Here are 3 lessons to learn from that film Idiocracy.
The thing is. Idiocracy was supposed to be a comedy.
It wasn’t supposed to become an instruction manual.
But here we are in 2025, watching Mike Judge’s dystopian satire play out in real time while everyone argues about whether water or Brawndo is better for plants and honestly I’m just about to just say Brawndo to stop dumb people from talking to me.
If you haven’t seen it.
Idiocracy follows an average guy who wakes up 500 years in the future to find that humanity has bred itself into complete stupidity.
Sound familiar?
(Especially with all of this AI mass adoption and people not wanting to do anything for themselves anymore…)
Here are three lessons from this cinematic prophecy that might help us avoid becoming the drooling morons we’re apparently destined to become…
Lesson 1: Stop celebrating ignorance.
In the movie, being smart is considered gay and elitist.
Sound like any political movements you know?
We’ve somehow turned expertise into a dirty word and made stupidity fashionable. Stop doing that.
Intelligence isn’t the enemy, but you know what is? Willful ignorance.
That’s gonna kill us quickly if we don’t calm down.
Lesson 2: Think for yourself instead of letting corporations do it for you.
In Idiocracy, people believe Brawndo is good for plants because “it’s got what plants crave.” They never question what plants actually need.
Today, we let algorithms decide what we think, what we buy, what we believe.
Break the cycle. Ask questions. Demand actual answers.
Lesson 3: Give a shit about something bigger than yourself.
The future humans in the movie are so self absorbed and instant gratification focused that they can’t solve basic problems.
They’re too busy being entertained to death to notice their world is falling apart.
Put down your phone occasionally. Care about something that matters.
Contribute to solutions instead of just consuming content.
Luckily we’re not doomed to become the idiots in that movie just yet, but we’re sure as hell heading in that direction…
The antidote is simple.
Be curious, think critically, and remember that other people exist.
It’s not that hard. But apparently, it’s hard enough.
Stephen Walker.
P.S. Go check out the trailer just in case you’ve been living under a rock since 2006