Quite a leap, isn’t it? From idiocy and Socrates to the internet. Of course, the real issue here – the keyword, in a sense – is idiocy. Is it timeless, and therefore the common denominator? The answer is yes; there have always been idiots. Indeed, the word “idiot” is Greek. However, there’s a difference, too: Idiocy has evolved.
Nowadays, stupidity (I will use the terms interchangeably) is of a different kind. Understanding its characteristics might, just perhaps, help us better confront it.
At the same time, however, I must emphasize my pessimism. As I have stated before (see my posts on ignorance, Dunning-Kruger, and the failure of democracy), I really don’t see humanity being able to overcome its collective stupidity. The problem with idiocy (as Socrates perhaps would’ve agreed) is that those who should urgently question their thought processes rarely do.
Still, if we managed to at least marginalize idiocy, to the extent historical examples have shown possible, we could perhaps allow a glimmer of hope.
Idiocy in Socrates’s time and the one we face today share a common characteristic: Conviction and certainty. Still, there are crucial differences, too, having to do with the rate of propagation(more…)
This is a bit special, unusual post, squeezed in-between the regular flow of Home for Fiction posts. It’s basically an email reply I sent to a Narrative Nods user in regard to my response to a review.
This surely sounds a bit complicated (and perhaps the headline a bit overwhelming), so here’s a very brief background.
Some time ago, I decided to stop working on offering updates for Narrative Nods – for reasons you’ll see below. I also don’t feel motivated to work on the rest of my apps. This became apparent to users after I left the following response to a review on Google Play:
[…]Frankly, I think you might be quite right. This app is rather pointless, certainly not as engaging as a fruit tapping game or a selfie camera app. I’m considering removing it from the Store or, at the very least, never bother with it ever again. There’s more important things out there. Cheers!
This was understandably misinterpreted as sarcastic, so I had to offer another response:
Thanks for the support, but you might’ve (understandably) misunderstood me. I wasn’t being sarcastic in that response. I actually believed—still do—that the app isn’t as useful as I’d initially thought. Its main flaw is that it needs users to put in the work, and not everyone is mature enough for that (that’s what the ‘fruit tapping’ part implied).
This, again inevitably, was misunderstood further. Google Play allows only 350 characters in a given review – or “review” – or response, which makes it impossible to properly express what’s going on. A user emailed me and asked me not to be hostile and feel hurt by negative feedback.
Today’s post is a chance for me to extend my response to a more general audience. The purpose is for other users of my Android apps to have a proper explanation about the situation, as well as for others to catch a glimpse of the dynamics involved. Great teaching material regarding digital misunderstanding, among other things.
“Nothing is more important than cats. And even they are not very important” Old Chinese proverb (sort of)(more…)
Most great thinkers in history share a common oversight: they have not talked enough about idiocy; that kind of bottomless, malevolent ignorance that plagues the world. How to escape ignorance is something philosophers haven’t tackled, and that has come back to bite us all.
With the possible exception of the delightfully pessimistic Plato, philosophers through the miserable centuries have talked about truth and ethics having a rather idealistic picture of humanity in mind.
Even Marx, who talked about the responsibility of philosophers to actually change the world instead of simply interpreting it, underestimated popular idiocy.
Let’s not fool ourselves, being poor or working-class is a shield against neither ignorance nor malice.
The problem with ignorance is that ignorant people don’t realize their own ignorance(more…)
