Controversial study suggests human intelligence peaked several thousand years ago and we've been on

Great thread!
We got in over our heads,basically.
Our society has expanded beyond our capacity to deal with it.
Then throw in a few disasters and mix in a few changes of views in regards to government and religion,what do you get?
Collapse!

A new, ultra-detailed climate record from a cave in Belize reveals Classic Maya civilization collapsed over centuries as rain dried up, disrupting agriculture and causing instability that led to wars and the crumbling of large cities. A final major drought after the political collapse of the Maya may be what kept the civilization from bouncing back. "Even fairly subtle shifts initially in climate toward drying appear to have pretty significant ramifications for the social and political fabric of the Maya world," said study researcher Douglas Kennett, an environmental anthropologist at Pennsylvania State University.

www.huffingtonpost.com...

The Decline and Fall of Rome The Roman Empire not only expanded, but was modified by the conquered people. The structure of the Roman government changed to deal with new situations. Emperors moved the capital away from the city of Rome, not just setting up an eastern capital in Nicomedia and then Constantinople, but also moving the seat of western government from Rome to Milan. They also developed an impressive civil bureaucracy, but such changes were not enough.

ancienthistory.about.com...

Great.


Soon after landing on the moon mankind finds out that his cheese is sliding off the cracker...


Drools on himself.

Originally posted by bacci0909

Yes, because acts like that are sooo rare these days

Compared to what humans used to do even 200 years ago, we are doing a bit better in that department. Do you know why the Groom has a Best man? Many years ago when a man was getting married he stood a chance of being attacked and having his bride stolen by a raiding party. Ever hear of that happening lately? The difference between that society and ours is violence was openly encouraged as a way to solve problems. This is not the case today. If you believe it to be so I invite you to club a woman on the head and drag her back to your man-cave. You'll be arrested for sure, but you wouldn't be far off from the "more intelligent" ancestors this scientist wrote about. Considering how many of the societies he discusses didn't even think to bathe, I tend not to agree with him.

Flynn effect may imply the opposite, but it is not as straightforward as people think, because Flynn effect is not measured globally.

When you have a wise group and a stupid group, and the least wise of the wise group moves to the stupid group, average inteligence in both groups rises, yet overall the intelligence is just the same.

There is a population explosion in less developed countries, where people tend to be less intelligent. So even when average inteligence in every country rises, it is still possible that global average intelligence stagnates or declines.

As Jacque Fresco might say that ever since we duped ourselves with the monetary system, stupidity has been growing ever since.

The duty and office of Rhetoric is, to apply Reason to Imagination for the better moving of the will. For we see Reason is disturbed in the administration thereof by three means; by Illaqueation or Sophism, which pertains to Logic; by Imagination or Impression, which pertains to Rhetoric; and by Passion or Affection, which pertains to Morality.

Francis Bacon,
The Advancement of Learning (1605)

I look at that quote and I feel that, yes, standards have fallen.

But Bacon himself discussed the mistaken belief that somehow people were smarter in the past.
He said that while Rome may have had great Universities, back-in-the-day, and remember
his time was the 1600's, so back in the day for him was old rome, he said that there
is nothing stopping us from having more learning now, and he begged the king
to focus on education.

Some people have suggested that Bacon in the father of education for all.
Some people have suggested that Bacon is the father of science.

Either way his thesis appears to be correct.
More education makes for a smarter world.


Mike Grouchy

There's a lot of angles to this. I think it's obvious that man has lost his "common sense" and many survival skills as technology advanced and we learned to technically specialize rather than practically generalize our way through issues.

Another thing to mention is there are more humans now than ever before. To mention this or that accomplishment made by brilliant minds is irrelevant in comparison to the many degenerate scumbags which multiply like wild rabbits.

I see some becoming more intelligent than their parents, yet most being a bit dumber.

reply to post by Maslo


If I'm recalling correctly, the flynn effect reversed more than a decade ago.

idk, but the one that came up with buttons was a pretty smart person. Even woven material wasn't simple line of thought progressive thinking.

I agree. It is supported mythologicaly.

The gods of ancient summer, were said to have been troubled by mans regression back into its primal state and the loss of the light of civilization. They "acted" civilized, but were spiritually animals, which made them noisy. Like a monkey that can play the drums.

This is where Enki intercedes directly and mates with human women by the river, making the second age of mankind of divine "royal" blood, him being a prince.

So, we are all unstable genetic experiments with only a limited number of "stable" blood lines that do not turn ape when left out too long to inter breed.

funny huh.

That's why some of us are a little more impatient with the rest, some seem like more monkey than man, and race has nothing to do with it. Enki was supposedly the father of many hybrids with many peoples.

