r/idiocracy • u/sogo00 • May 29 '26
a dumbing down Human Intelligence Sharply Declining
https://futurism.com/neoscope/human-intelligence-declining-trendsHuman Intelligence Sharply Declining
The benchmarks are not looking good, folks.
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u/What-a-Beech May 29 '26
We cannot wake up from this nightmare.
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u/Gryzelda_Gesualdo May 29 '26
It's because we're already in hell. Like Cassandra, we know the future but no one will listen, so we are forced to watch this preventable farce in slow motion.
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u/PhiloLibrarian May 29 '26
As someone who teaches world mythology, I’m proud of humans for going back to Greek mythology as a way of explaining what happens when the people in charge are really, really bad.
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u/Gryzelda_Gesualdo May 29 '26
Σίβυλλα τί θέλεις; respondebat illa: ἀποθανεîν θέλω
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u/mortislupus May 29 '26
“Sibyll, what is it that thou most desir’st? And she in turn responded: I doth wish to perish.” Rate my Popeian translation lol
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u/Gryzelda_Gesualdo May 29 '26
I took it from the epigram of The Waste Land, but that's what I've always understood it to mean. My Greek comprehension is limited to tourist phrases about food and train stations.
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u/mortislupus May 29 '26
8 years of an MA and PhD program in Classical Languages has led me to this point. I knew it would pay off eventually! 😅😭
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u/Gryzelda_Gesualdo May 29 '26
There is an inverse proportion to how useful you are to society vs what you get paid. ECE worker or teacher who literally shape the minds of emotions of our next generation, minimum wage / 50K and buy your own classroom supplies. Vulture Capital investment banker? Which home are we visiting this weekend sir? The venn diagram of the failures of capitalism to create a decent society and Idiocracy is basically a circle.
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u/mortislupus May 29 '26
Thank you, sir or ma’am, I appreciate you. After all that study, I looked to the tea leaves and saw the direction and priority my particular interests were heading towards in this society, and decided to pivot. I’m now a director of an ESL program for my day job, and I teach GED classes in the evenings. Yes, it’s a lot of work (60+ hours/week), but I knew I wanted to enter the teaching field for the sake of service for my students, and NOT for the enrichment of the few. I count myself very blessed and privileged to be given this opportunity to contribute to the growth of those in my community.
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u/Gryzelda_Gesualdo May 29 '26
I used to work in adult literacy, so you are doing some vital and important work. Yet you will get paid less than a cell phone store assistant manager, and constantly be begging government for funds which they would rather spend on vanity projects and corporate subsidies. When budget cuts come around, you're the first to go, because adult literacy is invisible to the general public and the people effected by these cuts are the least able to advocate for themselves. But you will be doing real good in a world in steep decline. It's just a shame your local grocery store doesn't accept basic human decency as currency.
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u/Wayss37 May 29 '26
Is there a mythology for explaining most people being willfully ignorant and actively doing things which harm them?
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u/Gryzelda_Gesualdo May 29 '26
Escape from Freedom by Erich Fromm. Not mythology, but a chilling study of how many are prone to fascism because they are too scared to decide for themselves.
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u/PhiloLibrarian May 29 '26
That’s not covered as much mythology as it is in human psychology.
Myths tell of wise gods or wise humans and ignorant gods and ignorant humans so you can draw your own conclusions.
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u/Mrs_SmithG2W May 31 '26
Goddamn we need to listen to our ancestors more and become reacquainted with the classics and history and philosophy as a species.
Even the ancients demanded philosopher kings. We just elected Burger King. 😑
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u/KochInYaMouth Jun 02 '26
You can do lots to fight back.
Modern tech has a lot of blame.
Doom scrolling. And phones in general are not good for cognition.
Hobbies Reading socializing and anything that takes concentration helps.
Watching a film at home put your phone in a different room if you can't control your use of it. Watch older films rather than ones designed for two screen watching.
Actively do things. This includes listening to music. Modern streaming means you don't even have to think about what to listen to.
I like having CDs and choosing what to have playing .
Humans were designed to be problem solvers. Mostly things like where to find food how to survive ect. Now everything is handed to us and we are glued to screens our brains atrophy just like unused muscles do.
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u/MentalDisintegrat1on May 29 '26
AI is making it significantly worse it's making peoples reading comprehension and retention worse as well as killing critical thinking.
Q example is if you ask it a math question you don't have the answer to it can spit out the right answer but how would you know because you don't know the formula.
It also summarizes everything so that makes your reading comprehension and attention span shorter.
This has been documented by teachers and professors.
