I leave it to the reader to reflect on what we mean by
intelligence as opposed to having intelligence genes. However I note that
several forums have extended the discussion into the impact of
technology on our intelligence, behaviours and even our very existence. With
the likes of GPS, curve fitting software and the internet are we becoming lazy
and less intelligent, or, are we subcontracting out the mundane and enabling us
to focus on what matters and thus be more innovative? Perhaps at the end of the
day, as any hunter-gatherer knows, a tool is a tool; it is what you do with it
that counts.
Thought for the month
"There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen"
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. 1870 – 1924
Tuesday, 4 December 2012
Are humans becoming less intelligent?
In a world containing the Large Hadron Collider and NMR body
scanners it may seem strange that a Stanford University geneticist would pose the question are humans becoming less intelligent?
Central to the query is the notion that ancient hunter-gatherers underwent a
process of extreme selection. The inability to conceive clever solutions to the
lack of food and shelter was rewarded with a rapid death and this was the
powerful driver behind the optimisation of the intelligence genes thousands of
years ago. Since then with the decline in this extreme selection and natural
genetic mutations it has, allegedly, all been downhill.
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