The country's I Q gets lower every year

[Steveruch]

A few days ago a story came on the news about a hit and run accident. I do a lot of walking and feel really bad whenever I hear about a pedestrian being run over.
My sympathy evaporated when I saw the cell phone video of the incident. A woman was crossing a two lane street in the middle of the block after dark. She got across the closest lane and over the centerline when a van approaching on the other lane stopped pretty close to the woman. Instead of getting the rest of the way across the street and flipping him off from the safety of the sidewalk she looks like she is cursing the driver out and pounding on the front of his van. The video was stopped there and the part of her getting run over was not broadcast.
WTF was she thinking? Road rage when you're on foot is a really stupid idea.

 

[passedpawn]

An 11-yr old was run over last week by a Amtrack train @ 68 mph. Conductor said she never looked up, though he was blaring the horn. She was looking down at her phone as the train hit her, and wearing headphones.

But to address the thread title, it's not true. Can't remember where I read it, but apparently there's some sort of standardized test that shows that average intelligence has been rising for the last 100 years.

Frankly, if you come to any conclusion regarding anything based on mainstream media, you are likely to come to the wrong conclusion.

 

[MaxStout]

I don't think it's a decline in intelligence. It's perhaps a decline in civility. But even that could be called into question. Are people getting worse, or is it just that we're hearing about more incidents today via the 24/7 news cycle? Shiatty people are going to be shiatty, and always have been.

 

[Owly055]

A few days ago a story came on the news about a hit and run accident. I do a lot of walking and feel really bad whenever I hear about a pedestrian being run over.
My sympathy evaporated when I saw the cell phone video of the incident. A woman was crossing a two lane street in the middle of the block after dark. She got across the closest lane and over the centerline when a van approaching on the other lane stopped pretty close to the woman. Instead of getting the rest of the way across the street and flipping him off from the safety of the sidewalk she looks like she is cursing the driver out and pounding on the front of his van. The video was stopped there and the part of her getting run over was not broadcast.
WTF was she thinking? Road rage when you're on foot is a really stupid idea.

My father was subject to this when walking in the city. He carried a walking stick, which really was for defense, as he was extremely fit. The walking stick was a telescoping tripod leg that reduced small enough to fit in his jacket pocket, with the tip filled with lead. Walking in downtown, drivers will use their vehicles for intimidation to force pedestrians up on the curb so they can make a right turn through the crosswalk when the light is in the pedestrian's favor. He would raise this walking stick threateningly when someone tried to do this, and almost invariably they would give way. My dad was not a big man, but he was a very intimidating man, and nobody stood up to him when he was angry. One day he and I were walking through downtown Portland, and we stepped into a crosswalk.... with the walk light in our favor. A driver tried to force us back, and would not give way. Dad brought his stick down across the hood of that car so hard it sounded like a gunshot, and left a visible crease in the hood. The guy stopped of course .......... you should have seen his face!!..... and all the pedestrians crossed around him. it was priceless! He knew better than to get out and confront my father. I witnessed a dog attack once, and by the time dad got through with the dog, I doubt he ever attacked a pedestrian again.

What the pedestrian you describe did was inconsiderate, and illegal, however pedestrians ALWAYS have the right away regardless of circumstances, and murder or vehicular assault is a crime that cannot be justified or tolerated under any circumstances except self defense. A person who uses a vehicle to assault another person should never be allowed to drive again....... EVER, and should serve a suitable sentence.

There will always be conflict between vehicles and pedestrians. it's inevitable. People walked this earth hundreds of thousands of years before the wheel was even thought of, and will be walking the earth long after our civilization has collapsed as it inevitably will do.

H.W.

 

[Owly055]

I don't think it's a decline in intelligence. It's perhaps a decline in civility. But even that could be called into question. Are people getting worse, or is it just that we're hearing about more incidents today via the 24/7 news cycle? Shiatty people are going to be shiatty, and always have been.

I became finally convinced in 2016 that human intelligence was in a steep decline..............

H.W.

 

[passedpawn]

I became finally convinced in 2016 that human intelligence was in a steep decline..............

H.W.

Besides the research that I mentioned above, my own experience indicates you are incredibly wrong.

 

[Inkleg]

however pedestrians ALWAYS have the right away regardless of circumstances

Not in my state. In Georgia your a** better be in a crosswalk or it's on you.

Here's a good rule of thumb as you go through life, "If it's bigger than you get the fu*k out of its way".