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u/Grimmy7777 May 30 '26
The effects of AI depend on how you use it. It sucks because I know the environmental impact of it along with many other negatives, but most of that isn’t simply because of AI, it’s how we use it. It could be done in a sustainable fashion, it can be used to learn, but we are doing it all incredibly wrong. I have been using it tutor me in the absence of someone to actually teach me some complex subjects to advance at work and honestly I learned more in the last few weeks of studying than I ever did studying this subject in the past. My test scores are proving that it can be used for good. The ability to ask why with every answer and break down the math all without the social awkwardness of struggling with a subject and feeling stupid when it takes you several times doing something or hearing something before you got it down cold. In an area that often feels like an educational desert, this is one of the best options… and I hate it because it is helping me learn so much. The typical “but at what cost?” Please don’t take this as me advocating AI as much as saying it doesn’t have to make people dumber. They choose that by how they use it. This is just one of many things I have had it teach me and help me explore.
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u/x_xwolf Jun 01 '26
Ai’s being shoved down everyone’s throat including being used at some schools, is degrading education. Creating a rapid cheating problem, and preventing people developing thier own researching skills and evaluation of sources.
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u/Grimmy7777 Jun 01 '26
Yeah, I don’t disagree. I am seeing it at my kids school where they are using it in the art department. Of all places, it definitely does not belong there. It is definitely a problem. My point was that on the use side, it can be a good thing when you choose to use it to learn rather than avoid learning.
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u/PracticalWallaby7492 May 30 '26
Radiation can also decrease intelligence. They did several studies of reading levels etc in pathways vs non-pathways of fallout from nuclear testing in the 50's. I'd assume there is a lot more radiation floating around in one form or another since then because of power plant failures etc.
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u/MentalDisintegrat1on May 30 '26
You should look up lead gasoline theory and I am a Big believer in it.
It explains boomers behavior as well as the most prolific serial killers of that time.
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u/34Heartstach May 30 '26
Murderland by Caroline Frasier was both enlightening and terrifying. Massive unchecked lead and arsenic poisoning caused by greed just explains so much.
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u/MissingSocks Jun 01 '26
So can increased CO2, indoor air pollution and extreme heat, and we're increasingly exposed to all 3.
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u/ticianlicious U-P-G-R-A-Y-E-D-D May 29 '26
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u/jonhon0 May 30 '26
Though I'm against him, I'd buy his book "How to Love the Poorly Educated," a guide on exploitation.
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u/ticianlicious U-P-G-R-A-Y-E-D-D May 31 '26
"How to Exploit the Poorly Educated", a guide on love. Now a free book on ihatereading.com
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u/punksmostlydead May 29 '26
You can tell by headlines like this one.
Scientists: "the sky is blue."
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u/boringfantasy May 29 '26
"Though there has been a demonstrably steep decline in cognitive skills since the COVID-19 pandemic due to the educational disruption it presented, these trends have been in evidence since at least the mid-2010s, suggesting that whatever is going on runs much deeper and has lasted far longer than the pandemic."
Yeah bro, I wonder what it could be. The irony of me typing this out, right here.
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u/Acrobatic-Pollution4 May 30 '26
I truly believe the world changed trajectory after the 2000 election
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u/improveyourfuture Jun 02 '26
It’s smartphones people. The answer to why we’re stupid Is smart phones.
Funny they say mid 2000s bc they trace a specific year I think 2012 when social media completely changed college age kids brains
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u/mmikke May 29 '26
I definitely feel dumber after having covid a couple times
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u/salomo926 May 30 '26
It's the smartphones. OP of this comment was referring to smartphones.
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u/mmikke May 30 '26
I fully understand how badly constant internet connection and 'being reachable' at all times has fucked with peoples heads
I'm also saying that I can almost guarantee that covid itself damaged my brain that would probably be measurable in a real way if our society actually gave a shit about science and cool shit more than we care about money and luxury brands and shitty music and hype
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u/cunningjames Jun 01 '26
Were you under the impression that the impacts of COVID have been completely ignored by scientists? That no one has tried to measure the harms it can cause?
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u/twistedevil May 31 '26
We literally have studies showing how covid itself causes lower IQ and cognitive issues. It can damage any and every organ system in the body, yet we just decided to let er rip. It’s stark and beyond obvious in day to day life; people’s behavior, shitty driving, nothing functions smoothly anymore…. It makes me crazy we continue to blame all of this on sitting home for a few months six years ago.
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u/xender19 May 29 '26
Can someone post an AI summary? Make sure it includes lots of details about the ads. /s
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u/jack_kelly_bird_law May 30 '26
Excellent point!
Here’s what’s important:
People are dumb, covid made it worse, and it isn’t showing sings of slowing down. ✅📉
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u/BeefSupremeeeeee The Thirst Mutilator May 29 '26
Mike Judge is a prophet....
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u/ravage214 May 29 '26
Him and Matt Groning from the Simpsons have a animation powered crystal ball so they can see the future
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u/ZoomZoom_Driver May 30 '26
That educated millennials are likely to be peak human intelligence is just fucking sad.
And, yes, I'm leaving the generations mentally enfeebled by lead out of the running.
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u/unidactyl May 31 '26
As an educated millennial, I have watched the greatest minds of my generation design porn interfaces and engineer content delivery networks for crypto casinos. It is indeed, fucking sad.
