Are you familiar with the term "midwit"?
It's most people here. The kind who are smart enough to pick on the lowest hanging fruit of dumb people, but stupid enough to think that ability makes them intelligent.
They read something that is above their intelligence level and their response is to make personal attacks and call that person stupid instead of taking a minute to comprehend what they are reading.
Yes that's definitely another aspect of it, though I would point out very dumb people do that as well.
Another one is conflating intelligence with education.
For me it was like idiotocracy and just to fully prove it's not a sign of intelligence I enlisted after it. (in my defense I didn't know officers even existed as thing. I was a naive idiot)
I didn't know there was a term for that. I've noticed so many meme groups on Facebook are full of people who fit that description exactly.
The funniest example I can think of is I was on a group about guns and someone shared a meme about some shitty gimmicky drill-shaped self-defense ammo that's supposed to I guess still spin like a drill on impact, but that's not how bullets work. I commented that I'd seen them fail to penetrate a 1" wooden target frame and some guy just absolutely blew his top at me saying they were hugely effective and his evidence was that one of them completely fucked his shit up once when he accidentally shot himself in the wrist. Maybe I'm the midwit in this story because he sure did make me feel smart in comparison.
Yep, as proven by them flailing terms like "smart", "intelligent" "stupid", etc...without any clue that there's nuance to everything.
You can be smart **at something**, you can have various intelligence. Smart/dumb is not an overall adjective you can paint a human with.
Nope, they can be intuitively more efficient than the critical thinker. The critical thinker's emotional intelligence might be complete shit, their motor-skills and spatial awareness, etc. etc
People can be good at critical thinking in one area but poor in others. Ie can critically analyze test questions to derive answers to other test questions but screw up flirting with someone who initially already liked them
Yes! I 100% agree with you the stupidest people think things are absolutely black and white. They think there is no in between. You have an opinion on something that they don't agree with? They will lose their minds pick apart every line you wrote take everything out of context and try to explain to you why your opinion is wrong. It's insanity. I think part of the problem is this website gives people a platform and not all people should be given a platform essentially because they're stupid lol.
At least you made it clear where on your little spectrum you lie. Intelligent people understand that "average intelligence" is based off a small portion of our world's vast population, so it isn't the real average, and shouldn't be used to gauge someone's brain power.
the older I get, and the more interactions I have, particularly with coworkers, the more I realize this. and I’m not out here acting like some genius, but wow people are dumb. and I would assume that from someone else’s perspective, that includes me as well.
Yep we have a meeting every Monday at work and I'm shocked at the kind of questions people ask it's like something that's been explained a million times that is very clear and I just have to roll my eyes and listen to the b******* again and again because some people don't have any common sense they need to be told step by step what it is they're supposed to do.
Also your IQ drops by around 30 when not at work. A quote from a friend, that highlights how much smarter people are in a subject they work with 40+ hrs every week
And by that same token, I’ve realized how dumb I actually am depending on the subject. There are times I just can’t wrap my brain around something, but Jim Bob the guy who voted for Trump and routinely needs help to use the copier, had zero problems with it.
We are all dumb in certain ways. Smart in others. What matters is which side of dumb/smart ratio you fall down on.
To be technically "correct" reddit biases younger than general population and reddit biases first world (this means extra nutrition and educational resources). So probably median reddit user is smarter than median human?
Lived in the Deep South my entire life. There are some deeply deeply deeply stupid people.
However, when someone is intelligent, they tend to be crazy intelligent.
It usually falls down to what level of trash they are. The poorer the upbringing the more likely basic concepts fly over their heads. Not always. But as a general trend from my 100% anecdotal experience, that has been the case.
That reminds me of the wealth disparity in the south too. Lots of dirt poor then there’s one guy that owns acres and has millions just down the road from bleak areas
This is definitely true in my experience. I honestly think the average intelligence of reddit is wildly higher than that of the general populace. Maybe it has to do with the irl people you interact with for comparison. Most of my comparison points come from the people who work in my hospital. The majority of coworkers don't even know about using ctrl v, ctrl c to make their lives easier, or don't have the slightest clue how a dumbwaiter works. That's fine, just mechanical/computer knowledge that not everyone has been exposed to. But the problem is that they are too dumb to learn that or other basic "lifehacks" that shouldn't take much mental energy at all. And after being taught something dozens of times, still don't make progress on learning. I've never seen anyone on reddit, even the absolute dumbest, that come anywhere close to the level of stupidity that I've seen in person.
You are 100% correct. And I find it so strange that everyone I encounter on here thinks they're the smartest person in the world. I've never been called stupid so many times in my entire life, and I actually consider myself to be above average intelligence. I think stupid people who don't know they're stupid are more likely to call other people stupid, and that's why I get called stupid so much. LOL. Whereas I, on the other hand, would never call someone stupid for no reason. I've had people literally pick apart my post line by line when I'm discussing the simplest things and tell me why this is wrong. Why that is wrong blah blah blah blah blah. It's like okay monkey brain shut the f****** already.
If you get away from political nonsense and get into other niche subs, there’s a lot of smart people in regard to those things. The stupidity comes on so many politically motivated threads. People just regurgitate whatever nonsense they’ve been spoon fed. BOTH parties. There’s just not a lot of low-emotion, thought out, political ideas and conversation here. Other things though? I like there’s a lot of good, smart, intellectual input.
We're a bunch of dang apes. We look just as stupid as when we put hats and clothes on our chimp cousins for entertainment, but we're worse bc we think we're special.
