How dumb can people get?

in people being dumb. go to the local hospital and ask how meny people come in with missing fingers. because they put there fingers under the lawn mower.
 
shortxjdoug said:
thats a good point, today there are many regions of the world that shouldn't be able to logistically sustain their population (arid african regions india middle east etc etc) because these regions can't sustain such extreme populations the rest of the world feels they should help and then we all become a crutch to allow a starving population to remain alive on the edge of existence. If most of these areas were left on their own the population would head toward a normalization and try and balance itself to the AVAILABLE resources of the region. I know it sounds cold and unforgiving but allowing such a huge number of people to exist on the brink waiting for the next handout may be just as bad
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You forgot Los Angeles - as I recall, that place is about twelve hours away from starvation at any given time. One major disaster would wipe that city right off the map - and look where they get all their resources! I say shift the port traffic to points North and South (San Diego and San Francisco come to mind...) because that place just doesn't have the resources to sustain such a high population density...

I seem to recall Agent Smith's monologue from "The Matrix," wherein he compared us to virii. There is some validity in that - as mentioned, other organisms will try to achieve a state of balance with the resources (also due to predator/prey relationships) - but we don't. We continually expand, we have no predators, and we have the conceit to think we're smarter than Nature (until Nature hands us our collective arse again - recall Katrina.)

I don't think the populace of overcrowded areas would willingly try to "normalise" to resources tho - I think they would be forced to normalise by the available resources and competition therefor.

All giving people "assistance" does is expand the "Welfare State" to encompass the world - instead of trying to survive within their available resources, they come to depend upon handouts from the rest of the world (mostly the developed parts...) and we get more people who end up knowing sod-all about actual survival, and the race starts to lose its edge (note my comments on eugenics and improvement, previously.)

While we're about it, let's take a look at most of the industrialised population centres - and see what skills may be lost. Trapping? Nope - all but gone. Tanning? Not unless you've got a sun lamp (and that's not what I'm talking about.) Most people can't even tie proper knots anymore, either.

Shooting? Hardly - and that's a skill that keeps others going (you've got to eat, don't you?)

How many people actually know where that meat in the grocery store comes from? How many can replace that, if the grocery stores aren't around anymore? I know I can - can you?

Let's go with really simple - how many people still know how to sharpen a pickax/ax/knife/shovel/chisel/other edged implement? During childhood, I learned to sharpen pretty much anything - from a double-bitted felling ax to a straight razor. I don't pay to sharpen knives and scissors around here - I do it myself. Replacing a stone every few years is much cheaper...

I'd actually consider most regions of the world overpopulated. Look at most metropolitan centres - if they have to bring in vital resources (foodstuffs and the like - not consumer goods!) from more than 50 miles or so away, they're overpopulated. If you can't get what you need within a day's drive (or, better, a day's walk or horse ride!) you don't have enough resources to support your population. Simple logistics.

If you don't have/know basic survival skills (knifework, marksmanship, cordage, how to build a basic shelter, how to find water...) you're going to be bones when the hammer falls.

Frankly, I'm beginning to think we need a good, worldwide disaster in the short term, just to thin out the populace and hopefully improve the breed. It would need to be worldwide - we can have local disasters, but the rest of the world would try to help us out, rather than realise they're doing more harm than good...

Maybe I'm just a Renaissance Man at heart - but anyone who lives fully in the modern world, with "modern" skills, just isn't well-rounded. Go camping. Once you've done that a few times, start setting weight limits on gear. How about allowing yourself forty pounds for one week? You can live well, if you know what to pack and know how to use it. You can live with forty pound of gear for a month if you know what you're about, and can live fairly rugged...

5-90
 
Chero-King said:
Wow, I really didnt expect this thread to get so "in depth" so quickly.
:)
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We could even take it further and say the same thing about Trying to turn countries that have been loppin off heads for 10 thousand years into Democracies and leave them to fend for themselves instead of dumping our nations tax dollars into a fruitless venture. Let the sparring begin. :roflmao:
:gonnablow :roflmao:
 
5-90 said:
If we do start expanding to other planets, we will begin a "filtering process" anyhow - only the best and brightest will be eligible for offworld colonisation - those with useful wit or skills, and that will be assured of work once they get out of the gravity well. Unfortunately, it will eventually result in the decline of Earth - because the "mean" population will sink in quality as the best and brightest head for the stars.

