Is technology making us less intelligent?

[Amalthia]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

Yep. I guess part of it is due to attitude, too.

You'll often see in US TV shows and movies that it's cheerleaders and jocks who are popular and are treated as "first-class" citizens, especially on shows which take place in high school. Geeks are to be ignored or bullied. The emphasis is in looks and physical prowess.

Watch a Japanese anime or read a manga and you'll notice it's the smart people, the ones who are top of their class, etc, that are lauded. It also seems that schools over there are pretty strict. There are national ranking exams that all students have to take.

Sure, it might not be an exact depiction of society, but I think both have sufficient basis in real life.

I hear in other countries everyone's grades are public knowledge so if you fail everyone knows. I think the perserving students self esteem by hiding their grades from their peers isn't really working. I think students need to know if they are not keeping up (maybe not little kids) but certainly by middle school and high school. Also, I agree being smart in america is considered very uncool. Whereas in other countries (anime being a good example) the popular students are the ones that make good grades and participate in sports or other student activites.

I do think parents also have a big influence. but it would require parents to want their children to excel in school and actively participate in their eduction. I read that reading and talking to children helps increase their spoken vocabulary and basically helps set a good foundation for learning. My brother who's baby is sometimes kidnapped by the child development teachers to show off in class has told him that sometimes babies have flat heads from where the kids were left in rockers for too long and their skull changes shape. And that many parents just leave their children in front of the tv for way too many hours. (okay the flat head thing is kind of scary to me.)

I think that trend has more to do with dumbing down people more so than any technology.

[GraceKrispy]

Originally Posted by wodin

I suffer from calculator brain! I can no longer add two two digit numbers without a calculator. And forget about long division!

I know these things. I have to, I teach them. (hey, you're in Hawai'i too! cool)

I have often thought technology has totally changed *what* we know and *how* we learn. We no longer memorize things as we used to. Why bother? our technology makes them available in a second. Think of the early 1900s when education involved memorizing long texts and facts. Now we focus on *how* to use that information in new ways. Forget the mathematical equation of some calculus aactivity? No worries- you can easily find it. What's more important is *how* you use that equation. I think, at its best, technology has freed us up to focus on things outside the box, beyond the basics. At worst (which I'm afraid might be more common), it frees our brain... from thinking at all.

[Dylrob]

I'll I can say is that I was completely hopeless with phone numbers before I got my first cell phone.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by GraceKrispy

At worst (which I'm afraid might be more common), it frees our brain... from thinking at all.

Exactly. In the US, at least, this seems to be more pervasive.

Seriously, I am amazed at the number of disclaimers and warnings there are on stuff. I remember reading somewhere about the person who sued McDonald's because he was fat... Uh... I think it would have been common sense to know that's what will happen if you eat junk food (and lots of it, too) 24/7 and don't exercise. I believe there was also a warning on the box of a knives set we bought. Something like, sharp object, be careful - can cause cuts, etc... There are class action lawsuits for everything, and a lot of them originate from people's stupidity.

[Moejoe]

We're heading toward the amalgamation of man/machine. I believe this stage we're going through now is the last of the race we know as homo-sapien, and that within 10 years we'll see the first hybrid of man and machine...from thereon in it'll be biological computing, cloud memory and the loss of the self. I believe, if you're a Trekkie, they call this THE BORG, or some such

[wodin]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

Exactly. In the US, at least, this seems to be more pervasive.

Seriously, I am amazed at the number of disclaimers and warnings there are on stuff. I remember reading somewhere about the person who sued McDonald's because he was fat... Uh... I think it would have been common sense to know that's what will happen if you eat junk food (and lots of it, too) 24/7 and don't exercise. I believe there was also a warning on the box of a knives set we bought. Something like, sharp object, be careful - can cause cuts, etc... There are class action lawsuits for everything, and a lot of them originate from people's stupidity.

It's time again for the annual 'Stella Awards'!

For those unfamiliar with these awards, they are named after 81-year-old Stella Liebeck who spilled hot coffee on herself and successfully sued the McDonald's in New Mexico where she purchased the
coffee. You remember, she took the lid off the coffee and put it between her knees while she was driving. Who would ever think one could get burned doing that, right?

That's right; these are awards for the most outlandish lawsuits and verdicts in the U.S. You know, the kinds of cases that make you scratch your head. So keep your head scratcher handy.

Here are the Stella's for the past year:

7TH PLACE :
Kathleen Robertson of Austin , Texas was awarded $80,000 by a jury of her peers after breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who was running inside a furniture store. The store owners were understandably surprised by the verdict, considering the running toddler was her own son.

6TH PLACE :
Carl Truman, 19, of Los Angeles , California won $74,000 plus medical expenses when his neighbor ran over his hand with a Honda Accord. Truman apparently didn't notice there was someone at the wheel of the car when he was trying to steal his neighbor's hubcaps.

