r/talesfromtechsupport • u/[deleted] • Dec 18 '19

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u/Huecuva Dec 18 '19

The US military did a study and determined that 1 in every 10 people are too stupid to even be trained to do anything.

13

u/Dr3adpirate Dec 18 '19

Source?

52

u/wertperch A lot of IT is just not being stupid. Dec 18 '19

I heard a piece on NPR that covered this. The full transcript is here; the relevant quotation that stuck in my mind was:

An interesting example of that is the U.S. military uses a test called the ASVAB to screen young recruits when they're just coming out of high school and they don't know much about them. And historically, at times when the Army has let people in who've scored the equivalent of below an 80 on an IQ test, the Army has been rendered less efficient, so the troops don't follow orders as well, they can't figure out complex machinery like tanks or read maps.

/u/Huecuva may be interested in this too.

13

u/brotherenigma The abbreviated spelling is ΩMG Dec 19 '19

they can't figure out complex machinery like tanks or read maps.

I'm sorry, maps are complex? Jesus. No wonder friendly fire is so damn common.

11

u/kyraeus Dec 19 '19 edited Dec 19 '19

I'm actually pretty sure theres a form of mental block against reading maps or recognizing how the map relates to real world geography. Not sure if its named or an actual 'condition' per se, but I both vaguely remember reading something to the effect, and have known several otherwise very intelligent people who simply could not find their way across an open gymnasium with one.

Similar to simply having bad spatial/directional awareness, id think, and ive known MANY with that trait who couldnt tell you which way is north if they were standing at the intersection of two interstates in a place theyd lived all their lives.

Edit: its much worse than I thought. Theres even a condition thats recognized that, while having no brain damage, one simply CANNOT create a 'mental map' of familiar places.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1364661316301000

5

u/Nik_2213 Dec 19 '19

Map-block ? It's real. Scary real. And, I dare say, a familial trait. Across my extended family, I've several of the best map-readers you could hope to meet, also some of the very, very worst.

One such was a scout-master. His troop soon learned that if they didn't independently track navigation, they'd land hungry, tired, cold, wet and miles off 'planned' route up a dead-end lane in the dark, yet again, yet again...

My wife had similar issues among her kin, was as delighted as I was to discover we shared a love of maps, geology and 'Physical Geography'...

1

u/kyraeus Dec 19 '19

Theres a Bilbo Baggins joke in here somewhere, but I'm too lazy too apply it XD.

Kudos though, as someone married previously for five years, its always good to hear of couples finding common ground in a simple intellectual pursuit.