Think about how dumb the “average” American is. Approximately half the country is dumber than that.

Right you are, Larry.

Thanks for the comment.

I honestly do not think this has changed much throughout history. There have always been a good amount of idiots, a larger group with medium intelligence, and a handful of those who really have a clue. Evolution is pretty slow sometimes, but with humans it can really take it’s time. It is funny, but I suppose we need even the idiots, because someone has to do the jobs no one else wants to do. We could do with less of them though, especially when they are running the country/world.

I know that stupidity has been a commodity always in good supply, but lately the advertisers, and purveyors of it are pushing it out like some wacky guy on television with firesale prices.

I did not meet my biological father until I was 18. After getting to know him, I found that he was probably the most intelligent person I have ever known personally. It made it hard to accept that one of his maxims was “99% of the people in the world are ignorant asses, and the 1% that are not will happily accept my apology. I saw this as very critical, and cynical, but now that a few years have passed it rings more and more true.

Chelsea definitely sounds like an idiot… But I would bet my bottom dollar that Chelsea is also a chatbot. I come across these now and then when I need support (tech support, not moral support) and my acid test is that I ask the “Customer Service Representative” what he/she thought about what happened with “X” (insert the news story of the day here).

If I get a response like “let me search ‘X’ for you” then I know it’s a chatbot.

Sometimes I get what I need from the chatbot.

Once in a while, my inner movie geek surfaces, and I type “Shall we play a game?” — hoping that the chatbot doesn’t reply with “How about Global Thermonuclear War?”

Heh.

PS> I’ve just dated myself. See http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086567/maindetails

There’s a (relatively) new book, “How Computer Games Help Children Learn” that talks about the problems of No Child Left Behind–and what we might do instead about education. The book describes about how No Child Left Behind is taking our schools in the exact opposite direction from where they need to go in the age of computer technology and global capitalism—and how the new technologies of computer and video games can help get schools (and students!) where they need to go. From the introduction:

“Young people in the United States today are being prepared—in school and at home—for standardized jobs in a world that will, very soon, punish those who can’t innovate. Our government and our schools have made a noble effort to leave no child behind: to ensure, through standardized testing, that all children make adequate yearly progress in basic reading and math skills. But we can’t “skill and drill” our way to innovation. Standardized testing produces standardized skills…. But… here’s the good news: The very same technologies that are making it possible to outsource commodity jobs make it possible for students of all ages to prepare for innovative work…. and this book is about how we can use computer and video games to do just that….”

If you’re interested in the future of schooling, the book might be worth a look….

Gerry, it’s funny, you’re the first person I have had comment since I’ve been doing this that ’sounds’ like me. I’m sure, just from the short message, that we’d get along great. Thanks for the comment. BTW, I don’t need to see the database, I love that movie.

DrD, I agree with the assessments of that book - to a point. You see, in my experience the schools are NOT even getting to a level of competence with ’skill and drill’. Small things to me, that I believe every child of 7 should know, are things my 17 year old son’s friends do not, and my son would not if we did not discuss things here at home.
Another thing about the education system that pains me is the way ‘parents’ are called in, to make up for the shortcomings of the teachers. And when the system fails, the parents are to blame. I grew up in a household with bright parents, but they were not bright in the things I needed for school - they stopped being able to help - if I needed it - with homework, in the 3rd grade.
For example - set theory - not many, actually no one I’ve personally met, of my parent’s generation had an idea of what set theory was. When I brought home things about set theory, and Venn diagrams, they had no idea what I was doing. Fortunately, I was gifted in math, so I explained, but even then I could not relate what in their life, it might be used for. Their lives were so different.
This has caused me to be a lifelong learner, and I’m trying to instill that in my children. I get very mad, when I think that I must be the motivation to their learning, however, as that is what we pay teachers for, and why I think (at least here in Ca) that most are grossly overpaid, and I get ill when I hear the political candidates talking about how teachers don’t get paid well enough.
I can give plenty of anecdotal evidence of how many teachers I met at the local junior college, that were maybe only 5 or 6 pages ahead of me in the textbooks, and had no real clue about the subjects they were teaching.
This is totally different from when I was in lower grades. I can remember asking a teacher in 7th grade science if he could explain angular momentum, and spin, of subatomic particles. He did. How many 7th grade science teachers do you think could do that today? And how many could name the flavors of quarks? Or explain what charm is? [My guess is that the answers would somehow relate to Deep Space 9 or some other Star Trek series, not science.]
Thanks for the comment, I always appreciate them.