<you must see the contradiction in your assertion that intelligence is increasing. Poor people, who are less intelligent, have more children, thus reducing the average intelligence.>
I used to believe that urban myth too, that the poor and stupid are way outbreeding the intelligent [in any particular country].
Decades ago, my mother and father thought that one too and I recall discussions about it from the 1960s or maybe it was the early 1970s.
In fact, check out the Flynn Effect, which shows that average intelligence is increasing everywhere and has been for a century. Google can give you the information about Flynn and his effect.
While I'm a sucker for a good, or any, theory, I always like my theories to work out in facts, in 3D reality.
Having seen that the facts don't match the theory that low intelligence people are outbreeding the smart I prefer to re-examine said theory. Maybe it's just the very smart, or those who think they are, such as university post docs, who are not breeding much. Maybe Mr and Mrs Average or slightly above average are pouring them out and Mr Can't Find a Woman and Well Below Average Anyway, is missing out. It doesn't take the few super dupers to breed to keep the supply of them going.
As you say, intelligence is an elusive concept. As is pornography, but we know it when we see it.
I'd like to see actual data showing this much heralded theory that the poor and stupid are outbreeding the smarter ones.
It's a bit like the dopey theory that air pollution from vehicles is killing 400 people a year in NZ. That's nonsense. If it's 2 a year I'd be surprised. And if it's killing 2 a year, it's probably only 2 years before their expected demise. Okay, that's a slight exaggeration in the opposite direction.
Maybe it's 100 person years lost per year of 4 million Kiwis.
There was far, far greater damage from decades of lead pollution, and average IQ depletion of about 0.25 in the baby boomers. Don't forget the extra 0.5 [I guess] IQ loss from lead paint and other lead sources. Maybe IQ isn't intelligence, but it correlates closely with income. Check out average incomes at different IQs to see the difference. Google probably has that information, being highly intelligent.
Mqurice |
