I remember a game show from a long time ago, maybe early 90s or so, where the contestants were given a few extremely obscure questions and had an hour to come up with the answers. This typically involved calling some of their academic friends and have them reach out to others who might know something about this topic.
Today, each show would last all but a few seconds. Candidate gets the topic, does a Google search, has the answer. Done.
Over the past few decades, it's gotten infinitely easier to tap into the great knowledge of the world. Google and Wikipedia make it easy to get an answer to any question one might possibly have.
Everybody has a threshold of how far they'd go to achieve what they want to do. It used to be that it took quite an effort to get an answer, and people often simply didn't want to go through the trouble and gave up. These days, the amount of work required has been reduced significantly, the bar has been lowered.
So what do people do? They get lazier still.
People would rather ask and wait for somebody to present an answer on a silver platter than spend a minute to do a quick search. Any interest in investigation and groundwork has been completely removed from the general population. We're surrounded by the people from Wall-E who are too lazy to walk even though they are perfectly capable of doing so.
Look at this thread here, a review for a lighting kit. The OP says that there's a comparably priced one by Cowboy Studios that he prefers. So what happens? People ask for a link to it, again and again, because clearly four requests is not enough. Worse still, they start getting all uppity about not getting the coveted link they requested and they've been waiting for months!!
Idea, dipshits: Use your fucking brain. A lighting kit by Cowboy Studios for a similar price, available on Amazon. How are you ever going to find that? Well, same way you found this lighting kit, you dumbasses. Lo and behold, a simple search immediately brings up the proper link.
In some Google+ thread, somebody commented on a picture of a public building and asked what city it's in. I replied and demonstrated how you can easily find out the answer using only Google Maps, Street View, and common fucking sense. That person started cussing me out and calling me a stalker, surely because looking up a public building on Google Maps is an intrusive violation of privacy.
It's all nice and cute laughing about these shortsighted lemmings unsuccessfully trying to read their collective way out of a paper bag, but unfortunately ignorance is contagious, and social media is an effective vector to spread it.
Unsubstantiated claims make their rounds on posts and get shared with zero fact checking. No serum in the world seems to be able to control this epidemic.
Politicians make great use of this. They make the most outrageous claims that people just eat up without even thinking about verifying it. Voters joke about the stereotype of the lying politician but believe everything "their" guys say wholesale. Elections aren't won based on substance, it's all about who can shout the biggest bullshit the loudest. Whoever can buy the most airtime and loudest bullhorn wins.
Things would be better if people weren't too lazy to explore and research. We're in a society governed by consumption. People just want to be spoon-fed information and entertainment without having to be bothered to do anything for it. Now that we the tools to stay informed are available, nobody wants to use them.
Today, each show would last all but a few seconds. Candidate gets the topic, does a Google search, has the answer. Done.
Over the past few decades, it's gotten infinitely easier to tap into the great knowledge of the world. Google and Wikipedia make it easy to get an answer to any question one might possibly have.
Everybody has a threshold of how far they'd go to achieve what they want to do. It used to be that it took quite an effort to get an answer, and people often simply didn't want to go through the trouble and gave up. These days, the amount of work required has been reduced significantly, the bar has been lowered.
So what do people do? They get lazier still.
People would rather ask and wait for somebody to present an answer on a silver platter than spend a minute to do a quick search. Any interest in investigation and groundwork has been completely removed from the general population. We're surrounded by the people from Wall-E who are too lazy to walk even though they are perfectly capable of doing so.
Look at this thread here, a review for a lighting kit. The OP says that there's a comparably priced one by Cowboy Studios that he prefers. So what happens? People ask for a link to it, again and again, because clearly four requests is not enough. Worse still, they start getting all uppity about not getting the coveted link they requested and they've been waiting for months!!
 |
| Screenshot of the thread since many people probably couldn't be bothered to click on the link |
Idea, dipshits: Use your fucking brain. A lighting kit by Cowboy Studios for a similar price, available on Amazon. How are you ever going to find that? Well, same way you found this lighting kit, you dumbasses. Lo and behold, a simple search immediately brings up the proper link.
In some Google+ thread, somebody commented on a picture of a public building and asked what city it's in. I replied and demonstrated how you can easily find out the answer using only Google Maps, Street View, and common fucking sense. That person started cussing me out and calling me a stalker, surely because looking up a public building on Google Maps is an intrusive violation of privacy.
It's all nice and cute laughing about these shortsighted lemmings unsuccessfully trying to read their collective way out of a paper bag, but unfortunately ignorance is contagious, and social media is an effective vector to spread it.
Unsubstantiated claims make their rounds on posts and get shared with zero fact checking. No serum in the world seems to be able to control this epidemic.
Politicians make great use of this. They make the most outrageous claims that people just eat up without even thinking about verifying it. Voters joke about the stereotype of the lying politician but believe everything "their" guys say wholesale. Elections aren't won based on substance, it's all about who can shout the biggest bullshit the loudest. Whoever can buy the most airtime and loudest bullhorn wins.
Things would be better if people weren't too lazy to explore and research. We're in a society governed by consumption. People just want to be spoon-fed information and entertainment without having to be bothered to do anything for it. Now that we the tools to stay informed are available, nobody wants to use them.
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