The Unfan

So, I noticed this odd running theme when conversing with older people about how this generation (By that I mean the 20 somethings and 30 somethings) are less intelligent than their generation is. So I decided to bring up this discussion with my mom where we discussed the differences in generation and it seems that older people have this perception based on some lapses in knowledge about things that really just don't apply to us.

Of course we're not knowledgeable on every topic because sometimes we just don't care. It isn't that we're less intelligent, its that we're more apathetic. And I think that it is largely due to the internet. I mean, we don't necessarily need to know everything about all the social mannerisms, geography, or traditional business models because for the first time in history all societies are one and the same and located at the same place. It used to be that we learned a certain set of manners, but can that same set of manners really be applied now? Probably not when you consider that the social norms in Germany, China, and Sweden are all different and I can now sign on at any hour and talk to people from all 3 places almost as if they were in my living room. It used to be that business had to be done a specific way, but with the internet marketing and commerce are really different, especially in media based businesses.

With that said, does anyone feel this generation is highly misunderstood because we recognize how much different the internet makes society as a whole or even that the internet as a whole is a new sort of society in and of itself?

FireInCairo

our generation has a vast expanse of knowledge across a huge range of subjects because of the internet
but the specialization of previous generations is lost forever
...so maybe we are actually at least equal to or greater in intelligence but just in a more general sense.

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adidasss

Your post is all over the place. I don't see how intelligence (or knowledge) has anything to do with manners or business tactics. How does being apathetic justify the lack of knowledge? How does the internet come into the story? If anything, it should increase your knowledge given the fact that never before has there been so much of it so readily available to so many people.

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The Unfan

The intelligence to process the hows and whys of the inner workings there-in. Nothing just is because it is. There is a reason business tactics of old were the best possible business tactics. There was also a reason why their generation was the way it was. I supposed "understanding" might have been a better word to use.
Because those bits of knowledge no longer apply. Why should we know about how they did things if those things just don't matter anymore?
I think it is largely the reason those things no longer apply.

adidasss

[QUOTE=The Unfan;509171]
What knowledge? Math, English, geography, history? What things?
What things? A little coherence and some better articulation wouldn't hurt.

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“Think of what a paradise this world would be if men were kind and wise.” - Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle.

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The Unfan

I've heard it about history and geography a lot. I was referring to more social and political things specifically though I also think we're less likely to care about geography because we have things like mapquest.
Societal things, politics, business, general behavior and what not.

I don't actually feel that its intended as berating actually. I think its a simple misunderstanding but it comes off as a rather asinine way to think about the youth. We're a different generation with different expectations on almost all fronts. To criticize a group of forward moving people based on the grounds that we don't care how you would do something because we've completely redefined how it is done is rather odd.

joyboyo53

Can you make that more coherent? That last sentence more specifically.

adidasss

You've heard that you don't need history and geography or that this generation is less knowledgeable in those areas? So instead of looking at an atlas at school, you'll find your desired location on the web, where's the difference? If you're a retard, you still won't know where Croatia is. As for social and political things, are we talking about the general degeneration of manners which is certainly true but also not connected to intelligence, or political awareness, which I'd have to say is probably a lot greater than 30-40 years ago?

Again, that doesn't really translate into intelligence, if it's obvious that these "drastically different" ways of doing business are working. What? Where are you getting this? How can anyone look dumber for having progressive ideas? They may look scornfully at those changed ideals, but I really don't see how they could find you intellectually inferior.

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“Think of what a paradise this world would be if men were kind and wise.” - Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle.

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FireInCairo

the whole concept is just an old people "oh in the good old days..." thing anyway
of course people are more intelligent we have wider access to information and education
plus we can learn from the mistakes those same old people made

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O G MUDBONE: Only You can prevent forest fires.

Seltzer

That's not intelligence you're talking about... it's knowledge.

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