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by hpcjoe 1883 days ago
Yeah ... I hear otherwise intelligent friends (folks with PhDs, MDs, etc.) effectively parroting crap you would hear on their favorite news channel. You can tell what they watch by listening to what they say.

I think the "smarter" one is, the more gullible they are. As someone with a PhD, I try very hard not to be gullible ... I can't say I always succeed. But I am highly skeptical of everything I hear/read. That skepticism helps.
2 comments
StandardFuture 1883 days ago
Being educated != being smart. Intelligence is a biological phenotype of neurological potential. It's distribution is set in stone across humanity. Being lucky and born into a family that can afford your higher education that will grant you a title has nothing to do with biological intelligence. In other words, a lot of very stupid people with PhDs and MDs can parrot mass media like the "low IQ" individuals that they are.
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bradlys 1882 days ago
I don’t know if I’d go that far with the set in stone nature.

I’d just say that even if someone is educated well in one field - it doesn’t mean that they’re generally well educated or that they have good critical thinking skills outside of their field. I’m surrounded by PhDs - they’re all great at their field, terrible at everything else. Min/Maxed their stats very hard there.

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StandardFuture 1882 days ago
>I don’t know if I’d go that far with the set in stone nature.

It's a stone that will only be moved by future technology. Perhaps a mastery of biology/neurology or more. Until then, it is essentially unchangeable.

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nickalaso 1881 days ago
I believe it has something to do with someones level of "institutionalization", or perhaps, how comfortable they are with institutions and authorities themselves.

A PhD holder is a PhD holder, at least in part, because they trusted that the many 1000's of hours of study and hard work they put into to receive a certificate from an institution was worth it. And this is because they, at some level, trust the institution itself.

Presumably this trust can also transfer to other "authorities", like US cable new media companies.

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