Go ahead, grab your head scratcher.

5TH PLACE :
Terrence Dickson, of Bristol , Pennsylvania , who was leaving a house he had just burglarized by way of the garage. Unfortunately for Dickson, the automatic garage door opener malfunctioned and he could
not get the garage door to open. Worse, he couldn't re-enter the house because the door connecting the garage to the house locked when Dickson pulled it shut. Forced to sit for eight, count'em, EIGHT, days on a case of Pepsi and a large bag of dry dog food, he sued the homeowner's insurance company claiming undue mental Anguish. Amazingly, the jury said the insurance company must pay Dickson
$500,000 for his anguish. We should all have this kind of anguish.
Keep scratching. There are more...

4TH PLACE :
Jerry Williams, of Little Rock , Arkansas , garnered 4th Place in the Stella's when he was awarded $14,500 plus medical expenses after being bitten on the butt by his next door neighbor's beagle - even though the beagle was on a chain in its owner's fenced yard. Williams did not get as much as he asked for because the jury believed the beagle might have been provoked at the time of the butt bite because Williams had climbed over the fence into the yard and repeatedly shot the dog with a pellet gun. Grrrrr. Scratch, scratch.

3RD PLACE :
Amber Carson of Lancaster , Pennsylvania because a jury ordered a Philadelphia restaurant to pay her $113,500 after she slipped on a spilled soft drink and broke her tailbone. The reason the soft drink
was on the floor: Ms. Carson had thrown it at her boyfriend 30 seconds earlier during an argument. Whatever happened to people being responsible for their own actions?

Scratch, scratch, scratch. Hang in there; there are only two more Stellas to go...

2ND PLACE :
Kara Walton, of Claymont , Delaware sued the owner of a night club in a nearby city because she fell from the bathroom window to the floor, knocking out her two front teeth. Even though Ms. Walton was trying to sneak through the ladies room window to avoid paying the $3.50 cover charge, the jury said the night club had to pay her $12,000....oh, yeah, plus dental expenses. Go figure.

1ST PLACE : (May I have a fanfare played on 50 kazoos please?)
This year's runaway First Place Stella Award winner was Mrs. Merv Grazinski, of Oklahoma City , Oklahoma , who purchased a new 32-foot Winnebago motor home. On her first trip home, from an OU football game, having driven on to the freeway, she set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the driver's seat to go to the back of the Winnebago to make herself a sandwich. Not surprisingly, the motor home left the freeway, crashed and overturned. Also not surprisingly, Mrs. Grazinski sued Winnebago for not putting in the owner's manual that she couldn't actually leave the driver's seat while the cruise control was set. The Oklahoma jury awarded her, are you sitting down, $1,750,000 PLUS a new motor home. Winnebago actually changed their manuals as a result of this suit, just incase Mrs. Grazinski has any relatives who might also buy a motor home.

Are we, as a society, getting more stupid...? Ya Think??!! More than a few of our judge's elevators don't go to the top floor either!

[Laz116]

What was the question again?

I think it depends on how you define intelligence. Kids these days are certainly not getting more stupid. In Denmark today 4th graders read the equivalent of 5th graders 20 years ago.

However, I do think that the massive amount of information we are bombarded with continually lessens our ability to immerse ourselves in a topic. Speaking for myself, my attention span definitely has diminished. That may have something to do with getting older also (although I'm only 33).

[Greg Anos]

Nope, not more stupid. We've done two things, 1st. We add more layers to knowledge, therefore insulating people from the basic facts that modern things are based on, causing faulty reasoning. and 2nd. We are too good at protecting fools from their folly. In the past, many fools did not survive their stupid mistakes. Now they live to sue....

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

2nd. We are too good at protecting fools from their folly. In the past, many fools did not survive their stupid mistakes. Now they live to sue....

I don't usually do this but...
+1

[Laz116]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

Nope, not more stupid. We've done two things, 1st. We add more layers to knowledge, therefore insulating people from the basic facts that modern things are based on, causing faulty reasoning. and 2nd. We are too good at protecting fools from their folly. In the past, many fools did not survive their stupid mistakes. Now they live to sue....

Curious. What are the basic facts modern things are based on? From my point of view the problem is a different one: Most modern things aren't based on basic facts but on highly specialized knowlegde. It's considerably harder to explain how a television works than to explain the basics of a drawing.

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by Laz116

Curious. What are the basic facts modern things are based on? From my point of view the problem is a different one: Most modern things aren't based on basic facts but on highly specialized knowlegde. It's considerably harder to explain how a television works than to explain the basics of a drawing.

Let me give you a chain. It takes skill to describe how a television works. But behind the television are transmission and power technologies, that you take for granted in your explanation. Then one step behind that is how to generate power, and how much. So somebody hollering over Global Warming over the television may not look down the chain to see that cutting back CO2 has a good change of cutting the power to the televisions, making the technology moot.

