Are We Getting Dumber?

Recent studies are discovering that each generation is becoming increasingly stupid. A study from Iceland has highlighted a downward spiral in human intelligence. The genetics firm in Reykjavik found that groups of genes that predispose people to spend more years in education became a little rarer in the country from 1910 to 1975. The sample size was more than 100,000 Icelanders. They found a slight decline over the 65-year period.

There may be another explanation for this trend. The more affluent a society becomes, several factors unleash. The birthrate declines sharply, for as people become wealthier, women prefer not to have children. The poorest cultures have the greatest number of births because children take care of their parents. In our new age of socialism, government has replaced the family unit. Ask a girl under thirty in the United States if she wants to have children today and you are likely to get the answer, “No.” According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey, in 2014, 47.6% of women between age 15 and 44 had never had children, up from 46.5% in 2012. The more affluent a society becomes, the lower the birthrate.

The next side effect is intelligence. As a society becomes more affluent, the need to do many tasks vanish. We lose skill sets whereas most people in less affluent countries would starve to death if the food supply suddenly came to a halt. Most people would not know how to fend for themselves, no less hunt. The wealthier a society becomes, the more we are relieved of basic skills. The less we do with our hands, the less coordination we develop, and intelligence diminishes which contributes to the fall of empires, nations, and city-states.