5-90
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Looking at our history I would wager that a few ships would be full of "the worst" as the politicians use the planets as a method to get rid of the convicts. Remember we never have enough jails.

Sarge
 
Sarge said:
Looking at our history I would wager that a few ships would be full of "the worst" as the politicians use the planets as a method to get rid of the convicts. Remember we never have enough jails.

Sarge
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That's fodder for another discussion. Having done some volunteer work, I'm mildly surprised at the number of people actually in jails (it is, after all, a growth industry for local jurisdictions, so I'm not too surprised...) that don't really belong there. There are a lot of "consensual crimes" on the books anyhow. Besides, given the trend toward "marking" people now, is it any wonder recidivism is so high? If we gave people a "clean start" (seal the record unless you end up in court again...) for anything but crimes against the person, you would probably see a decline in recidivism and in incarceree populations in general...

5-90
 
5-90 said:
If we do start expanding to other planets, we will begin a "filtering process" anyhow - only the best and brightest will be eligible for offworld colonisation - those with useful wit or skills, and that will be assured of work once they get out of the gravity well. Unfortunately, it will eventually result in the decline of Earth - because the "mean" population will sink in quality as the best and brightest head for the stars.
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I'm going to have to think for a while before I come up with the references, but that's been done in SciFi writings more than a few times.

5-90 said:
So, what do we do in the meantime?
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B-Ark :D
 
The bear story reminds me of tourists in Florida also. We have a lot of aligators in various lakes and ditches, and on more than one occasion, I have seen people get out of their cars and try to feed them. What really goes through people's heads?
 
Sarge said:
Looking at our history I would wager that a few ships would be full of "the worst" as the politicians use the planets as a method to get rid of the convicts. Remember we never have enough jails.

Sarge
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See australia.
 
XJ Dreamin' said:
I'm going to have to think for a while before I come up with the references, but that's been done in SciFi writings more than a few times.



B-Ark :D
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Yep - Douglas Adams, Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy; Robert Anson Heinlein, "Diaspora" (mentioned in several of his works collected under his "Future History" genre,) and others. Those are the two that most readily come to mind - although the "A" and "C" arks never did leave Golgafrincham (interestingly, diffusing the "middle-men" of society via the "B" ark ensured the survival of the race - which serves to demonstrate the luck that schmucks often enjoy...)

5-90
 
5-90 said:
Yep - Douglas Adams, Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy; Robert Anson Heinlein, "Diaspora" (mentioned in several of his works collected under his "Future History" genre,) and others. Those are the two that most readily come to mind - although the "A" and "C" arks never did leave Golgafrincham (interestingly, diffusing the "middle-men" of society via the "B" ark ensured the survival of the race - which serves to demonstrate the luck that schmucks often enjoy...)

5-90
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If I remember correctly, the A/C crowd misguidedly loaded the telephone sanitation folks onto the B-ark and all subsequently died of rather nasty ear infections. Did I make that up, or is that the way it went? It's been so long.

Quick quiz: What's the message, written in huge flaming letters on the side of a mountain range, left by the creator of the universe? Winner gets a Shiner Bock, if I ever make it to a NAXJA event.
 
goodburbon said:
something along the lines of "sorry for the inconvience"

and it was a rather nasty virus transmitted by public telephones
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Actually, God's Last Message to His Creation read "We apologize for the inconvenience". You were close.

And yes, it was a dirty telephone that got the rest of the Golgafrinchams. Adams never actually mention whether the survivors of the B Ark crash on Prehistoric Earth lasted long term. Arthur did mention at one point that "a lot of them didn't survive the winter, and the rest decided that they needed a holiday and set off across the ocean on a raft".

I'd wager that they didn't all die out - never underestimate the staying power of an idiot.

Rob
 
Idiots are indestructible - we're descended from the Golgafrinchams, and that's why The Question was so difficult to read.

"...'We apologise for the inconvenience.' I actually feel *good* about it, really..."

And, they didn't say "ear infections" - it was, as I recall, "a virulent disease spread by a dirty telephone..."

5-90
 
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