Some people think this is a good thing...Except when it's their TV, or freezer, or refrigeration, or heat in the winter...Because they didn't think it applied to them...

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by wodin

It's time again for the annual 'Stella Awards'!

For those unfamiliar with these awards, they are named after 81-year-old Stella Liebeck who spilled hot coffee on herself and successfully sued the McDonald's in New Mexico where she purchased the
coffee. You remember, she took the lid off the coffee and put it between her knees while she was driving. Who would ever think one could get burned doing that, right?

That's right; these are awards for the most outlandish lawsuits and verdicts in the U.S. You know, the kinds of cases that make you scratch your head. So keep your head scratcher handy.

Here are the Stella's for the past year:

7TH PLACE :
Kathleen Robertson of Austin , Texas was awarded $80,000 by a jury of her peers after breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who was running inside a furniture store. The store owners were understandably surprised by the verdict, considering the running toddler was her own son.

6TH PLACE :
Carl Truman, 19, of Los Angeles , California won $74,000 plus medical expenses when his neighbor ran over his hand with a Honda Accord. Truman apparently didn't notice there was someone at the wheel of the car when he was trying to steal his neighbor's hubcaps.

Go ahead, grab your head scratcher.

5TH PLACE :
Terrence Dickson, of Bristol , Pennsylvania , who was leaving a house he had just burglarized by way of the garage. Unfortunately for Dickson, the automatic garage door opener malfunctioned and he could
not get the garage door to open. Worse, he couldn't re-enter the house because the door connecting the garage to the house locked when Dickson pulled it shut. Forced to sit for eight, count'em, EIGHT, days on a case of Pepsi and a large bag of dry dog food, he sued the homeowner's insurance company claiming undue mental Anguish. Amazingly, the jury said the insurance company must pay Dickson
$500,000 for his anguish. We should all have this kind of anguish.
Keep scratching. There are more...

4TH PLACE :
Jerry Williams, of Little Rock , Arkansas , garnered 4th Place in the Stella's when he was awarded $14,500 plus medical expenses after being bitten on the butt by his next door neighbor's beagle - even though the beagle was on a chain in its owner's fenced yard. Williams did not get as much as he asked for because the jury believed the beagle might have been provoked at the time of the butt bite because Williams had climbed over the fence into the yard and repeatedly shot the dog with a pellet gun. Grrrrr. Scratch, scratch.

3RD PLACE :
Amber Carson of Lancaster , Pennsylvania because a jury ordered a Philadelphia restaurant to pay her $113,500 after she slipped on a spilled soft drink and broke her tailbone. The reason the soft drink
was on the floor: Ms. Carson had thrown it at her boyfriend 30 seconds earlier during an argument. Whatever happened to people being responsible for their own actions?

Scratch, scratch, scratch. Hang in there; there are only two more Stellas to go...

2ND PLACE :
Kara Walton, of Claymont , Delaware sued the owner of a night club in a nearby city because she fell from the bathroom window to the floor, knocking out her two front teeth. Even though Ms. Walton was trying to sneak through the ladies room window to avoid paying the $3.50 cover charge, the jury said the night club had to pay her $12,000....oh, yeah, plus dental expenses. Go figure.

1ST PLACE : (May I have a fanfare played on 50 kazoos please?)
This year's runaway First Place Stella Award winner was Mrs. Merv Grazinski, of Oklahoma City , Oklahoma , who purchased a new 32-foot Winnebago motor home. On her first trip home, from an OU football game, having driven on to the freeway, she set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the driver's seat to go to the back of the Winnebago to make herself a sandwich. Not surprisingly, the motor home left the freeway, crashed and overturned. Also not surprisingly, Mrs. Grazinski sued Winnebago for not putting in the owner's manual that she couldn't actually leave the driver's seat while the cruise control was set. The Oklahoma jury awarded her, are you sitting down, $1,750,000 PLUS a new motor home. Winnebago actually changed their manuals as a result of this suit, just incase Mrs. Grazinski has any relatives who might also buy a motor home.

Are we, as a society, getting more stupid...? Ya Think??!! More than a few of our judge's elevators don't go to the top floor either!

Nope

http://www.snopes.com/legal/lawsuits.asp

[wodin]

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

Nope

http://www.snopes.com/legal/lawsuits.asp

But ya gotta admit, it makes a good joke!

[Sparrow]

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

Nope

http://www.snopes.com/legal/lawsuits.asp

I thought they were true.

Finding out they're not has caused me significant mental trauma, my lawyer will be in touch.

[pshrynk]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

I thought they were true.

Finding out they're not has caused me significant mental trauma, my lawyer will be in touch.

Finding out that I may be sued has caused significant mental anguish. My lawyer will be in touch.

As for your petty little trauma: get over it.

$300, please you can pay the laddy at the door...