The rest of humanity is descendant of Adapa and the test tube babies born in a lab from primate eggs.

sucks for some of us.

I don't believe human intelligence is subject to paradigms, whether developmental or regressive, so I think this geneticist is way off.

When it comes to intelligence I think culture has a greater influence on humans than genetics. Our genes are always there, if we choose to use / activate them. But culture, and social values that come with it, can have a large hand in our choices.

Cultural values can determine if we use intelligence or if we are allowed to use them or not. Rules, values, religions, wars, social institutions, rituals, these all determine how smart we can be right now. Our level of intelligence reacts to what is going on around us, you could say.

But paradigms keep professors employed. They've stripped away the fact we have a will to do anything and replaced it with some theory about how we are all getting dumber, genetically, and if that's the case we can't do much about it except to perhaps take some new pills offered by some pharmaceutical company.

Technology may make us look dumb as we no longer need to calculate numbers in our heads, but remember we also invented this technology.

We also invented a culture that allows for great inventions like computers to be available in most homes and schools for millions of people. Aristotle would be astounded at that.

The will to do something drives intelligence more so than any perceived historical paradigm. And if technology has taken away our will to learn math, then that's an issue we also need to solve. Stating we are getting inherently dumber is not part of the solution.

These are my thoughts

Originally posted by antonia

Originally posted by bacci0909

Yes, because acts like that are sooo rare these days

Compared to what humans used to do even 200 years ago, we are doing a bit better in that department. Do you know why the Groom has a Best man? Many years ago when a man was getting married he stood a chance of being attacked and having his bride stolen by a raiding party. Ever hear of that happening lately? The difference between that society and ours is violence was openly encouraged as a way to solve problems. This is not the case today. If you believe it to be so I invite you to club a woman on the head and drag her back to your man-cave. You'll be arrested for sure, but you wouldn't be far off from the "more intelligent" ancestors this scientist wrote about. Considering how many of the societies he discusses didn't even think to bathe, I tend not to agree with him.

edit on 12-11-2012 by antonia because: opps

1) You're talking about improved law enforcement. The instinct to harm is still very much alive and well, but the ensuing consequences have become innate

2) Now you're talking about bathing? That has to do with the body, not the mind. Are you ignoring how precious clean water was before modern times? You really think they would have chosen not to bathe if given hot, running water in multiple rooms of their house? Come on..

Originally posted by antonia
reply to post by ErroneousDylan

 

Well, there is a problem with what you are saying. While someone might have been able to build that pyramid, the vast majority of people were illiterate and uneducated. The very fact you can read makes you more intelligent than most of those people. The other problem is in the last paragraph of the article the man admits he doesn't have one stitch of evidence. That's laughable science right there.

I have addressed previously that there is no documented evidence of this. However, I will address your argument of literacy because it is fallacious. The ability to read does not imply intelligence. I'm reminded of kids that think a counter-argument is to point out how someone made a spelling mistake as if to somehow belittle them. The truth is, reading and writing is just another form of language. If the skill is needed, it is taught. Obviously, it is needed by just about everyone in today's society but that may have not been true for Ancient Egypt. I can only currently speak one language, but that does not mean I am incapable of learning multiple languages. It just asserts that I have no current need to learn another language. A bilingual person is no more intelligent than me simply because of his knowledge of another language. Just as a mechanic is possibly no more intelligent than me for his knowledge of engines.

Compared to what humans used to do even 200 years ago, we are doing a bit better in that department. Do you know why the Groom has a Best man? Many years ago when a man was getting married he stood a chance of being attacked and having his bride stolen by a raiding party. Ever hear of that happening lately? The difference between that society and ours is violence was openly encouraged as a way to solve problems. This is not the case today. If you believe it to be so I invite you to club a woman on the head and drag her back to your man-cave. You'll be arrested for sure, but you wouldn't be far off from the "more intelligent" ancestors this scientist wrote about. Considering how many of the societies he discusses didn't even think to bathe, I tend not to agree with him.

The best man thing, while having some written mentioning, is generally considered folklore. However, while there is more lack of evidence for this claim than to suggest Athenians were more intelligent than us, I'll let it stand. But let's take a look at your argument of bathing.

Perhaps you haven't heard of a Thermae but it is literally the Ancient Greek word for bath house. And to be honest they were scattered everywhere amongst Rome, suggesting that bathing was extremely common among Romans. Also, then and even today there is not as large a need to bathe as society would have you believe. There may be more of a need to bathe these days due to our environmental toxins but that waste and poison wasn't present in ancient times. I remember reading a story recently of a young man who wore a pair of jeans for an entire year, wearing nothing but them for his legs. They analyzed the "filth" content from a week and a year and there was no difference in bacteria. Disease mainly comes from ingestion, not from lack of bathing. Regardless, ancient Romans had both covered.

