We’re Getting More Stoopider May 24, 2013
Posted by nrhatch in Life Balance, Mindfulness, Nature, People.comments closed
The idea behind Planet of the Apes is not so far-fetched.
As it turns out, apes are getting smarter while we, their closest relatives, are getting dumber with each passing generation.
Why?
Downward spiraling evolution.
Geneticists cite a number of contributing factors:
* We no longer need to be resourceful to survive. We rely on others for food, clothing, shelter . . . even allowing “them” to do our thinking.
* “Survival of the fittest” no longer weeds out losers in the IQ department.
* Intelligent women have fewer children while women with less intelligence breed in greater numbers.
I’ll add another factor . . . Reality TV, Pumpkin Chuckin, Monster Truck Rallies, and other entertainments aimed at the “lowest common denominator.”
Instead of engaging in intellectually stimulating debate on the “big issues” of the day, we spend time in mind-numbing pursuits causing brain atrophy.
Will our brains go the way of our tails, shrinking from non-use?
Will computers eventually do all our thinking for us?
Will the images from Planet of the Apes become our reality?
Perhaps.
Use it . . . or lose it.
If we brought an average citizen from 1,000 B.C. to the present, they would be far brighter than the average Joe of today:
“I would wager that if an average citizen from Athens of 1000 BC were to suddenly appear among us, he or she would be among the brightest and most intellectually alive of our colleagues and companies, with a good memory, a broad range of ideas, and a clear-sighted view of important issues.”
Gerald Crabtree, a geneticist at Stanford University, whose findings were published in the journal Trends in Genetics.
And, just think, that citizen of Athens is none the wiser about Kim Kardashian and celebrities of like ilk who garner far too much recognition and attention for far too little reason. Sometimes ignorance IS bliss!
Aah . . . that’s better!
What do YOU think?
Related articles: Dumb and Dumber ~ Humans are Losing Their Smarts (US News & World Report) * Leading Geneticist: Human Intelligence is Slowly Declining (Natural Society) * Idiocracy ~ the feel-bad comedy of the year
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