The tone on this article will most likely be different from that of previous articles, as I didn’t actively research anything pertaining to this. In fact, I spent most of my time thinking about how puns are only funny to the person telling the joke.
It was fairly common knowledge (as far as I can tell) that the human race was getting smarter over time. Just in a general sense. IQ scores, one kind of standardized method of testing (with its flaws, I know), has indicated a steady gain of IQ points since gaining IQ points has meant anything. I just took it for granted. We are in a world of books and information and the interwebs and over/under use of punctuation! Of course we are getting smarter! Common sense, right?
Well, according to some scientist (I wish I could find her article, but it was on StumbleUpon quite a few Stumbles ago), people are getting dumber. Yes, the cynic in us says that every 45 seconds when we are out in public, but she is a scientist! So it must mean something. What’s her rationale, though?
The idea she posits is genetic. We are getting dumber as a species because there is less of an evolutionary reward for us to be smart, or smart people are not being rewarded sufficiently. Let’s break this down. Back in the good old days when we lived in caves and fought for food, if you were stupid and slow, you were eaten by giant tiger like creatures, or starved to death (this is unnecessarily simplifying the matter, but that’s fine; we are all stupid, anyways, apparently). This lead to better genes being handed down to subsequent generations. Smart survivors had smart survivor kids, until, eventually, those super grandkids made survival of the fittest irrelevant. How did survival of the fittest get eliminated? McDonald’s, among other things. That and the fact that just about anybody has the mental sufficiency to work eight hours a day.
Because survival is no longer a concern, and genes have a much harder time exiting the gene pool, I can see why this scientist thinks people would get dumber. There isn’t quite the evolutionary incentive that there used to be. In the past, you survived if you were smart, obviously increasing the odds of you getting lucky and passing on your smart genes. Now, the idiots you deal with probably are looking at the same odds as you, in regards to passing on genetic material (I’m loving these euphemisms right now, seriously), maybe even better odds. Their genetic material, obviously inferior to your intimidating gray matter and stuff, essentially has normal odds of getting passed on. Assuming being smart is a good genetic trait, this leads us to believe that society does not reward smart genes effectively enough, as it should be emphasized heavily, not be largely irrelevant.
Over time, this scientist is arguing, this is making people stupid. Stop having stupid people die, and you just killed the evolutionary explosion that Homo sapiens were riding for a while. That’s what it boils down to. All things considered, it makes sense. It does. We have a lot of stupid people on this planet, and odds are good that they will go on diluting the gene pool (Jersey Shore cast, by itself, will be responsible for genetically reducing global IQ by five points in fifty years, most likely). I remember an example even being employed, stating that if a citizen from Rome or something was placed in our current society, they would be one of the smarter individuals, and be more emotionally stable (I’m guessing this scientist doesn’t care for her peers).
So yes, I concede the fact that smart isn’t genetically rewarded like it used to be. That’s fine. However, one aspect of what intelligence is has a lot to do with why we are getting genetically dumber; specialization. We specialize in things now. Do you know how to make a car engine? I don’t, but we have specialists that do. People can afford to learn more about one particular thing, now, because they don’t have to worry about foraging for food or fighting off hyenas. This specialization, aside from allowing knowledge to move beyond the most general of subjects, started the externalization of intelligence.
Essentially, the idea is we now have books, DIY’s on Pinterest, and FAQ’s for every subject known to mankind. Seriously. Whatever you can think of, it’s there. Google how to make an ion thruster. You’ll find it. People, with the advent of stored knowledge, have allowed intelligence to be “offloaded” from themselves and made readily available to others. Intelligence doesn’t die with the individual anymore; it’s converted to paper or electrons and stored, accessible to everyone and with ads by Google. And this knowledge base is always growing at an amazing rate.
We may not be getting smarter in terms of how our genes are handed down, yes, but our collective brain is. Our degree of specialization is increasing, as it should. We are getting smarter, without a doubt, just in a specialized way. Besides, it’s pointless to argue otherwise. What would we do about it, anyways? Cull the population based on test scores? Whoops, there go a few of our former Presidents.
–MP
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