Verifiable Scientific Proof: The Masses are "STUPIDER" Than Ever Before - (http://www.dcclothesline.com/2014/08/25/verifiable-scientific-proof-masses-stupider-ever/)


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Verifiable Scientific Proof: The Masses are “STUPIDER” Than Ever Before

Are people dumber than they used to be? Were previous generations mentally sharper than us? You may have suspected that people are getting stupider (http://www.dcclothesline.com/2014/04/30/scientists-discover-proof-humanity-getting-dumber-smaller-weaker/) for quite some time, but now we actually have scientific evidence (http://www.dcclothesline.com/2014/04/30/scientists-discover-proof-humanity-getting-dumber-smaller-weaker/) that this is the case. As you will read about below, average IQs are dropping all over the globe, SAT scores in the U.S. have been declining for decades, and scientists have even discovered that our brains have been getting smaller over time. So if it seems on some days like you woke up in the middle of the movie “Idiocracy”, you might not be too far off. Much of the stuff that they put in our junk food is not good for brain development, our education system is a total joke and most Americans are absolutely addicted to mindless entertainment. Fortunately we have a lot of technology that does much of our thinking for us these days, because if we had to depend on our own mental capabilities most of us would be in a tremendous amount of trouble.Sadly, this appears to be a phenomenon that is happening all over the planet. As a recent Daily Mail article explained (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2730791/Are-STUPID-Britons-people-IQ-decline.html), IQ scores are falling in country after country…
Richard Lynn, a psychologist at the University of Ulster, calculated the decline in humans' genetic potential.
He used data on average IQs around the world in 1950 and 2000 to discover that our collective intelligence has dropped by one IQ point.
Dr Lynn predicts that if this trend continues, we could lose another 1.3 IQ points by 2050.

One IQ point does not sound like a lot, but when you go back even further in time the declines become a lot more dramatic. For example, a psychology professor at the University of Amsterdam named Jan te Nijenhuis has calculated that we have lost a total of 14 IQ points on average (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2730791/Are-STUPID-Britons-people-IQ-decline.html) since the Victorian Era.



... read the link at the top... its a rather long article that gives a lot of food for thought.

You are of course talking about averages, what I think you are seeing is the measurment of a wider range of people and of course among those populations are the uneducated, but then I also think that recent events in various places which show people rioting are a sign of a low intelligent emotional response so we enter the age of the zombie, not the undead but the brain dead

Well I think you have definite proof of idiocy in the solution in Gaza, thousands of palestinian casualities and what have they got, a slightly relaxed fishing limit and back to the status quo, and what have they lost? Well a lot of real estate, 500,000 displaced and the lives of many shattered and their rockets killed an Israeli child. Making war on children gets you no marks, and they think this is victory. pure idiocy!

I think calling the creatures infesting Gaza idiots would be heaping high praise upon their mental accuity. What they do now is just barely one step above eating their own young.

Yup, idiocracy in action:
Girl (9) accidentally shoots dead gun instructor in US (http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/girl-9-accidentally-shoots-dead-gun-instructor-in-us-1.1909440)

Well we know US gun laws are idiocy but why do they set out to prove it so often?

Disarming the population isn't idiocity... thats the purest definition of tyranny.. and the first step every tyranical government in history has ever made. An unarmed population is unable to resist a tyranical government or any petty criminal.

I've heard that before and it's right wing B/S. I wonder why you fear government tyranny so much, do you live in a tyranny or a democracy. I don't think you actually believe the rhetoric you spout

It is so true that people are getting stupider. Just look at TLC, A&E and the History Channel. They used to have great programs about science and nature but now they just have reality show garbage. Also look at the number of anti-vaxxers, open-carry nuts, religious people, creationists, coal-rollers, climate change deniers. It is sad.

And it is all because people are better informed and can demonstrate they know less and less about more and more, however, Earl, the list you provide isn't proof of people being dumber just more vocal about their opinions, however ill conceived. Perhaps it is that the dumber you are the more vocal you are, sort of like the rage thing born out of frustration. We saw a lot of dumb people recently in Ferguson

Mostly cops and elected officials.

I've heard that before and it's right wing B/S. I wonder why you fear government tyranny so much, do you live in a tyranny or a democracy. I don't think you actually believe the rhetoric you spoutWe have a long history of having reasons to distrust tyranical governments... and not just our own. And it started with the Opressive British Monarchy, but not just that one...but all the rest in Europe at the time too.

We have a long history of having reasons to distrust tyranical governments... and not just our own. And it started with the Opressive British Monarchy, but not just that one...but all the rest in Europe at the time too.

Smoothy, that was two hundred years ago and you weren't the only ones to suffer, but the rest of us have moved on and are no longer paranoid regarding the British invasion. Mind you the Scots may have a concern. I think the only tyrannical government we need to keep an eye on is Russia, most of the rest of the world seems to think making money tops using it to buy weapons, and a few thousand towel heads and camel drivers in Iraq don't really change that view
Either..

THen look at more contemporary examples. Pol Pot, Stalin, Hittler, Mussolini, Chavez, Putin... etc... etc..

THen look at more contemporary examples. Pol Pot, Stalin, Hittler, Mussolini, Chavez, Putin... etc... etc..

Yes but none of them live where you do. The last time your country had a military incursion was a long time ago, most incursions were of your troops on someoneelse's soil, so if anyone should be paranoid it is not the americans. I do think you have a lot to fear from your own population but they demonstrate ably that they don't need guns to run amouc. You see where paranoia gets you, Putin the other day talking about what the EU has taken away from Russia
And Russia has been invaded many times so thus the paranoia, they still have what Europe wants, energy, but not the nouce to be commercial about it.

