At the risk of being labelled as negative, I'm going to disagree. The majority of people just don't care. They don't care about politics, about science, about reason or about anything outside of their day to day lives and relationships. That's how it's supposed to be.
As it turns out, the average person isn't brilliant, anointed or blessed (this is due to the meaning of the word "average"). Saying that everyone is "brilliant in their own way" is a cop out, a platitude that's no better than saying nothing at all. Intellectual curiousity, love of learning and scientific rigor are real things, and a large number of the humans on this planet don't possess them. If you object to the idea that Neil DeGrasse Tyson is more brilliant than most, then you're in danger of losing touch with reality.
If NDT is showing any arrogance, it's in thinking that he has the ability to raise the level of public discourse. He's really smart, but apparently not smart enough to realize that no amount of education can change the basics of human nature. You can teach people how to think, but you can't make them like it.
A laughably small number of americans vote in presidential, much less local elections. And many of those voters have only the shallowest understanding of the issues being decided upon. deGrasse Tyson has a point...education may be democracy's only hope.
ASIDE: I'm noticing rampant selection bias on hn. It's important to remember that most of the people on this planet are nothing like us. Working at tech companies and hanging out at tech events it's easy to believe that everyone is as intelligent, reasonable and hard working as our family and coworkers. Most people just don't have the same love of learning and/or hacking that we do. While we value knowledge and intelligence above all, most humans don't and there's nothing wrong with that.
If NDT is showing any arrogance, it's in thinking that he has the ability to raise the level of public discourse. He's really smart, but apparently not smart enough to realize that no amount of education can change the basics of human nature.
If this were true, then Jews as a demographic wouldn't have a reputation for being well-educated and literate. What you're talking about is as much cultural as it is inherent, if not moreso. And if it's cultural, then education can change it.
I think you're right. You are probably always going to have a normal distribution, or close to it, but how tight that distribution is and where it is centred is I think something that can be changed with some effort.
Certainly it is possible to make the population as a whole dumber (just stop public education for instance), so it makes sense that, unless we happen to be doing everything brilliantly right now, we can do better as well.
> I'm noticing rampant selection bias on hn. It's important to remember that most of the people on this planet are nothing like us.
And there's the crux. There is a forum just like this one somewhere on the Internet that is entirely devoted to Justin Bieber. It probably has more users than HN.
To you and Mr. Tyson, they're ignorant twits because ...
> They don't care about politics, about science, about reason or about anything outside of their day to day lives and relationships.
To me? It's just a conflict of interest. They're different. Apples and oranges.
Are apples better than oranges? In some cases, but not in all. Anyway, I don't want to live in a world filled with only apples. Variety is the spice of life. Go spend some time with an orange.
1. To be fair, (I assume) most of the posts on Justin Bieber forums are from people that are not of voting age.
2. People think of them as 'ignorant twits' because they don't realize that by ignoring such things decisions that affect them are being made for them. It's too easy to find yourself in a situation you don't like because you were too busy ignoring what was going on to realize what was happening. E.g.:
“There’s no point in acting all surprised about it. All
the planning charts and demolition orders have been on
display in your local planning department on Alpha Centauri
for fifty of your Earth years, so you’ve had plenty of time
to lodge any formal complaint and it’s far too late to
start making a fuss about it now.”
The problem isn't lack of access to information or the motivation to exercise your freedoms, it is the rampant apathy of the masses.
I do not believe I am better than anyone or that I care more for the welfare of the world, but I just try to learn and contribute as much as I can.
I am saddened by the fact that most people do not realize how long it took for life to emerge and how much longer for liberty to be considered a birthright.
We really need a perspective shift on our planet if real change is going to happen from within the populace. It is also discouraging that most people put the burden on the shoulders of a few to lead and fix the world and get angry when they find out they have little or no say in the direction of society. It's a double-edged sword.
There is definitely a selection bias on HN, exactly why this is one of my top five news sources. I strive to get a 360-degree perspective on the happenings of the world.
A laughably small number of americans vote in presidential
I'm sorry but it's not logical to waste time with something which has no impact.
If there was any incentive, people would come. Like $5 or tax reductions, I don't know.
It's not rocket science to increase the participation. But I guess the vote of the pragmatic is not desired.
Actually the fact there is no incentive at all shows they want as few people to vote as possible, globally.
Maybe it's because opposition mobilizing themselves more is what allows the country to alternate leadership easily instead of being stuck in the same ideology forever, at the expense of the other 48%. Or maybe the alternate leadership is like our beating heart, a constant source of ideological thought, instead of the slumbering effect of an eternal monolithic party like in China. Be careful what you wish for.
Anyway when the choice you have is Blue or Red, "educating the masses" has little impact.
But maybe masses having little impact is actually perfection...
> If NDT is showing any arrogance, it's in thinking that he has the ability to raise the level of public discourse. He's really smart, but apparently not smart enough to realize that no amount of education can change the basics of human nature. You can teach people how to think, but you can't make them like it.
I don't disagree with you here, per se, but I think a lot can be done with education. Maybe not "change the basics of human nature", but we can probably get them to enjoy thinking and we can probably raise the level of public discourse by a significant degree.
I'm not saying it would be easy or quick, but I think that it's possible. Indeed, it seems to me to be the arc of history, to paraphrase a bit, even if it is irritatingly long.
> no amount of education can change the basics of human nature
When was the last time you saw someone nail a cat's tail to the ground and pelt it with rocks? Back... oh, not that long ago, evolutionarily speaking, that was just the height of entertainment. The absolute limit.
Now, only a few generations of First Worlders not having seven kids and getting to keep two, a few generations of public education and most people knowing how to read, a few generations of not starving because of locusts or drought or Act of Monarch, we have a population of people even the /b/-tards of which will step in to defend a cat.
It takes a long time. It is a long, slow, agonizing crawl. But we are making it.
As it turns out, the average person isn't brilliant, anointed or blessed (this is due to the meaning of the word "average"). Saying that everyone is "brilliant in their own way" is a cop out, a platitude that's no better than saying nothing at all. Intellectual curiousity, love of learning and scientific rigor are real things, and a large number of the humans on this planet don't possess them. If you object to the idea that Neil DeGrasse Tyson is more brilliant than most, then you're in danger of losing touch with reality.
If NDT is showing any arrogance, it's in thinking that he has the ability to raise the level of public discourse. He's really smart, but apparently not smart enough to realize that no amount of education can change the basics of human nature. You can teach people how to think, but you can't make them like it.
A laughably small number of americans vote in presidential, much less local elections. And many of those voters have only the shallowest understanding of the issues being decided upon. deGrasse Tyson has a point...education may be democracy's only hope.
ASIDE: I'm noticing rampant selection bias on hn. It's important to remember that most of the people on this planet are nothing like us. Working at tech companies and hanging out at tech events it's easy to believe that everyone is as intelligent, reasonable and hard working as our family and coworkers. Most people just don't have the same love of learning and/or hacking that we do. While we value knowledge and intelligence above all, most humans don't and there's nothing wrong with that.