[srrge]

I feel this is one thing that differentiate the European political cultures and the US political culture.

In Europe I feel we do better understand that people are stupid (in general). They won't insure their health, they'll kill you for $50, they won't pay the price for an education.

That's why we don't have guns, we have mostly free healthcare and universities.

In the US, I feel you guys hope or would like that people would NOT be stupid and do smart things on a general basis.

But that's not the case.

What if all side of the US political system could agree on this? People are fucking stupid, let's make more rules and put more systems and programs in place that take this into account.

[leaveyou]

I see your point but it also implies that Europe breeds the stupid while US allows them to extract themselves from the gene pool.. not a very nice perspective for me (as an European)

[hectorlorenzo]

According to the article, extracting stupid people from the gene pool won't affect the ratio of stupid people present in society. σ remains constant no matter what.

[srrge]

Yes good point. Now, in the US, some of the stupids seem to extract a lot of other/innocent people from the gene pool with them...

[Sniffnoy]

I'll let Sarah Constantin make this argument for me: https://srconstantin.wordpress.com/2017/06/27/in-defense-of-... :)

[srrge]

I think individualism is a respectable philosophy. Thank you for sharing this article.

I think however that a reasonable person would also consider that social policies may have great benefits for herself as an individual.

For example:

- If stupids don't have access to war weapons, maybe it will be more difficult for them to mass murder ME.

- If the stupids have to vaccinate and can get healthcare, maybe they won't spread viruses and diseases to ME.

- If the stupids have a degree maybe they can create value instead of ruining ME through welfare taxes.

[treerock]

I would question the last one. Stupid people with an education can cause havoc.

Possibly related: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_von_Hammerstein-Equord#Cl...

[taejo]

What happens when the two characteristics of clever and stupid are combined? I'm far from certain this combination is impossible.

[Chris_Jay]

Tribal societies have many stories of such individuals, think Coyote or Loki. Clever stupid people are constantly falling into elaborate traps of their own making.

[Xenos_Ender]

Some people like to see the world burn. [insert joker meme]

[srrge]

Interesting though, thank you.

So we have to invent a universal income targeted at stupid people. Like a "Please stay idle" type income :)

[Chris_Jay]

I think the US response would be, "we don't want stupid people making laws the rest of us have to follow".

At least in theory. In practice of course, stupid bandits make laws all the time.