Human intelligence is declining according to Stanford geneticist

Re:Human intelligence is declining according to Stanford gen... by kqr2 on Monday February 18, 2013 @09:36PM (#5242270)

This is in contrast to the Flynn effect:

  The Flynn effect is the substantial and long-sustained 
  increase in intelligence test scores measured in many 
  parts of the world from roughly 1930 to the present day

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

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Re:Human intelligence is declining according to Stanford gen... by will_work4tears on Monday February 18, 2013 @10:52PM (#5242493)

Hmm, so as we adapt and excel at our new surroundings we lose skills that are no longer necessary?

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Re:Human intelligence is declining according to Stanford gen... by a_bonobo on Monday February 18, 2013 @11:21PM (#5242584)

I know it sounds logical, but it's not proven that we loose things that are not needed. You might _randomly_ loose features, but you'll also randomly acquire features. Especially intelligence is such a complicated trait, influenced by so many factors, that randomly loosing intelligence would be based on the random loss of a lot of factors, which is in my opinion highly unlikely.

Just look at all the vestigial crap we still carry around [1]: appendix, tailbone, wisdom teeth, inside corner of the eye, etc. We don't use these yet we don't loose them. And loosing these is propably much, much easier than intelligence, because the development of things like the appendix is controlled by much fewer factors than intelligence.

[1] Which might still have a purpose that we don't know yet, for example the appendix might be important in immune response: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=what-is-th...

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