• deranger@sh.itjust.works
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    1 day ago

    In Idiocracy the president hired the world’s smartest man to successfully solve an existential problem.

    We’re in a significantly worse situation.

    • dkppunk@piefed.social
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      1 day ago

      I always felt that that current times are the buildup to Idiocracy rather than actually being Idiocracy. All the people in charge who did stupid shit that led to that world are what is happening now.

      • Passerby6497@lemmy.world
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        18 hours ago

        Holy shit, that wiki plot synopsis

        Iowa Senator Jim MacVeagh is summoned to Camp David by US President Mark Hollenbach. MacVeagh, who is expected to become Hollenbach’s next Vice President, becomes concerned because Hollenbach shows signs of intense paranoia. He erratically expresses his desire to develop a closer relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union, and attempts to cut ties with US allies in Europe. Hollenbach believes the US news media are conspiring against him. MacVeagh is the only person who notices that Hollenbach’s mind is crumbling, as the presidential advisors and politicians he attempts to warn ignore him. The sole person in possession of evidence of Hollenbach’s mental decline is his mistress, Rita. Hollenbach puts both MacVeagh and Rita under an FBI investigation.

        Anybody reading this should guess when you think this book was written.

        Tap for spoiler

        Because I sure as fuck could hardly believe the answer is 1965

    • 1984@lemmy.today
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      1 day ago

      It’s been a worse situation since 2019. It really doesn’t hit the same anymore.

  • Old Sage Rick@lemmy.zip
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    1 day ago

    A thing I find funny as fuck.

    President Camacho, once it was shown to him that plants need water, did the right thing.

    Think about it, a president, doing what needs to be done, even against the wishes of the elites

    • c64z86@piefed.world
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      18 hours ago

      Yeah but by then the elites were also dumbed down along with the rest of the people, as everything was taken care of by the computer systems because nobody could work anything anymore, so he had very little resistance.

      But still kudos to him for being a president that actually gave a crap.

    • Phantaloons@piefed.zip
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      1 day ago

      Imagine what Camacho could do with 6 months of presidential immunity if he had it at the end of his term, and a convicted sex offender was running for office.

    • Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      For the last time, I’m pretty sure… what’s killing the crops is this Brawndo stuff.

      But Brawndo’s got what plants crave. It’s got electrolytes.

      So wait a minute. What you’re saying… is that you want us to put water on the crops.

      Yes. Water.

      Like out the toilet?

      Well, I mean, it doesn’t have to be out of the toilet, but, veah, that’s the idea.

      But Brawndo’s got what plants crave. It’s got electrolytes.

      Okay, look.The plants aren’t growing, so l’m pretty sure that the Brawndo’s not working. Now, I’m no botanist, but I do know that if you put water on plants, they grow.

      Well, I’ve never seen no plants grow out of no toilet.

      Hey, that’s good. You sure you ain’t the smartest guy in the world?

      You wanna solve this problem. I wanna get my pardon So why don’t we just try it, okay, and not worry about what plants crave?

      Brawndo’s got what plants crave.

      Goddamn it. Yeah, it’s got electrolytes.

      What are electrolytes? Do you even know?

      It’s what they use to make Brawndo.

      Yeah, but why do they use them to make Brawndo?

      'Cause Brawndo’s got electrolytes.

      After several hours, Joe finally gave up on logic and reason… and simply told the cabinet that he could talk to plants… and that they wanted water. He made believers out of everyone.

      • wabafee@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        This movie is no longer satire it’s documentary, COVID made me realize how people act in movies is almost 1:1 in reality. The same with the current state we have now.

        • tankplanker@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          Covid made me realise that even the dumbest person in a horror movie who goes down into the basement on their own, actually exist.

        • Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          Yeah, i think that’s it. It was pretty much just a hyperbolic commentary on the 2000s and the world kept heading in that direction.

          It gets a lot of flak for it’s eugenics themes. I agree that the problem isn’t a system that breeds people genetically predisposed to stupidity. I would have preferred it if the movie had chosen a different mechanism for the dumbing down of the population.

          Personally, I think it’s socioeconomic. Rising wealth inequality is causing a decline in the quality of the average median level of education.

  • Sam_Bass@lemmy.world
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    23 hours ago

    i read somewhere a long time ago that algae could be grown for use in alternate fuel formulae.