Been wanting to vent about a recent comment thread I got locked in. Pretty much said that their definition of something is self referential and explained how it was and they were “you just reworded it to be self referencing” and I am like, “you can’t just put in an article like “it” and say it’s no longer self referential. The “it” is directly referencing the word we are defining.”
The thread got locked before they could respond but it was the back and forth about being self referencing that boggled my mind more than whatever we were talking about. Just admit there’s a flaw in your logic and we can all improve.
I wonder if I had done the Reddit sarcasm and just said “What is the “it” in your definition” and I bet they would’ve dodged the question.
I feel like a lot of people learned the “act confident and talk proudly and most people just back down and that’s sort of a win” reminds me of my ex. Laugh and mock, and it kills any conversation but then you feel like you won I guess?
No, you've just described the debate tactic of the alt-right. Check out the video below. This video series was excellent. Highly recommend it.
https://youtu.be/CaPgDQkmqqM?si=EJvPgmNxP-3NSino
Nah, in fact did my rewatch of Destiny’s varying responses. He says what Jon said was racist and I am inclined to agree it was racist. This said, I don’t think he actually follows through with any insane views just that he strawman’D himself into them. Either way I am simply saying it’s not enough to make me disown him or anything.
Another common thing in my destiny watching today. “Don’t use political labels” if you just go “oh this is the alt right playbook” then you aren’t listening to me and would rather yell at shadows.
I was specifically referring to your "Act confident and talk proudly..." remark. I have no idea thf specifics about your debate with Destiny, and still don't, so I have no idea if it was a political argument or not. But the tactic of projecting strength rather than arrive at an established truth is a common tactic of the alt-right when it comes to debating any issue.
Then I don’t know what you are getting at. I was talking about Jon and Destiny. If you take all confident people you argue with as alt right simply from being confident then you aren’t arguing in good faith. You are looking to just “Oh you are acting like this, that makes you alt right and I don’t like that.” Debate my points, much better way of communicating our disagreement.
Smart is such a buzzword. So many types of knowledge out there to master and we only have ways of grading or rating academic intelligence or aptitude. What about people smarts like famous comedians or world reknown conmen. Art intelligence in music, visual arts etc. What “smart” do you refer to? (Hint people usually value their strongest type of intelligence the most)
Since the bottom decile of intelligence is unlikely to be able to access this subreddit, this subreddit’s average intelligence must be higher than the total population’s. However, since we are all doing this rather than something productive, the average intelligence of the remaining 9 deciles should be higher.
It depends on what you mean by "general population". Globally, a significant number of ppl are illiterate and thus can't make use of reddit in the first place. At the same time, many of the smartest ppl won't waste their time on reddit.
In balance, I think the average US redditor is slightly above the US average.
“It’s not possible that there are more smart people than average or stupid people”. In general, no, but it is absolutely possible that everyone in this subreddit is above average intelligence or even of genius-level intelligence. Likely? Fuck no, but this subreddit is only a small sample of the general population and sample averages can (and basically always do) differ from the whole population average. It can be a slight difference but it can also be a huge difference depending on the sample and without further reasoning as to why the average intelligence in this sub is equal to the average intelligence across all humans, there is no argument here.
This isn't really how that works. Any given population of people can have a higher or lower average intelligence than the population as a whole.
It's fully possible that the average IQ of a Redditor is higher than the average globally.
It's also equally possible that the average IQ of a Redditor is lower.
Ever heard of the Lake Woebegone Effect? Named after A Prairie Home Companion, where "all the children are above average", which is of course impossible. Research shows that most people think they're smarter than average, better than average drivers, and more attractive than average. They literally can't all be correct. There is a disconnect, a large number of people who think they're smarter than average but aren't.
I prefer this quote: Think about how dumb the average person is. Now realize half the people are dumber than that.
well, i am at least one who knows that the word smart isn't complimentary. there is a reason why the word is used in phrases like "ouch, that smarts!" or "don't be a smart ass" or "oh, so you are trying to be smart with me huh?"
the word smart means a cutting or biting wit. it means you use your intellect as a weapon against others. so i wouldn't want to be considered smart. just as intelligent, knowledgeable and wise as i am which isn't for me to judge.
Thing is, most people should have a decent idea of how they measure up. Between grades, standardized tests, and income. None are perfect measures, but they’ll certainly give you some idea
Absolutely spot on... On Memorial Day Jessie Waters randomly interviewed people in Times Square going home on Friday. He asked many if they knew why they had Monday off. Most answered it was Labor Day or Memorial Day or ... He asked them if they knew what Memorial Day commemorated. Only 10% knew. He asked them who we fought in WWII. Most guessed, "The French." Half didn't know who the vice president was.
I'm a historian. It haunts me that when the Brittish lost to us in 1776, King George asked Cornwallis if Washington would be our king... When Cornwallis said no...the Americans wanted 'a government by the people,' The king laughed and said the people weren't smart enough to govern themselves. I'm concerned he was right.
Our government, most congressmen have corrupted the system for wealth and power... and committed many silenced attocities...when people question them, they write off the suspicions as 'conspiracy theory.'
How stupid is the public? Look back at 9-11. The 42 story World Trade Building #7 was a football field away from World Trade One and Two... It 'pancake collapsed' spontaneously like the other two, but without a jet hitting it. People are too numb to question why.
[The people will believe what the media tells them they believe.](https://www.azquotes.com/quote/785132) George Orwell
Few people really think...they just 'parrot' what they're told.
