November 14, 2012 8:19 am
Are Humans Getting Intellectually And Emotionally Stupid?
Photo: twm1340
Human beings rule the animal kingdom when it comes to intelligence and emotional complexity, but our top-dog position might not be as stable as we think, at least when compared to our ancestors. Some researchers postulate that we may be regressing evolutionarily to a more, well, dumb state. Their argument: Our intellectual and emotional capabilities may be slipping away. The intricate web of genes that endow us with our brain power is particularly susceptible to mutations, and at the same time, our Snookie and Real Housewives-ridden society isn’t selecting against those deleterious changes.
It’s not easy being smart, the researchers point out in a statement. In order for us to maintain our brains, we need optimal functioning of thousands of genes. Back in the day, our hunter-gather ancestors required intelligence for their ability to outwit potentially dangerous prey and survive in harsh environments, which exerted a selective pressure on the genes required for intellectual development. At this point, the researchers postulate, human intelligence probably peaked.
From there, it was a slippery slope. Agriculture led to urbanization, so the evolutionary drive that weeded out mutations tied to intellectual disabilities likely lessened as life challenges softened and the margins of survival widened. Around 2,000 to 5,000 genes are required for intellectual ability, the researchers think, and over the past 3,000 years—about 120 generations—statistics say we’ve probably all sustained two or more mutations that dragged down our intellectual bar.
But the future will probably come to the rescue, the researchers think. Our intelligence loss is quite slow compared to society’s rapid advances, so not-too-distant technologies should eventually reveal each of the millions of human mutations that can compromise intellectual functions. ”At that time, we may be able to magically correct any mutation that has occurred in all cells of any organism at any developmental stage,” the researchers speculate. “Thus, the brutish process of natural selection will be unnecessary.”
In the meantime, we should probably get busy putting our remaining intelligence quotas to use in order to devise those smarts-saving technologies.
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I am not sure who these “Scientists” are to claim our intellectual doom, but they are not evolutionary biologists. The reason for our gene selection for our high intellect does not come from our need to “outwit potentially dangerous prey”. We could do that with our much smaller brain about a million years ago. We have big brains for much the same reason that peacock’s tale keeps getting larger: It is an attractive quality to the other sex. We are stuck an infinite loop of nature referred to as the “Red Queen” (See book of the same name from Matt Ridley). What this means is that, we are getting smarter because the opposite sex will find smarter people more attractive, not to outwit nature. We’ve regressed a bit in the past five thousand years partly due to the social chaos that our move away from our hunter gatherer societies brought about. But again, our life-span also got shorter. Today, our lifestyle is much more like how it was 10,000 years ago than anytime in between and we are bound to select smarter genes as our society permits our natural behavior. I could go on, but in short, this article is sensational but without merit.
Comment by Armin — November 14, 2012 @ 9:31 am
Of course, just look at the results of the U.S. election
Comment by Ron Bockman — November 14, 2012 @ 9:46 am
Magnesium Deficiency
Comment by Stephen — November 14, 2012 @ 9:56 am
I don’t get it.
Comment by Supreme Ruler — November 14, 2012 @ 10:20 am
Itelligence is not the problem, it is a lack of compassion and spirituality.
Comment by sfobear — November 14, 2012 @ 10:35 am
Overall the IQ may be falling, but modern society has allowed the intelligent among us to develop and innovate better than ever before. The greatest advances in science and communication are in the modern era, so if anything, the gap between smart and stupid is growing.
Comment by Realist — November 14, 2012 @ 11:02 am
As humans become more dependent on others, they become lazy. As more and more Americans are dependent on the government for their daily survival, more and more Americans will lack the skills to make it on their own, because they simply don’t have the need to. They will be taken care of, their offspring will be taken care, of, and as their population increases they will have the power to vote more benefits to themselves, without contributing to them.
Comment by snewsom2997 — November 14, 2012 @ 12:11 pm
Armin – What if it’s not ‘smart’ to have children? What if the more intelligent humans don’t find themselves in the appropriate place to reproduce and the dumb ones continue to do so without regard? Would society not get dumber?
I agree though, this article is entertaining, but sensational.
Comment by Lucky — November 14, 2012 @ 12:59 pm
The writer should check English grammar rules about commas, colons, semi-colons, and en and em dashes before writing about intelligence again.
Comment by ProperEnglishPlease — November 14, 2012 @ 4:12 pm
@ProperEnglishPlease: Based on a quick review, the article’s grammar looks fine to me. Would you care to elucidate?
Comment by Alf — November 14, 2012 @ 9:07 pm
Describing natural selection as a “brutal process” goes beyond extremism. Natural selection never killed or brutalized anyone. Natural selection is an idea–an idea that explains how species could have evolved over time. The most successful organisms were more likely to survive to bear young–young that were in turn more likely to survive. No one took the “less fit” out and executed them. Modern society seems to intervene in the process of natural selection–at least logic would have it so–but we have no actual proof of this. Who is more likely to survive now? The healthy? People who don’t smoke, who don’t eat fatty foods, who exercise? Or the wealthy? People who put their all into financial success, regardless of the consequences?
Natural selection is not something that nature “does”. It’s something that happens. When humans decide to make “selections” as to who should survive, then you would have a “brutal process”.
Comment by Eileen Burke — November 16, 2012 @ 8:44 pm
Snewsome- right on the money!
Comment by Scott — November 18, 2012 @ 2:22 pm
Depending on the goverment takes work and effort. It takes a rocket scientist to navigate our paradoxical and overly Beurocratic political and social system. If one chooses to “leach” off goverment handouts, they’re still putting effort into aquiring those handouts.
Comment by jackie — December 16, 2012 @ 4:02 pm