on the Science Channel: Graphene is being invented, what could be the STRONGEST AND LIGHTEST material in the known UNIVERSE. It's a single atom thick of carbon and its bonds. Check Wikipedia for more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphene

Doctors don't cure or work to cure anything. When have we EVER looked "good" as a species? In the Egyptian times? No. In the Roman times? No. Dark Ages? Renaissance? The Scientific Revolution? No, no, and no. Only SOME people look good.

The masses have always been stupid throughout the history of man. It's because the leaders want to remain leaders. People don't come up with Rutherford-like experiments! Not all of us can be Leonardo da Vinci's! We can't all come up with Einstein's relativity! You have to be informed, first. And obviously gifted (but not for the field itself).

You seem a little misinformed. Inform yourself, brah.

EDIT: Of course, unorganized part of my argument. *Fixes*

 

[Shinigami357]

it's part of evolution. only now, it's our heads and our ideals that are evolving. if they wanna degrade themselves, let them be.

EDIT: friggin' spellin' !!!

How are we evolving, though? What serious progress has mankind as a whole made for the last few decades? Think about all the mind blowing inventions of previous decades. We invented things like electricity, aircraft, a global information and communications network. We walked on the moon, sent probes into the furthest reaches of our galaxy.

Then we just seem to have taken a break. What's been invented in the last ten years or so that honestly rivals the kind of impact that electricity had on our society? When was the last time doctors cured anything? When was the last time we actually looked good as a species? Look at us right now. Teenage pregnancy rates are through the roof, unemployment figures are diabolical, homelessness is getting worse, even literacy rates are dropping in several countries, and I'm ashamed to say that England was one of them last I checked.

aw, come on, do you have to have every single breakthrough mankind has made listed down? We have particle accelerators, levitation technology, stem cell research, facial reconstruction, DS flash cards, free internet porn, etc (but don't count the last 2, lolz

)

also, electricity was harnessed long ago. hell, franklin was still alive then. planes aren't exactly that old. the internet (i assume that's what you mean) is less than a few decades old.

the last time doctors cured anything would be... uh, do you remember SARS? avian flu?

 

[Deleted User]

I am the firememestarter! And what are you firememestartin'?

anyways...yes, they're getting thicker because I can't think of a proper reason to argue my point. This proves that we are thick.

 

[Law]

It's not so much that people are getting thicker, it's more the fact that the thick people are reproducing faster than the smart people.

 

[Deleted User]

It's not so much that people are getting thicker, it's more the fact that the thick people are reproducing faster than the smart people.

That is correct. You are so wise (or it could be that I am thick... 0-o)

 

[Blaze163]

aw, come on, do you have to have every single breakthrough mankind has made listed down? We have particle accelerators, levitation technology, stem cell research, facial reconstruction, DS flash cards, free internet porn, etc (but don't count the last 2, lolz

)

also, electricity was harnessed long ago. hell, franklin was still alive then. planes aren't exactly that old. the internet (i assume that's what you mean) is less than a few decades old.

the last time doctors cured anything would be... uh, do you remember SARS? avian flu?

1) The world's biggest particle accelerator didn't even work.
2) What levitation technology? I don't see flying cars anywhere.
3) A fair chunk of people still believe we should stop stem cell research. Hell, the former president thought it would offend God.
4) I don't really think facial reconstruction is as revolutionary as electricity or unlocking the DNA code.

As for the net being a couple of decades old, that's exactly the point I was trying to make. You can't invent one thing then just sit and do sod all for twenty years, which is what we as a species seem to be doing right now. We should be continuing to advance rather than sitting around with our thumbs up our arses. I will however admit that the continuing development of forensic science as a crime fighting medium does earn some points, that's made some pretty big advances over the years and hopefully will make crime virtually impossible.

And I don't think Avian Flu was ever a real threat if I'm perfectly honest. I think it was mostly a media construct to get our collective minds away from more serious issues, such as why the human race seems to be doing virtually fuck all.

 

[Magmorph]

aw, come on, do you have to have every single breakthrough mankind has made listed down? We have particle accelerators, levitation technology, stem cell research, facial reconstruction, DS flash cards, free internet porn, etc (but don't count the last 2, lolz

)

also, electricity was harnessed long ago. hell, franklin was still alive then. planes aren't exactly that old. the internet (i assume that's what you mean) is less than a few decades old.

the last time doctors cured anything would be... uh, do you remember SARS? avian flu?

1) The world's biggest particle accelerator didn't even work.
2) What levitation technology? I don't see flying cars anywhere.
3) A fair chunk of people still believe we should stop stem cell research. Hell, the former president thought it would offend God.
4) I don't really think facial reconstruction is as revolutionary as electricity or unlocking the DNA code.

As for the net being a couple of decades old, that's exactly the point I was trying to make. You can't invent one thing then just sit and do sod all for twenty years, which is what we as a species seem to be doing right now. We should be continuing to advance rather than sitting around with our thumbs up our arses. I will however admit that the continuing development of forensic science as a crime fighting medium does earn some points, that's made some pretty big advances over the years and hopefully will make crime virtually impossible.

And I don't think Avian Flu was ever a real threat if I'm perfectly honest. I think it was mostly a media construct to get our collective minds away from more serious issues, such as why the human race seems to be doing virtually fuck all.

Yeah, the net hasn't advanced at all since it was invented, flying cars are the only type of levitation technology, and people protesting stem cell research makes it invalid.

 

[Blood Fetish]

As for the net being a couple of decades old, that's exactly the point I was trying to make. You can't invent one thing then just sit and do sod all for twenty years, which is what we as a species seem to be doing right now.

As a network engineer let me say that you have no idea what you are talking about.

 

[Blaze163]

I'm not saying stem cell research is invalid, I'm saying the fact that people could be so dense as to protest against something with the potential to cure all disease and bring about a golden age of humanity out of fear of something they don't know for sure even exists proves that we as a species are getting pretty dense.

I don't know much about this levitation technology. What specifically are you referring to?

And how exactly has the internet advanced? Sure, it's faster than when it first started and it no longer needs wires, but that's just an upgrade, not a truly mind blowing invention with the capacity to revolutionize the way we live. OK, maybe it now being accessible on cell phones is a small plus, but I maintain that it's simply an upgrade. It's not truly crap-your-pants exciting like when the net first came into being.