UR stoopid, an gettin stoopiderer

[Coito ergo sum]

[Svartalf]

We are not amused

[Coito ergo sum]

We are not amused

LOL - I love that bit from Dan Tosh. I used to make that same joke ages ago when I was a student, because dopes would make the "bad test taker" excuse for not knowing their stuff.

"I'm a bad test taker."

"Yes, I get it. When we ask you questions, you don't know the answers."

[Warren Dew]

Crabtree refuted.

In science, any idea, to be accepted, has to do two things.

1. Offer a mechanism that is consistent with mainstream science.
2. Pass empirical testing. This is the more vital of the two requirements.

Crabtree found (as many others have) a mechanism consistent with mainstream science, and presented his idea based on this point alone. He totally failed to meet requirement number two, which is more important.

The Flynn Effect, on the other hand, was based on empirical testing, but was able to meet requirement one also, since IQ is known to be heavily dependent on learning. It is easy to show mechanisms by which learning is increasing IQ.

Any genetic effect, of the kind Crabtree refers to, is swamped by the learning effect.

Actually the Flynn effect reversed in the 1980s, basically starting with people who were born in the 1960s.

That could still be an environmental effect, but learning doesn't seem like a good candidate. Nutrition, and especially breast feeding, would be a better candidate.

[Tyrannical]

Crabtree refuted.

In science, any idea, to be accepted, has to do two things.

1. Offer a mechanism that is consistent with mainstream science.
2. Pass empirical testing. This is the more vital of the two requirements.

Crabtree found (as many others have) a mechanism consistent with mainstream science, and presented his idea based on this point alone. He totally failed to meet requirement number two, which is more important.

The Flynn Effect, on the other hand, was based on empirical testing, but was able to meet requirement one also, since IQ is known to be heavily dependent on learning. It is easy to show mechanisms by which learning is increasing IQ.

Any genetic effect, of the kind Crabtree refers to, is swamped by the learning effect.

Actually the Flynn effect reversed in the 1980s, basically starting with people who were born in the 1960s.

That could still be an environmental effect, but learning doesn't seem like a good candidate. Nutrition, and especially breast feeding, would be a better candidate.

The latest studies I've heard of for the Head Start program showed it to be totally useless. It was designed to counter poor environmental conditions and was shown statistically to have almost no lasting benefit. I admit I was quite surprised to find that out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_Start_Program

The Head Start Program is a program of the United States Department of Health and Human Services that provides comprehensive education, health, nutrition, and parent involvement services to low-income children and their families. The program's services and resources are designed to foster stable family relationships, enhance children’s physical and emotional well-being, and establish an environment to develop strong cognitive skills. The transition from preschool to kindergarten imposes diverse developmental challenges that include requiring the children to engage successfully with their peers outside of the family network, adjust to the space of a classroom, and meet the expectations the school setting provides [

[Warren Dew]

Crabtree refuted.

In science, any idea, to be accepted, has to do two things.

1. Offer a mechanism that is consistent with mainstream science.
2. Pass empirical testing. This is the more vital of the two requirements.

Crabtree found (as many others have) a mechanism consistent with mainstream science, and presented his idea based on this point alone. He totally failed to meet requirement number two, which is more important.

The Flynn Effect, on the other hand, was based on empirical testing, but was able to meet requirement one also, since IQ is known to be heavily dependent on learning. It is easy to show mechanisms by which learning is increasing IQ.

Any genetic effect, of the kind Crabtree refers to, is swamped by the learning effect.

Actually the Flynn effect reversed in the 1980s, basically starting with people who were born in the 1960s.

That could still be an environmental effect, but learning doesn't seem like a good candidate. Nutrition, and especially breast feeding, would be a better candidate.

