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Our Future?

Croyvern

By Croyvern
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Croyvern Newbie

Croyvern

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I was wondering where our world will be in twenty years. Maybe its just me, but I have noticed that while children today seem to be very gifted and learn very quickly there seems to be a major retardation of the national gene pool. I realize that my parents thought I made some very stupid choices, I am aware that they were correct on more times than I could have ever believed. But we knew there where consequences for our actions, we did not assume that we would live through something. We saw a lot of suffering in the seventies, I remember knowing dozens of children afflicted with problems from polio or related illnesses. Keep in mind this was before computers were the mainstream, and there was not "net" for doctors to share information. We saw real tragedies that would not end, burn victims with skin graphs. Kids today have lived there entire lives under the umbrella of plastic surgery. Its as if they go through life thinking, I can totally like mess myself up because once I am famous for doing this stupid trick I can just use my money to make myself look better. I have two children in their late teens. Gifted classes, honors classes, brilliant kids over all. Yet, they can not comprehend the true meaning of consequences. I never understood, could not figure just what I did wrong. Today I read an article that made me realize its not just my kids, its kids in general. Let us pray its not in the water. Here is the article, share your opinions.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/08/31/2010-08-31_teen_whose_heart_stopped_after_attaching_electrified_clamp_to_his_nipple_sues_te.html

If this was my child, I would have spanked him and cut his ethernet cable.

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Imoutgoodbye Newbie

Imoutgoodbye

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Hmmm....

I gotta point out that the increasing trend seems to be more directly related to the increasing population, easier access to drugs, etc.....

We'll see more and more. Of course, back in Croyvern's day, when you did stupid **** YOU were solely responsible. Now you can break into someone's house, get shot, and sue the person whose house you broke into. Talk about enabling bull****.

And yeah, I'd be a teacher egging the idiot on. It's called population control. :D

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mmajunkie Newbie

mmajunkie

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Hate stuff like this. Is it the teacher's fault? Yeah, the idiot shouldn't be talking to his students about his fantasy football roster and not notice the attention some other kid is getting electrocuting himself...

Doesn't mean he should be getting sued. He should receive some sort of disciplinary action from the school board probably. But the student is a moron and did it to himself, it was not an accident that was caused or facilitated by the teacher.

Everyone wants that meal ticket though and will try to blame anyone they can for their own absolute idiocy.

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J.Twendrist Newbie

J.Twendrist

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Why would you expect a kid with stupid parents to be anything but stupid? They were angry the teacher didn't warn him about clamping metal with wires to his nipples, of all places, and plugging it into an electrical socket. Seems to me he should have known better, and its nothing but his own fault. The parents need to be put in jail and the kid needs to be in special ed. Well actually, no, that would give the people he was placed with a bad name.

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mya Newbie

mya

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Children of today are not more stupid than the ages before.

They just have not learn the lessons about consequence of actions. To much protection creates this. Children need to learn from their mistakes. Not letting them make mistakes leads to big mistakes latter on.

Children are as smart as previous generations. If anything, what has changed is maturity levels. Which in my view is expected as we are starting to live longer and longer.

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shadowjunkie Newbie

shadowjunkie

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From the stars and stripes today: Doctor got stuck in chimney, died

Bakersfield California

A doctor involved in an "on-again, off-again" relationship apparently treid to force her way into her boyfriend's home by sliding down the chimney, police said. Her decomposing body was found there three days later. Dr. Jacquelyn Kotarac, 49, first tried to get into the house with a shovel, then climbed a ladder to the roof last, removed the chimney cap and slid feet first down the flue, Bakesfield police Sgt. Mary DeGeare said.

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Ok so .. clearly. Brilliance/education does not ... a smart person make. My mother-in-law is in her doctorate courses and she whipped out her "masters in English" argument to prove to me that Star Trek is in the fantasy genre, as opposed to sci-fi.

I also had a neighbor that muttered "Well I do have a degree" during her assertion that Belgium is indeed in Germany.

What does this all mean? I have no idea. People are stupid. Right? isn't that the wizard's first rule? Stupid rule .. I know but. I mean I get where Zedd is coming from.

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Also, I've noticed this .. thing where we think everything we think now is somehow different from how we've thought in the past just because we have the internet. Like an orgy is something cutting edge and new.. or homosexuality. Why does every generation think there's some "sexual revolution" going on .. " DUDE .. NOBODY ... HAS BEEN THIS NAKED BEFORE... this is unreal!?" No politician has banged his secretary before .. Save the children!

This is horse crap. We face the exact same crap that every human has faced since the freakin wheel. STD's, drugs, corruption, money, sin, humanity. It's the same old song man. This self worship "You don't understand the challenges sitting on my *** all day comes with.. it was easier 500 years ago." Is just people doing what we always do which is try to deal with the unbearable lightness of being.

