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Alan Schmidt's avatar

Historically, it was understood that a certain percentage of people had the right stuff to push a country forward, and one extremely smart person in the right position can create more progress for a society than 1000 working class people.

This isn't to say the average Joe is useless, but that the elite classes are responsible for creating social controls to ensure the more average of a population can thrive, as well as ensuring the cream of the crop from the lower classes get recognized and move up the social ladder. There's also supposd to be "soft" eugenics to ensure the most productive factions have lots of kids. Growing up in a rural area, it's not the wholesome chungus the right tells you it is, though there is far less dysfunction than society at large. Most of the smart faction leave, and most of the dumb faction does too, leaving the town smack in the middle IQ median. Nice place to live, but hardly the place you'll find political upheavals.

For how things used to be, take a look at the book "The Idea Factory" and read how much effort was made to find raw talent in small rural towns in the midwest and how these same people created the innovations that set up the modern world.

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CernelJoson's avatar

"Dear Mr. Gray.

You pride yourself on being a respected, popular, and credentialed academic who is rigorous and intelligent. You get grossly outperformed in book sales by a schizophrenic sex tourist who harasses elderly people in public. YOU ARE GAY."

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