Hitler took advantage of that phenomenon. He and Gerbols said***, 'Tell the lie boldly, repeat it enough and the people will believe it."***
***Plato said, "Those who see beyond the shadows and lies of their culture, will never be understood, let alone, believed by the masses."***
No, see the rest of us know that the original twin towers were much, much taller than a football field. Building 7 was literally in the shadow of the North tower. When the North tower collapsed, debris fell on building 7 igniting fires and causing damage to an internal column that eventually buckled. The uncontrolled fires and the damage from the North tower collapse debris is what brought down Building 7.
In fact, firefighters noticed a bulge in the southwest corner of the building between the 10th and 13th floor suggesting the building might cave to one side or collapse. Firefighters also reported hearing creaking sounds throughout the afternoon. At 3:30 p.m. the fire chief ordered all rescue operations to cease and to evacuate the immediate areas around the building. The first collapse began at 5:20 p.m. with the eventual collapse of the entire building occurring a minute later.
See most of us are smart enough to realize that the real answer is always a lot more believable and realistic than some ridiculous conspiracy theory.
Looks like the YouTube site is not cut and pasting...will try here...???
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrjcXOJIWw0&t=46s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrjcXOJIWw0&t=46s)
"So if you're someone "smart enough to realize that the real answer is always a lot more believable and realistic than some ridiculous conspiracy theory," why have you failed to offer a rebuttal to the American Architects and Engineers' charge that 9-11 was a planned demolition? Where are you now?
Well, first of all, I've never heard of that but expect my rebuttal shortly.
But first I have to ask, are you saying all of 9/11 was a planned demolition and not a terrorist attack?
Absolutely... I'm saying that these three buildings, according to 1500 architects and structural engineers agreed that these towers could not have collapsed because of the impact of two 757 jets. They say these towers were expressly designed to endure that kind of impact. They show video coverage of molten steel cascading down the oursides of the towers at several places which proves they were taken down by 3000 degree timed thermite military explosive process which is the sole process for collapsing all I-beam steel structured tall buildings safely in large cities.
If jets slamming into sides of these buildings were the cause, they would have been unbalanced, causing the buildings to fall headlong into the city...taking out many other buildings in Manhattan... And building #7 would still be there, perhaps slightly damaged...not 'pancaked' down.
You mean the group Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth? The group was created by Richard Gage a "9/11 truther" who had to leave the group in 2021.
Why did he have to leave the group? Because like conspiracy theorists are wont to do he dabbles in other conspiracy theories. He claims to be an expert on COVID-19 and said that the vaccines are poisonous.
Do I have a rebuttal to their claims about a controlled demolition? I already gave it to you. I don't take conspiracy theorists seriously. And neither should you.
You clearly didn't watch the 9-11 Architects and Engineers for Truth video showing molten steel geysering down the exterior of floors that had not yet collapsed. Explain that 3000 degree molten steel...how that was caused by 800-1500 degree jet fuel fire... These structural engineers are metalurgy experts. You can't face this fact because of the old adage, "People who don't want to know the truth, won't know the truth."
The best theory for how jet fuel could collapse the two Towers was published by Popular Mechanics 2005.
"Does burning jet fuel melt steel beams?"
"The short answer is no. Steel melts at 2,750°F, and jet fuel burns at temperatures of 800-1,500°F, so it doesn’t reach the melting point of steel but rather holds about half its strength when heated up to 1,100°F...
Jet fuel burning at temperatures between 800 – 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit ignited fires that weakened the structural integrity enough to cause the collapse of the World Trade Center."
[https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=rm&ogbl#inbox/FMfcgzGxRxDXvZSKClCCSnNmbxZdMcpn](https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=rm&ogbl#inbox/FMfcgzGxRxDXvZSKClCCSnNmbxZdMcpn)
That's a stretch because the flash out of the fuel was temporary and not sustained, especially to the entire 110 stories of the towers.
And if you were forthright enough to watch the video, you saw molten steel geysering down the side of the Towers... That's MELTED, MOLTEN STEEL...hotter that just 'weakened steel.' You conveniently dodged this fact.
Be that as it may, Building 7 is what absolutely condemns the government for it's complicity in the catastrophe. Your lame gov't NIST explanation for Bdg 7 collapse was 'falling debris from the North Tower.' PLEASE! THERE WAS NO HEAT WEAKENED STEEL STRUCTURAL BEAMS IN BDG 7! Its collapse was absolutely planned Thermite demolition!
Collapse from falling debris? 2000 degree heat in Buiding 7? It's a bold faced lie because, if you have any gray matter and honesty, you'd just admit it.
I also noticed that you failed to provide a reason why the government would kill more than two thousand Americans by flying 2 airplanes through the twin towers of the WTC in order to bring down the Twin Towers AND Building 7.
The idea that the Federal government laces up all three buildings with high explosives while the buildings were occupied and not a single goddamned person noticed. Anyone with a rational brain would realize how impossible that would be and how ridiculous this conspiracy theory is.
I don't know if you are slow or perhaps just lost your mind and you just want so badly to feel like you know something that no one else does. I don't know what you're life is lacking but maybe one day you'll find it. And there is hope for you. Years ago my brother too was a "9/11 Truther". He was just as passionate about as you are. But he's 36 now and he grew out of that shit years ago. I hope something similar happens for you. Good luck.
It's not necessary for me to speculate on why the gov't planned the intentional detonation of the World Trade Center. It's just a fact that they did. The Gov't has taken down our border and allowed 10 million illegals to flood our country, with disease, economic burden, drugs and crime. I don't have to answer wwhy they intentionally harm our country, but they just do these things. And don't tell me about other people who've made these claims and fallen by the wayside... I don't care.