Originally posted by ErroneousDylan

Originally posted by jonnywhite
There's the possibility that the next evolution isn't in the brain but in our technology and in our understanding of biology and genetics. The body may be at its limits, you know.

Arthur C. Clarke thought the next evolution would be robotics or computer AI. He thought that biology was limited and that he was proud to be a stepping stone for whatever came after.

My point is that there're a lot of things in our body that have to adjust to the world around us, not just our intelligence. So many things have changed in the past several thousand years.

Just look at the modern society. So much obesity and cancer and other problems and I'm sure a lot of it can be attributed to the lacking nature of evolution to keep pace with these changes.

edit on 12-11-2012 by jonnywhite because: (no reason given)

Well, if the article is correct, then we are NOT at our limits since we have declined. If the article is correct, we will possibly be at our limits if/when we return to the mental point at which humans existed several thousand years ago.

And this is the exact message that this article intends to supplant into the consciousness. Why? Kabbalah dogma of "Adam Kadmon" - the primordial man. This dogma pervades Freemasonry, ufology cults, the New Age movement, Mormonism, Dominionism, eastern spirituality. 

Summed up by Hitler - "Man is becoming god"

Every one of those religions fully believe it, whether they label it "ascension",  "spiritual awakening", "global consciousness", "spiritual evolution",  "the Christ consciousness",  "evolution of consciousness", "the divinity within",  "dimensional uplift" 

And even for atheists - "transhuminism" and "post-humanism"

And the President of Iran in his latest UN speech!

-God Almighty has promised us a man of kindness, a man who loves people and loves absolute justice, a man who is a perfect human being and is named Imam A1-Mahdi, a man who will come in the company of Jesus Christ  (PBUH) and the righteous. By using the inherent potential of all the worthy men and women of all nations and I repeat, the inherent potential of "all the worthy men and women of all nations" he will lead humanity into achieving its glorious and eternal ideals.
-The arrival of the Ultimate Savior will mark a new beginning, a rebirth and a resurrection. It will be the beginning of peace, lasting security and genuine life.
-He will come to return all children of Adam irrespective of their skin colors to their innate origin after a long history of separation and division linking them to eternal happiness.m.latinospost.com... tm

Now tie in all the "scientific" articles stating that our emotions and behaviours are affected by our DNA - anything from religious beliefs and  how we vote to our prejudices! 

"Out of CHAOS COMES ORDER"

Billions will believe their "solution" to the coming chaos and their artificially created wars and their artificially created "religious hatred"......

Can you guess what their solution will be? Science and technology which will create the means to supposedly revert us to that primordial man, that 'innate origin of man' and that "Adam Kadman" - "god-man"

It is simply the age old Adam and Eve deception, wrapped up in pretty packaging for these last days. The serpent released to deceive the nations once again.

Christ Jesus warned us all - "LET NO MAN DECEIVE YOU".

‘…you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come…they will say, "Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation." But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.’ [2 Peter 3.3-7 NIV]

You are an ignorant racist, proving the OP right.

Originally posted by alfa1

Its actually quite easy to check this claim for accuracy.



A slightly weaker test is also the fate of African Americans, since their genetics would be less tainted than the Europeans. If his idea is right, African Americans are "the brightest and most intellectually alive of our colleagues and companions". Again, I'm not seeing this proven to be true.

Just monitored a Chevy Volt commercial ad, on the monitor.

A woman proudly states that she's 'forgotten how to use a gas pump', so, who knows what a few millenia will do to her.

Personally, I have no doubt.

reply to post by ErroneousDylan


Most of these posters think that an IQ test is an ineffective measure of intellect yet have no way to measure 'True' intellect.

I'm not buying it.

reply to post by antonia


what does bathing have to do with intelligence? In our hyper-hygienic society, we get more diseases. There's parasites in the stomach that have to be there or else you get allergies. Babies are born with more and more asthma since we're so keen on disinfecting every surface.I could go on and I'm not some dirty, crusty hippie.

reply to post by antonia


it depends in what context. I'd rather be a good hunter than a good essayist in a lot of circumstances.

reply to post by antonia


what about guys that put GHB in girls drinks in bars? You think that's not the equivalent of clubbing a woman on the head? Same thing!

reply to post by ErroneousDylan


the evidence of our decline could be reflected in modern art, where lack of any talent is called artistic license.

modern buildings are also the ugliest cities ever built by any human civilizations, imo.

and modern music is more proof, if any is needed.

our decline over the last 200 years is spectacular.