It's elementary, Watson: stupidity should be cured

[jnd3]

Stupidity should be cured, says DNA discoverer

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993451

Gee, that should ruffle a few feathers somewhere. Shades of Brave New World, "I like being a Delta. I wouldn't want to be an Alpha or a Beta. They have too much responsibility."

Cheers,
JND

[Son Goku]

The funny part is if they were to try to take this too seriously, they might run into an itsy bitsy issue when they run into stupidity which isn't thought of as such by it's proponents. I mean for instance that which passed in the name of the Eugenic's programs and the attempt to apply selective breeding techinques to human populations.

http://www.eugenicsarchive.org/eugenics/

And oh yeah, in that there Bell case, the child who supposedly inherited her mother's alleged case of moral imbacility (because the mother would "allow" herself to be raped), the child was on the honor roll like 5 times as the child grew up...

[Kruno]

Originally posted by Son Goku
The funny part is if they were to try to take this too seriously, they might run into an itsy bitsy issue when they run into stupidity which isn't thought of as such by it's proponents. I mean for instance that which passed in the name of the Eugenic's programs and the attempt to apply selective breeding techinques to human populations.

http://www.eugenicsarchive.org/eugenics/

And oh yeah, in that there Bell case, the child who supposedly inherited her mother's alleged case of moral imbacility (because the mother would "allow" herself to be raped), the child was on the honor roll like 5 times as the child grew up...

Stupidity is one of those things that remain not only in our DNA but our spirit. Stupidity is not possible to cure, we are all as stupid as one another, the thing is that we all have different amounts/types of wisdom.

[Son Goku]

Although there are some people who are seemingly more stupid then certain others, there really are some things they'd have to take in account (above moral questions such proposal can bring):

- Albert Einstein was considered a genius, however this assesment was not necessarily by his school teachers. From what I've heard, young Einstein actually did rather poorly in school and from such earlier assesements could be taken for a dunce. However, be that as it may, it was also out from the brain of Einstein that many contributions to science such as his theories of general and special relativity arose.

- Psychologists can not even agree on exactly what intelligence is. Some people think it is only one trait, others think it is a combination of traits. And even here they can't agree on which one's, and so of course they can't agree on how to measure it.

- Many IQ tests have been culturally biased. And even some which can indicate how well one might do academically, aren't necessarily the best indicator of how one will do in life.

- Even people with a lot of book knowledge can do some pretty stupid things. A person who is a scientist (and not necessarily bad at it either) could be among the first to call computer support for some pretty silly things.

There can also be such a thing as "common" sense...

- Wisdom and knowledge aren't exactly and entirely the same thing

- There is arguably different kinds of intelligence, and a person who is a bit less then average in one area, might have above average in another. Again back to what one will measure. An artist might not make the best mathamitician, however a mathamatician might not make the best artist either...

- One's intelligence isn't all that can make the difference on "how well one will do". A person who grew up, and never had any need to study in any of the classes they took as a kid, might have never learned how to study. So when they hit that one class in college or graduate school, where they now need to study, they don't know how.

Also because things have come so easy to them before, and they haven't ever faced any obstacles or something they had to work at, they might become easily frustrated and just give up, instead of pushing ahead...

Also a person with many different talents might not end up deciding which one they want to develop in that life (there are so many), and as such not do much with any of them. Decisiveness, drive, and determination can also be important, if one wants to look at life...

[Kruno]

RANT: (My own opinion)
Albert Einstein was arguably one of the worlds biggest idiots for not realising the damage his research has done. His dream was that people would use his research. Obviously he should have known that someone eventually would have ulterior motives for the research.

"Although there are some people who are seemingly more stupid then certain others"

That statement is clouded, what is best to say is that some people have less wisdom in general areas than others.
I have friends who don't know the alphabet (literally) but know how to do maintenance on a motorcycle.

I don't know crap about a motorcycle though I do know the alphabet. That does not make me "smarter". Human beings are all on the same level of idiocy regardless of their 'IQ'. It's wisdom, knowledge and the way we percieve things that sets us apart.

Might I add, I agree with your points. :)
FOR NOW!!! dududududuuuuuuu... :D

[Son Goku]

Originally posted by K.I.L.E.R
RANT: (My own opinion)
Albert Einstein was arguably one of the worlds biggest idiots for not realising the damage his research has done. His dream was that people would use his research. Obviously he should have known that someone eventually would have ulterior motives for the research.

"Although there are some people who are seemingly more stupid then certain others"

That statement is clouded, what is best to say is that some people have less wisdom in general areas than others.
I have friends who don't know the alphabet (literally) but know how to do maintenance on a motorcycle.