Love your wife, call your parents, you'll be dead before you know it.

I'll leave you with this:

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/404/enemy-camp-2010

(24:50)

With the take home idea "Maybe you're overselling your brain."

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Mali Newbie

Mali

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Now you can break into someone's house, get shot, and sue the person whose house you broke into.

Not in Florida. Castle doctrine FTW.

One: It establishes, in law, the presumption that a criminal who forcibly enters or intrudes into your home or occupied vehicle is there to cause death or great bodily harm, therefore a person may use any manner of force, including deadly force, against that person.

Two: It removes the "duty to retreat" if you are attacked in any place you have a right to be. You no longer have to turn your back on a criminal and try to run when attacked. Instead, you may stand your ground and fight back, meeting force with force, including deadly force, if you reasonably believe it is necessary to prevent death or great bodily harm to yourself or others. [This is an American right repeatedly recognized in Supreme Court gun cases.]

Three: It provides that persons using force authorized by law shall not be prosecuted for using such force.

It also prohibits criminals and their families from suing victims for injuring or killing the criminals who have attacked them.

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Pali Newbie

Pali

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Actualy THIS IS NATURAL SELECTION.

No, it is not. Natural selection deals with environmental influences on the reproduction of populations, not chance events occurring to individuals - someone being killed by a tornado or car accident is no more natural selection than this is.

Foxx is right that in many ways we have removed ourselves from the effects of natural selection - hell, that's what pretty much the entirety of modern medicine is devoted to doing. I fully expect that for a while, the average adult human IQ in developed areas will show a decline (already noticeable in that the few remaining hunter/gatherer societies have a higher average IQ), and other physical and mental genetic defects will become more common as they no longer kill us as children and we survive to reproduce and pass them on to our own offspring. There's also the simple fact that intelligent people reproduce less than unintelligent people.

As for this case... unless the 18-year-old was diagnosed as mentally incompetent and placed under the teacher's care with that knowledge, I don't think the teacher should be to blame here. One adult should not be held responsible for the stupid behavior of another. However, as the teacher wasn't actually teaching anything at the time, there's certainly a case for the school to sanction him for not doing his job... or there would be had he not already quit said job.

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Mali Newbie

Mali

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1. Mya, Pali is correct. Natural selection is more of differential net reproductive success than it is individual survival over time. Although Pali is wrong that we have removed ourselves from it. If anything the opposite, since people can move around the globe and mate more than ever. Take Deykari for example, his genes are now floating around England, Egypt, Pakistan, Yemen, Micronesia, and Indianapolis. Under Darwin's criteria, he could be said to be very successful and the introduction of those genes in different populations will influence humanity in years to come.

2. Mindflayer, I'm surprised at your advocacy for karyotyping and aborting especially since you are on your way to becoming a doctor. Any operation that involves sticking a needle in the womb has its risks therefore your promotion of a risky procedure for weeding out genetic abnormalities is disturbing. In fact, that line of thinking is a perfect fit with WWII era German medical ideologies. Furthermore, no test is 100% accurate and some degree of thought must go into a parents decision to abort for whatever reason. Since it is such a personal decision, medical advocacy of abortion is a real ethical issue and one that should not be approached light-heartedly. There is also a right to life issue in that most of the time folks with disabilities can enjoy life to its fullest. Having said that, I am pro-choice. Still I must caution you against light-hearted recommendations of invasive prenatal operations.

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Pali Newbie

Pali

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1. Although Pali is wrong that we have removed ourselves from it.

I did not say that we have removed ourselves from it... I said that in many ways we have removed ourselves from its effects (for example, my bad eyesight is no longer selected against because we have invented glasses to correct it and have enough environmental control that predators are rarely encountered, so I am capable of passing on that bad eyesight to offspring rather than having been eaten as a child). I fully agree that it is still happening (and should have worded my original post better... sorry, was getting ready for work at the time)... but it's just not happening in ways that most people would recognize as natural selection (largely due to ignorance of the subject). Right now, natural selection is arguably favoring lower levels of intelligence in humans, as such people tend to breed more.

P.S. Also, Dey having his genes around the world is not natural selection - that's gene flow, one of the other things that factors in to evolution. ;)

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Mali Newbie

Mali

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Nice counter Pali and you are correct. Of course gene flow and natural selection are intertwined and both contribute to evolution.

I often wonder what the species will look like once we have annihilated most of the population through pandemics, nuclear war, or some other catastrophe.

Think of small populations of survivors and the bottle-necking that will occur in different regions.

Another possibility to spur evolution is space travel and human settlements on different planets. The diet, atmosphere, solar relationship and other factors will no doubt change the way we are.

As far as the original post is concerned and the stupidity of people... hey, thats always been around, and by the looks of it is here to stay. One day we might just turn around and exclaim "Take your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty APE!"

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