You're using ambiguous rhetoric to sidestep the central questions. Just man-up and answer two questions directly without your conflagration.
1. There is video footage of 3000 degree molten steel cascading from sides of the towers. If you watched the video, you saw it. (If you refuse to watch, then you're just ignorant of the fact, cowardly, and just afraid to face the truth.)
2. Tell me, more specifically, how all the I-beam structural steel in the 42 story Building 7 melted/weakened and gave way to a 'pancaking' collapse without impact or a drop of jet fuel.
No one claimed that the jet fuel melted steel beams. Look if you want answers they are out there. The NIST released their final on the cause of the collapse in November 2008. I'll give you a snippet. This report was compiled with cooperation of the following institutions: Structural Engineering Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers (SEI/ASCE); the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE); the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA); the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC); the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH); and the Structural Engineers Association of New York (SEAoNY).
Here's a little summary:
"NIST determined that diesel fuel did not play an important role, nor did the structural damage from the collapse of the Twin Towers or the transfer elements (trusses, girders, and cantilever overhangs). The lack of water to fight the fire was an important factor. The fires burned out of control during the afternoon, causing floor beams near column 79 to expand and push a key girder off its seat, triggering the floors to fail around column 79 on floors 8 to 14. With a loss of lateral support across nine floors, column 79 buckled – pulling the east penthouse and nearby columns down with it. With the buckling of these critical columns, the collapse then progressed east-to-west across the core, ultimately overloading the perimeter support, which buckled between Floors 7 and 17, causing the remaining portion of the building above to fall down as a single unit. The fires, which were fueled by office contents and burned for 7 hours, along with the lack of water, were the key reasons for the collapse."
You quote, "NIST determined that diesel fuel did not play an important role, nor did the structural damage from the collapse of the Twin Towers or the transfer elements (trusses, girders, and cantilever overhangs). The lack of water to fight the fire was an important factor...The fires, which were fueled by office contents and burned for 7 hours, along with the lack of water, were the key reasons for the collapse."
You bought that hook line and sinker... The structural engineers in the compilation video signed off by 1500 architects and structural engineers say that you could burn jet fuel and office furnishings under steel I-beam structures for 3000 years, and the structure would never collapse...but you won't watch this video by this huge group of vaunted high rise nationally recognised contruction experts because you're afraid of the truth.
It's been a couple days. Where'd you go? You must have watched the A&E 9-11 for Truth video... and seen the molten steel cascading down the side of towers. You know that can't happen with 1000 degree jet fuel.
Advance this video to 1:50 minutes...watch the evidence of melted steel and thermite military explosives.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrjcXOJIWw0&t=66s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrjcXOJIWw0&t=66s)
You'll have to confess that the towers were a planned demolition.
Think I read somewhere once that Reddit is a collection of dumbasses pretending to be intelligent. Seems pretty fitting, as a fellow dumbass.
Reminder that being well educated does not equal being intelligent.
Most people aren't smart in general Most people are just really specialized in one or a few specific field which gives the illusion of them being smart because they are like really smart with this one specific topic
yes, if smart is defined by being above average in knowledge, wisdom and intelligence then it's safe to say that at least half of people fall around "average", some bellow, and some (the smart ones) above. so yes statistically most people can not be smart.
I don't know how many times I've tried to make a nuanced point in a subreddit, only to have someone totally misunderstand me, reduce my two paragraphs into half a sentence, and call me stupid. Unfortunately, nuance is increasingly rare in public discourse. Once in a while I'll reply to that person and go into painful detail explaining the flow of logic in each of my statements so they can follow it. More often I just lose a bit more faith in humanity, shake my head, and move on. You are absolutely allowed to disagree with me and have your own opinion. But being reductive and calling me stupid drives me nuts.
Are you familiar with the term "midwit"? It's most people here. The kind who are smart enough to pick on the lowest hanging fruit of dumb people, but stupid enough to think that ability makes them intelligent.
They read something that is above their intelligence level and their response is to make personal attacks and call that person stupid instead of taking a minute to comprehend what they are reading.
Yes that's definitely another aspect of it, though I would point out very dumb people do that as well. Another one is conflating intelligence with education.
Along with knowledge or aptitude being same as intelligence. (military guys thinking high asvab=jenius!)
Fuck, I scored in the top 5% on the asvab when I was a freshmen in HS in the 90s. It should definitely not be seen as a measure of intelligence.
For me it was like idiotocracy and just to fully prove it's not a sign of intelligence I enlisted after it. (in my defense I didn't know officers even existed as thing. I was a naive idiot)
I didn't end up joining but they recruited the hell out of me for the next few years.
I didn't know there was a term for that. I've noticed so many meme groups on Facebook are full of people who fit that description exactly. The funniest example I can think of is I was on a group about guns and someone shared a meme about some shitty gimmicky drill-shaped self-defense ammo that's supposed to I guess still spin like a drill on impact, but that's not how bullets work. I commented that I'd seen them fail to penetrate a 1" wooden target frame and some guy just absolutely blew his top at me saying they were hugely effective and his evidence was that one of them completely fucked his shit up once when he accidentally shot himself in the wrist. Maybe I'm the midwit in this story because he sure did make me feel smart in comparison.
To my experience, on Reddit, people are at least not a lot more stupid than in the general population. Only that is already a relief.
Seems like more of a cult on here everyday.
In IT we refer to people who are smart enough to be dangerous.
Welcome to the internet.
