alt Hacker NewsThe effects of Idiocracy are much worse than we appreciate. I believe it's hidden in part by technology (as a cognitive crutch) and part by top skilled immigration (people previously suppressed in their undeveloped countries). And education is much, much worse almost everywhere by leaning more to memorization and catering to the lowest common denominator. Student A is bad at math and good at language, student B is the opposite, both get the worst education for both subjects.
I think we haven't felt yet the true consequences of this. Worldwide.
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> by top skilled immigration
who are mostly from countries where education is
> leaning more to memorization
Memorization is pretty much the single largest undervalued thing in the west which has a gigantic impact on the mental capabilities of people.
I mean I get that rote memorization of eg. The multiplication table (7x7=49 etc pp) feels pointless, but it is training your brain. And a growing person whose brain is still developing who continuously memorizes new things will be smarter by the time they're 20 then the same person that didn't, only put in minimal effort because everyone around them talks like intelligence is mostly genetics.
I mean genetics definitely plays a role given the same circumstances - but your effort - including memorization - is massively more impactful.
> And education is much, much worse almost everywhere by leaning more to memorization
The idea that (correct) answers are something that can and may be known is all over the place, lately also in technology (LLMs, curve fitting, etc). Notably, answers must be able to validate themselves, every time. (Western) education used to be about this, before it reoriented towards instruction.
Dumb people - smart computers. What's the consequence of that I wonder.
Possibly things are worse, but here’s an argument that we’ve gotten unrealistically ambitious about universal education through college:
What People Want From Our Schools Has Never Been Accomplished, Anywhere, Ever https://freddiedeboer.substack.com/p/what-people-want-from-o...
> (people previously suppressed in their undeveloped countries)
Ah yes, the undevelopped and oppressive countries able to provide them good enough education and not make them debt-ridden for it.
I don’t blame people for moving for better wages, but the level of rationalization used here to make brain drain feel virtuous is off the charts.
Idiocracy really seems to appeal to eugenicists. Is “stupid people breed too much” really an issue we think is worth propagating?
Education is a weird field with perhaps a few thousand years of very good unimplemented ideas.
Imagine training an llm by putting it in a room with other untrained LLMs? All that knowledge is sure to rubb of!