1. Joined
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    34587
    22 Jul '16 10:07
    "For many decades now we’ve been getting smarter. All across the planet average IQ results have been rising… by about 3 points every ten years. It’s called the Flynn Effect and it’s changing our societies. So what is it? What causes it? And what could be the consequences if — as seems possible — it goes into reverse."

    podcast - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p040s49b

    Some of us have been helping our collective average IQ here at RHP go up by about 3 points over the last 10 years.

    Some of us have presumably been standing still, intelligence-wise.

    And some of us have been helping to restrict it to merely a 3 point increase when, together, we might well have gone up 4, 5 or 6 points or more.

    Who is who?
  2. rural North Dakota
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    22 Jul '16 10:21
    Originally posted by FMF
    "For many decades now we’ve been getting smarter. All across the planet average IQ results have been rising… by about 3 points every ten years. It’s called the Flynn Effect and it’s changing our societies. So what is it? What causes it? And what could be the consequences if — as seems possible — it goes into reverse."

    podcast - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes ...[text shortened]... nt increase when, together, we might well have gone up 4, 5 or 6 points or more.

    Who is who?
    Aging will reverse the process. There comes a time, whether we like it or not, when the body's cells die at a faster rate than they can be replenished...including those in the brain.
  3. Joined
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    22 Jul '16 10:29
    Originally posted by FMF
    "For many decades now we’ve been getting smarter. All across the planet average IQ results have been rising… by about 3 points every ten years. It’s called the Flynn Effect and it’s changing our societies. So what is it? What causes it? And what could be the consequences if — as seems possible — it goes into reverse."

    podcast - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes ...[text shortened]... nt increase when, together, we might well have gone up 4, 5 or 6 points or more.

    Who is who?
    I suppose it matters how IQ is measured.

    How about making a healthy meal without relying on pre-packaged food, for instance?

    Or how about fixing something yourself when it's broken?

    I wonder if we've been getting dumber in those kinds of aspects.
  4. rural North Dakota
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    22 Jul '16 14:20
    Originally posted by Great King Rat
    I suppose it matters how IQ is measured.

    How about making a healthy meal without relying on pre-packaged food, for instance?

    Or how about fixing something yourself when it's broken?

    I wonder if we've been getting dumber in those kinds of aspects.
    I have been hearing from some of my younger friends in their 60's that their granddaughters do not even know how to read a recipe. Those abbreviations, such as T, tsp, C, pinch, etc. And as far as making a pie crust? (let alone bake a pie in the first place) They buy those soggy, greasy packaged ones at the grocery store. 😛
  5. Standard memberHandyAndy
    Read a book!
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    22 Jul '16 18:08
    Originally posted by ale1552
    Aging will reverse the process. There comes a time, whether we like it or not, when the body's cells die at a faster rate than they can be replenished...including those in the brain.
    The "time" seems to be coming sooner for some of our young cohorts..
  6. Subscriberjosephw
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    Scoffer Mocker
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    22 Jul '16 21:45
    Originally posted by FMF
    "For many decades now we’ve been getting smarter. All across the planet average IQ results have been rising… by about 3 points every ten years. It’s called the Flynn Effect and it’s changing our societies. So what is it? What causes it? And what could be the consequences if — as seems possible — it goes into reverse."

    podcast - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes ...[text shortened]... nt increase when, together, we might well have gone up 4, 5 or 6 points or more.

    Who is who?
    Or do we just think we're getting smarter? The ingestion of volumes of information does not mean one is smarter because of it. Knowing more information isn't a good test of intelligence in my opinion, but rather how one uses that information, or knowledge, to make themselves a better person is.

