Modern life making humans dumber?

[bcp]

From:
Are the comforts of modern life making humans dumber? - The Week

In prehistoric times, humans who weren't smart enough to kill their prey or avoid being eaten by them died. According to a Stanford researcher, present-day people are nowhere near as intelligent as these ancestors.

He argues that humanity's collective intelligence has gone downhill ever since we started living on farms.

[1969grandpa]

.......and voting.

[brin]

.......and voting.

Yeah...and voting ...that is the worse part....geeez...How much sense does it make to allow folks who are on the dole and pay no taxes, own no property and have no skin in the game to vote....? Yikes....really ? they are always going to vote for the one who will give them more for nothing....geeez, I even figured that out...The country is doomed and if folks don't see it...they will go over the cliff with the rest of the takers...

[kensnelling]

He forgets to mention that there are a lot more things to master now than in prehistoric times, and along with that comes the technology to master things for us. People today (for the most part) do not have to worry daily about survival. Not having to constantly have to travel to follow game and forage doesn't make a person dumber of smarter.

Now that people can specialize you can have a person that can drive a racecar and win, but not be able to change a wall outlet, or you can have a person that can design a powerplant but not be able to pull his car out of a parking space without hitting another car. One person is not necessarily smarter or dumber, they are just better at different things.

Ken

[2LaneCruzer]

From:
Are the comforts of modern life making humans dumber? - The Week

In prehistoric times, humans who weren't smart enough to kill their prey or avoid being eaten by them died. According to a Stanford researcher, present-day people are nowhere near as intelligent as these ancestors.

He argues that humanity's collective intelligence has gone downhill ever since we started living on farms.

Our "modern" schools sure are. The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America - YouTube

[scott_vt]

they are always going to vote for the one who will give them more for nothing....geeez, I even figured that out...The country is doomed and if folks don't see it...they will go over the cliff with the rest of the takers...

Good Afternoon Bob,
Darn, were in the minority 49% , thank god we wont go off the cliff.....

[dave1949]

"I would wager that if an average citizen from Athens of 1000 BC were to appear suddenly among us, he or she would be among the brightest and most intellectually alive of our colleagues," claims Crabtree, who estimates that human beings reached their intellectual peak 2,000 to 6,000 years ago. In theory, that Athenian would have "a good memory, a broad range of ideas, and a clear-sighted view of important issues."

And yet, Ancient Greece is no more. I guess they weren't so smart after all.

It seems like a hokey article to me. Humans have just as good a chance of mutating towards intelligence as away from it.

[brin]

Good Afternoon Bob,
Darn, were in the minority 49% , thank god we wont go off the cliff.....

Scotty, I know, Isn't it great...but we sure are in the minority...and we sure won't go over the cliff.. No way !

[aczlan]

"I would wager that if an average citizen from Athens of 1000 BC were to appear suddenly among us, he or she would be among the brightest and most intellectually alive of our colleagues," claims Crabtree, who estimates that human beings reached their intellectual peak 2,000 to 6,000 years ago. In theory, that Athenian would have "a good memory, a broad range of ideas, and a clear-sighted view of important issues."
And yet, Ancient Greece is no more. I guess they weren't so smart after all.
It seems like a hokey article to me. Humans have just as good a chance of mutating towards intelligence as away from it.

Cant say I disagree with your assesment. They "were smarter" yet here we are with more things invented in the last ~300 years than were invented in the 5000 years that proceeded them.
Where to start? Rubber tires, bearings, internal combustion engines, electricity, etc, etc, etc. The 5000 Year Leap has some interesting info on the subject.

Aaron Z

[ch47dpilot]

Need to watch the movie IDIOCRACY, it's a comedy. As all comedies go there is so much truth it's scary. The basis of the story is that the lazy and irresponsible people (read the takers) breed early and often. The responsible people wait till they are older in their 30s+ before having children. By then many woman have a hard time getting pregnant. Fast forward 500 years and we have produced a population of idiots. I think we are on that path.