Are we getting dumber? The reasons for decrease of the brain mass.

[Ctwentysevenj]

I don't think humans are getting dumber as a whole. In certain parts of the world, perhaps. But in others we are getting more intelligent. It could be that the gap between smart and dump people is growing.

With all the wonderful technology and advances in medical research, especially in the first world, we are not getting dumber. Where we can land a probe on a Comet just recently by Europeans, just proves we are getting smarter. The amount of wonderful new technologies is absolutely amazing. Yes parts of the world I think are getting dumber, like the Islamic world, where they cannot develop, still stuck in the 10 th century, and fighting between each other and sub sahara Africa where many of the people haven't advanced since the man first came out of the trees.

All future new technologies, more advance space travel and a cure for cancer will come from the first world. So we are getting smarter. Maybe our intelligence will eventually directed into saving the planet from environment damage.

[Amud]

Haven't people with the lowest IQs always had the most children? Nature must have a way to compensate for this, otherwise we would have swung from the trees again by now.

Nature doesn't have a way to compensate. Technology just increases over time because the natural tendency is for technology to increase at an increasing rate. This is due to a number of factors: Population increase means more people to work on developing technology. Technology builds on itself so the more you have, the easier it is to come up with new stuff. The more technology we have, the easier life gets, so the more time we can devote to discovering new things rather than doing chores. All in all, because there are so many factors leading to an improvement in technology over time, it's easy to see how technology levels can go up even if IQ is going down.

The Flynn Effect is probably just due to better education and a more intellectually stimulating environment. People aren't getting genetically smarter (that's impossible due to the breeding patterns), the environment just lets us get better at certain cognitive tasks. Ultimately, it's misleading, because scientists assume we're getting smarter and therefore have nothing to worry about. This assumption may prove disastrous in the future. Because technological growth is limited by our decreasing IQ's, that means it can't really be following an exponential curve. It's more like a logistic curve. Maybe we're getting more advanced now, but we won't always be.

[CordedWhelp]

These "early man" types with larger brains-than-the-average are just semi-ancient examples of hybrids. The elites use these to compliment the macro-evolution lie. Furthermore, one can still find folks with brain-cases like this...

[Loki]

With all the wonderful technology and advances in medical research, especially in the first world, we are not getting dumber. Where we can land a probe on a Comet just recently by Europeans, just proves we are getting smarter. The amount of wonderful new technologies is absolutely amazing. Yes parts of the world I think are getting dumber, like the Islamic world, where they cannot develop, still stuck in the 10 th century, and fighting between each other and sub sahara Africa where many of the people haven't advanced since the man first came out of the trees.

All future new technologies, more advance space travel and a cure for cancer will come from the first world. So we are getting smarter. Maybe our intelligence will eventually directed into saving the planet from environment damage.

Agreed. Accuse me of being anti-Islamic, but I think being an actively religious Muslim is mind-numbing. Which is perhaps not a bad thing, if you think of it.

[Loki]

We should not lose sight of the fact that 'dumb' people could have more intelligent children. And therefore, upward social mobility can and will always happen, if given a chance. So you won't run out of professionals anytime soon.

[Amud]

The smartest people often have enormous cranial volume:

Tesla


Planck


Hilbert


Darwin


Von Neumann




Of course there are examples of geniuses who don't have a huge cranial volume. However, they are usually Jewish (Einstein, Max Born, Neils Bohr, and so on). As far as gentiles go, most (although not all) geniuses have a greater than normal cranial volume.

[Loki]

However, they are usually Jewish (Einstein, Max Born, Neils Bohr, and so on). As far as gentiles go, most (although not all) geniuses have a greater than normal cranial volume.

???

[Ctwentysevenj]

Agreed. Accuse me of being anti-Islamic, but I think being an actively religious Muslim is mind-numbing. Which is perhaps not a bad thing, if you think of it.

If it wasn't for Islam or it modernised like Christianity, I sure some those islamic countries could be similar in terms of economic development with European countries, especially countries like Turkey, Iran, Algeria, Tunisia and Morrocco. The last three due to close geographic position to Europe, and a high degree of Euro type people, the Berbers that make up the much of the population. If that was the case they be more stable countries and contribute more to the world. Turkey has shown it is possible for an Islamic to develope a modern economy, but religion is still a hinderance. Also they are next to Europe too, actually 5% of the country is in Europe.

[Breedingvariety]

With all the wonderful technology and advances in medical research, especially in the first world, we are not getting dumber. Where we can land a probe on a Comet just recently by Europeans, just proves we are getting smarter. The amount of wonderful new technologies is absolutely amazing. Yes parts of the world I think are getting dumber, like the Islamic world, where they cannot develop, still stuck in the 10 th century, and fighting between each other and sub sahara Africa where many of the people haven't advanced since the man first came out of the trees.

All future new technologies, more advance space travel and a cure for cancer will come from the first world. So we are getting smarter. Maybe our intelligence will eventually directed into saving the planet from environment damage.

Progressivism in a nut shell or should I say expanding universe.

[Loki]

If it wasn't for Islam or it modernised like Christianity, I sure some those islamic countries could be similar in terms of economic development with European countries, especially countries like Turkey, Iran, Algeria, Tunisia and Morrocco. The last three due to close geographic position to Europe, and a high degree of Euro type people, the Berbers that make up the much of the population. If that was the case they be more stable countries and contribute more to the world. Turkey has shown it is possible for an Islamic to develope a modern economy, but religion is still a hinderance. Also they are next to Europe too, actually 5% of the country is in Europe.

That was thanks to secularist Ataturk. I'm afraid Turkey is moving in the wrong direction now under Erdogan - going to Islamism. It can't be good for the country.