Are People Getting Smarter or Dumber?

[fenrizz]

I'm just gonna go ahead and quote good old Socrates here.

The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for
authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place
of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their
households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They
contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties
at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.

Yes, society is going to hell in a handbasket, and has been doing so for over 2000 years!
Clearly something must be done, THINK OF THE CHILDREN!
/end sarcasm mode

I think this pretty much sums up my thoughts on the subject.

 

[Catalyst6]

I don't think that the current generation is any dumber than the previous ones, although it may look like they are. The problem isn't that we're not as intelligent as we used to be, it's that the problems that we try to use that intelligence to solve have skyrocketed in complexity a lot faster than our intelligence grows.

So in short, that idiot kid that you think of as an example of this phenomenon isn't stupid, he's just not keeping up with the rest of us. Which makes him stupid, yes, but only by comparison, not intrinsically.

 

[DeiNile]

You cannot just say that people are getting dumber or smarter. Modern life consists of a whole lot more as opposed to life a hundred years ago, and thus we have all become smarter in a small area. But in other areas we might have become dumber. A lot of people have no practical skills anymore, and if technology would somehow become unusable some day, many would perish in the aftermath. On the flip side, the same people have more specific knowledge in a specific field. I am sure you all know someone who can work magic with a computer, but does not comprehend the usage of a hammer and nails.

There is no ultimate answer to such a question no matter how much one discusses it. There are far too many variables to account for in order to come to a conclusion.

 

[Flight]

Dumber, in general.

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

Scientists and engineers are getting smarter. Other then that the general population is as it always has been: unbearably fucking stupid and detestable. But now with the creation of things like TV and the internet they can project their extreme stupidity like never before, hence creating the illusion that we're getting stupider.

 

[Master_Corruptor]

this goes both ways in a infinite circle. some get smarter and invent stuff for the dumber so they don't have to think so much...thus making them even dumber. That in turn forces the smart people to get smarter so they can invent better gizmos for the dumb =)

 

[SextusMaximus]

On an evolutionary basis, dumber. Much dumber.

Korn's "Evolution" has made me slightly biased however, because it's an awesome song.

 

[The_Graff]

overall we are getting slightly smarter, its just that we are not keeping pace with other events which require us to be more intelligent than most of us are - so objectively yes we are probably a little bit smarter than our ancestors, but functionally no we cant really claim that.

 

[foodmaniac]

The dumb people never get into a position where they can influence humanity thank god.

Australia would like a word with you. >_>

This.

 

[Nerdygamer89]

For the most part, dumber. The smarter people don't reproduce as often, while the less intelligent end up having many children.

This.

Natural selection has gone out the fuckin' window with modern society. Intelligence isn't needed to survive anymore. The most challenging thing about survival these days is squirting out a couple kids for the welfare check and waiting in line at taco bell for your heart-attack-on-a-stick or whatever. The natural consequence? Intelligence decays because other traits are deemed more "useful". A de-evolution, if you will.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

Well, as we evolve and advance in technology our brains adapt to the way we live.

So while as a species our scientific understanding and intellectual thought may be at an all time high, our common sense and survivial intelligence is probably slowly decreasing.

 

[Trebort]

If the decline of British society is anything to go by, the and prominance of the "Jeremy Kyle" generation, people are actually getting dumber.

 

[LloydEsaka]

I believe humanity is getting smarter, generally, but some of the facts we get are distorted by various media. For example, people of average intelligence can be led to believe that its possible for a human to break through solid steel if they've been given the correct type of training to do so through movies if they've been given no evidence to the contrary. Therefore its more that movies, TV, and video games are diluting the information with awesomeness.

 

[Fallen-Angel Risen-Demon]

well on QI they said that actually from tests on IQ at the age of 17 on average every 10 years avarage IQ goes up by 3 and QI is always right!

 

[NeutralMunchHotel]

If you've ever seen the movie Idiocracy (think that's the name) you'd know, dumber

You're about the 20th person to reference that.

What is Idiocracy? Should I know what that is?

No, you shouldn't. It looks like a dumb movie, and what it's proposing is retarded and not actually happening.

EDIT: And you still owe me a thank you for my original post in this thread.

I'll bite: why should we thank you? What you said wasn't remotely original, so why?

 

[Not-here-anymore]

Well, let's do a test. Can anyone tell me he original, primary definition of dumb?

As in, unable to speak dumb? Or is there an older definition that I'm unaware of?

OT: It depends how you define intelligence. Certainly people nowadays are, for the most part, more knowledgeable than ever thanks to better methods of information transmission/communication (i.e. the internet), but common sense seems to be at an all time low, due to a huge amount of devices and innovations designed to reduce the amount people have to do to manage their own lives, and a plethora of systems designed to take up this new-found spare time (i.e. the internet)

 

[Captain Blackout]

I'll bite: why should we thank you? What you said wasn't remotely original, so why?

Wasn't directed at you, was directed at the OP. Plus, my original post in this thread was a good summary of the situation.

 

[Super Toast]

For the most part, dumber. The smarter people don't reproduce as often, while the less intelligent end up having many children.

Something tells me you've seen Idiocracy.

I actually have not. Does it come recommended?

It most certainly does. It's hilarious. Good luck getting a copy, though. It was a box office bomb and as such the DVD is hard to get.

 

[Denizen]

We find more distractions from the "scary" reality. There is more technology and more ways to fuck things up. And combined with the lure of escaping reality, you have people of all classes looking for an easy way out from trying. Also from seeing an increase of "Self-defeating" attitudes, people with the potential to do well intellectually end up giving up and assume the role of the token ignorant dude lost in the crowd.

I don't believe that people are getting dumber, i think that people have stopped trying through self-defeating attitudes, morbid outlook on life, and too many distractions/low support in their effort by others. Class has nothing to do with it except those that want to escape from reality will buy a means of escape as much as they can once the previous factors have taken their toll. You can't buy happiness (contentment) as well as (intellectual) excellence.