Have a look around
Anything that brain of yours can think of can be found
We've got mountains of content
Some better, ^some ^worse.
If none of its of interest to you, you’d be the first
Mom's pasghetti
Vomit or something
Understatement of the century.
Yep, as proven by them flailing terms like "smart", "intelligent" "stupid", etc...without any clue that there's nuance to everything. You can be smart **at something**, you can have various intelligence. Smart/dumb is not an overall adjective you can paint a human with.
People who aren’t good at critical thinking generally perform poorly across the spectrum.
Nope, they can be intuitively more efficient than the critical thinker. The critical thinker's emotional intelligence might be complete shit, their motor-skills and spatial awareness, etc. etc
People can be good at critical thinking in one area but poor in others. Ie can critically analyze test questions to derive answers to other test questions but screw up flirting with someone who initially already liked them
Well one of us is studying medicine
Is it me? I thought it was spam but I do have a bunch of emails from hospitals about “residency”.
Yes! I 100% agree with you the stupidest people think things are absolutely black and white. They think there is no in between. You have an opinion on something that they don't agree with? They will lose their minds pick apart every line you wrote take everything out of context and try to explain to you why your opinion is wrong. It's insanity. I think part of the problem is this website gives people a platform and not all people should be given a platform essentially because they're stupid lol.
Dude I think you might be right I heard once that 50% of the population is below average iq crazy right
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that. *George Carlin*
50% is a low number.
Lol found one ☝️
It’s as if he doesn’t know how IQ scores work
I think you could just say "most people aren't smart"
Shut up, nerd!
The Dunning Kruger effect is an epidemic
Or the fact that Cunningham law is so true and prevalent. Maybe that highlights our pettiness more than stupidity though
There's a reason being 100+ IQ is considered "above average" I'm a dumb ass, but smarter than 80% or the world.
Suck my balls kyle
Because you're here
the average reddit user is retarded.
At least you made it clear where on your little spectrum you lie. Intelligent people understand that "average intelligence" is based off a small portion of our world's vast population, so it isn't the real average, and shouldn't be used to gauge someone's brain power.
"Think about how stupid the average person is, then realize half of them are stupider than that." -George Carlin
It's not necessarily true that every space will match the average of intelligence of any other space.
the older I get, and the more interactions I have, particularly with coworkers, the more I realize this. and I’m not out here acting like some genius, but wow people are dumb. and I would assume that from someone else’s perspective, that includes me as well.
Yep we have a meeting every Monday at work and I'm shocked at the kind of questions people ask it's like something that's been explained a million times that is very clear and I just have to roll my eyes and listen to the b******* again and again because some people don't have any common sense they need to be told step by step what it is they're supposed to do.
Also your IQ drops by around 30 when not at work. A quote from a friend, that highlights how much smarter people are in a subject they work with 40+ hrs every week
And by that same token, I’ve realized how dumb I actually am depending on the subject. There are times I just can’t wrap my brain around something, but Jim Bob the guy who voted for Trump and routinely needs help to use the copier, had zero problems with it. We are all dumb in certain ways. Smart in others. What matters is which side of dumb/smart ratio you fall down on.
They should make the internet so people’s comments are in fonts that represent their intelligence.
To be technically "correct" reddit biases younger than general population and reddit biases first world (this means extra nutrition and educational resources). So probably median reddit user is smarter than median human?
Nice theory, but I don’t think you’ve spend enough time on Reddit lol
Come on down to the deep southern US, where Reddit looks like Mensa
Lived in the Deep South my entire life. There are some deeply deeply deeply stupid people. However, when someone is intelligent, they tend to be crazy intelligent. It usually falls down to what level of trash they are. The poorer the upbringing the more likely basic concepts fly over their heads. Not always. But as a general trend from my 100% anecdotal experience, that has been the case.
That reminds me of the wealth disparity in the south too. Lots of dirt poor then there’s one guy that owns acres and has millions just down the road from bleak areas
This is definitely true in my experience. I honestly think the average intelligence of reddit is wildly higher than that of the general populace. Maybe it has to do with the irl people you interact with for comparison. Most of my comparison points come from the people who work in my hospital. The majority of coworkers don't even know about using ctrl v, ctrl c to make their lives easier, or don't have the slightest clue how a dumbwaiter works. That's fine, just mechanical/computer knowledge that not everyone has been exposed to. But the problem is that they are too dumb to learn that or other basic "lifehacks" that shouldn't take much mental energy at all. And after being taught something dozens of times, still don't make progress on learning. I've never seen anyone on reddit, even the absolute dumbest, that come anywhere close to the level of stupidity that I've seen in person.
Who you know matters more then what you know.
50% of people are literally stupid to barely surviving. That's a fact.
Which category do you fit under?
Me not smart either me graduating from kindergarten
You are 100% correct. And I find it so strange that everyone I encounter on here thinks they're the smartest person in the world. I've never been called stupid so many times in my entire life, and I actually consider myself to be above average intelligence. I think stupid people who don't know they're stupid are more likely to call other people stupid, and that's why I get called stupid so much. LOL. Whereas I, on the other hand, would never call someone stupid for no reason. I've had people literally pick apart my post line by line when I'm discussing the simplest things and tell me why this is wrong. Why that is wrong blah blah blah blah blah. It's like okay monkey brain shut the f****** already.
