"Human beings are stupid and lazy."

"Human beings are stupid and lazy" is a philosophical axiom I see lurking behind many of the opinions expressed on ATS across a wide number of fora. People who make this assumption seldom state it outright, but it is the necessary underpinning for their theories. Here are a few examples I have encountered:

ANCIENT ASTRONAUTS

Proponents of this theory often point to the vast scale of certain monuments or the detailed knowledge of astronomy, mathematics or mechanics that ancient people demonstrated as "proof" that they must have had help from superior extra-terrestrial beings. Why? Because, apparently, "people are too stupid and lazy" to invent geometry or solve the engineering problems involved in piling large stones on top of one another. Human beings are actually very observant, and are capable of discovering things on their own. They are also very clever, and can devise ingenious solutions to the most difficult challenges.

"BACK-ENGINEERED" ALIEN TECHNOLOGY

UFO enthusiasts often claim that the existence of advanced aircraft or other technologies are "proof" that the governments of the world have captured alien spacecraft and copied their systems. What is the underlying assumption in that belief? "Human beings are too stupid and lazy" to spend decades laboring in laboratories to develop new aircraft and electronics without an assist from ET. In fact, human beings dedicate a great deal of their time searching for new innovations in everything from technology to sociology.

THE MOON HOAX

The standard argument that Moon Hoax advocates make is that space is an extremely hostile environment, and that "human beings are too stupid and lazy" to solve the problems this generates, so they just chucked it in and faked it. This is possible because "humans are too stupid and lazy" to question the "official story" and investigate it for themselves. If the Egyptians could build the Pyramids and Medieval masons could build cathedrals using little more than stone, levers, pulleys and sweat, I don't see why half a million dedicated individuals couldn't solve the technical problems involved in putting human beings on the Moon.

GENERAL GLOBAL CONSPIRACIES

Most conspiracy theorists seem to believe that "the truth is hidden in plain sight." We are all surrounded by clues to the sinister reality that lies behind the workaday world. Only they seem to be able to decode the signs around them. Why does no-one else seem to be aware of what is so obvious? You guessed it: "human beings are too stupid and lazy" to see the world around them clearly. The conspiracy theory shorthand for this is "sheeple." When someone calls you a "sheeple," they are calling you stupid and lazy. It would nice if the Mods banned this derogatory word.

I, for one, find this assumption, that "human beings are stupid and lazy" to be quite insulting. Many of my best friends are human beings, and none of them are stupid or lazy. When you think of humanity's accomplishments, it's very difficult to justify that belief; from Gothic cathedrals to modern skyscrapers, from J.S. Bach to Mick Jagger, from square rigged sailboats to Spaceship One, humanity has proven itself to be intelligent, resourceful and industrious. Don't let a few bad eggs turn you off from humanity.

Edit to add: To the Mods: Please feel free to move this to a more appropriate forum.

Actually humans are stupid and lazy to still use oil for energy...well not humans, more the ones making money out of it. Reverse engineering has nothing stupid about it.

Maybe you are not "stupid and lazy" but a lot of humans are and if you don't see it, you are ignorant.

I would say : "Our laziness is a catalyst for our intelligence."

reply to post by DJW001

I, for one, find this assumption, that "human beings are stupid and lazy" to be quite insulting. Many of my best friends are human beings, and none of them are stupid or lazy.

I would like to know who are the minority in social group designated "my best friends". Disregarding my personal outdated opinion that there can be only one best friend, if those are not human beings - what/who are they?

Originally posted by User8911
Actually humans are stupid and lazy to still use oil for energy...well not humans

Really? With your thinking, it is stupid to use water as an energy source because it is still!! being used in rivers and dams. Oil as energy has only been around for about 100 or so years, so how are we lazy ? Oxen use their energy to push a plow!! And it is still being used!!! We are sooooo lazy for using a technique that works!!

reply to post by DJW001

"Human beings are too stupid and lazy" to spend decades laboring in laboratories to develop new aircraft and electronics without an assist from ET.

hmm I'm not so sure of that, I believe those guys are saying this because of the dramatic increase in break through technologies. Ignoring the fact that these "break throughs" weren't fast at all, they spent years in R&D as black projects.

