JAZZ SHAW writes;
First it was peak oil. Then it was peak climate change. But what of the human beings driving all of this wonder and destruction? Have we finally topped out our capacity to evolve in terms of our gray matter? Have we, perhaps, gotten as smart as we possibly can?
The immediate response from many who follow politics on a regular basis is likely going to be, “C’mon, man. It’s 2019. Have you looked around?” And there’s a fair argument to be made from that perspective. But I would point you to a think piece from the BBC that questions whether or not we’ve actually plateaued in terms of intelligence and we might even be getting more stupid.
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.
Suffice to say, I have a lot of problems with this analysis, even though I am not a doctor and have no advanced education in any of these matters. If you read the full article they make many good points about the evolution of man. Certainly, some of our early ancestors had much smaller skulls and brains, likely allowing for less advanced thinking. But we’ve had our big brains for a long time.
The article focuses quite a bit on IQ tests. I’m not saying those are entirely useless, but they do rely on the education available to the child while growing up. Who is to say that someone born in the dark ages might not have gone on to invent a method of flying if they were standing on the shoulders of giants?
Then there’s the anecdotal evidence. Look around you. Is the next generation really smarter than the last? I’m not saying we’re definitely devolving, but our reliance on technology to do a lot of our thinking for us has absolutely resulted in less use of our mental muscle. If you don’t use it, do you lose it?
Can we have really reached peak intelligence? And if that is the case, what can the subsequent decline mean for the future of humanity?
We have a SLG as Prime Minister of New Zealand.
We’re heading for the nadir of dumb.
Harvey, We’re AT the “nadir of dumb”!
Another term of this collection of clowns and a new lower nadir will be achieved.
Unfortunately, the selective breeding encouraged by the welfare state has meant the low IQs breed and the high IQs pay for that breeding.
I’d wondered when it would bite us in the arse and there is evidence that it already has.
It is entirely reversible but it’s probably going to require the situation to get a lot worse before it can get better; the welfare state has to go along with all the other stupid entitlements.
We were warned about exactly this, when Hollywood still made satirical films – Idiocracy
(Funny how with every other shit movie being re-run a million times, this one is never on our airwaves – coincidence?)
unfortunately while intelligence is still on the rise, average intelligence appears, at least, to be falling rather quickly.
The only way the Western World can save itself is to dump this failed Greek experiment called “democracy” and implement a series of dictatorships based on intelligence.
Dangerous. The problem is how do you stop the corrupt versions of government or in your case tyranny?
Aristotle outlined the three forms of government (one, few and many). He included their corrupt forms as well: tyranny, oligarchy and mob rule.
The Romans took Aristotle’s ideas and combined all three as a way of keeping them all in check. We know it was in imperfect because all three weren’t equal.
The British did it very well with the Monarch, the House of Lords, the House of Commons. However, the House of Commons has the imbalance of power (accelerated by Tony Blair and not fixed by the new power mad).
The Americans are doing it best these days but that is breaking down.
I have no real solution: we need all three types to have equal power for the system to work correctly.
(NZ lacks even this balance and is why Ardern can be such a dictator).
And while we continue to make great leaps in science and medicine, life expectancy in the US is starting to fall. How is that not a measure of dumb?
Very sad I can only give you one uptick for that comment
Agreed I reckon that the increase in population of the shithole nations with their lower IQ’s (I read average IQ in Africa is 60 against 100 in the West) and those in the Religion of Peace countries still living in the 7th Century is averaging Global IQ down. Surely a cogent argument to restrict immigration to those from countries with similar IQ and cultures to NZ. I was a court witness this week and another case with a young Asian (possible Chinese) female who required a translator, she was not a visitor but a business operator – time to enforce a requirement to speak English at a conversational level as a condition of entry as a permanent or student visa.
Importing the low IQs just means a speed up of the dumbing down; they stereotypically end up on some if not complete welfare thus imposing an increase on the burden on taxpayers.
Left wingers love this situation because those imports also stereotypically vote left.
And, more importantly, as we’ve seen recently in Peterborough, immigrants from 3rd world shitholes are far more open to vote selling. There is a case underway in the UK trying to get to the bottom of why so many voters were seen taking snapshots of their ballot papers.
Seriously, we are at the point where Western civilisation starts to deteriorate. Aristotle’s words have never been more fitting “Tolerance and apathy are the last virtues of a dying society”. We are watching the first stages of a new Dark Age.
Everything comes to an end, right? Well, we’ve seen what happens when you overwhelm a productive, economy with low-IQ African primatives. Rhodesia/Zimbabwe de-evolved from the ‘breadbasket of Africa’ to a hyperinflation hell-hole in one generation because of it. 15 years later, the same thing happened to South Africa.
Having successfully seen these two test tube experiments play out in the way the NWO wanted, the endgame was launched with simultaneous invasions of Europe and the USA. Europe has already started the de-evolution with vast tracts of the once-great cities of Western civilisation becoming increasingly uninhabitable as enclaves of muslim barbarism sprawl out.
Interestingly, the previous Dark age also coincided with the explosive introduction and expansion of Islam. The de-stablising influence of it in the great marketplace of the Mediterranean – foreshadowed the economic collapse of the greatest civilisation the world had seen until that time. The parallels are stark.
If the UK manages to disentangle itself from the EU soon enough, there is a chance that once again it can be the hold out from the forces of darkness gripping Europe, but I fear that the USA will fall given the widespread treason of the political classes. I feel sorry for those with children and grandkids as they have no hope of their progeny escaping the coming storm.
The civilisation that emerges will sadly not be a Western one, as the nations that are taking the hardest measures to stave off this great evil are China and Japan who are taking a zero tolerance approach to Islamification.
We are living in the ruins of the once great western civilisation.
Great post as usual DP you touch on something that crosses my mind often these days as i dont have any children, i used to think i would but at 50 now im quite glad i dont, after looking around at the increasingly bizarre world we live in where pitting one group of people against each other has become a national hobby actively encouraged by govts & media until it has morphed into the hatred we see today, strong leadership is what is needed to stem the tide and what do we get a bloody immature activist that shows us on a daily basis just how out of her depth she is, god save NZ indeed as these assholes wont
Truedat
With the advent of internet engines it is no longer necessary for the young to retain information in their brains. Is it any wonder if brains are instead filled with ‘air’ and emotion. The citizens of the west in general live in a peaceful era so there is no cunning required to survive, the welfare state ensures basic survival with a roof over the head of those who don’t have the wear-with-all to work, they are are also no longer likely to starve so there is no effort in procuring or producing food on a daily basis. Many are inherently lazy so why would they think.
Apparently, intelligence is mostly genetic. Which if true, means these environmental factors you’ve mentioned don’t explain the drop. That might explain an unproductive life but not a drop in intelligence.
Certainly have reached peak common sense. Not apparent much these days in government and councils. Not at all in Mobie and the like.