Theory of Stupidity

[竹柏影]

21 hours ago, chocula said:

We can't get to "difference in philosophy" until we decide whether or not NCLB encourages teachers to "teach to the test." If it does, I say that's bad. Teaching to the test throws learning out the window in favor of getting higher scores on standardized tests. One issue at the time was that one of the purposes of NCLB was to enrich the Bush family. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-oct-22-na-ignite22-story.html EDIT: Which illustrates the larger problem in general of for-profit education.

Stupid Google Translate, I meant "concept" or "viewpoint", not "philosophy". Maybe we just have some disagreements.

[Count Chocula]

5 hours ago, 竹柏影 said:

Stupid Google Translate, I meant "concept" or "viewpoint", not "philosophy". Maybe we just have some disagreements.

We have plenty of disagreements. If you need google translate, why do you care so much about U.S. education policies?

[Grey Cloud]

6 hours ago, 竹柏影 said:

People really laugh when they are extremely speechless.

When people cannot answer questions they resort to posting nonsense.

[Darkpig]

It takes a lot of courage to admit when you are wrong. Yet if people don't admit to their mistakes those who listen will suffer from that person's incorrect advice. If we're incredibly lucky this mistake will come back to bite that person in the ass assuming they haven't corrected themselves beforehand. They might lose reputation or even income. Unfortunately I don't put much stock in karma in this day and age. Since people are dumb as bricks, bad influencers and such are not called out as much as they should be.

 

A lot of people think they automatically know something and these people don't realize how much time and effort it takes to do actual research. Education is at an all time low and nobody wants to fund education. Has to come from somewhere. People need critical thinking skills now more than ever.

[Count Chocula]

1 hour ago, Darkpig said:

A lot of people think they automatically know something and these people don't realize how much time and effort it takes to do actual research. Education is at an all time low and nobody wants to fund education. Has to come from somewhere. People need critical thinking skills now more than ever.

Have you ever heard of Mount Stupid in regards to the Dunning-Kruger Effect?

[Darkpig]

19 hours ago, chocula said:

Have you ever heard of Mount Stupid in regards to the Dunning-Kruger Effect?

I vaguely remember hearing about the Dunning-Kruger Effect. Not so sure about Mount Stupid.

[竹柏影]

On 5/19/2025 at 6:03 PM, chocula said:

We have plenty of disagreements. If you need google translate, why do you care so much about U.S. education policies?

It all started with an American cashier who let a customer take everything for free because of two 50% off coupons, and I thought "well, did he know it should be 1*50%*50% instead of 1*(50%+50%)?"

I won't care about these things anymore. Anyway, this is a good thing for customers.

[竹柏影]

On 5/19/2025 at 7:22 PM, Grey Cloud said:

When people cannot answer questions they resort to posting nonsense.

I don't know why you're so serious.

I thought you guys no longer have low self-esteem. Sorry, I won't tell jokes anymore. Don't you guys laugh happily when the talk show host tells these jokes?

[Count Chocula]

3 hours ago, 竹柏影 said:

It all started with an American cashier who let a customer take everything for free because of two 50% off coupons, and I thought "well, did he know it should be 1*50%*50% instead of 1*(50%+50%)?"

I won't care about these things anymore. Anyway, this is a good thing for customers.

Store policy was probably not to allow two coupons at a time. But let's say it was not coupons. You could have done the arithmetic either way and have it be correct, depending on how you want to figure the discount. Pragmatically, though, I agree, it was silly of the clerk to make the final prices $0.

[Count Chocula]

4 hours ago, Darkpig said:

I vaguely remember hearing about the Dunning-Kruger Effect. Not so sure about Mount Stupid.

Mount Stupid refers to the huge ramp up in a given person's belief in their competence when their actual skill is barely more than nothing. "Barely more than nothing" is when people vulnerable to Dunning-Kruger tend  to most drastically overestimate their competence.

[Darkpig]

Most corporate meetings are just an excuse for management to pretend they actually do work. They use fancy jargon to pretend to be smart when they are not. If things go bad(Or hell even if things go good) management lays off people and pretends that it was a hard sacrifice. We need more smart people to call out corporate bullshit.

Edited May 25, 2025 by Darkpig

[Count Chocula]

7 hours ago, Darkpig said:

Most corporate meetings are just an excuse for management to pretend they actually do work. They use fancy jargon to pretend to be smart when they are not. If things go bad(Or hell even if things go good) management lays off people and pretends that it was a hard sacrifice. We need more smart people to call out corporate bullshit.

I once sat in on a managers meeting when my boss was on vacation. The meeting was mostly chatting about local sports teams and bullshitting. Someone probably used the word "proactive," though.