 

[yourlastchance89]

"Better to keep your mouth shut and to let people think you an idiot, than for you to open it and prove it."

One thing is behind this phenomenon and it is social media. Everyone has a platform to voice whatever they feel with virtually no repercussions.

 

[MaxStout]

Not in my state. In Georgia your a** better be in a crosswalk or it's on you.

Here's a good rule of thumb as you go through life, "If it's bigger than you get the fu*k out of its way".

This. If the traffic doesn't look like it's going to stop I stay on the curb until it's clear for me to cross. Even if you DO have the right of way, being right is little consolation if you're dead.

 

[triethylborane]

Besides the research that I mentioned above, my own experience indicates you are incredibly wrong.

@Owly055 is just putting out a meme. Lots of salt to be mined.

IQ has increased with time, you are correct. See "Flynn Effect." Note there arent different forms of intelligence, there is just IQ.

 

[triethylborane]

Not in my state. In Georgia your a** better be in a crosswalk or it's on you.

Here's a good rule of thumb as you go through life, "If it's bigger than you get the fu*k out of its way".

Yeah, clearly. If a pedestrian always had the right of way, then jaywalking would not be on the statues. Likewise, a pedestrian has no right of way on an interstate or similar highway. Rofl.

 

[day_trippr]

I became finally convinced in 2016 that human intelligence was in a steep decline.

Early November, perhaps?

 

[triethylborane]

Early November, perhaps?

Ive been reminded ad nauseam the democrat did win the popular vote. So perhaps @Owly055 is correct.

 

[SleepyCreekBrews]

Reminds me of that movie called Idiocracy ....all the stupid people of the earth out-bred the smart people and the world ended up being a mass of bumbling fools.
...it could happen!

 

[Steveruch]

Here's a good rule of thumb as you go through life, "If it's bigger than you get the fu*k out of its way".

I started doing a lot of walking after the recession forced me into early retirement and would have been seriously hurt, or worse, many times if I didn't give way to any driver who looks even a tiny bit like he's in a hurry, not paying attention, eating, talking on the phone etc.
A 175 pound person is never going to win an encounter with a 3,000 pound hunk of steel.

 

[Steveruch]

Besides the research that I mentioned above, my own experience indicates you are incredibly wrong.

I guess all of the smart people must live in Florida, because there are a whole lot of dumb fu#ks living in my neck of the woods.
On the other hand maybe the ones that I run into are the still unemployed cretins that are basically unemployable.

 

[pvpeacock]

IQ's may be up, but common sense is definitely down.

 

[Steveruch]

IQ's may be up, but common sense is definitely down.

That would account for a lot of it.

 

[passedpawn]

Haha, florida has it's share

 

[NickTheGreat]

I could see average IQ being up. I mean look at the progress of mankind in this century alone.

Though I don't believe every person's IQ is higher. I see this more as a "rich get richer and poor get poorer" type of phenomenon.

 

[Homercidal]

So did that van run the lady over, or did the van get hit from behind or did she get hit from another car going around the van...

Inquiring minds want to know!

I've heard that they have put noisemaking devices on electric cars because blind people can't hear them coming (which is a terrible way to live life, honestly, but what can you do?)

 

[KCBrewer]

Haha, florida has it's share

Yes it does. Just Google "Florida Man".

 

[triethylborane]

I see this more as a "rich get richer and poor get poorer" type of phenomenon.

The poor certainly are not getting poorer. Not in the US. Maybe in Venezuela, but everyone is getting poorer there.

The rich get rich(er) because they engage in transactions (contracts) that are mutually beneficial. Thats how it works. There is no fixed pie or rich guy taking money out of the poor persons' pocket, the poor guy has no money to take anyway.

 

[passedpawn]

So did that van run the lady over, or did the van get hit from behind or did she get hit from another car going around the van...

Inquiring minds want to know!

I've heard that they have put noisemaking devices on electric cars because blind people can't hear them coming (which is a terrible way to live life, honestly, but what can you do?)

I figured blind people will be driving driverless cars That takes care of that.

 

[MaxStout]

IQ's may be up, but common sense is definitely down.

If common sense was common, everyone would have it.

