Are we becoming more STUPID? IQ scores are decreasing - and some experts argue it's because humans have reached their intellectual peak

An IQ test used to determine whether Danish men are fit to serve in the military has revealed scores have fallen by 1.5 points since 1998.

And standard tests issued in the UK and Australia echo the results, according to journalist Bob Holmes, writing in New Scientist.

Between the 1930s and 1980s, the average IQ score in the US rose by three points and in post-war Japan and Denmark, test scores also increased significantly - a trend known as the ‘Flynn effect’.

Jan te Nijenhuis, a psychology professor at the University of Amsterdam, says Westerners have lost an average of 14 IQ points since the Victoria Era.

He believes this is due to more intelligent women have fewer children than those who are less clever,The Huffington Post reported.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2730791/Are-STUPID-Britons-people-IQ-decline.html

Are we watching the evolution of "IDIOCRACY"?

First... I'm not sure I believe this necessarily. The standard iq tests are often fairly broad... whereas I think humans specialize their knowledge more today. My other point relates to the first... we could very well lose broader intellects as we have to aquire fewer and fewer abilities to sustain ourselves. Such as a very talented physician that can barely articulate a message at bedside. The diversity of knowledge may be more important than the specialty of knowledge.

Hmmmmm very good point. I actually agree that happens

To play devils advocate tho.......

Do you think the society that does so much for people has relinquished many peoples drive to learn

That could be the ultimate outcome. Some of the things that form a society are commonalities. As people become disengaged from a process they often lose their understanding of it... like todays car. How many people here could work on a prius. So yes... I think we lose ability if we aren't keeping up on it. I bet if there were an apocalypse or catastrophe... most people would be dead within a year.

Yes many people are very dependent on another's expertise or services, especially 1st world nations.

A apocalypse would be devistating to those who do not know how to grow food or store it.

Skills such as dehydration, canning and water purification are lost traits today

I'm sure a 1/3 of the population would die quickly in a situation like that and another 1/3 by being killed because they whine too much by the ones who tend the fire

Brawndo has what plants crave......

Two, I thought you fix auto bodies with that... Oh, I get it, the Prius thing.

1/ I think that we are getting more stupid. Stupider. Stupidest. But it has nothing to do with a stupid IQ test.

2/ Pkr is right... there are all different sorts of intelligences and the stupid IQ test does not capture them all. My cousin Robert is one of the smartest people I have ever known in my life and his dyslexia is so severe he can barely read a bedtime story to his 6-year old. That does not diminish his intelligence one bit, it simply restricts what he can do with it in order to make a living. One of my sisters, on the other hand, has a genius IQ but she has no common sense. Some would say that she is smarter than he is. I would not. I would say that she is a different kind of smart than he is.

3/ People put too much emphasis on grades, IQs, Ivy League schools, and silly bullshit like that. What does it all mean? What good does it do? Who or what does it help? You should do the best you can and focus your studies on what you enjoy and what you're good at, whether it is auto mechanics or mathematics. Neither is more important than the other.

And no, dreams, if you are socking the forum, I do not feel that way because I got bad grades, because I am uneducated, because of any silly psychobabble like that. I went to a good school, I got good grades, I have college degrees. I feel that way just because think all that shit is absurd to worry about and there are far more important things in life. And probably because I saw what it did to my cousin when we were growing up, and what it does to him now that he is a father.

Nice post Riceme..!!

I don't think humans have even come close to reaching their intellectual peak. The public schools in the U.S. are a joke. They ignore the basics and focus narrowly on teaching "achievement tests". Given that approximately 39 million people over 18 in the U.S. don't have a high school diploma illustrates the problem with our education system

nochain wrote:

I don't think humans have even come close to reaching their intellectual peak. The public schools in the U.S. are a joke. They ignore the basics and focus narrowly on teaching "achievement tests". Given that approximately 39 million people over 18 in the U.S. don't have a high school diploma illustrates the problem with our education system

I 'peaked' in the 70's... well what I can remember.... It's amazing what we learn, remember, or have a desire to learn...believe also that every individual is different... some love math...science...history and on and on...too much is and has been placed standardized tests...

Preparation for after high school can come on so many levels...not everyone is cut our or ready for college and 'nochain' is correct that our educational system needs to be changed from the one size fits all way of thinking... there's a reason we've slipped...are slipping and will continue to slip...

Personally....used up way to much storage on song lyrics...titles...cartoons [classical versions]...tv....etc.,...but at the time it seemed like a smart move...

Lol... I used to refer to my brain as a herd of buffalo... and hangovers as a way to thin the herd of the weak. Unfortunately I'm down to just buffy. She staggers and wobbles some mornings... but she hasn't fallen down yet.

Memorization was always hard for me. I barely made it through three full-time years at PJC, majoring in drugs, loose women and "stupid center" (student center). Of course, PJC was a TWO-year school then and I transferred without graduating. I didn't have the grades to graduate.

I had a blast, but had to buckle down as a biology major at UWF.

No regrets, though.

But I still can't memorize things. As an example, I quit taking karate because they required a "form" be mastered before advancing to the next level. These forms were intricate series of moves and I had real difficulty remembering which moves came when.

My bride Christine is the opposite. Graduated Magna Cum Laude in accounting and made all A grades while earning her masters in Management.

I really only had one problem in school - my motivation motor always seemed out of gas.

I had a retired col for my coach in college... I can honestly say that I wouldn't have made it through without his vigil. I sure caused him some grief tho. Once we had traveled to atlanta to play the georgia schools and I got food poisoning. I puked all night and was miserable the next day... but he wouldn't believe it was anything but a hangover and made me play. He was something else... but I guess I was too... lol.

PkrBum wrote:

I had a retired col for my coach in college... I can honestly say that I wouldn't have made it through without his vigil. I sure caused him some grief tho. Once we had traveled to atlanta to play the georgia schools and I got food poisoning. I puked all night and was miserable the next day... but he wouldn't believe it was anything but a hangover and made me play. He was something else... but I guess I was too... lol.

Really LOL!!... Ever notice that it was the teachers/educators that wouldn't put up with our crap and accept our lack of motivation that we eventually respected the most?...On my HS record it indicates that I passed Algebra courses...this was because the football coach was dating the teacher...my task--show up--shut up and cause no problems...Thought it was great at the time, even parents were impressed..then later in life I asked the question... when did they add letters in mathematical problems?...reality had set in...