Are Humans Becoming Dumber?

Sorry, it doesn't seem like it to me. Look at the current US presidential polls. It's too close to call with someone who's qualified (debatable) and experienced, albeit not nearly the best the Democratic party has to offer, and someone who is literally a criminal and a traitor. Plus I'm still not getting laid. How the fuck long do we need? It's too late for me because my body is starting to fail me, and "sour grapes" sounds more normalized to me as time goes by. Is it too late for America too?

 

before anything can change for the better one must know what better even is. and there's so many uneducated people, or rather people educated with prejudice, hatred and completely bogus information. of course there was going to be a total rebellion when the stupodic encountered real factoids instead of churchly idiocy. your body might be falling apart but some women will put you back together for the right price. and you should be thankful for that.

asfor the other, the confidence man, he's a sign and symptom. what people thought they worshipped on sundays was actually their own confidence men who did their own monetary pandering, and they acted like they knew something to do with the balance of your soul

now we find it was only with the balance of your checkbook. at least a whore is honest and a hard worker. let's not forget that one such unbalanced the checkbook of this shyster who's limping for president

 

because life, that great mate to every living being, takes care of each one to her own time, and skips none. perhaps we shouldn't worry about those few who are holding up the whole line. and if they are going to take forever then break out the cribbage.

 

We should probably clarify what we mean by "dumber". If we're talking about intelligence measured by IQ, there is some evidence of that. Intelligence is typically conceptualized as an innate characteristic. During the 20th century, average intelligence rose steadily all over the world, over the course of the century, a total of about 30 points--a phenomenon called the Flynn effect. But starting early in the twenty-first century , they began a steady decline (up to 2 points in 2006-2018) in three of the four domains of intelligence: logic, vocabulary, visual and mathematical problem-solving and analogies. The one domain in which intelligence increased was spatial reasoning-- the ability to analyze three-dimensional objects. Those were findings from a study by researchers from Northwestern U. And the U. of Oregon.
Looking for Flynn effects in a recent online U.S. adult sample: Examining shifts within the SAPA Project - ScienceDirect
American IQ Scores Have Rapidly Dropped, Proving the 'Reverse Flynn Effect'
This "reverse Flynn effect has variously been attributed to growing laziness as a result of "smart" technology Is Smart Technology Making Us Dumb? and the effects of chemicals in the environment. The Real Reason Americans are Getting Dumber One of the Northwestern investigators, Dr. Elizabeth Dworak, thinks “It could just be that they’re getting worse at taking tests or specifically worse at taking these kinds of tests.” American IQ Scores Have Rapidly Dropped, Proving the 'Reverse Flynn Effect' And of course there is that one bright spot, spatial reasoning, to explain. Computer games?

Of course, IQ may have its limitations as a measure of our ability to think straight: the claim that it is culturally biased against the socioeconomically disadvantaged, that IQ tests neglect the importance of creativity, practical intelligence, and "emotional intelligence". " Critics say it ends up selecting for exam-takers, paper shufflers, obedient IYIs (intellectuals yet idiots), ill adapted for “real life”.IQ is largely a pseudoscientific swindle

