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The human race is gradually becoming dumber.

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collectoritis
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29 Jul 2009, 9:12 pm

Um , many people couldn't even read back in the old days :roll:



collectoritis
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29 Jul 2009, 9:19 pm

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

Too bad there are no such things such as death globes in real life , then we'd be wiped out & can start from scratch again :lol: 8) :D



Prof_Pretorius
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30 Jul 2009, 12:03 am

collectoritis wrote:
Um , many people couldn't even read back in the old days :roll:


Thanks for helping me make my point....

~sighs~

DUH ! !! !


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Prof_Pretorius
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30 Jul 2009, 12:06 am

Henriksson wrote:
Prof_Pretorius wrote:
All right then, I'll haul out the big guns....

Read any diary entry of letter from any soldier in the US Civil War. Go ahead and check this out ! !! !!
These soldiers were, more often than not, 18 years old or thereabouts. But the level of English and grammar used are fantastic.
Now read anything written by even the best of students that age and it's pathetic ! !! !! !!

Before you say it ! !! !
The ability to express oneself in one's native language is an accurate gauge of intelligence.
Any monkey can operate a cell phone.

Gee, that might have nothing to do with that letters were the only means for communication for them, and therefore it makes sense to be good in this skill, while nowadays people can spout out pretty much anything through the internet? The spell and grammar checkers of programs like Word has turned such skills pretty redundant, I'm not sure how you can argue that this is an indicator of decreased intelligence. Quite opposite, the analphabetism in the world has been in a steady decline.

Anyway, a casual glance at your posts show that one doesn't necessarily have to be young to fail to express oneself adequately.



What ???
Thank you for your confused post and idiot response ...
You have made my point ...


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Henriksson
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30 Jul 2009, 9:43 am

Prof_Pretorius wrote:
collectoritis wrote:
Um , many people couldn't even read back in the old days :roll:


Thanks for helping me make my point....

~sighs~

DUH ! !! !

Prof_Pretorius wrote:
Henriksson wrote:
Prof_Pretorius wrote:
All right then, I'll haul out the big guns....

Read any diary entry of letter from any soldier in the US Civil War. Go ahead and check this out ! !! !!
These soldiers were, more often than not, 18 years old or thereabouts. But the level of English and grammar used are fantastic.
Now read anything written by even the best of students that age and it's pathetic ! !! !! !!

Before you say it ! !! !
The ability to express oneself in one's native language is an accurate gauge of intelligence.
Any monkey can operate a cell phone.

Gee, that might have nothing to do with that letters were the only means for communication for them, and therefore it makes sense to be good in this skill, while nowadays people can spout out pretty much anything through the internet? The spell and grammar checkers of programs like Word has turned such skills pretty redundant, I'm not sure how you can argue that this is an indicator of decreased intelligence. Quite opposite, the analphabetism in the world has been in a steady decline.

Anyway, a casual glance at your posts show that one doesn't necessarily have to be young to fail to express oneself adequately.



What ???
Thank you for your confused post and idiot response ...
You have made my point ...

Is your whole arguing method built on pretending that people are ret*d and claiming they somehow proved your point?


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tinky
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01 Aug 2009, 6:59 pm

ahem just thought i'd pop in and say that idiocracy is on comedy central at 6 tonight. oh and on sunday.


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pakled
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01 Aug 2009, 11:59 pm

Oh yeah, the 1890 High school exams. I remember seeing those.

They raise some interesting questions about what's considered 'relevant knowledge'.

How many bushels does it take to fill up a box car? (With 1% of Americans as farmers, we don't really know, do we? In 1890, it was well over a quarter of the population0

List the 14 Epochs of American Civilization (presupposes that everyone picks the same events, and would we have 28 now?...;)

Those are the only 2 I remember from the last time I saw it.

Now, for the 1890 students -
what's a URL?
What's an Operating System?
If a packet leaves Chicago at the speed of light, and passes through 3 top-level servers, and another packet leaves Los Angeles at the same time, at what point in the Internet will they collide?...;)



Skilpadde
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02 Aug 2009, 3:04 am

Henriksson wrote:
Prof_Pretorius wrote:
All right then, I'll haul out the big guns....

Read any diary entry of letter from any soldier in the US Civil War. Go ahead and check this out ! !! !!
These soldiers were, more often than not, 18 years old or thereabouts. But the level of English and grammar used are fantastic.
Now read anything written by even the best of students that age and it's pathetic ! !! !! !!

Before you say it ! !! !
The ability to express oneself in one's native language is an accurate gauge of intelligence.
Any monkey can operate a cell phone.

Gee, that might have nothing to do with that letters were the only means for communication for them, and therefore it makes sense to be good in this skill, while nowadays people can spout out pretty much anything through the internet? The spell and grammar checkers of programs like Word has turned such skills pretty redundant, I'm not sure how you can argue that this is an indicator of decreased intelligence. Quite opposite, the analphabetism in the world has been in a steady decline.



If someone leaves spelling and grammar checkers to Word then it does say something about that person's intelligence and knowledge if he/she finds these skills redundant and can't write without Word baby sitting him/her.



Henriksson
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02 Aug 2009, 3:25 am

Skilpadde wrote:
Henriksson wrote:
Prof_Pretorius wrote:
All right then, I'll haul out the big guns....

Read any diary entry of letter from any soldier in the US Civil War. Go ahead and check this out ! !! !!
These soldiers were, more often than not, 18 years old or thereabouts. But the level of English and grammar used are fantastic.
Now read anything written by even the best of students that age and it's pathetic ! !! !! !!

Before you say it ! !! !
The ability to express oneself in one's native language is an accurate gauge of intelligence.
Any monkey can operate a cell phone.

Gee, that might have nothing to do with that letters were the only means for communication for them, and therefore it makes sense to be good in this skill, while nowadays people can spout out pretty much anything through the internet? The spell and grammar checkers of programs like Word has turned such skills pretty redundant, I'm not sure how you can argue that this is an indicator of decreased intelligence. Quite opposite, the analphabetism in the world has been in a steady decline.



If someone leaves spelling and grammar checkers to Word then it does say something about that person's intelligence and knowledge if he/she finds these skills redundant and can't write without Word baby sitting him/her.

Elaborate. What does it say about someone's intelligence?


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Prof_Pretorius
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03 Aug 2009, 8:55 pm

It bloody well says that you are not nearly as smart as you think you are.

~Ahem~ (Clears throat.)
When I was in Uni, we had to use TYPEWRITERS to write our papers. This meant you had to have a good grasp of spelling and grammar. The TYPEWRITER, you see, just sat there and didn't correct spelling and grammar. It just sat there. So a good test of your intelligence would be to sit you down at one and have you write several paragraphs on, oh let's see now, the idea of man's inhumanity to mankind as expressed in "Huck Fin".


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Last edited by Prof_Pretorius on 04 Aug 2009, 11:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Averick
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03 Aug 2009, 10:47 pm

I think sometimes maybe humans are becoming more dense,
then sometimes I think that maybe I was supposed to intellectually commit more than other people.

Who knows.