Modern life making humans dumber?

[dave1949]

Randy Bell: I think there is a lot going there in your comments. Yes, people came for a better life and religious freedoms. Those are ideals but they were also driven by a desire for commercial success.

In retrospect, we know that the land they settled was "blood land", it was stolen. We know that much of the commercial success was based upon "blood labor", it was slavery that enabled sugar, tobacco and cotton to become the commercial successes of the era. Our first president was a slave owner until his death. Jefferson's Monticello was run on slave labor and the profits of raising more slaves. We have glorious aspects to our history, but we need to cast a judicious eye on glossing over the not so glorious portions that enabled our very existence. I think we are no more guilty of that than many other lands, but it's good to be aware of it.

Of the many who came to our country, some were not welcomed as Americans. Those from Europe assimilated more easily to the American culture in part because they were largely indistinguishable physically from the Europeans already here, and they were not denied access to becoming Americans. The same cannot be said of Africans or Chinese and other Asians. As late as WWII, we did move the American Japanese into camps for the duration of the war. That is hardly treating them as Americans although many of those in the camps were born here. I'm sure it was a widely supported action by Americans of European descent.

Whatever discord exists today between ethnic groups, has a long history in our nation. It not a new thing happening just within your generation. It is not a new threat, it is a continuation of what always has been. Same story, different faces.

If you feel that newcomers to our society do not want to assimilate into our culture, a part of the reason is they may not see what they find as all that attractive. Logically, if our culture is head and shoulders above their own, at least in their judgment, it would be no problem for them to see the wisdom of joining in. Consider the negative things about our culture that they see: a pervasive drug culture that ruins many youths, a gun culture that fosters and celebrates violence, a moribund political system that cannot get out of its own way, racism, religious bigotry, an education system that has never conquered adequately educating the poor, declining health metrics, splintered families, shallow "Hollywood" values, and naked greed.

I'm more worried about "us" than "them."

[swick1]

We as humans have offloaded a lot of our brains tasks to the internet and our electronic devices. You can learn a LOT through the internet and your cell phone stores things like notes and phone numbers for you so that hopefully you can use that extra brain capacity to do something useful. I know I do, but some people just use that surplus to store more television trivia and celebrity gossip. I think our best and brightest are better than their predecessors because more humans have access to free knowledge. No longer is it required for us to be rich to be learned men.

Think of the instant communication and increased collaboration our scientists and engineers have. Computer simulations have optimized our manufacturing and design processes. We are incredibly lucky to live in such a time.

[farmfun]

So I read this thread about people being dumber- I wonder about this- in a study, women giving birth to children in NYC- were producing children with an IQ 4 points lower on average than were women outside of NYC. This was correlated to pollution/smog. Are we manifesting our current "dumbness" when we refuse to reduce pollution/smog across the country? I think we are! We are becoming what we worry we will become! Dumber than our ancestors!

Urban Air Pollutants Can Damage IQs before Baby's First Breath: Scientific American
Urban Air Pollutants Can Damage IQs before Baby's First Breath/Scientific American

A study in Krakow, Poland, corroborates New York City findings that link children's lower IQ scores with mothers' exposure to compounds created by burning fossil fuels

No it isn't the air but the inability to decide whether breast or bottle milk should be given to babies and/or the presence of drink sizes greater than 16 oz that resulted in the drop. Since Mayor Bloomberg has corrected both, the IQ of New Yorkers is set to rise any day now...

[sailorman]

So is it the kids getting dumber or are they just not being taught these things? Most folks use credit cards these days so counting out change isnt done much and if the schools, employers, or a patient employee doesnt show them it might take years to figure out for yourself if you hardly ever had to worry about it.

I say not being taught . Further more, the above combinations of payment amounts won 't bother them at all because they 'll punch in the amount rendered and the register tells them the change . Heck , they probably don 't even realize they 're being played .

As a side note : I taught high school science students ( upper level courses ) in a school with very intelligent students . In 32 yrs I encountered many who could not tell time on an analog watch . Hadn 't been taught .