"The older that I get, the more I understand that there aren’t a lot of people who are stupid, but there are a lot of people who are incurious, and their incuriosity is understood by people who were curious about something as stupidity." - this is a fantastic piece about AI use but also about life: - ThreadSky

stephenkb.bsky.social • 1 day ago

"The older that I get, the more I understand that there aren’t a lot of people who are stupid, but there are a lot of people who are incurious, and their incuriosity is understood by people who were curious about something as stupidity." - this is a fantastic piece about AI use but also about life:

Reposted from Cooper Lund

I wrote a whole thing about this!

Comments

colinelves.bsky.social•1 day ago

Certainly explains how Noah Smith got so stupid
https://bsky.app/profile/2077.bsky.social/post/3lj43vofd7s2d

anghyflawn.net•1 day ago

This resonates with a lot of my struggles teaching undergraduates. Incuriosity is exactly the root of so much of what makes the current experience (and thus much of what’s downstream of it) miserable, and we refuse to see how so many of our systems nurture and reward it.

dominiclavelle.bsky.social•1 day ago

Could it because their education up that point does not really reward curiosity?

anghyflawn.net•1 day ago

Yes, that’s a big part of it.

domruston.bsky.social•1 day ago

In developed democracies that incuriosity also results from sheer complacency - a comfortable life, home, car, leisure activities.

It’s almost inevitable that citizens become less politically engaged or aware when their needs are largely met and there appears no obvious danger.

domruston.bsky.social•1 day ago

Hopefully this Trump / MAGA / GOP shit-show might just cause a whole lot of people to sit up and take notice. Though much damage could be done before that starts to make a difference…

jahodges69.bsky.social•1 day ago

People want to reach a view and want to be confident about the view they reach and therefore tend to go with the views of people who express their views confidently. Hence, in part Farage and Johnson

admiralbooth.bsky.social•1 day ago

I work somewhere where there are a lot of highly intelligent people, but strategically it is a shambles. Many of them have no interest in anything beyond their own cleverness, which they see as license to make as many stupid decisions as they like.

rosisexton.bsky.social•1 day ago

I'm not even sure it's "incuriosity" (at least not in all cases). It's trying to navigate a world in which there is too much information to pay attention to with brains that are not universally good at triaging that information.

rosisexton.bsky.social•1 day ago

And for many, just paying attention to what you need to to survive is already too much. In that situation, there is no bandwidth left to think carefully about things that seem a bit less immediate - like politics.

paulgriffiths77.bsky.social•1 day ago

Wonder if something similar is happening in politics with social media.

If you follow people who think like you then why be curious about other views.

Indeed when you see other views they are often a few illogical sentences in a tweet from somebody on the other side which can easily dismissed!

stephenkb.bsky.social•1 day ago

Yeah. James Marriott wrote a very good 'in praise of silos' piece on these grounds. I go on and on about this, but I think social media can make people think they are being open-minded when they aren't, because they read a bunch of trash they disagree with that doesn't challenge them:

mariosrichards.bsky.social•1 day ago

Yes - ultimately, if you think someone is a complete ***** there is only *negative* value in reading what they write because it will only poison your perception of them and everyone you associate with them.

mariosrichards.bsky.social•1 day ago

You don't broaden your perspective by shouting **** at people - or being superior and only saying it inside your head - or being so superior that you try to convince yourself you don't think it.

mariosrichards.bsky.social•1 day ago

Precious human flexibility is maintained - or even developed! - by surrounding yourself by people who - if they disagreed with you - you'd consider "maybe they're right and I'm wrong".

Everything else ... coarsens you.

paulgriffiths77.bsky.social•1 day ago

All true but social media has more than it's fair share of grifters and bad actors.

For example, I'm sure there are some intelligent people with sincerely held radical right beliefs.

However, lot of high profile far right posters are chasing outrage for engagement!

johnnieburdette.bsky.social•1 day ago

If there weren’t a lot of stupid people Trump wouldn’t be the POTUS.

pipkazan.bsky.social•1 day ago

I’m coming to believe that incuriosity is THE modern scourge.

nick-rijke.bsky.social•1 day ago

Most people (or at least enough of them to matter) lack critical thinking and the lesser the extent their basic needs have been met, the easier it is to manipulate them using a blend of fear, resentment, exclusive identity and hate. 'Twas ever thus.

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