Is Russia in the golden age of stupid?
It seems like we definitely are. There can be several examples of this remarkable state of matters.
First, the war in Ukraine. Putin invades the country. He declares his goals like ‘denazification’ and ‘demilitarization’ of Ukraine, meaning, in his bird talk, the regime change, and cancellation of the Ukrainian army.
Almost four years later, he didn’t achieve either of those goals. Plus, we have Sweden and Finland joining NATO, thanks to his efforts. What a strategist! Plus, Europe, though weak and indecisive, urgently rearming, facing a new reality. Turning partners into enemies. You got it, Vlad! Continue reading more historical books. Surprise us!
Yet lots of people in Russia believe every crap he says, about Donbass and the rest. This is a classic by George Orwell. Tomorrow, he will say something else, and many idiots here in Russia will believe his every word. Though it may be a good old U-turn.
I can’t believe it but it is happening here. Yep, the Golden Age of Stupid.
Another example:
Gaza Strip, a terrorist entity. Anyone, for God’s sake, explain me why Europe supports them? Oh, yeah, France, Spain, Belgium, all these countries have large Moslim minorities. Yeah, they must care about the next election as Europe has already successfully exterminated Jews, thanks to Adolf. How about caring about Europe’s own future and vanishing identity?
No answer.
Finally.
Some time ago, I was driving and listening to Silver Rain FM station, my favorite, an island of reason and common sense in the sea of hatred and dumbness in Russia. It’s mostly a music station, but they have smart talk shows and smart guests coming in. Two days ago, they were talking about a recent poll conducted by the Russian State Archeology Institute and VTSIOM, which is an established state-owned sociological company.
According to their representative poll (around 1,500 respondents), 20% of Russians believe that the Sun orbits the Earth; 16% consider that human beings and dinosaurs have lived in the same epoch; and finally, 39% of those who responded believe in witches and magicians.
Yeah, we definitely live in the Golden Age of Stupid. And we seem to enjoy it.
Is Britain in THE golden age of stupid?
I always thought that the next generation would be wealthier, smarter, and more contented than the previous one. No more. Modern Britain oozes, from every pore, that unsettling feeling that we’re not just flirting with absurdity but actively building a bloody monument to it. Just spend a brief moment online and you’ll see my country of birth dragging common sense like tin cans behind a couple’s wedding car.
And beneath the memes and mayhem, there is a much darker truth: Britain is getting the big stuff painfully, embarrassingly and worryingly wrong. Public services don’t merely strain—they gasp as if it were their final breath. National projects, like our much-maligned but oh-so-necessary HS2 high-speed railway link, collapse into delays, or worse still, cancellations. Long-term challenges are dropped in favour of short-term sticking-plaster temporary fixes. Housing is stagnating, infrastructure crumbling with decay, and even basic systems creak with a kind of exhausted resignation. We have a country drowning in potential, yet somehow unable to stop setting fire to its own lifeboats.
We have also had to endure recently the most inept Prime Ministers in living memory, the likes of whom make Homer Simpson seem like an Einstein in the making. Luckily, the most stupid of them all only lasted a mere 50 days. 50 days too long.
Despite all this, I don’ think we are becoming more stupid, but we are allowing stupidity to amplify all that is around us. We have conspiracy theories thriving like mould in damp corners, we have national discourse reduced to bar fights conducted through microphones, and culture-war distractions fed to the public like comfort food for the disoriented.
Algorithms amplify our worst impulses, turning every grudge, grievance, and half-baked belief into a performance. It starts to feel like the country is being slowly and gently smothered by noise.
It’s not stupidity that has surged, it’s our exposure to it. Foolishness used to be whispered, confined to pubs and private rants. Now it’s broadcast at full volume, recorded, uploaded, algorithmically boosted, and rewarded with applause. Insight and idiocy travel at the same speed, but the latter often comes with better marketing.
I see us now in a golden age of unfiltered clarity. The absurdity and the cracks were always there. We’re just no longer capable of looking away. Maybe that’s the darkest part of it all.
Is America entering THE golden age of stupid?
Really? Seriously? My tribe elected someone who thinks Nepal is pronounced nipple and I have to answer this? Well, it could be worse, at least he surrounded himself with smart capable people who maintain a smooth running, competent government on a daily basis. Oh…. shit. Well, it could be worse, just give me a minute and I’ll come up with something.
I became curious; the King of Nipple is a title I so richly deserve. How could there be a pretender? King Birendra was killed by a bunch of Commies on June, 1, 2001. The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) inherited the title Nipple Pinkos (just pinkos for short) and have held it since.
Yeah, it gets even stupid-er; let me explain. When I was a child, we were taught that the world may well end under a mushroom cloud. I no longer think that’s likely. Yeah, a non-zero chance but not likely. Today I think the greatest threat to humanity is AI. You know, I can hear you roll your eyes….
In school I was required to learn my multiplication tables. To this day, I remember most of it. I mentioned that to my co-writer, Roger and he says the same thing. Today I understand children are taught how to use a calculator. I can find the area of a triangle or whatever using a pencil, younger folks can’t. Obviously, I’m telling you this to illustrate a point.
As we become more and more dependent on technology, we are in danger of losing the ability to reason, to problem solve. Yes, I can define the Scientific Method but more important, I understand its power. If AI writes all our computer code, drives our cars, and repairs our robots, just how stupid will we become within a generation?
Yes, we are already dependent on technology but what I’m describing is on a different scale. Is it possible to destroy a civilization by becoming so dependent on AI that we can no longer feed, house, or maintain ourselves? Example: Musk & Bezos describe a future where we lead lives of leisure. Sounds great but what happens if there is a serious solar flare? It’s happened before, many times. The latest serious solar storm was in the mid eighteen-hundreds. Our highest technology then was the telegraph. Fried the system. It absolutely will happen again and it will destroy electronics.
Of course we don’t need to wait, we can do it ourselves. You don’t have to nuke a city or kill anyone, a high-altitude air-burst nuclear warhead will create an electro-magnetic pulse that will fry all electronics but the people will be fine. Any society that uses AI will be totally devastated. Starvation, failing hospitals, cars that don’t run; now that’s the golden age of stupid.