The problem with letting nature take its course (aside from any qualms a human being might have about watching other human beings suffer) is that it will have extensive, expensive repercussions for everyone else.

Completely agree. I'm a liberal with libertarian leanings, but I do realize the concept of externality.

Thank you!

That did make me laugh. :)

But it becomes difficult (for me, anyway) to reject that humanity is headed to Idiocracy due to either a ton of personally observed anecdotes, or in some cases empirical studies: people often eschew well-reasoned arguments (hell, they often ditch any semblance of reason whatsoever) for what they "feel" to be true, or what they "want" to be true.

I'm not saying that people in the past didn't face nuanced or complicated issues, but it seems nowadays that we have a culture wherein it's not cool to be smart, and would you please shut up, SportsCenter is on.

idiocracy cant be true because society would fail before people got that stupid.

Maybe, but it *might* look a bit more like this.

I'm acutely aware that the concept of an elitist intelligentsia and technocratic class might find favor among certain Slashdotians, but I'd prefer we raise the bar across the board and shoot for that. Unfortunately, right now we (at least in the US) lower the bar in pursuit if political correctness, expediency, and harmony.

In addition, even those it's already a bit dated, read Kozol's "Savage Inequalities" to add fuel to the fire/debate.

Maybe we ARE doing too much to protect weak genes in the pool....that might have weeded themselves out in the past....and allowing them to continue to proliferate?

Watch the movie Idiocracy. It's coming, and I don't know if there's anything we can do about it. I'll paraphrase something that I once read (can't come up with a cite, sorry): "I say we take the safety labels off of everything and let nature work itself out."

This is EXACTLY what I was thinking. What they really want is SLAPP suit fodder. If you criticize them (the politicians and the interests lining their pockets), they want to be able to make you to sit down and shut the fuck up, and also make it painful enough that you won't DARE do it again.

Maybe you'd like to back up before NeXT to the part where Apple raped PARC, eh?

NeXT would have never been if it hadn't been for the original incarnation of Apple, which itself would have NOT happened without Woz. Your house of cards falls so easily....

Woz is great, very smart guy, but without him Jobs simply would have found someone else.

Oh horse shit. Just like Bill Gates would have had an "in" at IBM had he not been "Mary Gates' boy".