Young people are becoming stupider, say scientists

[TylerDurden]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5832789/Young-people-really-getting-stupid-IQs-falling-seven-points-generation.html

This is hardly surprising. There is so much automation that few, if any, humans now actually need to use their brains. They can simply use an online calculator instead of working out sums in their heads. Formerly complicated jobs like being an accountant or a pilot can now mostly be done by software of various kinds.

https://diginomica.com/2016/07/06/the-perils-of-automation-complacency/

[TylerDurden]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5837323/Car-ads-make-motorists-think-autonomous-autopilot-means-vehicle-drive-itself.html

http://mentalfloss.com/article/50508/8-drivers-who-blindly-followed-their-gps-disaster

2 more in the same vein.

[FRANCIS HOWARD BOND]

They should be encouraged to design their own software and produce programs capable of solving many of life's complex problems.   Have devised programs myself for solving quadratic equations and simultaneous equations using basic spreadsheet and formulae.   Instead of using existing programs, invent their own, extend skills and capabilities to secure interesting and more rewarding employment.

[TylerDurden]

Interesting idea. I used to add a few small mods to various PC games, some of which are still around after 15 years.

This thread does have something to do with the palaeolithic theme, incidentally. We are increasingly  automating everything. For example, instead of using natural light, we are becoming more and more myopic with each new generation due to staying indoors. Mercola suggests that all children should play outside for several hours a day while the eyes are still forming/growing to stop this  from happening. Public and private transport now stops us from simple walking/running. Automating the food-industry has directly led to even higher levels of food-processing than before, and greater levels of obesity.Personally, with future generations not needing to use their brains due to automation, I suspect there will, as a result, be an epigenetically-induced drop in real intelligence as well.

Not saying that technology is always a  disaster, though.It just has to be properly applied, that's all. For example, my current red light man device is really boosting my abilities in numerous respects. Sunning myself would not bring as much benefit, and, unfortunately, I tend to get sunburned  if I overdo it.

Automation is also deadly in other ways. Owners of businesses are using automation as an excuse to forcibly lower employees' salaries, and, worst of all, since now most jobs are automated, this has allowed people to get jobs who, in earlier times, would not have been deemed remotely intelligent enough to properly  do the work involved. Take Nick Leeson of Baring's fame.

[goodsamaritan]

Your problem is WELFARE.

[TylerDurden]

Your problem is WELFARE.

If only that were a problem....

[goodsamaritan]

If only that were a problem....

There is no survival of the fittest or smartest with welfare

[dariorpl]

Like goodsamaritan says, there is little that can be derived from this study because it doesn't mention if it corrected for parental IQ.

That is, while I'm the first to conclude that everybody's health is getting worse every decade, being objective here, there's no way to ascertain whether everybody's IQ is lowering, or whether the various disgenic policies are simply causing lower IQ people to have more children than they used to, and higher IQ people to have less than they used to.

[TylerDurden]

Like goodsamaritan says, there is little that can be derived from this study because it doesn't mention if it corrected for parental IQ.

That is, while I'm the first to conclude that everybody's health is getting worse every decade, being objective here, there's no way to ascertain whether everybody's IQ is lowering, or whether the various disgenic policies are simply causing lower IQ people to have more children than they used to, and higher IQ people to have less than they used to.

Wrong. The study is showing that the current generations are not using their brains, so they are effectively less intelligent than they could be. Epigenetics would be a major factor therein. Anyway, dysgenics is a modern fact....

[TylerDurden]

There is no survival of the fittest or smartest with welfare

Utter drivel:-

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/06/28/new-jersey-arrests-welfare-fraud-investigation/435144001/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mick_Philpott

[PaganGoy]

Today people are born into a world lacking of any sort of intellectual tribalism where immigration, slavery and void of life concrete suburbs/cities surround them.  Add to this media, public/"private" school and it is quite obvious why people aren't as bright as they should be.
Humans cease to be themselves when removed from nature, chrsitianity is a great example of a religion which thrived from the removal of nature and increasing of cities and government state.  That particular ideology's values have never left us, its no wonder we continue our decline.

[FRANCIS HOWARD BOND]

A colleague has suggested the brain is a muscle, and that all muscles improve with exercise.

[goodsamaritan]

Utter drivel:-

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/06/28/new-jersey-arrests-welfare-fraud-investigation/435144001/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mick_Philpott

Your links do not prove anything.

People who are too lazy and / or too dumb don't get to reproduce as much when left alone.

So the dumb and lazy or inbreds are weeded out without welfare.

[goodsamaritan]

On another issue, there is this thing with CONTRACEPTION which became rampant starting the 1970s.

So those dumb enough not to use contraception get to reproduce unconsciously.

Those who feel they are mildly intelligent enough get to use contraception diligently.

But there are those who are MORE THAN INTELLIGENT ENOUGH purposely do not use contraception... and reproduce CONSCIOUSLY.

Think farther guys.

[TylerDurden]

You've missed an important point in the previous post and then in the last post, you point out the obvious, that, on a general level, those who are having the most children are also the stupidest, while the most intelligent are also having the least children. This has been going on since the Neolithic era, which is why human average brain-size/average intelligence has been steadily declining since. One only has to look at all the great scientists/philosophers - almost all of them ended up childless.

As regards welfare, plenty of very intelligent people have exploited the system very well. After all, it is rather stupid to pay taxes which then go to support and enable others to have children on welfare. The links I provided proved the point. Sure, a few like the above get caught, but most do not because they are careful enough to stay within the law. Take 3 successful examples I know of:-

1 Afghan couple with 9 children emigrated to Vienna as so-called "refugees". They managed to collect 8,200 euros a month in benefits, some of which went for IVF so that they could have 2 more children. An Austrian couple anonymously talked to newspapers online and stated that, as long as they only worked part-time, they got all the benefits they wanted, plus if they had worked full-time, they would have had to pay so much extra tax, they would have ended up with less money in the end.

I also have heard of 1 British guy who started out with a council flat provided by the State. He then used the fact that the London boroughs never communicate with each other, being jealous of each other, toapply under aliases to 28 different boroughs, so that he managed to get 28 council flats in all, all in his name. Needless to say, what with enormous, rising house prices and rents in London, he was able to sub-let these 28  council flats for huge rents for several decades, and still hasn't been convicted, afaik.

But this is all irrelevant, and nothing to do with the current thread, which is about ALL mankind becoming less intelligent, this time involving the environmental influence, as opposed to the genetic drop in IQs.