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Old 08-29-2007, 04:17 PM
UpstateMatt UpstateMatt is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: raising 6th street
Posts: 119
Default Re: the process of de-evolution has begun

It seems to me that OP is correct in the instant, but missing the big picture. Sure, the proporition of the population that has "high genetic IQs" is shrinking. This has been going on for at least 1000 years, since high IQ Europeans were disproportionaly sent into the priesthood or otherwise took professions that correlated with fewere offspring. It's not anything new.

However, at least three factors mitigate this:

1)The overall number of "high genetic IQ" people is almost certainly rising. There's no reason to believe that the replacment rate of intelligent people has dipped negative.

2)The non-genetic portion of intelligence, as well as most things grouped with intelligence - such as knowledge, reasoning, data - are expanded incredibly rapidly for all classes of society. The average middle class person now is probably more functionally smart than the average elite of the 18th century.

3)Natural selection stopped improving humans thousands of years ago. Both technology and civilization have guaranteed that people who otherwise wouldn't surive childhood - for instance, those with genetically poor eyesight - now can both survive and thrive. But that's beside the point. Neither natural selection or technology-adjusted natural selection give a damn about intelligence, except to the degree it is advantageous for survival. Currently, it's not.


matt
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