[Ben.F.Rayfield]

Learning is interactive. You need think and do between when books and tv think and do back at you, but thats not how books and tv are designed. They flow thoughts at you and not react to your thoughts. They just keep going, make you think that your thoughts have no effect. So you stop thinking.

[Don Patrick]

I dunno, I've spent most of my life watching cartoons and reading comics, and now I'm an amateur AI programmer of above-average IQ.

[ranch vermin]

choose your own adventure!!!

[Ben.F.Rayfield]

"Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that." --George Carlin

[Don Patrick]

I see, you're a science philosopher. You could probably find out if scientific researches actually prove or disprove your hypothesis on the effects of television. You should find it on Google between the research on video games causing violence and smartphones causing decreased attention spans.

[Ben.F.Rayfield]

The hypothesis is books and tv (and anything with 1 direction of information flow to you but not from you) reduces intelligence of each person, on average. How would we test that, other than wait months or years to see if changing their use of books/tv has that effect? Its not the same as measure the intelligence of those who do and dont use books/tv. We need derivatives, not positions.

[Art]

Ben,

You said one direction of flow to us then = not good.

How then is it that everything we were taught or we have learned has pretty much been information directed to us? Everything we sense can be thought of as input / information / data, TO us, from school to college to everyday life in our homes and at work. Most humans are in a constant state of learning one thing or another.

Often, without being cataloged as teachers, we are. We share that which we've learned with others who might show interest or with our children or siblings that we feel needs to know certain information.

Life is and always has been a learning process for the vast majority or humans (and some bots).

My grandfather worked in a paper mill and every couple of weeks he would bring me a big stack of comics that had the top of the front cover torn off (older comics taken off the shelf by the distributor and could not be sold). He got to take these home or throw them into the heap of scrap paper to be made into cardboard.

It was through his "gift" that I learned, at a very early age, to read! Yes...Comics taught me to read and mostly before I went to 1st grade! His gifts continued for many years afterward which I really enjoyed.

In essence, I get where you're coming from, even if your hypothesis is a bit damp. It's not as important where one gets his / her material but what one does with it! Just my hypothesis....

[Carl2]

   I believe that would depend on what types of books you read and what you watch on tv.  Doctors and lawyers go to college and I don't believe they would be considered stupid after reading all those books.  After watching a show on ty I also wonder about the input and output for smartness,  it found people that were consider geniuses after being told they should be Institutionalized when they were children, they lacked the skills necessary to deal with other people.  At the same time I do wonder about the effect of TV, I remember watching superman on tv and remember hearing stories about children jumping out of windows and being hurt or killed trying to fly.  I watched a lot of westerns with gun fighting but never shoot anyone.
Carl2