Microblog Memes

I know we don't do gold here, but you have done something worthy of praise. So, I pledge to give a few dollars to your instance (lemmy.world).

The odd part is how often that works. Like, I went to work Monday through Friday, therefore I should go to work on Saturday, right? That's... that's... that's... not how that works, or at least not how it is supposed to. And by extension, humanity has survived on earth for my entire lifetime and for many others besides, so s-s-surely this is not the end for our species? (based on what evidence though?)

Though at some point we see that the level of cognitive dissonance is far too high to be explainable purely by lack of intelligence - (almost) nobody is that dumb. And also there are literally people with PhDs and even MDs who were prescribing Ivermectin rather than the COVID vaccine, so it's not something that correlates perfectly with "intelligence" as in logical acuity, rather than emotional whatever (agility I think is the current term?).

The era of information is over, where people are considered "smart" if they know more things or can do more. Now we are entering a new era, seemingly characterized by not merely misinformation but active sources of disinformation. Now, survival of the fittest depends not only on individual emotional agility but also extensible to one's "tribe", as in when presented with two mutually exclusive set of facts, which one will someone choose to believe? (On the one hand we have 1+1=2, while on the other, we can hear words literally from someone's actual mouth, but the talking heads can manage to convince people that they did not see what they saw or hear what they heard and definitely what was meant was not meant - I'm saying that some people might legit be too dumb to live, sorry if that seems unkind, it distresses me too but if it is what it is, therefore..., =2 it is then).

I do want to add to that very quickly that I do not believe that this stupidity is tied to IQ.

My sister has an IQ in the 160 to 180 range and she's the dumbest motherfucker I've ever met in my entire life. She is sadistic and enjoys destroying happiness and joy and anything that she can get her hands on while she herself has accomplished nothing and done nothing with her life. She's willfully and intelligently stupid, so don't assume that just because somebody is smart that they are not stupid.

If I may? I think there is room for hope, but it depends on where you place that hope. For instance, I don't believe that democracy will prevail in the USA for much longer - setting aside the Russian Roulette that we play every single time (more often than 4 years bc Congress), there is still that SCOTUS ruling that has already given the sitting President the power to legally assassinate their political rivals. The wheel keeps turning, and the ratchet keeps it always moving forwards towards the grand design of those who have power to implement such things.

But while there may be no more hope for that, what will come afterwards? People will still need things - so farmers will still farm, service members will still serve, scientists will still learn about the world, etc. Granted, much of that will be replaceable with automation, but e.g. the internet did not completely replace books, and this next transition too will be harsh but something will carry forward.

And since we do not know what or how etc., I adopt an attitude of "we don't know", rather than either pessimism or optimism. But since hope is mandatory for human existence, I also choose to have it (plus if I'm wrong, humanity will cease to exist, so who would be left to care anyway? it is definitely a win-win bet for me there:-P).