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Has the average level of intelligence went down?

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AliObsessed
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31 Oct 2009, 8:36 pm

I'm pretty sure that in recent years intelligence has declined. My personal theory is that this is because by being civilized many modern cultures have laws that protect people from their own stupidity and in doing so allows them to live to procreate. It's reverse Darwinism.



protest_the_hero
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31 Oct 2009, 8:42 pm

AliObsessed wrote:
I'm pretty sure that in recent years intelligence has declined. My personal theory is that this is because by being civilized many modern cultures have laws that protect people from their own stupidity and in doing so allows them to live to procreate. It's reverse Darwinism.
Exactly why we need eugenics.



AliObsessed
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31 Oct 2009, 8:47 pm

I wanted to add to my earlier post and explain what led me to believe that intelligence has gone down. I am only a high school student and I base this opinion not solely on statistics but the absolute ignorance I see everyday in fellow students,teachers and many of the other adults I encounter. The averages that come in for the tests I take are horrible and as curriculum in my state is changed failure rates are soaring. That kind of thing made me start considering theories based in one of my favorite subjects,Charles Darwin



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31 Oct 2009, 8:50 pm

AliObsessed wrote:
I'm pretty sure that in recent years intelligence has declined. My personal theory is that this is because by being civilized many modern cultures have laws that protect people from their own stupidity and in doing so allows them to live to procreate. It's reverse Darwinism.


Yet you seem to forget that modern society is much more complicated than before. Furthermore - the intellectually borderline and certainly the ret*d are not exactly pillars of superfecundity.



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31 Oct 2009, 8:52 pm

AliObsessed wrote:
I wanted to add to my earlier post and explain what led me to believe that intelligence has gone down. I am only a high school student and I base this opinion not solely on statistics but the absolute ignorance I see everyday in fellow students,teachers and many of the other adults I encounter. The averages that come in for the tests I take are horrible and as curriculum in my state is changed failure rates are soaring. That kind of thing made me start considering theories based in one of my favorite subjects,Charles Darwin


Wilful ignorance and indolence is no the same as low IQ - though early wilful ignorance and indolence can slow intellectual development.



AliObsessed
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31 Oct 2009, 9:04 pm

That is part of my theory as well is that since so many are willfully ignorant that people who have developed differently intellectually discourage themselves from having children. Also,I do understand the differences but sometimes I combine a persons level of ignorance with their intelligence because it appears to me that the two are sometimes related.I haven't fully developed my ideas though.



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31 Oct 2009, 9:07 pm

AliObsessed wrote:
That is part of my theory as well is that since so many are willfully ignorant that people who have developed differently intellectually discourage themselves from having children. Also,I do understand the differences but sometimes I combine a persons level of ignorance with their intelligence because it appears to me that the two are sometimes related.I haven't fully developed my ideas though.


Believe me - people too slow to comprehend a football match or work out social ques won't survive in society's lower middle class.



iamnotaparakeet
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01 Nov 2009, 1:19 am

Master_Pedant wrote:
No processing speed index scores?


I transcribed everything that was in that section of the assessment at Frasier, I don't think I miss anything. Perhaps its in another section.



iamnotaparakeet
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01 Nov 2009, 1:24 am

AliObsessed wrote:
I wanted to add to my earlier post and explain what led me to believe that intelligence has gone down. I am only a high school student and I base this opinion not solely on statistics but the absolute ignorance I see everyday in fellow students,teachers and many of the other adults I encounter. The averages that come in for the tests I take are horrible and as curriculum in my state is changed failure rates are soaring. That kind of thing made me start considering theories based in one of my favorite subjects,Charles Darwin


Yes, government run education does lead to higher stupidity rates. :P Public education in general for that matter.

It is far more easier for me to learn from textbooks on my own than to wander through a massive complex, wondering who is going to throw insults or objects at me next, hearing all the gossip and the drama, or sitting in a classroom surrounded by other distracting people while trying to do school work.



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01 Nov 2009, 7:38 am

protest_the_hero wrote:
The decline of popular culture is because of immigration and the invasion of Iraq was serving the interests of Israel. There I go with the crazy racist conspiracy theories :roll:


There you go, indeed. The world has been going to hell in a hand-basket long before Iraq and Israel.

ruveyn



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03 Nov 2009, 11:25 pm

Jared Diamond made an interesting statement when comparing the historical development of Guinean tribal societies to European societies. If I recall correctly, selection pressures in Guinean societies favoured intelligence, while in European societies selection pressures favoured resistance to disease because of high population.

Maybe a declining average intelligence is the price of a densely populated society?


Also, I regard declining intelligence as different from "Stupidity", which is a misapplication of intelligence. Some stupidity, especially in youth, is a part of learning and earning intelligence. Having recently reread Clive James discussing Arthur Schnizler, stupidity is probably more widespread than some people (including myself) want to think.