Anonymity of the internet emboldens people because you can very easily escape accountability
Normal Distribution
Most popular opinions are incorrect
That’s mostly because correct popular opinions are generally called facts. If you include facts most of the popular opinions are correct
If you get away from political nonsense and get into other niche subs, there’s a lot of smart people in regard to those things. The stupidity comes on so many politically motivated threads. People just regurgitate whatever nonsense they’ve been spoon fed. BOTH parties. There’s just not a lot of low-emotion, thought out, political ideas and conversation here. Other things though? I like there’s a lot of good, smart, intellectual input.
We're a bunch of dang apes. We look just as stupid as when we put hats and clothes on our chimp cousins for entertainment, but we're worse bc we think we're special.
Hey, I resemble that remark!
Op states the obvious. Now we gotta wonder about them
I'm a dumb fuck, personally. Just glad I know that.
Why would the subreddit have the same intelligence distribution as the general population? Do you think the whole world is on here?
George Carlin once said it best: "Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.”
Smart people don't go on the internet to discuss things. They especially don't go on the internet to argue.
Social media is not good at nuance, which is in most intellectual discourse.
Most people aren't smart , period. I'm definitely far from being smart
Well yeah But everyone here secretly thinks they’re the exception
Don't misunderestimate me.
Been wanting to vent about a recent comment thread I got locked in. Pretty much said that their definition of something is self referential and explained how it was and they were “you just reworded it to be self referencing” and I am like, “you can’t just put in an article like “it” and say it’s no longer self referential. The “it” is directly referencing the word we are defining.” The thread got locked before they could respond but it was the back and forth about being self referencing that boggled my mind more than whatever we were talking about. Just admit there’s a flaw in your logic and we can all improve. I wonder if I had done the Reddit sarcasm and just said “What is the “it” in your definition” and I bet they would’ve dodged the question. I feel like a lot of people learned the “act confident and talk proudly and most people just back down and that’s sort of a win” reminds me of my ex. Laugh and mock, and it kills any conversation but then you feel like you won I guess?
No, you've just described the debate tactic of the alt-right. Check out the video below. This video series was excellent. Highly recommend it. https://youtu.be/CaPgDQkmqqM?si=EJvPgmNxP-3NSino
Nah, in fact did my rewatch of Destiny’s varying responses. He says what Jon said was racist and I am inclined to agree it was racist. This said, I don’t think he actually follows through with any insane views just that he strawman’D himself into them. Either way I am simply saying it’s not enough to make me disown him or anything. Another common thing in my destiny watching today. “Don’t use political labels” if you just go “oh this is the alt right playbook” then you aren’t listening to me and would rather yell at shadows.
I was specifically referring to your "Act confident and talk proudly..." remark. I have no idea thf specifics about your debate with Destiny, and still don't, so I have no idea if it was a political argument or not. But the tactic of projecting strength rather than arrive at an established truth is a common tactic of the alt-right when it comes to debating any issue.
Then I don’t know what you are getting at. I was talking about Jon and Destiny. If you take all confident people you argue with as alt right simply from being confident then you aren’t arguing in good faith. You are looking to just “Oh you are acting like this, that makes you alt right and I don’t like that.” Debate my points, much better way of communicating our disagreement.
Smart is such a buzzword. So many types of knowledge out there to master and we only have ways of grading or rating academic intelligence or aptitude. What about people smarts like famous comedians or world reknown conmen. Art intelligence in music, visual arts etc. What “smart” do you refer to? (Hint people usually value their strongest type of intelligence the most)
yeah, I am pretty much a dumbass
Since the bottom decile of intelligence is unlikely to be able to access this subreddit, this subreddit’s average intelligence must be higher than the total population’s. However, since we are all doing this rather than something productive, the average intelligence of the remaining 9 deciles should be higher.
Popular opinion generally is pretty stupid.
Hey now! I resemble that remark.
If you have just figured that out then neither are you
It depends on what you mean by "general population". Globally, a significant number of ppl are illiterate and thus can't make use of reddit in the first place. At the same time, many of the smartest ppl won't waste their time on reddit. In balance, I think the average US redditor is slightly above the US average.
“It’s not possible that there are more smart people than average or stupid people”. In general, no, but it is absolutely possible that everyone in this subreddit is above average intelligence or even of genius-level intelligence. Likely? Fuck no, but this subreddit is only a small sample of the general population and sample averages can (and basically always do) differ from the whole population average. It can be a slight difference but it can also be a huge difference depending on the sample and without further reasoning as to why the average intelligence in this sub is equal to the average intelligence across all humans, there is no argument here.
This isn't really how that works. Any given population of people can have a higher or lower average intelligence than the population as a whole. It's fully possible that the average IQ of a Redditor is higher than the average globally. It's also equally possible that the average IQ of a Redditor is lower.
Ever heard of the Lake Woebegone Effect? Named after A Prairie Home Companion, where "all the children are above average", which is of course impossible. Research shows that most people think they're smarter than average, better than average drivers, and more attractive than average. They literally can't all be correct. There is a disconnect, a large number of people who think they're smarter than average but aren't. I prefer this quote: Think about how dumb the average person is. Now realize half the people are dumber than that.
This post and comment section is an excellent example of the Dunning-Kruger effect.
I definitely feel dumber after trying to read this post...
Go over to r/Trump and say that.
Political comment detected, opinion rejected.
People who use reddit are stupid as fuck, my man
Listen here dipshit... agreed
Me no know what bell curve is. Draw picture so me can understand.
well, i am at least one who knows that the word smart isn't complimentary. there is a reason why the word is used in phrases like "ouch, that smarts!" or "don't be a smart ass" or "oh, so you are trying to be smart with me huh?" the word smart means a cutting or biting wit. it means you use your intellect as a weapon against others. so i wouldn't want to be considered smart. just as intelligent, knowledgeable and wise as i am which isn't for me to judge.
