20110216

Stupidity and the Internet

The question was asked:

Is the Internet breeding stupidity or shining a light on it?

Stupidity is doing the same thing twice and hoping for a different outcome.  I prefer to think of what you have observed as the revelation of ignorance.  The word comes from "ignore," our natural state when we are born.  Education is supposed to be the remedy.  That's where the Internet comes in.  The fact that folks are poorly educated is not a bit surprising.  With the Internet, we can see how bad education, particularly in the USA, really is.  At the same time, the Internet provides great opportunities to obtain an education uncensored by authority figures. How do we know whether we are being educated or scammed? The scientific worldview assumes that "truth" is determined by the best agreement between theory and
observation/experiment.  The same goes for information on the Internet.  If it makes no logical sense (like four dimensions and an expanding universe), then it probably is nonsense.

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