The standard argument that Moon Hoax advocates make is that space is an extremely hostile environment, and that "human beings are too stupid and lazy" to solve the problems this generates, so they just chucked it in and faked it.

Again, I'm not so sure, most of the no-mooners point at the Van Allen belts as producing a deadly dose of radiation when passing through them. Even Van Allen himself laughs at this. You are correct though, most of this is because humans are too lazy to even do cursory research themselves, and just rely on hearsay from forums like this.

The conspiracy theory shorthand for this is "sheeple." When someone calls you a "sheeple," they are calling you stupid and lazy. It would nice if the Mods banned this derogatory word.

almost right. When people HERE call you "sheeple" it's merely them explaining to you that since you do not automatically subscribe to whatever their beliefs are, you are merely a follower while they, the magically intelligent super being, are far superior because they watched a few Alex Jones videos.

All that aside, this site is a perfect example that yes, plenty of humans are stupid and lazy.

Take chemtrails for instance. It took me roughly 3 seconds to find information pertaining to contrails and how long they can last under the correct circumstances, yet each chemtrail thread always starts off with "contrails can ONLY last a few minutes" which is absurd.

Why do they believe this, because someone told them this, and they are too lazy to actually look for themselves.

how about threads that pop up explaining how the moon just "isn't right" and isn't "where it should be", this goes for the sun as well. Yep, 4 minutes to grab stellarium and check where they should be, but the posters fail to do this, and usually when it's suggested, fail to grasp the simple concept of using the software.

How about elenin? All science shows you that no, this thing right now can't have any effect on earth, it's basic physics, but there are still daily threads attributing almost every event on earth to elenin, including the japan disaster, if you can believe that.

Why do people believe this? Because someone here told them. did they bother to read any information provided by Elenin who actually discovered the comet? Nope, because he thinks they are all retarded and this goes against their basic, baseless, theory, so it's ignored.

I don't consider myself stupid and lazy, but I can be both at times, but the fact remains, there are plenty of stupid lazy people here

reply to post by User8911

"Our laziness is a catalyst for our intelligence."

I have heard that "Necessity is the Mother of Invention," but never that one. Could you explain, please?
(BTW, I agree that using petroleum for energy is foolish, but at this point the energy is an industrial by-product of the plastic which is used for all the planet's cultural artifacts.)

reply to post by fordrew

Really? With your thinking, it is stupid to use water as an energy source because it is still!! being used in rivers and dams. Oil as energy has only been around for about 100 or so years, so how are we lazy

Well first you are wrong, the Chinese were drilling oil hundreds of years ago. secondly, I think the poster was implying Humanities laziness to continue to rely on a dirty, polluting, limited, resource for fuel without actually putting REAL effort into finding clean energy

You can honestly say you don't know any "Stupid and Lazy" humans?

Or the simple fact that a vast number of people would rather watch Jersey Shore then even glance at a debate on politics, even if it's their own futures on the line (I'm an Australian, and the only way I could see people voting for Obama when he ran was if people never bothered to check his back story - the msm never lies! )

And I must say, I find your counter-arguments to the topics..well...rather stupid and lazy.

Medieval masons could build cathedrals using little more than stone, levers, pulleys and sweat

Well, clearly that means...nothing

Originally posted by DJW001
"Human beings are stupid and lazy"

I dunno about lazy. Many are but then again many aren't. But stupid ... yep. The vast majority of us are. We believe the lies that are told to us by politicians and those in charge. We believe them over and over and over. When someone comes along and says "i'm different " we believe them and vote for them even though common sense and evidence says otherwise. Dunno if it's stupidity or a polyanna 'unicorns and rainbows abound' attitude ... but it's pretty damn dumb.

reply to post by Soltari

Well, clearly that means...nothing

Apparently you have never visited a Gothic cathedral; they're like vast spiderwebs made of stone. The engineering involved is amazing, and they generally encode an enormous amount of data about the world as it was then known. People tend to take them for granted because we have historical records and artifacts that make their method of construction (trial and error) known. If all of our libraries are destroyed in the next thousand years, the people of that time will view the Great Pyramid as journeyman's work in comparison to the medieval cathedrals.