 

[JohnSand]

I still believe that most people are nice, and many people are smart.
But I saw stunningly stupid in 28 years of law enforcement and rescue.
"I can't believe my boat is sinking! I just bought it today for $500,000" (When 500k was real money)
Me: "You should have bought a chart for $14, because you went on the wrong side of that lighthouse"
(Yeah, paper charts, 1980s)
Me again, to a teen with a broken leg: "Son, don't step out in front of traffic and expect them to stop."
And "You jumped out of a third floor window to avoid a burglary charge? They would have let you out in three days. Have fun in the hospital."
I got a million of 'em.

 

[MaxStout]

I still believe that most people are nice, and many people are smart.
But I saw stunningly stupid in 28 years of law enforcement and rescue.
"I can't believe my boat is sinking! I just bought it today for $500,000" (When 500k was real money)
Me: "You should have bought a chart for $14, because you went on the wrong side of that lighthouse"
(Yeah, paper charts, 1980s)
Me again, to a teen with a broken leg: "Son, don't step out in front of traffic and expect them to stop."
And "You jumped out of a third floor window to avoid a burglary charge? They would have let you out in three days. Have fun in the hospital."
I got a million of 'em.

 

[NeoBrew]

I could see average IQ being up. I mean look at the progress of mankind in this century alone.

Though I don't believe every person's IQ is higher. I see this more as a "rich get richer and poor get poorer" type of phenomenon.

This makes sense to me. People are figuring out how to go to Mars and the secrets of life. They are raising the average for all the complete idiots out there! How many nuclear physicists and biological researchers does it take to offset the hoards of morons too enthralled with their phones to look out for their personal well being?

 

[BobBailey]

[QUOTE="

But to address the thread title, it's not true. Can't remember where I read it, but apparently there's some sort of standardized test that shows that average intelligence has been rising for the last 100 years.

[/QUOTE]
There's a big difference between G2 and gee whiz. IMHO, gee whiz is, and has been, on the decline since the '60s. Not because of the drugs, but because of the apathy that developed when entitlement became the norm.

 

[Btaz]

As hard as we have tried to eliminate it, natural selection is still here

 

[day_trippr]

I dunno. Aside from self-inflicted termination (Darwin Award candidates) from birth to pretty much gomer mode modern medicine is working hard to defeat genetic adversities.
For better or worse there are sets of humans who persist but would have been doomed a couple of decades ago...

Cheers!

 

[Pkrd]

I became finally convinced in 2016 that human intelligence was in a steep decline..............

But you joined HBT in 2014.

 

[z-bob]

Isn't the median IQ by definition 100? Whether people overall get smarter or dumber, the IQ's would remain the same.

 

[eekdageek]

These are truly sad stories more or less about there being simply less civil and kind behavior in society. As a brew related counterpoint, I recently got an impromptu beer review at my LHS (Urban Brewers, Miami) from an assortment of customers. The beer sucked, contaminated, so the only thing in it for them was to help others.

#bettertogether #homebrew

 

[jleiii]

In our area, and pbly typical in many places, there are pedestrian cross walks with stop signs in the middle of the road, yet drivers still ignore them. I once stopped at one, and watched 10 cars pass through the other way and finally the person stepped back onto the sidewalk and waved me on. The blatent lack of consideration for others is beyond appaling anymore.

 

[NickTheGreat]

The poor certainly are not getting poorer. Not in the US. Maybe in Venezuela, but everyone is getting poorer there.

The rich get rich(er) because they engage in transactions (contracts) that are mutually beneficial. Thats how it works. There is no fixed pie or rich guy taking money out of the poor persons' pocket, the poor guy has no money to take anyway.

I was talking in the metaphorical sense about IQ.

No socialism from this guy

 

[ancientmariner52]

Some years ago I heard a Massachusetts state legislator comment, on NPR, that the state's education system was a failure. His evidence? Half of the students were below average.

 

[Steveruch]

So did that van run the lady over, or did the van get hit from behind or did she get hit from another car going around the van...
Inquiring minds want to know!
QUOTE]



The news program didn't actually show the van running her over, but no other vehicles were involved.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

pedestrians ALWAYS have the right away regardless of circumstances

That may be true, but "But he had the right of way!" is not what I want engraved on my tombstone.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

This happened on the other part of town from me. I'm familiar with that part of town too. What was not mentioned is that the van just came around a blind corner, she was dressed in dark clothing, and she initiated the confrontation. The media made her out to be a saint and the van some kind of evil villain. I'm not saying what the van did was right, but if you dress like a ninja and want to play frogger in the dark, get ready to lose.