Our IQs may be at their peak, and a decline about to begin...

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VenomJockey

VenomJockey

Ancient AH Pilot, Retired CWO W4.
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http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20190709-has-humanity-reached-peak-intelligence

Excerpt: "You may not have noticed, but we are living in an intellectual golden age. Since the intelligence test was invented more than 100 years ago, our IQ scores have been steadily increasing. Even the average person today would have been considered a genius compared to someone born in 1919 – a phenomenon known as the Flynn effect. We may have to enjoy it while we can. The most recent evidence suggests that this trend may now be slowing. It may even be reversing, meaning that we have already passed the summit of human intellectual potential. Can we have really reached peak intelligence? And if that is the case, what can the subsequent decline mean for the future of humanity?"
 
I think AOC peaked at birth.
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VenomJockey said:
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20190709-has-humanity-reached-peak-intelligence

Excerpt: "You may not have noticed, but we are living in an intellectual golden age. Since the intelligence test was invented more than 100 years ago, our IQ scores have been steadily increasing. Even the average person today would have been considered a genius compared to someone born in 1919 – a phenomenon known as the Flynn effect. We may have to enjoy it while we can. The most recent evidence suggests that this trend may now be slowing. It may even be reversing, meaning that we have already passed the summit of human intellectual potential. Can we have really reached peak intelligence? And if that is the case, what can the subsequent decline mean for the future of humanity?"
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But we have less knowledge and our language kills are not even close to the language skills we had back in the early 1900's. Not that I'm one to talk but it is true.
Compared to grammar and syntax we Americans are now on the level of Buggs Bunny and they were on the level of Edgar Allen Poe.
Except for some of us of course, Weedy and InnKeeper is one with a great vocabulary and so is Ben Shapiro and Jordan Peterson just to name a few. Also some others here like you VenomJ seem to have good grammar.
I know I'm not one of the above so present company excluded,:D
 
Meerkat said:
But we have less knowledge and our language kills are not even close to the language skills we had back in the early 1900's. Not that I'm one to talk but it is true.
Compared to grammar and syntax we Americans are now on the level of Buggs Bunny and they were on the level of Edgar Allen Poe.
Except for some of us of course, Weedy and InnKeeper is one with a great vocabulary and so is Ben Shapiro and Jordan Peterson just to name a few. Also some others here like you VenomJ seem to have good grammar.
I know I'm not one of the above so present company excluded,:D
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But you communicate, and can make that communication understandable...and that's half the battle.
 
I always suspected the Flynn effect was due to simply more exposure to abstract language, thoughts ,and graphics the more urbanized and developed the population becomes.
In other words IMHO the Flynn effect was simply a symptom of human beings getting better at taking the test.
For example 100 years ago the cliche was that rural folks were dumber than city folks.
And it was actually true, based on some research that has been done.

Nowaways of course no matter where in the US you live kids are exposed to the roughly same stimuli.. the same games, the same shows, the same cars, the same school curricula ..
And urban and rural scores and aligned..
Except in recent decades we have observed the flynn effect stalling..

Which is predictable.. because you cant fix stupid ,no matter how well you stimulate the dumb kids.. and with a greater and great %age of the population born to dumb parents (permanently unemployed underclass and the like) we are seeing a dysgenic effcet.

I wrote an essay on the above in middle school.
It was not appreciated by my teachers.
 
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PS: I think most researchers would agree that the Flynn effect does not reflect atrue growth in intellectual abilities.. According to this one paper I read (about) folks in the late 19th century prior to the appearance of the welfare state were supposed to have been nearly 10 IQ point point equivalents better on avg.
This was estimated by documented learning speeds for mathematics music and the like.
 
I don't think we have an intelligence peak as if you are willing to learn you will gain more skills and therefor more knowledge and intelligence in my view. The ones that don't want to learn new skills will fall by the wayside. Then we have those who are born who are not intellectually advantaged because of their parents genes even then they in my opinion can learn and gain intelligence.
 
What are our young people learning? How to win at video games, or how to take care of themselves? IQ tests were written by people in that group that would be taking them. People outside the group wouldn't necessarily do well on them, but would possibly do well on one written for their own group. Our public schools are still teaching Common Core math. That is a total dumbing down in American schools.
 
Amish Heart said:
Our public schools are still teaching Common Core math. That is a total dumbing down in American schools.
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(I posted before I even read the article.)

Absolutely! When I look at education and what has been happening in the last couple decades, there seems to be an attempt to lower standards. Common Crap math is horrible, IMHO.

It seems to me that if the standards are lowered, then knowledge accompanies the standard. Many people do not do research on their own. They do not seek information and further knowledge.

Ever hear or see someone ask a question that is simple knowledge or easily figured out? I see this so frequently, people asking questions online when they could just as easily search the information out. That is a lack of motivation. Is it learned, or are people taught to be unmotivated?

Are we being trained back to the days of nobility and peasants? I think we are on that track.

One piece to consider is how diet affects brain growth and actually physical growth. In my neighborhood are a few families who have adopted children from Ethiopia. One family somehow was able to get their daughter earlier than others. It had to do with paperwork. Their daughter was less than two when they brought her home. The others had to wait at least a year longer. The difference in health, size, and development due to nutrition is so interesting. Early brain development is affected.

