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[NT] people idiots or a bad enviroment

people idiocy: simply stupid by nature or is it their enviroment

  • people are stupid by nature

    Votes: 4 30.8%
  • it's the enviroment

    Votes: 4 30.8%
  • it's the choices they made

    Votes: 3 23.1%
  • other

    Votes: 2 15.4%

  • Total voters
    13

coolio_free

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are people born idiots and choose to learn to overcome their idiocy or is man simply born into an enviroment that favors idiots over geniuses

i have to know. i want to better myself but i don't know how to approach this issue in relation to this question
 
Last edited:

Totenkindly

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are people born idiots and choose to learn to overcome their idiocy or is man simply born into an enviroment that favors idiots over geniuses. i have to know. i want to better myself but i don't know how to approach this issue in relation to this question

What criteria are you using to separate idiocy from genius?

(Obviously if the "idiots" are proliferating, they must be doing something right in terms of natural selection, and the "geniuses" are not.)
 
O

Oberon

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1. Define your terms.

2. Your choices aren't mutually exclusive.
 

Randomnity

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The old nature vs nurture thing? For pretty much every non-physical trait we possess, genetics gives us the bricks, while the environment builds the house. A change in either will dramatically change the final outcome. Sometimes genetic makeup is more or less significant, but both factors are always in play, as far as I know.

In this case, some people may be born with a natural predisposition, but if it isn't nurtured, it will die out; whereas others may be lacking this predisposition but seek it out anyway.
 

coolio_free

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idiocy would be being born acting on what you see in front of you rather than looking deeper into the issue, never acting on rationale. things like that. i use genius to represent the opposite.

as far as enviroment goes what i'm saying there is that could it possibly be that the few intelligent people who do speak out are not accepted by society so to be accepted they simply act on the level of intelligence of the peers they want to be accepted by.

what i mean by choices is that could it possibly be that the choices made by the people lead to this outcome
 
O

Oberon

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What criteria are you using to separate idiocy from genius?

(Obviously if the "idiots" are proliferating, they must be doing something right in terms of natural selection, and the "geniuses" are not.)

I get the impression that the set titled "geniuses" represents the poster of the OP, and the set titled "idiots" represents everyone else in the world.

I hope that impression is incorrect, but one never knows, do one...
 

coolio_free

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I get the impression that the set titled "geniuses" represents the poster of the OP, and the set titled "idiots" represents everyone else in the world.

I hope that impression is incorrect, but one never knows, do one...

idiocy would be being born acting on what you see in front of you rather than looking deeper into the issue, never acting on rationale. things like that. i use genius to represent the opposite.

as far as enviroment goes what i'm saying there is that could it possibly be that the few intelligent people who do speak out are not accepted by society so to be accepted they simply act on the level of intelligence of the peers they want to be accepted by.

what i mean by choices is that could it possibly be that the choices made by the people lead to this outcome:thinking: not sure if your right.
 

coolio_free

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i think i've finally found my answer

i'll approach this on the basis that its a mix of choices and the need for acceptance and go from there. :thinking: now to begin researching ways to better myself
 

Athenian200

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are people born idiots and choose to learn to overcome their idiocy or is man simply born into an enviroment that favors idiots over geniuses

i have to know. i want to better myself but i don't know how to approach this issue in relation to this question

Actually, I think most people just have less mental potential by nature... most people literally avoid thinking about things, and don't want to know any more than they have to in order to get by. In fact, they like to stop you short if you even get close to mentioning anything they don't know about, because they also don't like to be reminded how little they know.

It's not that they're bad, it's just that they don't have the energy and natural skill to contemplate things.
 

wildcat

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I voted the environment.

Good environment

1. A small generation.
2. Little competition.
3. Aristocracy.

Bad environment

1. A large generation
2. Much competition.
3. Democracy.

A small group brings about many people of genius. A large group does not bring any.

Minds develop in an environment, not in a vacuum.
 

LordPwnage

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If by "idiocy" you mean intolerance, bigotry, hypocrisy, narrow-mindedness, and intellectual laziness, then it is all about upbringing; if you mean poor cognitive skills, it is innate to some degree.
 

substitute

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I'm afraid I have to go with the non-PC option of 'idiots by nature'. But that's because I know my cousins, Richard and Robert.

They're both sons of wealthy parents - different parents. Both of their parents are high achievers. They went to very good schools and had many opportunities. But from their earliest days it was clear that they were both idiots. Even though I was struggling to get through a schooling system that didn't operate in my native language but rather, in one I barely spoke at the time, I was pwning them in every subject by the time we were in our early teens. They remind me of Barmy Fungee-Phipps and Chuffy Chuffnall from Jeeves and Wooster.

Meanwhile, I who as aforementioned, was being schooled in a language enigmatic to me at the time (though as you can see I got the hang of it), and also living in a tumble-down hovel with neglectful and abusive parents, having zero encouragement or support regarding my education... well, I got a PhD.

[/own trumpet]

So I think idiocy and genius are both in a person's nature. Admittedly, environment can help an idiot to learn to seem less idiotic, and a genius can learn to dumb himself down if he lives in an environment that's hostile to intelligence/education (as I've seen many people do). But in the end, you can send Princess Di to Sevenoaks but if she ain't got the brains she's still gonna fail her O-Levels.
 

INTJMom

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idiocy would be being born acting on what you see in front of you rather than looking deeper into the issue
Isn't that the difference of S vs N?

, never acting on rationale. things like that.
Isn't rationale a "T" thing?

So your question is like asking: is MBTI by nurture or by environment or DNA.

Aren't you showing your prejudice against people who think differently from you when one of the major usefulnesses of MBTI is learning to understand that others are different from you and to appreciate the benefits of a different point of view?


Are you just in a bad mood because someone did something stupid to you?
 

white

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Great! Now I'm having a craving for popcorn!

:popc1: *offers to INTJMom*

:D

I think of genetics as the possibility/potential, and environment as the catalyst for realisation or denial of genius.

Idiocy or genius is relative, anyway.

Socrates on his trial before 500 Athenians, faced with death or an alternative punishment of his suggestion. Offered the sarcastic recommendation that the government paid him wages for his contribution. Given a second chance, he proposed that he be fined a small amount. Faced with the two choices, the jury selected death for Socrates.

Is he an idiot? Depends who is your jury, isn't it?

But by what would you judge either?
 

substitute

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Well I was just taking the common-sense/lack thereof vernacular meaning of 'idiot' that's usually meant by most people when they use the word, as opposed to a philosophical definition... sorry, was that terribly un-Ti of me? ;)

Cos by the popular definition of the word (and pretty much any other...) my cousins are idiots. Except that they know how to throw a shuttlecock into the air and hit it with a beer mat so that it lands in the lampshade. They're real experts at that kind of stuff. And everyone likes them. So they have some kind of skills. It's just a good thing that everyone likes them, and that these people happen also to be wealthy relatives who take responsibility for them, because otherwise they might just starve to death on the streets!!

Unless they could make money by busking... entertaining passers-by with their incredible non-badminton-related shuttlocock skills...
 
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