The latest studies I've heard of for the Head Start program showed it to be totally useless. It was designed to counter poor environmental conditions and was shown statistically to have almost no lasting benefit. I admit I was quite surprised to find that out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_Start_Program

The Head Start Program is a program of the United States Department of Health and Human Services that provides comprehensive education, health, nutrition, and parent involvement services to low-income children and their families. The program's services and resources are designed to foster stable family relationships, enhance children’s physical and emotional well-being, and establish an environment to develop strong cognitive skills. The transition from preschool to kindergarten imposes diverse developmental challenges that include requiring the children to engage successfully with their peers outside of the family network, adjust to the space of a classroom, and meet the expectations the school setting provides [

I notice breast feeding is nowhere on that page.

[Collector1337]

The Marching Morons keep marching on and on.

We've become so soft as a society. We have to ban guns because God forbid idiots get themselves killed. So then, we can have all these idiots running around, who all pretty much reproduce at a much higher rate than high IQ individuals. Then, there will be even more morons. Who will reproduce even more morons. Eventually, it's going to be a small number of elite individuals with high IQs who have to run all of society to protect all the morons.

If we continue on this course, instead of letting nature do it's thing, where idiots can get weeded out of the gene pool... it will be our doom. We went over the 7 BILLION mark of the Earth's population. Scientists say the Earth can really only support 3-4 billion humans.

Doesn't anybody else see how unsustainable this is?

[Seth]

The Marching Morons keep marching on and on.

We've become so soft as a society. We have to ban guns because God forbid idiots get themselves killed. So then, we can have all these idiots running around, who all pretty much reproduce at a much higher rate than high IQ individuals. Then, there will be even more morons. Who will reproduce even more morons. Eventually, it's going to be a small number of elite individuals with high IQs who have to run all of society to protect all the morons.

If we continue on this course, instead of letting nature do it's thing, where idiots can get weeded out of the gene pool... it will be our doom. We went over the 7 BILLION mark of the Earth's population. Scientists say the Earth can really only support 3-4 billion humans.

Doesn't anybody else see how unsustainable this is?

I do. The real problem is that in the past, the stupid killed themselves off pretty quickly, thus removing the defective genes from the gene pool. But that all change on July 16, 1945, when the stupid people gained the capacity (thanks to the smart people) to take everyone else with them.

[Warren Dew]

Eventually, it's going to be a small number of elite individuals with high IQs who have to run all of society to protect all the morons.

"Eventually"?

[Jason]

Eventually, it's going to be a small number of elite individuals with high IQs who have to run all of society to protect all the morons.

"Eventually"?

Mein götterdämmerung!

I can only hope all the morons are armed so as to rebel against this tyranny of intellectuals.

[Jason]

Should've made that götzen-dämmerung.

[pErvinalia]

Eventually, it's going to be a small number of elite individuals with high IQs who have to run all of society to protect all the morons.

"Eventually"?

Mein götterdämmerung!

I can only hope all the morons are armed so as to rebel against this tyranny of intellectuals.

[Warren Dew]

Eventually, it's going to be a small number of elite individuals with high IQs who have to run all of society to protect all the morons.

"Eventually"?

Mein götterdämmerung!

I can only hope all the morons are armed so as to rebel against this tyranny of intellectuals.

It's not a tyranny of intellectuals so much as enslavement of the intelligent.

[JimC]

The Marching Morons keep marching on and on.

We've become so soft as a society. We have to ban guns because God forbid idiots get themselves killed. So then, we can have all these idiots running around, who all pretty much reproduce at a much higher rate than high IQ individuals. Then, there will be even more morons. Who will reproduce even more morons. Eventually, it's going to be a small number of elite individuals with high IQs who have to run all of society to protect all the morons.

If we continue on this course, instead of letting nature do it's thing, where idiots can get weeded out of the gene pool... it will be our doom. We went over the 7 BILLION mark of the Earth's population. Scientists say the Earth can really only support 3-4 billion humans.

Doesn't anybody else see how unsustainable this is?

I know you are referencing a science fiction story from quite some time back, but I can't remember its name, or the author...

[Blind groper]

Guess what, Jim?

It is called The Marching Morons.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Marching_Morons