Intelligence can be distinguished from ignorance: lack of knowledge or information. There are at least six major sources of political ignorance: unavailability of information; institutional decisions limiting access to information; cultural factors; ideological/religious barriers to information; and voluntary self-limiting of information.
1. Unavailability of information. In the age of Google and the Internet, this might not seem to be much of a problem. In fact, there is such a superabundance of information out there that it's virtually impossible to process it all. or to separate the real news from the fake news. It requires fairly well-developed skills to do this that many people may lack.
2. institutional limits. Educational curricula reflect decisions by professionals and/or politicians concerning what is important to know. I notice that civics and U.S. history have disappeared from some high school curricula to make room for subjects somebody considers more important. The Challenges Facing Civic Education. It shows. DeSantis' decision to prohibit teaching about gays and transsexuals in psych and soc courses has brought the state into conflict with the College Board AP programs in those areas, while his support of textbooks that teach the blessings of slavery sets Florida back to the days of the antebellum South and the myth of the "happy darkies".
3. Cultural factors. Anti-intellectualism. Hofstadter described American culture as anti-intellectual in his classic Anti-Intellectualism in American Life. It hasn't gotten any better. Americans take a "practical" or "instrumental" approach to knowledge, valuing it for the jobs and income it can lead to, but not so much for its own sake.
4. ideological/religious blinders.
Four in ten Americans believe that humans were created in their present form about 10,000 years ago. That is probably less a reflection of intelligence than the fact that Americans are still the most religious (albeit diminishing) population of industrial nations, and are conditioned at a tender age to believe this, under threat of eternal suffering in the hereafter. There are even flocks of Young Earth creationist apologists, some with Ph.Ds, who will offer "scientific" proof of this, although most scientists are convinced otherwise. There are plenty of Jesuits who can think circles around me but on subjects like when life begins must operate in the context of Catholic dogma. Elegant systems like Thomism (for Catholics) and T.U.L.I.P. (for Calvinists) can appeal to highly intelligent people, even though I think they're fundamentally misguided.
5. psychological factors.
Even very smart people are subject to unconscious factors that can distort decision-making: confirmation bias, denial, Dunning-Kruger's, etc. Psychologist Michael Shermer identifies
psychological mechanisms explaining this phenomenon, and even claims that very intelligent people can be particularly susceptible to these, using their intellects to develop elaborate rationals for Holocaust denial, paranormal phenomena, and extraterrestrial encounters (Why People Believe Weird Things, last Chapter, revised ed). Why people believe weird things For an illustration of this, we have posts in our political section by a Retrumplican who claims to be a Mensa genius and graduate of three higher degree programs. Despite these impressive credentials, he can't seem to get past Hunter Biden's laptop!
6. Rational ignorance and social mobilization.
My own pet theory for the apparent increase of political ignorance in the Age of Trump centers on two phenomena: "rational ignorance" and social mobilization. "Rational ignorance" is a term coined by public opinion experts to describe the voluntary decision of ordinary people to be uninformed in certain areas in order to concentrate their attention on others: making money, sex, chilling out before TV game shows, etc. Motivated ignorance, rationality, and democratic politics - Synthese Rational ignorance - Wikipedia Only about 34% of Americans surveyed can identify the three branches of U.S. government (legislative, executive & judicial). When Newsweek asked 1,000 U.S. citizens to take the U.S.citizenship test, 29 percent couldn't name the vice president. Seventy-three percent couldn't correctly say why we fought the Cold War. Forty-four percent were unable to define the Bill of Rights. And 6 percent couldn't even circle Independence Day on a calendar. https://www.newsweek.com/how-ignorant-are-americans-66053 America's Ignorant Voters on JSTOR Otherwise rational people may prefer to let Tucker Carlson do their political thinking for them so that they can concentrate on sports, chasing skirts or making a killing in the stock market. A variant which I find in many of my friends is a tendency to avoid news because it's too upsetting. Coupled with this is the increase in an increase in social mobilization, as a result of expansion in information sources, notably the internet, and dislocations resulting from globalization and mass immigration. Deutsch defines social mobilization as a process in which "old social, economic, and psychological commitments are eroded or broken and people become available for new patterns of socialization and behavior." American Political Science Review, 1961, vol. 55, issue 3, 493-514. So even here in rural Oklahoma, folks have been drawn into a larger world which they aren't used to, and are trying to make sense of. They are vulnerable to demagogues like Trump and DeSantis who can put it all in simple terms they can understand.

 

After reading nothing from above, I like most people that do the same, I think I will go on my cell phone an ask a friend, did you read the thing about humans getting dumber.
Nope. I didn't, what was it about?

No humans are no getting dumber. there just not getting any smarter.

 

Churches exist to ensure people are kept ignorant about what is going on in reality. Religious dogma blinds one to the truth. It sets up filters that distort reality. Life is viewed thru a narrow lens that sees everything as black and white, in more ways than one.

People are fleeing these institutions because they lack relevancy and are so full of bullshit that intelligent people can see right through.

But those that remain entralled with the imaginary, can easily be misled to follow a fascist leader who promises to fix everything in their lives.

By putting children in religious schools or home schooling, they can keep children ignorant and compliant.

 

It seems to me that while technology has become more sophisticated, the people who operate that technology....not so much. Could it be dependence on that technology that keeps us from learning? Or perhaps our learning institutions have become too tolerant of failure? Plus many more people today feel education is over-rated.

People are concerned about AI taking over, but I'm worried it might become necessary!

 

Among other things such as cell phones, screening, etc.

I guess I can't avoid going into an old man rant. When I was a kid and had to do a report for school I had to hit the library, refer to encyclopedias and other sources, read them and write it down and then re-write it until it was good enough to be submitted. And in the process I'd learn.

Now you can Google it, copy and paste it, edit it down and print it out. Not much learning there. (Yes I know I'm guilty of doing just that on this website, but this isn't school!)

There are still those who work hard to get a good education, and it seems there's a widening gap between the well educated and the poorly educated. And the poorly educated are that way out of choice.

 

I totally agree with the "old man rant". I have studied my whole life and still use reference books, library etc and rewrite until happy with finished piece. It is a joy to work that way and it also means that I come across things that I may not have encountered otherwise.

 

Sorry,have to post this somewere atleast once every year

I do include myself........*sigh*

Mzzls

 

Another thing. I was at HFCC Library in Dearborn, MI about 20 years ago, researching a legal question. And when I was done, I told the librarian that law encyclopedia was really easy to understand. It was a multi volume set meant for law students and lawyers. And she said, yes, well that is the easier-to-understand version. Why do they have two versions of the same encyclopedia?