Originally posted by phishyblankwaters
reply to post by fordrew

 

Really? With your thinking, it is stupid to use water as an energy source because it is still!! being used in rivers and dams. Oil as energy has only been around for about 100 or so years, so how are we lazy

Well first you are wrong, the Chinese were drilling oil hundreds of years ago. secondly, I think the poster was implying Humanities laziness to continue to rely on a dirty, polluting, limited, resource for fuel without actually putting REAL effort into finding clean energy

Obviously they were finding it way before anyone else. Read my post again. Oil ,AS AN ENERGY SOURCE, was not used until about 100 years ago. Unless they had cars or electricity ..

humans are stupid and lazy compared to what, olden times? Werent they still humans, oh compared to aliens great post waste of time

reply to post by DJW001


They are amazing structures. Their method of construction is incredible, as was the amount of time, effort and coin poured into their construction.

However, I fail to see any type of connection between building cathedrals and space flight?
I agree with your theories, most people don't read beyond what is presented to them on the first page. What simply annoyed the hell out of my was the pointless comparison.

"Mankind once built an amazing buildings..now lets use that Architectural know how to build planes!"

reply to post by thegoods724

humans are stupid and lazy compared to what, olden times? Werent they still humans, oh compared to aliens great post waste of time

Did you read the post?

reply to post by Soltari

What simply annoyed the hell out of my was the pointless comparison.

But it's not a pointless comparison; humanity has built on the skills it has learned over the centuries. Mastery of the ogive arch gave humanity the understanding of physical stresses that allowed them to predict the behavior of the airframe of a rocket, each generation building on the discoveries of the previous generations

reply to post by DJW001


""Human beings are stupid and lazy" is a philosophical axiom I see lurking behind many of the opinions expressed on ATS across a wide number of fora."

"fora?"

many people are stupid and lazy. we've got all types, you name it. happy for you that you don't associate with stupid lazy people. it's the thinkers and doers that get things done and are more fun to be around.

arrogant & vain we have plenty of too, which accounts for a lot of poor behavior and bad choices. it's not often one meets a humble man. people are multi-layered like the onion, and depending on what you put in front of them you'll see their different sides.

fora fora

Im not sure if anyone is getting your point, but I do feel the same way. After seeing ancient aliens, I felt as though this is what they thought. The exclamation I would hear "how could we possibly have done that" drove me nuts. We have the theories and facts behind them on how we built some of this amazing stuff in our history, we have people that spent their lives in deserts and caves and tombs trying to find our secrets. Then some people come along, (well mainly one on daniken's leash) and say, no theres no possible way ancient humans could conceive of that or build that without outside help. In essence "we were too stupid" to be able to do this ourselves. And all the archaeologists and anthropologists of the world are just mistaken and egotistical to think otherwise.

I understand your point and it does get to me when I see blatant denial of any other theory which isnt out there enough.

Originally posted by fordrew

Originally posted by User8911
Actually humans are stupid and lazy to still use oil for energy...well not humans

Really? With your thinking, it is stupid to use water as an energy source because it is still!! being used in rivers and dams. Oil as energy has only been around for about 100 or so years, so how are we lazy ? Oxen use their energy to push a plow!! And it is still being used!!! We are sooooo lazy for using a technique that works!!

edit on 23-6-2011 by fordrew because: (no reason given)

LOL omg, you reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally didn't understand my point.
I'm saying lazy, because if they wanted, they could find another to rape our wallets that at least wouldn't kill the earth has much.

Originally posted by DJW001
reply to post by User8911

 

"Our laziness is a catalyst for our intelligence."

I have heard that "Necessity is the Mother of Invention," but never that one. Could you explain, please?
(BTW, I agree that using petroleum for energy is foolish, but at this point the energy is an industrial by-product of the plastic which is used for all the planet's cultural artifacts.)

Just one example, the TV remote control. A great advancement we could say, but it still comes from human laziness.

Plastics are awesome, it's burning it that is dumb.
If we burn it all, how will we make electric cars?
Electric cars can't be made out of metal since it's too heavy and counter-productive energy wise.

reply to post by DJW001


thankfully 'humans being stupid and lazy' is not the crux of any of the theories you mentioned