    I don't see so much of that happening. I see people getting worse.
  7. Joined
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    22 Jul '16 23:161 edit
    Originally posted by josephw
    The ingestion of volumes of information does not mean one is smarter because of it. Knowing more information isn't a good test of intelligence in my opinion....
    You don't know what the Flynn Effect is, do you? You didn't bother to look it up. You didn't listen to the podcast, did you? It isn't about "ingestion of volumes of information" at all. 😀
  8. santa cruz, ca.
    Joined
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    376505
    22 Jul '16 23:38
    Originally posted by FMF
    "For many decades now we’ve been getting smarter. All across the planet average IQ results have been rising… by about 3 points every ten years. It’s called the Flynn Effect and it’s changing our societies. So what is it? What causes it? And what could be the consequences if — as seems possible — it goes into reverse."

    podcast - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes ...[text shortened]... nt increase when, together, we might well have gone up 4, 5 or 6 points or more.

    Who is who?
    it's all about the evolutionary environment
  9. Standard memberapathist
    looking for loot
    western colorado
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    23 Jul '16 01:40
    People get smarter about answering old familiar questions. The raise in IQ is due to the statistical methods involved, and not necessarily any actual gain in intelligence.

    I don't trust IQ tests anyway. eg Jam some math rote into the dumbest fart on the planet and she'd do decent on many of the tests.
  10. Unknown Territories
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    23 Jul '16 21:58
    Originally posted by ale1552
    Aging will reverse the process. There comes a time, whether we like it or not, when the body's cells die at a faster rate than they can be replenished...including those in the brain.
    And even while we type, there are scads of laboratories feverishly doing everything possible to stop that process.
    Some claim they are close to succeeding.
    Benjamin Button, anyone?
  11. Subscriberjosephw
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    24 Jul '16 07:40
    Originally posted by FMF
    You don't know what the Flynn Effect is, do you? You didn't bother to look it up. You didn't listen to the podcast, did you? It isn't about "ingestion of volumes of information" at all. 😀
    I can see the "Flynn Effect" hasn't had an effect on you! Or maybe it has. 😉

    The "Flynn Effect" is an illusion created by those that want to appear smarter than they actually are. The reality is society is getting dumber.
  12. Joined
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    24 Jul '16 09:02
    Originally posted by josephw
    The reality is society is getting dumber.
    Upon what measures do you base this claim?

    It is an interesting assertion, and one that would be well worth discussing, as long as you have more than just your personal disapproval, frustration or disappointment with society your evidence.
  13. Subscriberjosephw
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    24 Jul '16 14:09
    Originally posted by FMF
    Upon what measures do you base this claim?
    The physical senses, knowledge of the truth and experience.

    And maybe just a little common sense and a bit of reasoning. I'm not going to spend all day proving an assertion with a statistical analysis of the state of man's condition.

    I think the only reason for asserting the idea that "we've been getting smarter" is due to the increase and availability of information, which gives the illusion of an increase in smarts. That's just the way I see it based on everything I know, which isn't much, but it's enough for me.

    Why don't you provide the evidence for why you think we're "getting smarter"? Or that there is even such a thing as the "Flynn Effect"?
  14. Joined
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    24 Jul '16 15:162 edits
    Originally posted by josephw
    Why don't you provide the evidence for why you think we're "getting smarter"? Or that there is even such a thing as the "Flynn Effect"?
    I don't have any reason to think we are getting more intelligent to the degree that the Flynn Effect suggests.

    Where I live and work, people entering university are getting "smarter" (more intellectually skillful) and certainly more knowledgeable thanks to positive and sorely needed changes to educational methodology over the last quarter of a century.

    The Flynn Effect is a statistical thing about scores on IQ tests, and the tests/statistical pattern/theory certainly exists. The "Flynn Effect" is not mine, it's an idea coined by researchers called Hernstein and Murray named after someone called James Flynn.
  15. Joined
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    34587
    24 Jul '16 15:18
    Originally posted by josephw
    The physical senses, knowledge of the truth and experience. And maybe just a little common sense and a bit of reasoning. I'm not going to spend all day proving an assertion with a statistical analysis of the state of man's condition
    So you've got no objective or empirical evidence to back your "The reality is society is getting dumber" thing?
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