mg
2018-03-09 22:33:33 UTC
Is it because one doesn't need to be as smart to survive now days? Is
it because of Global Warming? Is it because we have become an
idiocracy?
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"If Modern Humans Are So Smart, Why Are Our Brains Shrinking?
By Kathleen McAuliffe | Thursday, January 20, 2011
. . . DUMBING DOWN
In search of a global explanation for our cranial downsizing, some
scientists have pointed to a warming trend in the earths climate that
also began 20,000 years ago. Since bulky bodies are better at
conserving heat, larger frames may have fared better in the colder
climate. As the planet warmed, selection might have favored people of
slighter stature. So, the argument goes, skeletons and skulls shrank
as the temperature roseand the brain got smaller in the process.
Stringer thinks there is something to that idea, but he doubts it is
the whole explanation. As he points out, comparable warming periods
occurred many times over the previous 2 million years, yet body and
brain size regularly increased. . . .
Which brings us to an unpleasant possibility. You may not want to
hear this, says cognitive scientist David Geary of the University of
Missouri, but I think the best explanation for the decline in our
brain size is the idiocracy theory. Geary is referring to the
eponymous 2006 film by Mike Judge about an ordinary guy who becomes
involved in a hibernation experiment at the dawn of the 21st century.
When he wakes up 500 years later, he is easily the smartest person on
the dumbed-down planet. I think something a little bit like that
happened to us, Geary says. In other words, idiocracy is where we are
now.
http://discovermagazine.com/2010/sep/25-modern-humans-smart-why-brain-shrinking
--------------------------------
Never underestimate the power of
stupid people in large groups.
it because of Global Warming? Is it because we have become an
idiocracy?
---------------
"If Modern Humans Are So Smart, Why Are Our Brains Shrinking?
By Kathleen McAuliffe | Thursday, January 20, 2011
. . . DUMBING DOWN
In search of a global explanation for our cranial downsizing, some
scientists have pointed to a warming trend in the earths climate that
also began 20,000 years ago. Since bulky bodies are better at
conserving heat, larger frames may have fared better in the colder
climate. As the planet warmed, selection might have favored people of
slighter stature. So, the argument goes, skeletons and skulls shrank
as the temperature roseand the brain got smaller in the process.
Stringer thinks there is something to that idea, but he doubts it is
the whole explanation. As he points out, comparable warming periods
occurred many times over the previous 2 million years, yet body and
brain size regularly increased. . . .
Which brings us to an unpleasant possibility. You may not want to
hear this, says cognitive scientist David Geary of the University of
Missouri, but I think the best explanation for the decline in our
brain size is the idiocracy theory. Geary is referring to the
eponymous 2006 film by Mike Judge about an ordinary guy who becomes
involved in a hibernation experiment at the dawn of the 21st century.
When he wakes up 500 years later, he is easily the smartest person on
the dumbed-down planet. I think something a little bit like that
happened to us, Geary says. In other words, idiocracy is where we are
now.
http://discovermagazine.com/2010/sep/25-modern-humans-smart-why-brain-shrinking
--------------------------------
Never underestimate the power of
stupid people in large groups.