Cross-post from Facebook - Max - We're Peaking

We’re Peaking

I was thinking about the breaking down of the Flynn effect in most developed countries. The Flynn effect describes the rising average scores on intelligence tests over the last 100 years or so as seen in many parts of world. Yes, on average, each subsequent generation has been smarter than the prior generations (this, of course, does not mean individually we’re smarter than our parents). Idiocracy might be a funny movie but its basic premise is incorrect.

Depending on the country the IQ averages have peaked out or even dropped in recent times. There are all kinds of theories and ideas around this phenomenon (video games, immigration, millennial laziness, etc). I think maybe we’re approaching the natural limits on what our average intelligence can be in our current socio-economic set of societies. I wonder if there is much room for the average intelligence to increase with the current setups we have. Sure, there are variations in the average intelligence between nations but not very big ones – at least in the developed countries. Perhaps we’re running into the limits of our natural potential? Maybe we’re regressing toward our intelligence mean? It could simply be increased diminishing returns.

I feel like there are many parents who do a lot the research and put in a ton of effort to maximize the potential of their children. Are their kids proportionally smarter than kids raised without the extra attention, extracurricular activities, private schooling, etc? I realize “smarter” isn’t necessarily what these parents are after, more they’re trying to give their children all of the possible advantages to be successful in society. My point is that even with an ideal upbringing we’re still not raising proportionally more geniuses.

The reason I think about this apparent leveling off of human intelligence is I believe our advancement as a species will ultimately be limited by it. Much of our society is already run based on quantum theory of which only a small portion of the population can even correctly conceptualize let alone understand fully. I’m sure there will be many more amazing technological discoveries and wonders but eventually the party is going to end which is a bummer to contemplate.

I suppose if I was an Elon Musk who was able to pursue my fancies I’d choose to dump a lot of money into figuring out how to evolve people to increase our intelligence beyond our current natural limits. Not installing computer chips in our brains but genetic changes that would be passed down the generations naturally. That way if our current societies crumbled we’ll at least have the mental capabilities to be able to build it all back up and hopefully better than before.

Here are some interesting links to stuff I was reading when contemplating this stuff (if it isn’t clear I LOVE Wikipedia):
Flynn effect - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_effect
IQ - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence_quotient
Nations and intelligence -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nations_and_intelligence
Diminishing returns - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diminishing_returns
Regression toward the mean -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regression_toward_the_mean