This weblog has started before the actual site agnoiology.com because I’m hoping to get my ideas down for it. Many entries here will probably turn into articles. The design of this weblog is undergoing development. I’m not one for big intros — I personally find them rather boring — so I’m going to delve into a subject right now.

Agnoiology, specifically, is the branch of philosophy which investigates the nature and extent of human ignorance. It’s an archaic, but useful, term. The stupidity can extend into rants, but I’m going to stay away from those because I think there are enough on the internet. The main site will be a philosophical site. At times, this weblog will be… less than philosophical, let’s say.

The inherent question: Why are people stupid? Hm, I’ll have to get back to that later. How about the other part, the extent? I know it’s far-reaching. Stupidity pervades every single aspect of humanity. This is what makes it such an interesting topic. It’s anthropology, but more fun, since I’m looking at all the dumb stuff. So, with this site and weblog, I’m going to delve into the specifics, and also some of the why.

So, I begin the specifics with a light, more humorous topic: Instant Messenger language. “Kids are creating a new slang,” they say. “They’re dumbing themselves down,” I say.

One excuse for this “slang” is that it is faster. Perhaps if they typed quickly and correctly, they wouldn’t need all the acronyms. The argument, however, doesn’t withstand close scrutiny when it is found that some of these abbreviations aren’t actually abbreviations. They’re the same length, if not longer than the actual word. Also, the mIxED caPs probably takes a long time, since you’re wasting a finger with all those motions. The real killer with mixed caps is that it takes longer to read. “l33t” is worse! Some of the acronyms are unknown, so they end up wasting more time than they save. Granted, even I use a couple of acronyms. For example, “brb.” I do find the excuse legitimate in this case, if I have to leave in a hurry. In most cases, there is no real reason to save time. This time is spent waiting for the other person’s response. The saved milliseconds aren’t helping anyone.

It is true that internet speech is dumbing people down. Many have confessed that they have messed up and began using instant messenger-type writing in class. Punctuation and spelling are atrocious for many people. Can part of this be attributed to instant messaging? Hell, yes. Someone should do a study and prove me right. Or better yet, someone help me do the study. It would be interesting.

Imagine how hard it would have been to read this entry in that type of speech. Imagine a novel with run-on sentences. It’ll make you want to put the book down. And it makes me want to quit instant messenging. My own typing was becoming horrible, but I’ve slowly begun cleaning it up. Join me. Don’t dumb yourself down and help make the world an easier place to read, or something like that.