Towed.

[Gob]

Is it just me, or has human evolution gone into reverse?

[MajGenl.Meade]

Both, I think.

[BoSoxGal]

Not just you and yes. Studies have actually shown that the development of human intelligence is on the decline.

[Econoline]

OTOH, "studies have actually shown" that "studies" are on the increase.

[BoSoxGal]

Ever can’t help but think you’re surrounded by idiots? A leading scientist at Stanford University thinks he has the answer, and the bad news is things aren’t likely to get any better.

Dr. Gerald Crabtree, a geneticist at Stanford, has published a study that he conducted to try and identify the progression of modern man’s intelligence. As it turns out, however, Dr. Crabtree’s research led him to believe that the collective mind of mankind has been on more or a less a downhill trajectory for quite some time.

According to his research, published in two parts starting with last year’s ‘Our fragile intellect. Part I,’ Dr. Crabtree thinks unavoidable changes in the genetic make-up coupled with modern technological advances has left humans, well, kind of stupid. He has recently published his follow-up analysis, and in it explains that of the roughly 5,000 genes he considered the basis for human intelligence, a number of mutations over the years has forced modern man to be only a portion as bright as his ancestors.

“New developments in genetics, anthropology and neurobiology predict that a very large number of genes underlie our intellectual and emotional abilities, making these abilities genetically surprisingly fragile,” he writes in part one of his research. “Analysis of human mutation rates and the number of genes required for human intellectual and emotional fitness indicates that we are almost certainly losing these abilities,” he adds in his latest report.

From there, the doctor goes on to explain that general mutations over the last few thousand years have left mankind increasingly unable to cope with certain situations that perhaps our ancestors would be more adapted to.

“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 and companions, with a good memory, a broad range of ideas, and a clear-sighted view of important issues. Furthermore, I would guess that he or she would be among the most emotionally stable of our friends and colleagues. I would also make this wager for the ancient inhabitants of Africa, Asia, India or the Americas, of perhaps 2000–6000 years ago. The basis for my wager comes from new developments in genetics, anthropology, and neurobiology that make a clear prediction that our intellectual and emotional abilities are genetically surprisingly fragile.”

According to the doctor, humans were at their most intelligent when “every individual was exposed to nature’s raw selective mechanisms on a daily basis.” Under those conditions, adaption, he argued, was much more of a matter than fight or flight. Rather, says the scientists, it was a sink or swim situation for generations upon generations.

"We, as a species, are surprisingly intellectually fragile and perhaps reached a peak 2,000 to 6,000 years ago," he writes. "If selection is only slightly relaxed, one would still conclude that nearly all of us are compromised compared to our ancient ancestors of 3,000 to 6,000 years ago.”

That doesn’t mean it’s all downhill, though. Dr. Crabtree says, “although our genomes are fragile, our society is robust almost entirely by virtue of education, which allow strengths to be rapidly distributed to all members."

"We have a long time to solve it. People 300 years ago had no idea where we'd be scientifically now," he says. "We'll be able to deal with this problem with a range of humane and ethical solutions."

[BoSoxGal]

Study: Human Intelligence on Decline for the First Time in Human History

Written by Mason Jias

For the first time in human history, human intelligence is on the decline, a wide-ranging study published today shows.

NewDomain, Paris, 01.04.2015 — In a groundbreaking study conducted by Griffiths and Wright and published this week in Mentiri, the Journal of Human Intelligence, psychologists have identified 2015 as the first year in which human intelligence appears to have declined rather than increased.

This follows a disturbing 2012 finding that life expectancy in the United States had, for some segments of the population, declined for the first time on record.

Wright, speaking to press in Patterson, NY, attributes the decline to a sort of reverse Flynn Effect. “The Flynn effect is a tendency for scores on IQ tests to increase over time, at a rate of just about 3 points per decade. In the last decade, though, the average score has gone down by just about half a point.”

Asked about possible causes, she said, “It would be pure guesswork right now. We do have a mild correlation with the rise of cable news and a more definitive correlation to smart phones. But correlations cannot be used to talk much about causation. The decline also correlates to a rise in sightings of Bigfoot and reports of UFO abductions. We might just as well say Bigfoot is making us dumb, or that Fox News causes alien abductions.”

Griffiths was even more cagey. “We don’t even have a theory,” she said.

Since this is the first time the effect has ever been observed, it is impossible to note whether it is just a blip or a more-permanent fixture of life as a human. Dubbed the “Bowers Effect,” it could be accelerating or completely reverse itself in a year or two.

Edge Mujik, commenting from the University of Texas, Austin, was less cagey.

“IQ tests don’t really measure intelligence at all,” he said, “but how well one can solve certain kinds of problems.” Flynn calls this adaptation to modernity. That’s what the Flynn effect is. “We can easily say that as access to higher education declines because of cost — and the cost of transferring education from the public sphere as a public good to the individual as a commodity — one could argue that, then, the well-known relationship between education and IQ test scores will start to assert itself. It’s really no surprise.”

Mujik added: Just spend five minutes looking at our television programming — the stuff people will believe. Mermaids and Amish mafia. And the people we vote for. No, I’m not at all surprised by this finding.”

[Long Run]

“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 and companions, with a good memory, a broad range of ideas, and a clear-sighted view of important issues. Furthermore, I would guess that he or she would be among the most emotionally stable of our friends and colleagues.

But then he would eat a Big Mac and spend an hour watching the Bachelorette and come down to the norm.

[Econoline]

[BoSoxGal]

[dgs49]

Is there a word to denote research that is undertaken to "prove" the researcher's pre-conceived conclusion?

Look at Europe. The "smart" people (native population) are having 0 or 1 kid; the "others" (immigrants from elsewhere) are having litters.

What happens to the "average"?

It's no big secret.