I heard a joke: the population is growing, and the mind is a permanent value? Well, this is complete nonsense. The population grows and cleares. Wonders. We do not notice it, because we will be clever with all the others. PICS.RU will tell how scientists came to such unnatural conclusion.
Tests that measure the IQ indicator (intelligence coefficient) began to apply at the beginning of the 20th century. It is clear that since the scholars have accumulated a decent database. And so, one of them, James Flynn, noticed that the American test edit is regularly edited. Initially, the result is 100 points (plus-minus 15), for simplicity, meant that you have an average intelligence. From time to time, developers took the middle sample in the country, measured in experimental IQ and re-assigned the average result of 100 points, whatever he actually was. And he turned out to be above one hundred.What is happening? Suppose (we, of course, do not think so) that you are a middle mind woman. If you go through the fresh IQ test, you will get honest but modest weave. But if you take the time of your grandmother's time, we will find a real clever!
This means that the intellectual abilities of people all this time grew. Although this phenomenon was called in honor of Flynna, he is not the only scientist who put forward such a hypothesis. A lot of work has been done: more than 200 thousand people were investigated, segments in 64 years and tested data from 48 countries. It turned out, people will be cleaned not only in the United States, but also in Scotland, Spain, Kenya and many where else. And all the categories of the population will be clever, both adults and children, women, and men will be clever.
New Pluttones with Nevtons
Of course, scientists would not be scientists if they were not suspected in this news some trick. Well, everything will be clever, and something new renaissance is not noticeable. Where are our Leonardo, who are our Essteins?
James Flynn himself suggests that we do not cry so much as we adapt to new conditions. If you ask a modern person, what is common between the rabbit and the dog, he will most likely say that they are both mammals. This is an answer from the field of abstract knowledge, he speaks of the ability to think categories and that the experimental, probably, will be taken to work in a modern company. If we asked this question to a person who had a hundred years ago, he could answer that rabbits are comfortable to catch with a well-trained dog. The answer is also not stupid, in general, but concrete and practical, meaning that the hero will cope with life on a farm or in the forest.
Life has changed, the requirements for intelligence have changed. In 1900, only 3% of Americans were occupied on the work in the field of mental labor. Today their share is 35%. Changed and much more. Families are becoming smaller, and children begin to hear adult conversations earlier. Study at school stretches longer. Visual incentives (and many tasks in IQ tests require image analysis) have become much stronger (Internet!) We eat better than a hundred and fifty years ago. We spend less spending for the fight against infectious diseases. Sin can not be wiser. But the evolution of scientists do not suspect. For this slow power, progress is too high.
There is a limit of perfection
Today, Flynn's effect brighter is manifested in developing countries with improving economies and other indicators, and among children of immigrants, and in developed it gradually goes to the decline. This confirms the theory of environmental influence. It became better for the food / Wednesday - the brain of Razdat. But the scandinavam is nowhere to continue to improve their situation, they just suspended. Perhaps there is even some kind of intellectual limit in all mankind. By the way, they noticed scientists that a group of people with lower indicators would take particularly sharply. That is, this number of "fools" is reduced, and the geniuses do not become particularly more.
Perhaps the new breakthrough will happen if today's clever people will be able to significantly change the world and put all of us before new tasks. For example, we will go into virtual reality or colonizing Mars and our brains will be shuffled in a new way.
In the meantime, we propose to be glad what we clever. By the way, there is a version that such categories are as justice, humanism, equality can be carried out only with developed logic and abstract thinking. Here we just didn't have enough.