The IQ Effect

#Science #Human #IQ

Recent studies have shown that humankind's intellectual abilities are improving, with IQ scores increasing by an average of three points per decade. This has led scientists to believe that we are becoming increasingly smarter over time. However, this raises questions about the intellectual abilities of our ancestors, who accomplished remarkable feats in art, architecture, and mathematics despite presumably having lower IQs than modern humans.

Calculating backward and reducing IQ scores by three points per decade would suggest that ancient Greek and Roman intellectuals would have had significantly lower IQs than modern humans, which seems unlikely given their impressive achievements. Furthermore, recent research comparing modern human DNA to that of our Stone Age ancestors indicates that we have only evolved 2% genetically. This is only a 1% difference from our closest evolutionary relatives, chimpanzees, indicating that while we may be becoming smarter, we are not necessarily evolving in ways that lead to higher intelligence.

While it is true that our intellectual abilities appear to be increasing, it is uncertain whether this is leading to meaningful progress or simply making us more similar to other primates.