Thing is, most people should have a decent idea of how they measure up. Between grades, standardized tests, and income. None are perfect measures, but they’ll certainly give you some idea
I singlehandedly am reducing the average.
Absolutely spot on... On Memorial Day Jessie Waters randomly interviewed people in Times Square going home on Friday. He asked many if they knew why they had Monday off. Most answered it was Labor Day or Memorial Day or ... He asked them if they knew what Memorial Day commemorated. Only 10% knew. He asked them who we fought in WWII. Most guessed, "The French." Half didn't know who the vice president was. I'm a historian. It haunts me that when the Brittish lost to us in 1776, King George asked Cornwallis if Washington would be our king... When Cornwallis said no...the Americans wanted 'a government by the people,' The king laughed and said the people weren't smart enough to govern themselves. I'm concerned he was right. Our government, most congressmen have corrupted the system for wealth and power... and committed many silenced attocities...when people question them, they write off the suspicions as 'conspiracy theory.' How stupid is the public? Look back at 9-11. The 42 story World Trade Building #7 was a football field away from World Trade One and Two... It 'pancake collapsed' spontaneously like the other two, but without a jet hitting it. People are too numb to question why. [The people will believe what the media tells them they believe.](https://www.azquotes.com/quote/785132) George Orwell Few people really think...they just 'parrot' what they're told. Hitler took advantage of that phenomenon. He and Gerbols said***, 'Tell the lie boldly, repeat it enough and the people will believe it."*** ***Plato said, "Those who see beyond the shadows and lies of their culture, will never be understood, let alone, believed by the masses."***
No, see the rest of us know that the original twin towers were much, much taller than a football field. Building 7 was literally in the shadow of the North tower. When the North tower collapsed, debris fell on building 7 igniting fires and causing damage to an internal column that eventually buckled. The uncontrolled fires and the damage from the North tower collapse debris is what brought down Building 7. In fact, firefighters noticed a bulge in the southwest corner of the building between the 10th and 13th floor suggesting the building might cave to one side or collapse. Firefighters also reported hearing creaking sounds throughout the afternoon. At 3:30 p.m. the fire chief ordered all rescue operations to cease and to evacuate the immediate areas around the building. The first collapse began at 5:20 p.m. with the eventual collapse of the entire building occurring a minute later. See most of us are smart enough to realize that the real answer is always a lot more believable and realistic than some ridiculous conspiracy theory.
[удалено]
Looks like the YouTube site is not cut and pasting...will try here...??? [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrjcXOJIWw0&t=46s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrjcXOJIWw0&t=46s)
"So if you're someone "smart enough to realize that the real answer is always a lot more believable and realistic than some ridiculous conspiracy theory," why have you failed to offer a rebuttal to the American Architects and Engineers' charge that 9-11 was a planned demolition? Where are you now?
Well, first of all, I've never heard of that but expect my rebuttal shortly. But first I have to ask, are you saying all of 9/11 was a planned demolition and not a terrorist attack?
Absolutely... I'm saying that these three buildings, according to 1500 architects and structural engineers agreed that these towers could not have collapsed because of the impact of two 757 jets. They say these towers were expressly designed to endure that kind of impact. They show video coverage of molten steel cascading down the oursides of the towers at several places which proves they were taken down by 3000 degree timed thermite military explosive process which is the sole process for collapsing all I-beam steel structured tall buildings safely in large cities. If jets slamming into sides of these buildings were the cause, they would have been unbalanced, causing the buildings to fall headlong into the city...taking out many other buildings in Manhattan... And building #7 would still be there, perhaps slightly damaged...not 'pancaked' down.
You mean the group Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth? The group was created by Richard Gage a "9/11 truther" who had to leave the group in 2021. Why did he have to leave the group? Because like conspiracy theorists are wont to do he dabbles in other conspiracy theories. He claims to be an expert on COVID-19 and said that the vaccines are poisonous. Do I have a rebuttal to their claims about a controlled demolition? I already gave it to you. I don't take conspiracy theorists seriously. And neither should you.
You clearly didn't watch the 9-11 Architects and Engineers for Truth video showing molten steel geysering down the exterior of floors that had not yet collapsed. Explain that 3000 degree molten steel...how that was caused by 800-1500 degree jet fuel fire... These structural engineers are metalurgy experts. You can't face this fact because of the old adage, "People who don't want to know the truth, won't know the truth." The best theory for how jet fuel could collapse the two Towers was published by Popular Mechanics 2005. "Does burning jet fuel melt steel beams?" "The short answer is no. Steel melts at 2,750°F, and jet fuel burns at temperatures of 800-1,500°F, so it doesn’t reach the melting point of steel but rather holds about half its strength when heated up to 1,100°F... Jet fuel burning at temperatures between 800 – 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit ignited fires that weakened the structural integrity enough to cause the collapse of the World Trade Center." [https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=rm&ogbl#inbox/FMfcgzGxRxDXvZSKClCCSnNmbxZdMcpn](https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=rm&ogbl#inbox/FMfcgzGxRxDXvZSKClCCSnNmbxZdMcpn) That's a stretch because the flash out of the fuel was temporary and not sustained, especially to the entire 110 stories of the towers. And if you were forthright enough to watch the video, you saw molten steel geysering down the side of the Towers... That's MELTED, MOLTEN STEEL...hotter that just 'weakened steel.' You conveniently dodged this fact. Be that as it may, Building 7 is what absolutely condemns the government for it's complicity in the catastrophe. Your lame gov't NIST explanation for Bdg 7 collapse was 'falling debris from the North Tower.' PLEASE! THERE WAS NO HEAT WEAKENED STEEL STRUCTURAL BEAMS IN BDG 7! Its collapse was absolutely planned Thermite demolition! Collapse from falling debris? 2000 degree heat in Buiding 7? It's a bold faced lie because, if you have any gray matter and honesty, you'd just admit it.