[Darkpig]

18 hours ago, chocula said:

I once sat in on a managers meeting when my boss was on vacation. The meeting was mostly chatting about local sports teams and bullshitting. Someone probably used the word "proactive," though.

Is sports part of their job?

[Count Chocula]

3 hours ago, Darkpig said:

Is sports part of their job?

No, just random bullshitting.

[Darkpig]

33 minutes ago, chocula said:

No, just random bullshitting.

At least you were paying attention when it happened. I don't like telling people what to do but I love pointing out irony.

[woodsman30]

On 3/18/2025 at 11:02 PM, Darkpig said:

I can't help but feel excited. What does this "reset" look like? Are humans finally going to go extinct after a big fuckin asteroid smacks into Earth?

I would not be excited for this no need for asteroids, meteors, or any other space thing. A simple grid down would do it every large city in the world runs on what is called just in time supply. Think about it no water being pumped, no sewage system working, no gas to be refined or, able to be pumped.  Trucks unable to deliver supplies to cities how long do you think a city would last without supplies? Three days is the best guess I have read about millions of people in a city with no food, no water, no heat or, ac. I read a conservative number of 75 percent of the population would go by way of the Dodo in less than a year I think that to be generous myself. It would be hell on earth just the disease a lone for all the dead bodies would be unimaginable does not sound exciting to me.

[Darkpig]

1 hour ago, woodsman30 said:

I would not be excited for this no need for asteroids, meteors, or any other space thing. A simple grid down would do it every large city in the world runs on what is called just in time supply. Think about it no water being pumped, no sewage system working, no gas to be refined or, able to be pumped.  Trucks unable to deliver supplies to cities how long do you think a city would last without supplies? Three days is the best guess I have read about millions of people in a city with no food, no water, no heat or, ac. I read a conservative number of 75 percent of the population would go by way of the Dodo in less than a year I think that to be generous myself. It would be hell on earth just the disease a lone for all the dead bodies would be unimaginable does not sound exciting to me.

Not just cities. Many people out in the boonies have already died from measles because they refused to go to a doctor. Maybe they got poked with a needle as a kid and hated doctors ever since.

[Count Chocula]

On 5/25/2025 at 9:44 PM, Darkpig said:

At least you were paying attention when it happened. I don't like telling people what to do but I love pointing out irony.

Unintentional irony (or as we used to call it "self-pwning") is the best.

[Count Chocula]

On 5/26/2025 at 1:13 AM, Darkpig said:

Not just cities. Many people out in the boonies have already died from measles because they refused to go to a doctor. Maybe they got poked with a needle as a kid and hated doctors ever since.

Yeah, I'm sure that's the reason.

[Dark Spectre]

On 5/24/2025 at 5:26 PM, Darkpig said:

Most corporate meetings are just an excuse for management to pretend they actually do work. They use fancy jargon to pretend to be smart when they are not. If things go bad(Or hell even if things go good) management lays off people and pretends that it was a hard sacrifice. We need more smart people to call out corporate bullshit.

And they blame the employees for any shortcomings without taking any responsibility, themselves.

[Grey Cloud]

"Against stupidity we are defenceless. Neither protest nor force can touch it; arguments fall on deaf ears. Evil always carries the seeds of its own undoing - it creates unease. But stupidity feels self-satisfied, immune and convinced of its own rightness. And that makes it far more dangerous."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

 

20 minute video - highly recommended.

 

 

[woodsman30]

On 5/28/2025 at 6:59 AM, Grey Cloud said:

"Against stupidity we are defenceless. Neither protest nor force can touch it; arguments fall on deaf ears. Evil always carries the seeds of its own undoing - it creates unease. But stupidity feels self-satisfied, immune and convinced of its own rightness. And that makes it far more dangerous."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Seems legit in light of recent developments future historians will be at a loss to explain on how stupid people really were in our time.

[Count Chocula]

17 minutes ago, woodsman30 said:

Seems legit in light of recent developments future historians will be at a loss to explain on how stupid people really were in our time.

The explanation seems pretty simple to me: people are irrational. The answer to the question 'Why are people irrational?" is the puzzler.

[Grey Cloud]

2 hours ago, chocula said:

The answer to the question 'Why are people irrational?" is the puzzler.

Ignorance.

Edited June 22, 2025 by Grey Cloud

[porkybork]

On 6/22/2025 at 11:14 AM, chocula said:

The explanation seems pretty simple to me: people are irrational. The answer to the question 'Why are people irrational?" is the puzzler.

People react with their emotions first, then rationalize their actions after the fact to make themselves feel justified in their irrational behavior. That’s what I think, at least.