Castro is, really, really Close... then you have the long list of Corrupt leaders in Mexico which IS actively undermining our government and way of life by basically allowing drug cartels to operationa dn flooding us with tens of millions of illegal aliens. A problem you don't have since you have no natural borders with anyone that doesn't require a boat or airplane to violate.

We seem to have solved the problem of illegal entry at least by boat. Don't think water is a barrier they even undertake voyages from India. Yes you have a problem because your borders are pourous, but few of those people are dangerous and need to be repelled with weapons. People smuggling is big business all over the world and the displaced persons who come here can be a problem but we don't need to arm the population to suppress it.

You see smoothy there is a difference in psychology between your people and mine, our reflex is not to reach for a gun, and yet in military matters we more than hold our own and are not slow to respond. You speak of Castro, I doubt your nation is afraid of Castro. There was that stupidity years ago ,but he was a pawn of the Russians

Our Constitution isn't written in pencil. That can be erased or rewritten by some rouge politition with a Napoleon complex.

by some rouge polititiona red what?

Red also synonymous with Communist.

And republicans who don't have a clue about the constitution, or history, or anything else but their own skewed idea of reality.

What republicans have called for denying anyone their constitutional rights as SPECIFICALLY enumerated in the bill of rights ? We can name a lot of Democrats.

All the repubs call for separate but unequal application of the laws under the constitution.

That's a Democrat Platform.. not republican. As evidenced by the current IRS Investigation as only one example of many. The Current Form Gov McDonnel trial is another.....when obamas quid pro quo with Solyndra is completely ignored .

Same hollering over, and over, and its still just NOISE! That seems to be the repub platform.

Hate it when DNC propaganda is disproven by cold hard facts?

Hollering is not a fact it's NOISE. Repeated hollering from the RNC isn't a fact either, its annoying noise. A cold hard fact is that you guys are noisey, but have produced NOTHING else but NOISE.

A cold hard fact is national rejection of your noise. You actually have to produce something besides noise, old noise at that.

Tal, you are starting to sound like NK when he's caught... repeating the same things.

If you can do it, so can anyone else.

by cold hard facts?Where are these facts?

It's a fact there are no facts just rhetoric

Based on the previous 30 responses I think we have good proof that the species is getting dumber. To get back to the subject of this post, which believe it or not is not about gun rights, Castro, or US invasions....

From the theory of evolution we know that traits that lead to higher procreation and ultimately a greater number of children who themselves grow up to have children are the traits that are more likely to spread throughout the population. In olden days when having high intelligence meant being more likely to succeed in hunting and avoid starvation or being eaten by a saber tooth tiger, to survive long enough grow up and have children, it seems logical that the species gained in intelligence over time. But with advances in technology and medicine the probability of a person having children is less a factor of IQ than before. Therefore the average IQ of the species would be expected to decline over time - statistically it's called "regression to the mean." So while I am skeptical that one could determine the IQ of people who weren't even alive when the IQ test was first invented, the theory seems plausible.

On the other hand this article, like many of its ilk, confuses intelligence with knowledge. Knowing such trivia as how many amendments have been made to the US constitution doesn't make you more intelligent. Being able to take facts and reach conclusions about what is going on around you is what intelligence is about.

So your theory is intelligence is about what you are taught, critical thinking is something that can be taught rather than repitition of facts

Actually there are many theories out there. Im going to present yet another one that does has some basis in fact.

Health Risks

Fluoride ingestion has been associated with adverse health effects such as IQ deficits in children, depression, weight gain and heart disease. The "Journal of Applied Clinical Pediatrics" reports that "high fluoride intake has a damaging effect on intellectual ability," and human studies from China, India, Iran and Mexico found that elevated levels of fluoride in children resulted in reduced performance and impaired development of intelligence. The U.S. National Research Council has also found that fluoride affects normal endocrine function, which may contribute to hypothyroidism, or reduced activity of the thyroid gland. Hypothyroidism can lead to fatigue, depression, weight gain, hair loss, muscle pains and heart disease.

Ref:

http://www.livestrong.com/article/133760-side-effects-fluoride/

Oh Please, I expect you will tell us next innocculations impairs intellectual ability. I will conceed that the survival of the less viable individuals, those more susceptiable to disease means a general lowering of healthy individuals and the survival of some with intellectual disabilities, which may lower observed averages, but the survival of those with higher intellectual abilities over recent centuries has led to a flowering of civilisation. If I read your expose' correctly flouridation is the reason for the explosion of obesity, when really it is due to greater availabily and security of the food supply. I think you should apply your skills to greater depth in your research

So I guess real science is out of the question when it doesnt seem to fit your framing of the question ?

Here is more evidence from the real world.

HUMAN STUDIES Cognitive Effects
Several studies from China have reported the effects of fluoride in drinking water on cognitive capacities (X. Li et al. 1995; Zhao et al. 1996; Lu et al. 2000; Xiang et al. 2003a,b). Among the studies, the one by Xiang et al. (2003a) had the strongest design. This study compared the intelligence of 512 children (ages 8-13) living in two villages with different fluoride concentrations in the water. The IQ test was administered in a double-blind manner.


Fluoride in Drinking Water: A Scientific Review of EPA's Standards (http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=11571&page=205)




Feel free to read about it yourself. But it appears to be a reputable study. And the results do not appear to be made up.

The article you provided doesn't allow any conculsions to be drawn.

I think you should look wider a field than China for scientific research most of the articles I've accessed are positive

There are still people who actually believe that Fluoride has health risks! Smarten up people, Jenny McCarthy is not a doctor.

I can tell you from personal experience that the absence of floride equals dental cavities. Excess taking of any substance has health risks