Actually what I'm referencing is some people who have great difficulty in even completing the basic tasks necessary to live, without close monitoring and hospitilization. I don't know if this goes on anymore, as I haven't looked into it lattely. But some people in the past, who have an extremely low IQ (I mean like below 40), have been unable to carry on the basic necessities of life (such as figure out how to feed themselves). The results have been that either someone else has to feed them, or they starve to death. Note I'm not talking about a person who is missing limbs here, but rather...

I used to know of a person who couldn't even figure out whether they needed to go to the bathroom or not, and needed other people to tell them this. Ironically, this person was in some ways also a bit book smart, and could do well in academic tests. However, figuring out "I need to go now" was a challenge for them. They had to ask people whether they should sit on the toilet or not, and of course "how would I know?".

Unless this person just got giggles out of pretending to have such difficulties, I would say that a person who can't even figure out if they need to go to the bathroom, when they should sit on the toilet, or how to feed themselves does have difficulty here. And it isn't so much a matter of "so they don't know one thing, but they do another" as it is, they can't easily figure out how to survive, and if they were left to themselves the result would be death because of this.

In all due fairness however, I don't know how much of this was him, and how much... Well lets jus say that when his parents came once (we're talking summer camp here), the impression they gave off was of wealthy people who were control freaks. They didn't encourage, and quite frankly didn't allow their child to show any independence or to make any decisions for himself. He was 17 years old at the time, and I was a few years younger then...

[Kruno]

Well that is not idiocy then. :)
He was deprived of independence, smothered by his parents so he couldn't learn how to do things.

Idiocy on the other hand seems to be an opinionated thing.
You may call him an idiot but I do not.

When I joke I act like an idiot to make others laugh. That means for me, to do things randomly out of the ordinary.

Someone who does things without thinking about them at all is considered a fool, a fool is an idiot. That is the dictionary meaning.
Now, the thing is, if the person didn't think about the option that he was not told, then how did the option get to his head?
He must have thought of it. :)

Of course, that doesn't mean he thought about the consequences of that action. Again, a lot of consequences of an action may not happen when you think they will nor will they be predicatable a lot of the time. So is thinking about consequences of your actions foolish in itself?

We can go on forever discussing this. I will just leave it at that. :)

[Son Goku]

In retrospect (and remember this is retrospect, we did all tease him at the time, though latter on I saw how his parents acted) this could apply in his case. I saw one other similar case, though it was when I was visiting grandma in the nursing home. There were these 2 people, a father and his 50 year old son. The 50 year old son had to go in the nursing home with the father, who still bossed him around. However, at 50 I suppose it was perhaps too late for him, and he'd never stand up to his father and claim a life for himself... This was a different guy here.

But in all cases? Unfortunately some people in some cases take advantage of this, such as in one case when a person was put on death row for supposedly murdering someone. Someone else confessed to the crime latter on, though in his case they drilled him for 14 or more hours, told him to just say he did it and he could go home. Then they coached him in the confession. Thing is, someone asked him what a stun gun was, and he thought it was an electric razor.

I would say however that a person who can't perform the basic necessities for living could be an example. A person might not know how to read, but it won't of necessity kill them. A person being unable to feed themself will be unable to survive unless someone else does it. The body just can't survive without energy... A person not going to the bathroom when they need to could result in (if they don't end up wetting themself eventually) some severe bladder problems as the bladder just can't hold anymore and the pressure continues building... There are just certain facts considering biology, which like the laws of physics won't be changed due to unawareness. It's like a person that jumps off a mountain. Gravity doesn't care whether a person knows about it or not...

Note however, I wouldn't use a person who can't read as an example, because in many cases they might not have been taught. I'm not convinced that the educational system in some cases doesn't bare any responsibility in this. I would say, especially where illiteracy can be higher in some geographical locations then others... What are the chances that everyone living in one town has "stupid genes" and in another town they have "smart genes"? I don't think so.

I've also been in the class, aka with one professor who teachers calculus based physics, where almost no one could follow. Thing is, calc 1 was a co-requisite, but he went over stuff from calc 3 like everyone should know it already. He'd never explain anything, and he also used dark blue and deep purple chalk on the black board in a room that had poor lighting. He would routinely turn around and say

I see practically no one understands what I'm saying. Oh well...

and instead of stopping to make himself understandable to everyone, he would just go on. At drop day 80% of the class dropped, and out of the remainder, hardly anyone got even a passing grade. Was the class just stupid? I don't think so...he was just a bad teacher.

In any case, there really are a lot of other factors which come into play then an individual's intelligence which can effect things, even if Watson would like to lead on.

As to what hasn't been mentioned in this thread yet, his views on making people beutiful...this really is a loaded thing. Especially as beuty is in the eye of the beholder, and if one looks at cultural standards...these don't necessarily stay fixed. Take a look at much of "pop culture" and see how fast things can go in and out of style...