No Stupid Questions

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?

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

A bunch of us recently gained access to global platforms.

A bunch of global platforms recently gained access to us.

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.

It really depends on where you live. And what kind of people are around you on a daily basis.

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

Covid showed me we are living in a asylum.

I think so. One trip through social media is proof enough. Or, people are willing to be stupid for attention/money. But I add self-awareness to that, I’m not as smart as I think I am.

The comments in here are so depressing it's actually funny. Evidently we don't even know what the word means. "No metrics" ffs

Look, the fact of the matter is, as soon as you start even just inching over to the right of the curve, the people rolling the other way down the hill are already, let's say, beyond your horizons. The reverse is true too but in the less salutory way. You will never be able to fully communicate anything to them, their heads are populated with bullshit and nothing true can remain in their minds because it just gets overwritten by the stupidity which they have chosen as their life. They do not see obvious connections, they can not follow principles or see how they apply to them, and they are too arrogant to have sense spoken to them. They can not learn, resent the suggestion that there is something they don't already know in the first place, and they say things like "you can't tell me shit". I mean, thanks for self-identifying as a drain on society but we could already tell...

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

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%.

Most people just don't care enough in my opinion. When it comes to politics, all they want is to be left alone. They just look for the first piece of media that confirms their biases and be content with that. I think that's why conservative fearmongering works so well. All they have to do is to convince those persons that the left wants to tell them how to live and that is enough for those people to trust that conservative media.

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.

If you "don't feel like I'm significantly smarter than most people" but view "90%" of people, which I think is well into "most" territory, are stupid then one can reasonably infer you're putting yourself into that category.

Additionally, what does stupid even mean? If I were to try to engage with the spirit of your question, I ironically find myself reflecting on a wise insight my uncle once gave me. Someone who would fall under "stupid" if I am to understand your question right. Anyways, my uncle once said that smart or dumb don't have an all-encompassing nature (IQ eat your heart out). Instead, one can be smart or dumb with respect to specific domains. My uncle knows a lot about guns, not so much about the internet.

So to answer your question, yes most people are "stupid" about most things, but are often quite smart in specific fields related to their life experiences. That's why we have experts in various fields of study. You and I are no different, and employing empathy seems to be the best strategy to bridging knowledge gaps with others, if that's your goal.