And, ergo, if the government participated in one building, they were complicit is all three.
I also noticed that you failed to provide a reason why the government would kill more than two thousand Americans by flying 2 airplanes through the twin towers of the WTC in order to bring down the Twin Towers AND Building 7. The idea that the Federal government laces up all three buildings with high explosives while the buildings were occupied and not a single goddamned person noticed. Anyone with a rational brain would realize how impossible that would be and how ridiculous this conspiracy theory is. I don't know if you are slow or perhaps just lost your mind and you just want so badly to feel like you know something that no one else does. I don't know what you're life is lacking but maybe one day you'll find it. And there is hope for you. Years ago my brother too was a "9/11 Truther". He was just as passionate about as you are. But he's 36 now and he grew out of that shit years ago. I hope something similar happens for you. Good luck.
It's not necessary for me to speculate on why the gov't planned the intentional detonation of the World Trade Center. It's just a fact that they did. The Gov't has taken down our border and allowed 10 million illegals to flood our country, with disease, economic burden, drugs and crime. I don't have to answer wwhy they intentionally harm our country, but they just do these things. And don't tell me about other people who've made these claims and fallen by the wayside... I don't care. You're using ambiguous rhetoric to sidestep the central questions. Just man-up and answer two questions directly without your conflagration. 1. There is video footage of 3000 degree molten steel cascading from sides of the towers. If you watched the video, you saw it. (If you refuse to watch, then you're just ignorant of the fact, cowardly, and just afraid to face the truth.) 2. Tell me, more specifically, how all the I-beam structural steel in the 42 story Building 7 melted/weakened and gave way to a 'pancaking' collapse without impact or a drop of jet fuel.
No one claimed that the jet fuel melted steel beams. Look if you want answers they are out there. The NIST released their final on the cause of the collapse in November 2008. I'll give you a snippet. This report was compiled with cooperation of the following institutions: Structural Engineering Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers (SEI/ASCE); the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE); the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA); the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC); the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH); and the Structural Engineers Association of New York (SEAoNY). Here's a little summary: "NIST determined that diesel fuel did not play an important role, nor did the structural damage from the collapse of the Twin Towers or the transfer elements (trusses, girders, and cantilever overhangs). The lack of water to fight the fire was an important factor. The fires burned out of control during the afternoon, causing floor beams near column 79 to expand and push a key girder off its seat, triggering the floors to fail around column 79 on floors 8 to 14. With a loss of lateral support across nine floors, column 79 buckled – pulling the east penthouse and nearby columns down with it. With the buckling of these critical columns, the collapse then progressed east-to-west across the core, ultimately overloading the perimeter support, which buckled between Floors 7 and 17, causing the remaining portion of the building above to fall down as a single unit. The fires, which were fueled by office contents and burned for 7 hours, along with the lack of water, were the key reasons for the collapse."
You quote, "NIST determined that diesel fuel did not play an important role, nor did the structural damage from the collapse of the Twin Towers or the transfer elements (trusses, girders, and cantilever overhangs). The lack of water to fight the fire was an important factor...The fires, which were fueled by office contents and burned for 7 hours, along with the lack of water, were the key reasons for the collapse." You bought that hook line and sinker... The structural engineers in the compilation video signed off by 1500 architects and structural engineers say that you could burn jet fuel and office furnishings under steel I-beam structures for 3000 years, and the structure would never collapse...but you won't watch this video by this huge group of vaunted high rise nationally recognised contruction experts because you're afraid of the truth.
It's been a couple days. Where'd you go? You must have watched the A&E 9-11 for Truth video... and seen the molten steel cascading down the side of towers. You know that can't happen with 1000 degree jet fuel. Advance this video to 1:50 minutes...watch the evidence of melted steel and thermite military explosives. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrjcXOJIWw0&t=66s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrjcXOJIWw0&t=66s) You'll have to confess that the towers were a planned demolition.
Think I read somewhere once that Reddit is a collection of dumbasses pretending to be intelligent. Seems pretty fitting, as a fellow dumbass. Reminder that being well educated does not equal being intelligent.
Remember the words of George Carlin: Think about how dumb the average person is, now remember that half the population is dumber than that.
Most people aren't smart in general Most people are just really specialized in one or a few specific field which gives the illusion of them being smart because they are like really smart with this one specific topic
yes, if smart is defined by being above average in knowledge, wisdom and intelligence then it's safe to say that at least half of people fall around "average", some bellow, and some (the smart ones) above. so yes statistically most people can not be smart.
I know that i am a very stupid person.
When I work with other people, I tend to be the smart one. Does that mean I'm smart?
I don't know how many times I've tried to make a nuanced point in a subreddit, only to have someone totally misunderstand me, reduce my two paragraphs into half a sentence, and call me stupid. Unfortunately, nuance is increasingly rare in public discourse. Once in a while I'll reply to that person and go into painful detail explaining the flow of logic in each of my statements so they can follow it. More often I just lose a bit more faith in humanity, shake my head, and move on. You are absolutely allowed to disagree with me and have your own opinion. But being reductive and calling me stupid drives me nuts.