What is an idiot?

Let’s define an idiot as following generalisation:

-someone not only incompetent

-but practically unlikely to achieve competence

-thus not only not helpful, but harmful to the subject being dealt with

 

Are most man idiots?

Yes they are

 

We live in a complex world:

-Complex global systems

-Complex big economy

-Complex large societies and political systems governing them

-Complex law

-And of course complex science and technology

 

Obviously your average idiot folk could not possibly understand even 1% of it

But neither could you and I

The real issue is that an IDIOT is useful for about 0% of those things

0

He’s utterly useless

Non-idiot can perhaps hope to contribute to running at least a little bit more than 0% of the world

 

Indeed,

Your average idiot folk:

-Would destroy the economy

-Would destroy the society

-Would destroy the business

-Would destroy the technology

If you gave him responsibility for any of those things, he would destroy them

And if you gave him a role to play in any of those things — he’d do more harm than good

 

Indeed we live in a tumultuous times, and some believe this polarisation in the society and deterioration of the public debate has to do with social media eroding trust in the institutions and ability to agree even on the most fundamental matters

I would argue that:

-We’re idiots to begin with

-Social media echochambers just made us even less aware just how stupid and clueless and incompetent we are

 

Indeed you and I,

we know personally some idiots

and we see idiots in the news and online

and we might have worked with idiots

and perhaps we even had an idiot in our life who we tried to “cure”

and therefore asked ourselves eventually,

“what to do with idiots?”

 

I believe most find an answer without much conscious thought, really

Because it’s complicated,

And the answer they found would not satisfy them if they were to think about it

But since it suffices for the time being, the pursuit of superior solutions is abandoned

The answer is not noble

 

The answer is not noble

The answer is that idiots must be separated

And this is precisely what happens

The idiots of course are separated economically. This is already happening. It becomes more and more difficult for an idiot to compete.

A fucking computer has been superseding dumb labour for a while now — and now it’s only going to explode with AI

Someone of course has to run that computer — but that’s not going to be an idiot.

Likewise socially,

No one wants to be called an elitist — but we all obviously are selective who we keep in our lives

The likelihood of an idiot finding room in our lives is unlikely

We’ve entire world of man to choose from, why settle for an idiot?

 

Finally there’s of course the reality of idiots existing — which entails coexisting with the idiots

The idiot can not feel too excluded, or else he will refuse to coexist

The idiot-mass will go after the non-idiot-minority

And it also so happens that the non-idiot-minority is likely not so eager to be violent — with the idiot majority or at all

The non-idiots find ways to include idiots in the society

 

Furthermore non-idiots more or less understand that both of the following statements are true:

-That idiots exist, and are basically useless

-And yet separating idiot from non-idiot is impossible to do in a centralised manner — it has to happen organically

(spontaneously, as spontaneously as hanging out at a party, or as spontaneously as superior business floating up in the free market)

-And of course that it’s generally a spectrum from idiot to non-idiot

(although competence in context of a specific task is quite binary)

 

I believe most of us non-idiots already have some intuitive grasp of how to deal with idiots, though we’re not always happy to admit it

I believe we’re all classists, whether we like to admit it or not. What we do speaks more than what we say outright

I believe the stratification will only continue to progress, as humanity progresses, and sets higher and higher starting bar

I believe we will have to rediscover MORE CLASSISM. We never forgot classism, humans are hierarchical creatures. But we’re afraid to be seen as classists

However I believe that OPEN SOCIETY will be retained

Simple because only open society, just like free market — is the true judge of one’s value and merit — and therefore “class”, if you will

Thus you can’t have true meritocratic classism without open society

 

Indeed, we’re in a transitioning period

We know who the idiots are — most man

But we’re afraid to admit it

Or we think it’s undemocratic

But then we gladly outcompete them in the markets, or some other contest

And we gladly remove them from our lives…. or they even remove themselves

So we already live this reality, and it’s more than apparent by looking how unequal and polarised the society is

And everything is as democratic as ever, and the society remains open

And there is social mobility for those who have what it takes

And THAT-WHAT-IT-TAKES remains OPEN indeed, is not decided by anyone, is not preordained, and is NOT limited in any way, just like human ingenuity isn’t

And there is increasing welfare for everyone

Therefore the problem really doesn’t exist,

EXCEPT for our reluctance to fucking admit that MOST MAN ARE IDIOTS

Most men are clueless

Most men opinions don’t matter

Most man better have LESS THAN NOTHING to do with ANYTHING important

 

Indeed, perhaps this is only the missing piece,

Just accept the extreme stratification that is to come

WITHOUT letting it quench anyone’s ambition, mind you. It’s a free world and you always have the shot

Let’s just accept that most of us are CLUELESS FUCKING IDIOTS

Probing in the dark, trying to wrap our tiny brains around the fathomless complexities of modern world

 

INDEED,

Perhaps merely the fundamental MODESTY is lacking

And some SKIN IN THE GAME

Because LIFE itself is the most humbling, if you choose to truly challenge yourself

And then maturity — to take responsibility

And to recognise WHERE YOU BELONG

 

This is the faith of the idiots

To recognise that they’re idiots

To not merely have it rubbed in their faces through their vastly disproportionately lesser economic outcomes and otherwise

But just this recognition of this truth

AND likewise recognition by those slightly better off

Because you too have FUCK ALL CLUE about this world

Mr. billionaire and mr politician and mr PHD — you know FUCK ALL

On average, likely, more than us

But STILL FUCK ALL

 

Finally,

perhaps answer will come from technology,

-Perhaps social media with a little bit more dedication to truth would go a long way

(NOT to impede free speech — merely to supplement it with some HARD facts, IF applicable)

-Perhaps absolute reorganisation of the education system and career selection system — one that would actually select for the modern merits, and first foster those qualities — unlike our rigid and backwards and foremost 99% useless current systems

-And PERHAPS democratisation of technology creation, making it more accessible, would include more non-technical people in the technical-work that predominates modern world

(granted for democratisation of some part of tech — there’s increase in complexity in other part of tech)

-And finally perhaps technology solving some of the STILL prevailing modern problems — which inflame the masses and thus blinds them to their own uselessness and stupidity — devaluing the system which has failed them, not mindful of all the ways in which it benefited them

 

Perhaps that will help us realise how different we are

That we belong to different classes

That the gulf between an idiot and a capable operator of the modern world is extreme

 

And last but not least, this is an utterly hopeful perspective, and not in any way condemnation or exclusion

Those idiots are only so hopelessly stupid because the world has became so advanced

And they DO benefit from it

This is all hopeful