# Are people (as a group) actually stupid? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 28, 2010, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-as-a-group-actually-stupid/551743 "2010-08-28T00:39:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-as-a-group-actually-stupid/551743/41 "2010-09-01T22:31:24Z")
People ‘seem’ stupid because of group think. They don’t know who they really are and submit to ideas and realities designed by others, that are designed to spread stupidity through peer pressure to be accepted. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-as-a-group-actually-stupid/551743/42 "2010-09-01T23:54:35Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > People are not sheep. They are, however, pack animals. More like wolves. The analogy works better that way. They find a leader, follow his directives, look for weakness, and if they see it, pile on it and tear it apart. I disagree. I think people go happily about their business, doing their jobs and getting their sustinence - growing wool and grazing for sheep; more varied for humans - until some hyperactive fool - herding dog, nut-job politician/ clergy/ talking head - decides there is a threat and gets them all riled up and running for the cliff. But, honestly, we have to determine the evolutionary disadvantage for original thought, identify the gene that prevents it, and shut it off. ---
**Author:** ![CutterJohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/91b2a8/32.png) [@CutterJohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CutterJohn)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-as-a-group-actually-stupid/551743/43 "2010-09-02T02:02:48Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > Any time you see overly simple concepts, simple and non-nuanced positions, a lack of complexity regarding the perception of relationships of people and systems to the observer and a resistance to learning new things, you have a stupid person. Make of that what you will. Or they just don’t care much about the subject one way or the other. We all flush a lot of facts into the refuse bin without looking at them further, because its a fools errand to try to investigate them all. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-as-a-group-actually-stupid/551743/44 "2010-09-02T03:25:13Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Yes, we’re stupid; we possess pretty much the lowest intelligence you can have and still build a civilization. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have been the first… I am trying to figure out if that actually means anything … I think it does; I think you have a point. > [@](#): > > Our brains are built according to the “good enough to muddle though” standards of evolution, not according to any capability for objective judgment or consistent rational thinking. You touch on a point about evolution that most people miss; the species of individuals best adapted to a particular environment is at a **disadvantage** , because - here’s the tricky part - _things change._ A species need variation to respond. As for 50 % of people are below average - that is true by definition if you using the median. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-as-a-group-actually-stupid/551743/45 "2010-09-02T23:45:33Z")
> [@CutterJohn](#): > > > [@SmartAleq](#): > > > > Any time you see overly simple concepts, simple and non-nuanced positions, a lack of complexity regarding the perception of relationships of people and systems to the observer and a resistance to learning new things, you have a stupid person. Make of that what you will. > > Or they just don’t care much about the subject one way or the other. We all flush a lot of facts into the refuse bin without looking at them further, because its a fools errand to try to investigate them all. And I’ve noticed that stupider people tend to be markedly less curious as well, sometimes to the point of violently rejecting new information because they don’t want to be confused now that they’ve gotten it all straight to their own satisfaction. Smart people can’t help themselves–when an interesting bit of info hits their radar they’re very likely to turn it over and mull it and figure out how it fits into their world view. Because smart people don’t believe their intelligence is finite and therefore liable to be broken by too many facts. They tend to care about and be interested in a much wider group of subjects as well. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-as-a-group-actually-stupid/551743/46 "2010-09-04T01:55:21Z")
If a person does not think that their intelligence is finite, then they aren’t very smart about that. The only reason smart people seem to continuously increase their information load is because the brain starts removing the things that aren’t necessary. I’ve never met a person who tried to know everything that actually was capable of having in depth knowledge about everything they knew. And I’ve met a lot of curious people who aren’t really the smartest–I’d rather be with a curious dumb person than an apathetic intelligent one–and I’ve met both. Plus, having experienced in withdrawal the feeling that thinking too much can make your head hurt, I don’t blame people who experience that all the time for not wanting to use it. Heck, I’m envious of them, since I would love to not absorb knowledge I’d rather not know. There is some truth to the statement that ignorance is bliss. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-as-a-group-actually-stupid/551743.md?page=2)