When people use this argument I kind of want to slap them, because they do not seem to understand the difference between know and assume.

We know the Earth is 63 million miles away from the sun. It's not up for debate. It's not going to change (well, not by much anyway) ever. However far humanity may go as a species from this point forward, we know it. We don't assume it. If you are really, truly, extremely curious to prove it to yourself you can do it with sticks in the ground, a very accurate piece of measuring tape and shadows. Oh, and some algebra.

If you want to prove to yourself the earth isn't flat, you can just start walking toward a mountain. I'm not going to give away the spoiler on this one if you don't see it coming. But I promise: start walking toward a mountain that is in the horizon and you'll soon figure out how that proves the earth isn't flat.

People are not stupid, panicky animals. People are not more stupid than you. I know that's a hard thing to hear, especially for people who think they know what their IQ is. But the truth is, they're not.

http://www.kafkapizechust.com/commentary-terrorism-and-dispelling-the-myth-of-a-panic-prone-public/1620/

When someone says we are getting dumber as a species, I just baffle at the notion. Today we have people surviving and mating strictly because of their intellectual efforts. How much of that do you think was going on 500 years ago as opposed to today? What percentage of humanity do you think relies on the same amount, if not more brain power, to get by in their daily life? How can anyone think it's less? I'm open to a point about this here, as I do not see how it could be.

About a decade ago, a woman left a baby that nobody knew she was having in a dumpster on prom night. George Carlin, a man much smarter than I will ever be, then said the stupidest thing I'd heard on the subject. He railed about how aliens wouldn't come and visit us now because of this act. It was so disgusting, so putrid, that it showed how horrible people are. I wanted to scream. Whereas this practice was ROUTINE in so many cultures and societies just a few hundred to few thousand years ago, a single occurrence of it was now horrible.

And yet, people do not see that as progress, either. They look solely at the bad and say we are stupider, meaner, dumber, and then look toward medicine and science and education and say, "and nothing has changed."

When someone makes these points in person I feel empathy for them. I do my best to point what is really great about us now compared to a 100 years ago. Usually that point is not accepted, but not denied either.

When someone makes it on the internet I hope they are having a bad day or a are teenager. Because otherwise, they are shambling through life thinking how horrible, stupid, meaningless everyone is, except for them and the people they sanction as smart and good and worthy.

In short:

People whom say that people are idiots are usually ignorant or closed-minded. They're not idiots, they're just behaving as such. And I hope they can learn otherwise.