The P.W.T.F.Y.W.A.M.S.S.R. Thread

[Dukefrukem]

if anyone has this font can you please e-mail it to me.

square 721 BoldExtended

[CoffeeShark]

Originally Posted by DennyCrane

No, and no.
To Coffee, you'd grasp some of his schtuff because a) you have inate intelligence and b) this intelligence gives you the ability to grasp concepts.
Concepts are ideas, theories, intangibles- being able to see X and Y and imagine a path to Z. Hawking is just that much more intelligent, that you'd grasp some, but not all. An idiot wouldn't get a thing and what would he say?
"This is stupid!"
And Tyrant, ignorance is lack of education, so no- let's look at the Office Idiot. He really does think he's smart even though he's shown everyday how his actions were stupid. He has no idea the difference between him and someone with a normal IQ.

I guess we'd have to define the level of intelligence of the "idiot" to be able to define at what point the person overcomes his own lack of intelligence to realize that he is average, or below average.

[DennyCrane]

I think it's a graduating scale... I can imagine the staggering intellect of Einstein and Hawking, but to me they're really the same thing... some "super genius" area. I'd bet to a total moron, anyone who can do basic algebra is on par with those 2.

[FuzzyLogik]

Though i'm mainly talking about people who are willfully ignorant (which is the definition of being moronic). They have the facts right in front of them but they choose to believe/understand otherwise.

Take the Church of Global Warmingology for instance... There's plenty of facts that bring that whole belief system to its knees yet many people willfully choose to believe in it. And these are "smart" or even "brilliant" people - yet they are complete morons. I don't claim to know everything by any means, but simple science is enough to throw this theory (man made global warming) in the garbage bin - these very "smart" people choose to ignore it and make increasingly complicated models that have to be reworked every time they find out something else that doesn't work with it (I.E., more trees actually contributing to Global Warming.. Ozone layer is no longer being "depleted" as it was 10 years ago - lol... notice how they stopped talking about that? heh... etc).

Authentically stupid people just don't know any better, morons know better, but they ignore it and consciously choose to believe in fallacy.

[VincentVega]

lol... intelligence? In what regard. There are as many ways and areas to be intelligent as there are topics to study. Take a look at those guys. In fact take a look at nerds in general. The aren't smart socially. In fact they're usually socially ignorant and hence introverted. How about a person that is intelligent being a parent. Or someone who is an emotional genius. I don't classify intelligence by what a person can understand in some particular field. You're better off measuring someone by the success and fullness of their own life. It's not really about what you know. You could spend 15 years learning Hawking's concepts and be able to talk with him in the realm of what you learned. He'll then go off in a new direction, and you're screwed because you have no familiar context. It's about what you can do without being taught facts or concepts, IMHO. And that applies to every area in life you can put your finger on. And at the end of the day, there's no one that's highly intelligent that way.

with the possible exception of One

[VincentVega]

note: I am disqualified from being intelligent. RE: me using apostophes in "your's"

[FuzzyLogik]

I'd probably consider that person as being "wise" - not just knowing stuff but being able to apply knowledge in all facets of life.

[VincentVega]

That's sort of what I mean. Intelligence is the ability to learn and apply learned concepts. Unfortunately, the way the brain is structured means you can't always take what you've learned from experience X and apply it to experience Y. A person only gets so much talent. There are special people that get a healthy dose of it all, but you don't see that often, and life has a way of trampling those people in the background.

Look at the way Einstein's life ended. Miserable and lonely. Not a hallmark of intelligence there (socially/relationship wise). You may be smart as hell, but there are going to be pleny of places you're an idiot Some people just like to harp on their problems and then you can bust their balls about it

[CoffeeShark]

Originally Posted by FuzzyLogik

Though i'm mainly talking about people who are willfully ignorant (which is the definition of being moronic). They have the facts right in front of them but they choose to believe/understand otherwise.

Take the Church of Global Warmingology for instance... There's plenty of facts that bring that whole belief system to its knees yet many people willfully choose to believe in it. And these are "smart" or even "brilliant" people - yet they are complete morons. I don't claim to know everything by any means, but simple science is enough to throw this theory (man made global warming) in the garbage bin - these very "smart" people choose to ignore it and make increasingly complicated models that have to be reworked every time they find out something else that doesn't work with it (I.E., more trees actually contributing to Global Warming.. Ozone layer is no longer being "depleted" as it was 10 years ago - lol... notice how they stopped talking about that? heh... etc).

Authentically stupid people just don't know any better, morons know better, but they ignore it and consciously choose to believe in fallacy.

willful ignorance, yes. morons, no. I think when people take on a belief system, they cease to consider the possibility that it is wrong. You can apply this to religious beliefs, scientific beliefs, whatever. Challenging a person's held belief structure is basically sacrilege, even if that belief is Atheism.

Once you believe, you ignore that which conflicts with it.

Many see my disbelief in the alarmist climate change forecasts as "willful ignorance". I see them as believers in the cult of climate change, and also willfully ignorant. They see all data differences as anomalies, while I see them as proof that the forecasts are not completely accurate. Neither of us have 'proof' that the other is wrong, which is why alarmist climate change is fallible, and always will be, until it is either proven or disproven by events (not computer models).

They ignore Al Gore's movie discrepencies by declaring that his heart is in the right place, instead of addressing the factual errors. They dismiss cold and snow as "local weather" while blaming rain and flooding in Washington on climate change. That is not a scientific conclusion, that is a belief system, and is as ridiculous as the "intelligent design" belief system that they love to demean.

[VincentVega]

it's extremists vs. realists. Climate change is a real thing, the earth does it on its own. Whether or not humans are adding to that is a matter of scientific debate. That's a realist's approach. the extremists are running around with the billboards over their shoulders that read "The end is nigh." These are liberal nutjobs that buy into the media and the political extremists who are sticking to agendas. Lord knows there's no shortage on that side. Then you have a huge percent of everyone else, who is in the middle. I'm really just sick to death of hearing about it. When climate and geologic events are always measured in thousands of years, there is hardly a reason to get your panties in a bunch. Unless you have beachfront property... then you better get a hybrid