The human race is gradually becoming dumber.

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I think you are projecting, Prof.

research has shown that humans are getting ever so slightly smarter with each generation. the theory that humans are getting dumber has been debunked so many times its unbelievable. do you and you alone have some kind of new evidence to support your view?

Yes, your post ! !! !!

lol, i figured as much

Oh great, now my irony meter exploded.

(Excessive exclamation marks is a sure sign of insanity.)

I know excactly what you mean, OP. When I look at the world it seems that everyone is born with anencephali. The more knowledge we acquire (as a species) the less it seems that the public knows. A survey years ago showed that lots of people who were against genetically modified vegetables thought that the natural ones came without genes! Not too long ago a program on popular science stopped people on the street and asked them if they knew which star is the closest to Earth. The answers were the Moon, Venus, Jupiter, Sirius and Alpha Centauri. Not one knew the correct answer. There have been several such surveys. The general public is stupid, the knowledge is in general very poor. Sheesh, they can’t tell the difference between a virus and a bacteria. No one can know everything but it’s like they don’t even make an effort!

I don’t think they necessarily become more stupid – it’s the growing knowledge that a few people acquire that make the average joe seem stupid, I think.

I have noticed in lots of reminiscing TV shows that kids definitely seemed smarter some 2-3 decades ago. Their answers when interviewed back then seemed more reflective and serious. Nowadays kids on TV yap on ”uuhhhh…. Mmm…” et c with their finger up their nose. Okay that one might be more down to manners than intelligence.

I think what people agreeing to OP's claim are not really talking so much about intelligence as we do knowledge (or lack of such).

Genetically yes but very slowly culturally no but we were dumb by our own standards to start with.

The nation with highest average IQ is Japan.

Yet Japan produces all of those mothra type monster movies that make the Transformers Movie look like "Long Days Journey Into Medea".

So showbiz isnt much of a barometer of culture's intelligence.

Since I was a kid 2-3 decades ago (70's-80's, assuming you are willing to let "early 20's" count as kid) I am tickled pink to be in the group that appeared on film to be smarter. But I think it's actually a skew that doesn't reflect changing mentalities but rather changing quantities of film. These days, it seems that literally everyone is on film at some point (given Big Brother cameras in the U.K., everyone is). Reality TV showcases people at their worst and uses dozens of hours of film to cherry pick the dumbest moments. Man-on-the-street interviews are far more common since there are now countless TV channels with 24-7-365 programming hours to fill. Back in the day 2-3 decades ago, me and others of similar age yapped mindlessly plenty of times and frequently couldn't think of anything more profound than "ummmm" or "uuhhhh" to say. But nobody was following us around with a camera either, cherry picking our dumbest utterances. Now there are I-don't-know-how-many shows that do nothing but follow people around with cameras until they do something stupid, outrageous or preferably both at the same time and loudly. We did that too but precious little of it is on film.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCjTeLBCkoE&feature=fvsr[/youtube]

The other day The Missus and I went to a movie. Sure enough there was an idiot with his cell phone who just had to take a call during the movie. Thankfully he got up and left, and then came back two minutes later.
It was obvious from his age that he was not a surgeon who was on-call.

Smarter, eh ??????????????????

I don't understand that last post. The movie guy was an incosiderate jerk, not an idiot.

He knew how to use a cell phone!

Go back 30 years and pick up a random group of people off the street. How many would be able to figure out how to use a cell phone? Nowadays people can figure out a gizmo even if they've never seen it before.

Now go back in time 300 years and show them a cell? Yup they'd call you a witch and burn you at the stake.

I still maintain that the human race isn't getting dumber. But there's an ever growing gap between the very smart and the very stupid.

QFT

"I'd buy that for a quarter!" - The Marching Morons...

This presupposes that people of lesser intelligence could not breed children of greater intelligence, but ask any teenager if they're smarter than their parents...

All right then, I'll haul out the big guns....

Read any diary entry of letter from any soldier in the US Civil War. Go ahead and check this out ! !! !!
These soldiers were, more often than not, 18 years old or thereabouts. But the level of English and grammar used are fantastic.
Now read anything written by even the best of students that age and it's pathetic ! !! !! !!

Before you say it ! !! !
The ability to express oneself in one's native language is an accurate gauge of intelligence.
Any monkey can operate a cell phone.

Gift,
It would be interesting to see the original text of where you got this Transformers/Citizen Kane comparison. Possibly the author was not being literal, or he/she could have been using an extreme example to over-emphasis his/her point. He/she may even have been using irony to point out the opposite. Please don't take offense, but it is well-known that aspies sometimes do take what they hear and read at face value, and some do have trouble sorting out things like irony, sarcasm and over-emphasis. Could that be a possibility here? If you post the actual text, we could all see what you're referring to and maybe we can help restore some of your faith in the human race if there's some other way to interpret it.

Just trying to help,
Feyhera