Timeline for Why would a 'first world' alien opt to have a brood of dumb children rather than one smart one?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
10 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 4, 2021 at 14:30 | vote | accept | Joe Bloggs | ||
| Mar 26, 2020 at 8:58 | comment | added | toolforger | Sure, I was trying to provide a reference frame for "Idiocracy". Applying the ideas to the Yttri is a different story. | |
| Mar 26, 2020 at 8:26 | comment | added | Joe Bloggs | @toolforger: In this case it’s not really an evolutionary drive. Evolution has already furnished the Yttri with a way to ‘lose’ intelligence by opting for the r strategy. It’s a social drive that leads to a society of idiots supported by a few intelligent members. | |
| Mar 26, 2020 at 7:56 | comment | added | toolforger | @JoeBloggs note that "Idiocracy" builds on various popular but mistaken beliefs about breeding and intelligence. Intelligence is too complex to get eliminated in a mere dozen generations, and the circumstances decribed disfavor just specific uses of intelligence so there's no evolutionary drive to actually lose intelligence. | |
| Mar 24, 2020 at 12:23 | comment | added | Zeiss Ikon | Also, in this case, escaping the religion might be nearly impossible, because the "clutch birth" lines just plain aren't smart enough to reason their way out of the logical fallacies. The "single birthers" could have a real problem on their hands within just a couple generations. | |
| Mar 24, 2020 at 12:21 | comment | added | Joe Bloggs | Not a reference I recognised, but now I know where Idiocracy came from and I've got another short story to add to my never-ending reading list. Thanks! | |
| Mar 24, 2020 at 12:17 | comment | added | Zeiss Ikon | Yep, hence the Marching Morons reference. | |
| Mar 24, 2020 at 12:16 | comment | added | Joe Bloggs | This could also quite nicely set up a 'fall of society' type situation, where the religious followers simply can't understand why the systems that they rely on to survive are failing to support their sheer numbers, and they can't do anything to arrest the failures. | |
| Mar 24, 2020 at 12:11 | comment | added | Joe Bloggs | Forehead smack. Religion. I only went and forgot about religion! | |
| Mar 24, 2020 at 12:10 | history | answered | Zeiss Ikon | CC BY-SA 4.0 |