Julf wrote: > The Flynn effect? Unfortunately it seems to have reversed in the 1980's, > and average IQ has actually gone down since. This could partially be > explained by the fact that natural selection isn't working any more (or > doesn't select for intelligence) in a society where we aren't constantly > fighting to survive (and every time I turn on the TV, I somehow think > there might be something to it).
Great stuff guys! I really like the turnaround in discussion to the "big picture" of science, belief, theory of knowledge, and epistemics. Yeah, the Flynn Effect is interesting. I remember talking to the neuropsychologist about this a number of years ago and as a result have kept my eyes open on this topic over the years. My worry/concern is that this is unfortunately correlated with the educational system in developed countries. I'm shocked at the little amount of focus paid to math and science in the school curriculum these days... (I have kids in elementary school so seeing the public school expectations first hand.) Indeed, parts of the -developed -world has demonstrated reversal of the Flynn effect 'like Norway by the 2000's' (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160289604000522). But there does also appear to be evidence that the developing parts of the world has 'maintained the Flynn effect like China' (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3834612/) where economic reforms have obviously bought the country "on-line" in numerous ways from the 1980's to 2010's. That paper speaks about similar effects in other nations like S. Korea, Taiwan, S. African Indians... I suspect one would find similar gains in places like India. It's also interesting that this effect at least in China seems to be primarily gains in Performance IQ rather than Verbal subtests (of WISC). Certainly adds to the thoughts raised about improved higher intellectual cognitive functioning like prefrontal executive tasks, working memory, processing speed rather than just an improvement in language acquisition. Certainly something to think about from a societal perspective and especially childhood education and development of intellect. Archimago's Musings: (archimago.blogspot.com) A 'more objective' audiophile blog. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Archimago's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2207 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=103842 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
