Like many people over the age of 50 .....
I have often suspected that the younger members of our population are not quite as intelligent they think they are or we were.
That the reason why so many get qualifications in school exams is because the standards to get passes had been 'dumbed down'. However, despite many others (and who hasn't had to deal with young members of staff who seem to be a bit slow on the uptake?), holding the same view, there was no empirical proof of this suspicion. In fact, even mentioning it was to be accused of a form of reverse ageism.
Now however a study has been published that confirms that IQ scores have been steadily falling for the past few decades, in fact for all those born after 1975. The study suggests that environmental factors are to blame, and that its not simply a case of dumber people are having more kids than smart people (the 'dysgenic fertility' theory), as premised in the prophetic film 'Idiocracy'. This latter premise would contribute to a general decline in IQ scores over time, and a "dumbing down" of the general populations.
In that movie, set only a few decades in the western future, people will be sitting around, watching drivel on their TV's, while eating fatty burgers and wholly processed food, and grunting their limited vocabulary to each other. Which may indeed still come true, if the decline in IQ scores is not halted.
The Norwegian study, which was published in June 2018 by the Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research, analysed the national IQ scores of Norwegian males born between 1962 and 1991, and found that IQ scores increased by almost 3 percentage points each decade for those born between 1962 to 1975. However after that year, the males then saw a steady decline among them.
Until recently, researchers have always suggested that genetic factors determined differences in measured IQ's, as intelligence is assumed to be inheritable ... and this may well have been a wholly valid assumption until the mid 1970's, but this recent and other later studies now suggests that other factors may well have at least the same impact on intelligence.
In the first three quarters of the 20th century, there was a long-term increase in intelligence levels in Europe, the USA and the West generally (aka the "Flynn effect"), which its been argued, was the result of better access to education in the working classes. But better diets with more proteins available to the general populations are also likely to have been a factor (see population heights).
The results of this, and the other studies have got the sort of response you might expected from the liberal education establishment, where instead of trying to determine if there are ways to stop the decline .... in true Idiocracy style, they have simply announced that traditional measures of intelligence, such as the IQ test, might be outmoded as times have changed and people are now exposed to different intellectual experiences e.g new technology, and social media require different (less?) skills.
That in fact Educational methods need to adapt to such changes i.e. Dumb down again ... there's really no hope for this generation (one minute of viewing Love Island is enough to confirm that), but a lot is explained in this story.
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| Idiocracy - A Prophetic Movie? |
I have often suspected that the younger members of our population are not quite as intelligent they think they are or we were.
That the reason why so many get qualifications in school exams is because the standards to get passes had been 'dumbed down'. However, despite many others (and who hasn't had to deal with young members of staff who seem to be a bit slow on the uptake?), holding the same view, there was no empirical proof of this suspicion. In fact, even mentioning it was to be accused of a form of reverse ageism.
 |
| IQ's Dropping In Western World .... |
Now however a study has been published that confirms that IQ scores have been steadily falling for the past few decades, in fact for all those born after 1975. The study suggests that environmental factors are to blame, and that its not simply a case of dumber people are having more kids than smart people (the 'dysgenic fertility' theory), as premised in the prophetic film 'Idiocracy'. This latter premise would contribute to a general decline in IQ scores over time, and a "dumbing down" of the general populations.
In that movie, set only a few decades in the western future, people will be sitting around, watching drivel on their TV's, while eating fatty burgers and wholly processed food, and grunting their limited vocabulary to each other. Which may indeed still come true, if the decline in IQ scores is not halted.
The Norwegian study, which was published in June 2018 by the Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research, analysed the national IQ scores of Norwegian males born between 1962 and 1991, and found that IQ scores increased by almost 3 percentage points each decade for those born between 1962 to 1975. However after that year, the males then saw a steady decline among them.
This result actually ties in with similar studies conducted in Denmark, Britain, France, the Netherlands, Finland and Estonia which have all demonstrated a similar downward trend in IQ scores.
 |
| Some State That Idiocracy Is Already Rearing Its Head .... |
Until recently, researchers have always suggested that genetic factors determined differences in measured IQ's, as intelligence is assumed to be inheritable ... and this may well have been a wholly valid assumption until the mid 1970's, but this recent and other later studies now suggests that other factors may well have at least the same impact on intelligence.
The Norwegian study points to environmental factors as a
driver of the lower IQ scores, as the same results are being shown even within families where
parental IQ's had been high.
They suggest that the causes are:
They suggest that the causes are:
- Changes in the Education system that have stopped challenging children's intelligence.
- Dumber media (TV) environment (see point above).
- Nutrition (more processed food consumed).
- People reading less, and
- More and more Internet usage.
In the first three quarters of the 20th century, there was a long-term increase in intelligence levels in Europe, the USA and the West generally (aka the "Flynn effect"), which its been argued, was the result of better access to education in the working classes. But better diets with more proteins available to the general populations are also likely to have been a factor (see population heights).
The results of this, and the other studies have got the sort of response you might expected from the liberal education establishment, where instead of trying to determine if there are ways to stop the decline .... in true Idiocracy style, they have simply announced that traditional measures of intelligence, such as the IQ test, might be outmoded as times have changed and people are now exposed to different intellectual experiences e.g new technology, and social media require different (less?) skills.
That in fact Educational methods need to adapt to such changes i.e. Dumb down again ... there's really no hope for this generation (one minute of viewing Love Island is enough to confirm that), but a lot is explained in this story.
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