We’re dumber – and that smarts
ACCORDING to the latest Norwegian study humans are getting dumber.
The reverse of the Flynn effect has been reported in both Europe and America.
Sci- fi novels and screenplays have long predicted a dystopian society where human intelligence had devolved. Ape and Essence and Planet of the Apes were separated by more than half a century.
The cult comedy Idiocracy after a decade has become a social realism documentary rather than a futuristic fantasy.
There are several possible explanations for the apparent neurological decline. Intelligence tests have always been very heavily socioculturally based.
Even the so- called CultureFair IQ test has not proved particularly accurate.
The post- WWII American military recruits failed to cope with IQ questions about The Old Testament.
The concept of symmetry is unfamiliar to certain indigenous groups.
A YouTube IQ test involved the relative latitude or longitude of American states and geographical features. ( I console myself I managed to scrape a pass in American history in preGoogle days without ever knowing the northern and southern states in the American Civil War.)
No IQ test has yet been designed to measure Howard Gardiner’s multiple intelligences promoted decades ago.
Idiot savants and synaesthesia sufferers are also off the radar. Edward de Bono of Six Thinking Hats fame, however, believes the asymmetric patterning system indicated by humour is the best indicator of intelligence.
The consensus is that the causes for the decline in intelligence is environmental rather than genetic. Both technology and dietary habits have been blamed. Smart phones have not made us smarter. Fast- food hasn’t made us think faster.
Video games, reality TV, fastpaced cartoons ( like SpongeBob) and Facebook haven’t helped. According to conflicting studies chewing gum both increases and decreases intelligence.
David Adam, author of The Genius Within, has been testing neuro- enhancing smart pills to see if he can qualify for Mensa.
It has been recently discovered that children in America who eat fish ( iodine or omega- 3?) have higher IQs. My mother, a great believer in “old wives tales”, served me up freshwater white- bream for breakfast the day of my scholarship exam. WILLIAM ROSS,
Cranbrook. THE Socceroos are out of the World Cup – and so they should be.
Watching the game in the lounge room with a nice cup of tea, how frustrating is it when three of the backs are playing their own private game passing the ball back and forth?
Surely someone could have told them that the opponent’s goal is at the other end and that’s where the ball should be. While they are mucking around the opposition have a nice little rest and also have time to regroup. They should also know that attack is the best form of defence.
The best player is brought on with most of the game over and had no time to settle in. Why? Opponents of football ( soccer) claim that it is boring to watch and at times that is true.
In my opinion, for what it’s worth, cut out what I have mentioned above, ban players passing back to the goalkeeper, and get rid of the offside rule or give a player 10 minutes in the sin bin if caught offside. All three suggestions would speed up the game make it more exciting and get more fans interested in the biggest game in the world.
In the meantime we will be watching the Cowboys and hope they have read my letter last week and change their game. What harm can it do?
All the best to all the players, we will be cheering for you. And you will win by six on Sunday against the Rabbits. M WARREN,
Townsville.