For reasons of my own, I have been trying for some time to set a baseline for human stupidity.   Or, if you are an optimist, intelligence. 

 

In other words, I want to try to plot the lowest common denominator for how smart (or stupid) people should be to function in our modern world.  Unfortunately, it seems to be a moving target, and it doesn’t seem to be moving up. 

 

I was watching Alexandra Steele  the other night and she did a little feature about 5 tips on running in hot weather.  Now, I don’t run, my knees and lower back put the kibosh on that, but I do cycle and so I thought this might be just the thing to give me an edge this summer. 

 

I don’t remember all five, but the first was startling.  ‘Run in the morning or evening, when temperatures are cooler’.  Whoa.  Talk about a bolt of lightning.  I never would have come up with that. 

 

They followed that up with an admonition to ‘drink plenty of fluids’.  Again, wow!  Unfortunately they didn’t indicate what particular fluids would be good so for my next ride I took along a bottle of bourbon.  I may not do that again. 

 

The third was ‘wear light clothing’ along with the brilliance to ‘dress weather appropriate’. 

 

I don’t remember the rest but can everybody see what’s wrong here?  This advice is the kind of thing you would teach a five year old.  And yet this is expert level advice.  What’s up with that? 

 

And then it hit me.  This is the same kind of advice that we get everywhere.  On TV, in magazine articles, and, especially, on the web.  It’s the kind of thing that the author can come up with in 15 seconds.  It’s non-controversial.  There’s no way anyone can file a lawsuit against you if it somehow goes wrong because it’s so milquetoast that it can’t go wrong. 

 

And, for the most part, it’s not news to anybody. 

 

There is a whole industry out there today that is selling information, knowledge.  But they have yet to prove to me that it’s info worth having.  And it certainly isn’t making us any smarter.  We’re just learning to think shallower and be satisfied with less from our content makers.  I weep for the future.Â