So diet: fats are important for brain development and health. Has diet increased in fats, and then declined in healthy fats? Has that made a difference.

If a mother and father have limited IQ's, is it environmental that their child has limited skills and knowledge, or is it genetic? It can be some of each, I think.
 
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IQ has little to do with education. If you know more or have more education it doesn't improve your IQ.
The IQ is a value of your ability to learn. Folks with higher IQ can learn faster but not necessarily any more than a person with a low IQ.
The IQ is based on a broad range of subject matter and if you have a high score in one area and low scores in others your overall IQ could be very low but you may be able to learn complex patterning very easily. That would make you very good at breaking codes or recognizing anomalies in data or pictures but lousy at math or history.

IQ used to be considered a genetic trait but there is a lot of evidence that suggests otherwise. Environment can definitely affect IQ. High exposure to lead or mercury can affect brain function and thereby cause a lower IQ. Children who were exposed to classical music and stories while in the womb tend to have higher IQ than those that are not. It seems learning begins before birth. That early learning may set brain patterns that provide for easier learning later on.
 
SheepDog said:
IQ has little to do with education. If you know more or have more education it doesn't improve your IQ.
The IQ is a value of your ability to learn. Folks with higher IQ can learn faster but not necessarily any more than a person with a low IQ.
The IQ is based on a broad range of subject matter and if you have a high score in one area and low scores in others your overall IQ could be very low but you may be able to learn complex patterning very easily. That would make you very good at breaking codes or recognizing anomalies in data or pictures but lousy at math or history.

IQ used to be considered a genetic trait but there is a lot of evidence that suggests otherwise. Environment can definitely affect IQ. High exposure to lead or mercury can affect brain function and thereby cause a lower IQ. Children who were exposed to classical music and stories while in the womb tend to have higher IQ than those that are not. It seems learning begins before birth. That early learning may set brain patterns that provide for easier learning later on.
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Correct!
 
It is my understanding that the Flynn Effect is actually something of an illusion. There are several different types of IQ test that measure several different types of brain function. The basic, non-culturally biased tests they hand out to Africans are typically pattern recognition tests which involve looking at series of shapes and colors and figuring out which ones don't belong. There are also sequence memory tests and visual memory tests, which have been shown to be two different attributes of the brain. The results of all these (and many other) different tests can be used to derive a person's "G factor" (general intelligence). The better a test is at determining your G factor, the more "G loaded" it is said to be. General intelligence refers to your ability to learn new skills and retain information, it is the single best predictor of life success in psychology, it is highly predicted by genetics, and it has been going down since the Industrial Revolution. The Flynn Effect is only occurring in the scores on non-G loaded tests. We are getting better at things like math problems or word games, but our population overall is breeding itself to be dumber.
 
Woogasnerk said:
It is my understanding that the Flynn Effect is actually something of an illusion. There are several different types of IQ test that measure several different types of brain function. The basic, non-culturally biased tests they hand out to Africans are typically pattern recognition tests which involve looking at series of shapes and colors and figuring out which ones don't belong. There are also sequence memory tests and visual memory tests, which have been shown to be two different attributes of the brain. The results of all these (and many other) different tests can be used to derive a person's "G factor" (general intelligence). The better a test is at determining your G factor, the more "G loaded" it is said to be. General intelligence refers to your ability to learn new skills and retain information, it is the single best predictor of life success in psychology, it is highly predicted by genetics, and it has been going down since the Industrial Revolution. The Flynn Effect is only occurring in the scores on non-G loaded tests. We are getting better at things like math problems or word games, but our population overall is breeding itself to be dumber.
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Thanks for that info, Wooga. I was unaware of the existence of the G factor formula. Glad to learn that some scientists have turned from analyzing the capsicum in the sauce on the enchilada, and turned to viewing the Whole Enchilada.

Too bad that the Internet - and Facebook - weren't around in 1750 and since. Facebook comments have made it obvious that a lot of folks are (apparently at least) incapable of following the guidance that Joan Collins offered when she sang Both Sides Now. They only see the capsicum. Were people really better at understanding the enchilada in 1750?
 
VThillman said:
Thanks for that info, Wooga. I was unaware of the existence of the G factor formula. Glad to learn that some scientists have turned from analyzing the capsicum in the sauce on the enchilada, and turned to viewing the Whole Enchilada.

Too bad that the Internet - and Facebook - weren't around in 1750 and since. Facebook comments have made it obvious that a lot of folks are (apparently at least) incapable of following the guidance that Joan Collins offered when she sang Both Sides Now. They only see the capsicum. Were people really better at understanding the enchilada in 1750?
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I don't know if people were more intelligent in 1750 specifically. It would depend on what part of the world you're talking about. If we're talking about the American population as a whole, then definitely yes. If you're just comparing the original colonists with the people currently descended from them, then probably yes. It might be different in other countries, though. Generally speaking, when times are hard, intelligence trends upwards. When times are easy, intelligence trends downwards. I believe this interview gives a detailed explanation of the phenomenon:
 
My computer doesn't talk to me (Linux doesn't make a sound connection to the audio chip). Oh well, the phenomenon makes sense anyway. Probably not evolutionary yet (too short term), but dismaying enough.
 
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