> I wouldn’t say they are smarter.

Nutrition is better than centuries ago. People are stronger. They live longer. All around on that time scale, tech has improved human lives. One would expect that to be reflected in brain health, too.

No one can agree about what "intelligence" actually means. Using synonyms for intelligence but claiming they mean something subtly different (e.g. "wise") is part of that phenomenon.

But there is the Flynn Effect.

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