Dumb and Dumberer: Mindless Entertainment

I was reading an article last week in which the author was making the case that — for the first time in human history — the collective intelligence of the species is actually declining.

Whether that is verifiably true or not I can't say for sure, but it definitely feels like a lot of content from the world of entertainment is geared towards an ever lower common denominator.

It's easy to point fingers at education or social media but perhaps there are some deeper underlying reasons that are worth pursuing here. For example, the fact that we have so little time on our hands anymore because of things like grind culture and jobs that often require us to be present (or on call) for 70 hours a week.

That might not be a bad thing in and of itself, but it creates a scenario in which most people end up not actually having time on their hands to sit down and watch an in-depth news report, for example. It's not for a lack of wanting, it is quite simply for a lack of tangible time.

While I have never been that much of a fan of television in the first place, it does strike me that an awful lot of programming these days is not particularly "incisive" and certainly doesn't require the viewer to employ much critical thinking.

Maybe some of it is related to the pervasive inclusiveness trend that is running rampant through society. If we have to appeal to everybody, once again the lowest common denominator comes out as the most important component to keep happy.

I'm not entirely sure I understand how that is supposed to functionally work, given that entertainment lives on advertising, and advertising to those who presumably have lower income doesn't seem like the best strategy, but what do I know?

As I have speculated in the past, the cult classic movie Idiocracy seems to be sounding more and more like a documentary with every day that passes! Just the other day I overheard somebody arguing that some energy drink they were drinking was important "because it has electrolytes", a line taken straight out of Idiocracy as it applied to the "Brawndo" drink.

Not that I'm knocking electrolytes, but do you even know what they are and what they do?

I suppose anything that requires people to think has always(?) been viewed with a certain degree of suspicion. Even when I was in high school almost 50 years ago, you were "uncool" if you did your homework and got good grades. What does that even say about society?

Meanwhile, I am feeling less and less enthusiastic about AI. Not because I don't believe it has tremendous potential as a helping tool for humanity but because of the way so many people are embracing it as a way to take shortcuts, handle their thinking, their innovation, and anything that might require them to use their own brains.

The brain is pretty much like any other muscle in the human body: you've got to use it if you hope to keep it strong! And if you just let the machine do all your thinking for you... doesn't that mean you're eventually going to atrophy towards nothingness?

Maybe that sounds overly histrionic or dramatic, but I can't help but wonder.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful weekend!

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2026.07.25 01:10 PDT
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