Disbelief - shaking my head

[telemarker (Keith)]

Originally Posted by mithrandir

Can boil water?

Damn.

[Baddad (Marty)]

MUM!!! I can't find it. Where do you keep the boiled water???

True story. From a friend whose son was in the kitchen trying to make coffe.

[TrevorW]

My wife took 4 years to do her hair dressing apprenticeship at TAFE, people can now do it in 3 months at a private training organization. One must wonder at the quality and level of training that are young people are receiving these days. It has become a numbers game as far as the Govt is concerned.

[CJ (Chris)]

Not quite the same but......

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001UHNMM0

[sophie (Jim)]

I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on
the frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless
beyond words.

When I was a boy, we were taught to be discrete and respectful of
elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise and impatient of
restraint.
--- Hesiod, Eighth Century B.C.

[AstralTraveller (David)]

I don't know why this has morphed into an 'old vs young' debate (or slanging match). That was not the intention of the OP. For what it's worth, I spoke to a 10 year old yesterday who assured me he would never be so dumb. (I met him because he had been asking his dad what is at the centre of our galaxy.) Looking back, I'd have to confess to doing some silly things but never anything so ignorant.

[el_draco (Rom)]

Originally Posted by sophie

I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on
the frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless
beyond words.

When I was a boy, we were taught to be discrete and respectful of
elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise and impatient of
restraint.
--- Hesiod, Eighth Century B.C.

They obviously failed to cull adequately over 2k years ago.
Ah Huh!!! its his fault....

[ZeroID (Brent)]

Be very afraid, these are the people who will pick out your nursing home...

It's alright, the 'Darwin' principle will weed out the more gullible and the rest will learn by example ...... I hope.

[Starless (Brian)]

Originally Posted by ZeroID

Be very afraid, these are the people who will pick out your nursing home...

It's alright, the 'Darwin' principle will weed out the more gullible and the rest will learn by example ...... I hope.

Unfortunatley the nanny state we have protects the idiots from the
natural "Darwinian" outcome of their stupidity.
Then they start breeding and the cycle continues.

[el_draco (Rom)]

Originally Posted by AstralTraveller

I don't know why this has morphed into an 'old vs young' debate (or slanging match). That was not the intention of the OP.

Dont think its a slanging match as such.

In fact, I have met some young people who are simply amazing on every level but, alas, the ratio of brilliance to "other sapiens like species", has shifted substantially in the wrong direction.

Why? pick your hobby horse... anything from food additives to the Simpson's. I could dump 50gb of data on you if you like.

Bottom line, It's scary out there and getting more scary by the day.....

P.S., I'm NOT old!

[AstralTraveller (David)]

Originally Posted by Barrykgerdes

We had an "electronics technician" ?. He was given a simple job to test a batch of capacitors for shorts. Half an hour later he brought them back and said they were all shorted.

He worked on a metal topped bench and his way of testing was to press the meter prods onto the capacitor ends on the bench!

Barry

I simple bit of insulation could have avoided that. Put a piece of shrink-wrap on one of the probes and you will never get another short.

[AstralTraveller (David)]

Originally Posted by el_draco

In fact, I have met some young people who are simply amazing on every level but, alas, the ratio of brilliance to "other sapiens like species", has shifted substantially in the wrong direction.

Has it? The present generation does better at IQ tests than any preceding generation. If they face a problem maturing it's not the nanny state, it's helicopter parents. I'm of that generation that were allowed to go out and get a few bumps and scrapes (and I have the scars to prove it) and so learn boundaries, consequences and independence. Not long ago I saw a 6yo who was stopped from jumping off a rock about 1m high in case he hurt himself. I used to jump off the shed roof! (and the pain in my ankle told me not to jump off anything higher). I see too many kids who never get out from under the wing because mom is afraid of the big bad wolf. I blame the sensationalist media for that. By any measure the crime rate is going down but parents are more scared than ever of what might happen.

[sjastro]

Originally Posted by AstralTraveller

Has it? The present generation does better at IQ tests than any preceding generation.....

Nothing more than the Flynn effect in operation.
Various factors such as improved nutrition and health help boost the low end of the IQ spectrum while better education and a greater familiarity of IQ testing improves the average score.

The news at the high end of the spectrum however is rather depressing.
If one looks at the pre WWI US officer academy entrance tests which were based on IQ, one finds there has been a progressive decline in the percentage of individuals that are able to meet the standard.

Regards

Steven

[Starless (Brian)]

This quote from an article from Scientific American
by Gary Stix sums it up quite well I thought.

"A hunter–gatherer who did not correctly conceive a solution to providing food or shelter probably died, along with his/her progeny, whereas a modern Wall Street executive that made a similar conceptual mistake would receive a substantial bonus and be a more attractive mate. Clearly, extreme selection is a thing of the past."

[avandonk]

As a 64 year old wrinkly I have found most young people to be better than my generation was. They have had the good foundations of correct nutrition and fluridation. They can take to a smart phone better than my generation could take to a 'Super Computer' even though we invented both.

It is both crass and futile to compare generations with malice.

Our young are the future. Just remember they choose the retirement village for you when you are GAGA.

Bert

[Steffen]

Originally Posted by Starless

"A hunter–gatherer who did not correctly conceive a solution to providing food or shelter probably died, along with his/her progeny, whereas a modern Wall Street executive that made a similar conceptual mistake would receive a substantial bonus and be a more attractive mate. Clearly, extreme selection is a thing of the past."

There is in fact an argument (backed by physiological evidence I believe, but can't point to any) that the human brain has devolved in the last 10,000 to 20,000 years or so. There simply isn't as much pressure for the brain to perform anymore as there used to be. Many of the environmental factors that shaped our brain and its performance have gone away.

Cheers
Steffen.

[Astro_Bot]

Originally Posted by avandonk

Our young are the future. Just remember they choose the retirement village for you when you are GAGA.

Like hell they will! I'll be choosing my own retirement home, thank you very much, and will have a plan laid out in full for the time when I can no longer think or speak clearly enough to chat up the nurses.

-----

On the other topic, I agree that the absence of natural selection for most of the human population may be "devolving" us in certain ways. However, since we do not know what the future holds, perhaps the "backfill" of the population with characteristics that were not an advantage in the past may be an advantage (for species survival) if conditions change rapidly in ways we don't anticipate. That is, perhaps the sections of the population we expect to dominate won't do well. Nature has been doing this for a long time - she's pretty good at it.

[AstralTraveller (David)]

They tell us that
We lost our tails,
evolving up
From little snails

I say it's all,
just wind in sails
Are we not men?
We are Devo
Are we not men?
D E V O

[AndrewJ]

The present generation does better at IQ tests than any preceding generation

Thats probably because there is an "app" for it now

I still remember the words of our physics professor after we had graduated and were about to go into the "real world".
He told us to remember we were now just highly educated idiots.
The ability to use the IQ and knowledge to work through unknown problems is whats missing in some cases.
Again, we were taught to use lots of mental shortcuts to get an approximation of an answer, just in case we went astray with the buttons etc. I see that ability seems to be disappearing fast.

Andrew

[Octane (Humayun)]

You all need to watch Idiocracy.

H