Idiocracy - Opening scene in HD
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN uses it as shorthand in birth-rate and genetics threads, usually half-jokingly and sometimes with pushback that it oversimplifies.
What it is
The opening sequence of the film Idiocracy, which satirically shows less intelligent people out-breeding more intelligent ones. It runs about three minutes.
Recommended by 0 HN commenters across 0 different months, 2017 to 2024.
What Hacker News said
Cites wernercd · 2017-09 · on “Massive genetic study shows how humans are evolving”
For reference, see Idiocracy opening sequence... [this video] Smart people delay, wait and then end up not... "dumb" people just hook up and go to town... I think the fact that Evolution is still spreading "successful" genes and "unsuccessful" genes become less prevalent is obvious. What isn't obvious, is as Idiocracy so succinctly puts it, is that gene that are "successful" doesn't necessarily translate to intelligence, good decisions, stable lifestyle, etc.
Cites DanielleMolloy · 2018-04 · on “'I’m not having children because I want to save the planet'”
Every time I hear a rational, intelligent person expounding why they decided not to procreate, I have to think about the opening scene of Idiocracy: [this video] Don't get me wrong, everybody is free to make their own decisions (and I would be the last demanding from anybody to go through parenthood), but sometimes it seems as if intelligence is not an evolutionary advantage. There are whole subcultures of people who spend their life breeding, while especially the DNA lines of intelligent, working women just seem to end there. And it does not help that there are all these seemingly rational argumentation lines against children, e.g. about environmental impact. If you can pass on your education (a
Cites millzlane · 2018-06 · on “Birth Rates Dropped Most in U.S. Counties Where Home Prices Grew Most”
Reminds me of the opening scene of the movie Idiocracy. It makes sense that those that can afford the greater priced homes are thoughtful enough not to have lots of children. [this video]
Cites supermatt · 2019-01 · on “Harried South Koreans pamper pets instead of having kids”
Sounds like a sure-fire way to accelerate idiocracy... [this video] "Evolution does not necessarily reward intelligence. With no natural predators to thin the herd, it began to simply reward those who reproduced the most - and left the intelligent to become an endangered species" Edit: For those that seem to think I'm calling people who have children stupid - idiocracy is a satirical movie. I would suggest you actually watch the link i posted (i.e. at least "read" the comment before you reply to it...)
Cites WorldPeas · 2024-10 · on “US startup charging couples to 'screen embryos for IQ'”
Reminds me of the idiocracy intro. All people think about is getting more, until they can no longer have it. [this video]
Critical xiphias2 · 2019-04 · on “Chimpanzee Browsing Instagram on iPhone with Precision”
It's always interesting to see the opening scene, but of course that is too simple to explain what is happening over the world: [this video]
Critical simias · 2020-05 · on “Trump threatens to 'close' down social media platforms”
I understand what you mean but I'm always frustrated when I see Idiocracy brought up in these discussions. Idiocracy is fine if you view it as a light satirical comedy but if you take it seriously to talk about politics it has very sinister undertones. For one thing it's extremely classist, throughout the movie popular culture is seen as fodder for dumb people while high culture if for clever people. Beyond that it also says that, effectively, dumb people and poor people are the same thing (as exemplified by the "white trash" segment at the start of the movie) and that dumb, poor people are bound to breed dump, poor people (and apparently they do that a lot) while clever people would breed o