IQ Scores on the Rise

Posted by Ibecame 9 years, 11 months ago to Culture
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IQ has to rise or man would turn back into an animal.
What I found interesting in this is that they left out the simplest explanation.
Darwins law. People lower in intelligence are more likely to succumb to accidents. Add to that the increasing complexity of technology around and Mankind has created his own Predator. Lets face it; Technology is dangerous, but intelligence gives us the ability to safely utilize it. Make a left turn at the wrong moment and that Semi coming won't be forgiving and you won't be having children.
Now, this is important. WHAT DO YOU THINK? WHO IS JOHN GAULT?

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  • Posted by johnpe1 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I just had a car which I had loaned out ... wrecked.
    the guy I loaned it to *was* wearing the seat belt,
    and the air bags worked, so he only had a scratch.
    the little subaru baja was totaled. . sad, but it did
    its job -- protected the driver!!! -- j

    p.s. he swerved to avoid a dog in the road, hit
    the sharp edge of a concrete driveway, and the
    baja ended up on its left side. . right front corner
    was in bad shape.
    .
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  • Posted by johnpe1 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Yes! . fundamental talent which must be learned,
    and it is essential to any design or problem solution. -- j
    .
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  • Posted by johnpe1 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    yes. . with Obamacare, the death panels will weed
    out all us old folks and the tea party types so that
    the nation will crumble faster. . Yes? -- j
    .
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  • Posted by plusaf 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I disagree... I would posit that one's accident rate for driving might be a reflection of 'common sense' to some degree (or lack of it.)

    I just hate it when some local kid wraps his car around a tree and dies and the news clipping doesn't mention whether he/she was wearing a seat belt...
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  • Posted by plusaf 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    But was he expecting a different result from turning left each 'new time' he got drunk?
    You KNOW that's one of the definitions of insanity, right? Or Liberalism, depending... :)
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  • Posted by plusaf 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I'm sorry (not really) but how the hell can scores go up over a hundred years (or any period of time) when the tests aren't the same as they were?!

    Can ANYBODY see the Possibility that the questions have become easier?! Or examined Any Reasons why something like that could or would happen in Real Life?

    Critical Thinking is Dead.
    Hellllloooooooo?
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  • Posted by plusaf 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Tell that to Al Gore and the IPCC... :) and their 'settled science.'

    Interpreting data was one of the best skills I honed in Engineering School. So few people today have any capacity for it. Makes me sick.
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  • Posted by plusaf 9 years, 11 months ago
    Are people getting 'smarter' (higher IQ's) or are we just expecting them to spit back more facts because More Information Is Available now than whenever back in time???

    Lower Intelligence people are more likely to Darwin themselves out of the gene pool because of Accidents?!

    Hell, in the major countries, most risks and dangers have been legislated or engineered out of existence! OSHA and Auto Safety Features being two good measures of that...

    So, on average, we're being 'protected' down to dumbness is as likely as any claim that something is driving us to become 'smarter.'

    I think there are definitions and measurements that are completely lacking in articles like those... which, for me, is yet another indication that 'we're' NOT getting 'smarter.'

    ps... "Galt."
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  • Posted by $ jdg 9 years, 11 months ago
    (Aside: I avoid the term IQ because it is discredited. IQ started out as "mental age / chronological age" and was part of a theory that said everyone's mind develops in the same way, but at different speeds. That theory was published in the 19-teens and was kaput in about six months.)

    There is nothing magic about intelligence that makes humans immune to evolution, but there are certainly lots of ways humans can modify our environment that will result in humans evolving in ways we might not expect or might not want.

    Right now 30% of all US births are to welfare mothers with no father in the home. They breed because we are paying them to breed, and most of the resulting children have no prospects in life other than to stay on welfare like their mothers. If this situation were to continue for enough centuries, we could very well breed enough Marching Morons to destroy civilization. It seems to me that the rise of Obama shows we are well down this path already.
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  • Posted by Ibecame 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    In the realm of "Strange but True" the people that recommended it to us had severe Socialist leanings. Good example of what could happen with declining IQ's in the Gene pool.
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  • Posted by $ Thoritsu 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Indeed. The anti-socialism of this movie is lost on most.

    "Breed more of you, so I can control more of the world" is another thinly veiled message.
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  • Posted by Ibecame 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Every time you hear a persons score quoted they don't adjust it for the change in time. However, from every thing I have read, the score number indicates that old scores should be re-factored into the curve. I think the math is to much for the PHD's that would have to calculate it, so they just ignore it. (If you are a PHD and take offense I will apologize now rather than later).
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  • Posted by Ibecame 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    If you buy a computer that is twice as fast with twice the memory and then load the old decrepit software and then don't protect it with a firewall/virus protection, it will act like people do today. Garbage in, irrational behavior out.
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  • Posted by Ibecame 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Now there is a good point. When I worked in Engineering the first thing to ask for was the "Raw Data" to make sure someone wasn't smoothing it out a little to much. Its one thin to take the "Flys" out of your data, but another thing entirely to give it a full massage.
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  • Posted by Ibecame 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I'm "Not Sure" about that movie. Isn't "Not Sure" the name of Dagney's Guard at the end of the movie? All humor aside we do like that movie, lets hope it is not profetic.
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  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 9 years, 11 months ago
    Had this study not been world wide and conducted outside the USA I would have looked at the results long and hard. I accept your survival of the fittest explanation except perhaps if it was used to explain people who rail against war then vote the same warmongers back in office - without realizing the danger of the dreaded draft lurking ready to go in the background. the main difference between us and them with possible cross over areas is we gave up instinct for reason. Baby crying in the crib needing it's diaper changed was complaining about discomfort. Gets smacked for making too much noise baby learns to not grin and bear it. It also learns the meaning of revenge for later use.

    I send you back to Heinlein's comment on society treating it's dogs better than it's children.

    Treat moochers better than producers it isn't instinct that decreases production but it certainly is a measure of IQ

    except on voting day then one has to wonder

    Who is John Galt. He's the reality of fiction hero that saved my life by giving me a reason to exist.
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  • Posted by blackswan 9 years, 11 months ago
    Given that there are now an abundance of perverse incentives to do the wrong things, you can't automatically assume that IQ is going to increase, unless it's a biological process independent of behavior or selection. There are not enough bodies in the street to see "accidents" as a significant factor. In fact, it looks like technology is helping to improve intelligence by automating the mundane aspects of data manipulation, especially for those who understand the basics.
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  • Posted by Technocracy 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Not discriminating enough or else the accident rate would be far higher.

    There is a broader test in use now...your local ER...everyone that winds up there for other than disease/heart attack/stroke.
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  • Posted by $ jlc 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Granted, but if the above factors are correct, the 'background' IQ of the general people may be a lot higher than we thought it was.

    We still need the super bright folk to move us ahead. They may come from India for the next few generations.

    Jan
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  • Posted by vido 9 years, 11 months ago
    So, she's the one to blame for Apollo 11's bug-ridden onboard computer, then. Interesting...
    Glad Neil Armstrong took manual control or the landing would have never been possible.
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  • Posted by Ben_C 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Smart people beget smart offspring. My understanding is that IQ is 80% genetic and 20% environmental. And life is a bell shaped curve. Yes, occasionally the stars align and some not so bright people have a really smart child and vice versa. For me its not so much about genetics is that it is about social structure. As the family unit slowly succumbs to liberal policies we will become a more dependent society and the producers will really get tired of feeding the moochers. The REALLY smart people will isolate themselves from government tyranny and have a decent life. The rest will be caught in the quagmire of The Capital's politics. Hunger Games comes to mind.
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