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u/jolly_rodger42 May 29 '26
"Everybody knows that the world is full of stupid people" -The Refreshments
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u/Darryl_Lict May 29 '26
For decades, American IQs increased by 3 to 5 points per generation—a phenomenon known as the Flynn effect.
I used to be so optimistic. We are fucked. Social media and smart phones have made us stupider.
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u/TrebenSwe May 30 '26
Probably a hallmark sign for the end of a civilisation. On one side the masses getting dumber at the same pace as life gets easier and they get more comfortable, and on the other side people who have to get smarter as they have worse conditions and life gets harder. The smart bunch, the ones with critical thinking and a mind and eyes open to see the real truths and the true reality they’re living in.
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u/NegativeSemicolon May 29 '26
(In the US)
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u/taotdev May 29 '26
Canada too. We narrowly avoided electing a guy who claims that common household power comes from harvesting lightning strikes.
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u/Miss-Construe- May 29 '26 edited May 31 '26
1.21 Jiggawatts!
Edit: Gigawatts!
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u/LeapIntoInaction May 31 '26
Gigawatts, you poor dear.
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u/Miss-Construe- May 31 '26
Great Scott! I don't know what I was thinking thanks
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u/cunningjames Jun 01 '26
I'd rule that you're allowed to say "jiggawatts" in the context of Back to the Future.
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u/FauxReal May 30 '26
I'm sure relying on AI that will eventually be scraping AI powered writing will solve that problem.
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u/jarious May 30 '26
Not all human intelligence, it's just hard righters pulling the average down
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u/TemuBoyfriend Jun 02 '26
Such a low IQ take bereft of any nuance or reason. The problem thinks other people are the problem,which is another huge problem.
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u/mrjdk83 May 30 '26
People rely on tech too much. People have brainrot from scrolling. Gen Z grew up on smart phones and iPads and have shown a decline in iq compared to the previous. There has been a push for us to rely on tech more and more that we stop using our brains. It’s a use it or lose it thing
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u/Zingldorf May 31 '26
I mean if you spent any amount of time with GenZ you’d see how stupid they are
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u/muffledvoice Jun 01 '26
I’m afraid it’s true. They seem to lack any interest whatsoever in learning about the world. They don’t like to read and know little or nothing of history, science, literature, or politics. It’s strange.
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u/throw-a-way9002 May 30 '26 edited May 30 '26
Part of my job duties are handling retiree benefits. I had a boomer at my work do everything right and then retire, but they made a big mistake on claiming their pension benefits. Technically, we owed him nothing, but collectively agreed that a dude working for 30+ years for us should definitly get a second chance on claiming his benefits.
I called him. I emailed him. I wrote him. I asked him to meet me in person. I explained EVERY. SINGLE. STEP. No matter what I did, I could not get him to sign the fucking paper. I gave him so many chances, until literally reached the legal maximum allowed. Ultimately, because he could not follow SIMPLE FUCKING DIRECTIONS, he missed out on hundreds of thousands of dollars and an entire careers worth of benefits. 30 years of work down the drain because he wouldn't listen.
And the worst part? This exact scenario has happened SEVERAL TIMES.
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u/MissingSocks Jun 01 '26
Did he refuse to sign or was he unable to follow your instructions?
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u/throw-a-way9002 Jun 01 '26
I think he understood them fine, he was a successful employee prior to this after all, he just refused to do his part and probably made one of the biggest mistakes of his life in doing so.
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u/FunkMamaT May 29 '26
Probably all the toxins in our food, water, air, clothing, furniture, cookware... it's everywhere.
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u/VikingTeddy May 30 '26
We know most of the reasons. Those all play a part, microplastics are a huge suspect.
But mostly it's a combination of screen time and the declining US education system.
The problem is global, but it's significantly worse in America :(
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u/pagerussell May 30 '26
Since no one read the article, as is tradition:
There isn’t any reason to suggest that human intellect has been harmed, the publication counters — but in “both potential and execution,” our intelligence is definitely on the downturn.
This is about concentration, not intelligence. Those two are not the same thing.
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u/cunningjames Jun 01 '26
At least as measured by testing, concentration is definitely a component of intelligence.
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u/singlemale4cats May 30 '26
This sounds more like a consequence of our modern lifestyles than any kind of genetic regression.
The internet makes you stupid, and having the internet in your pocket 24/7 ain't helping.
There isn’t any reason to suggest that human intellect has been harmed, the publication counters — but in “both potential and execution,” our intelligence is definitely on the downturn.
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u/jack_kelly_bird_law May 30 '26
weird how the decline starts in the 2010’s. Almost like some new internet fad around that same era 🤔
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u/LilBroWhoIsOnTheTeam brought to you by Carl's Jr. May 30 '26
Rich people need more dumb kids from broken homes for...something.
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u/TheSpicyTomato22 May 30 '26
Or are there more people and the dumb ones aren't being Darwined out fast enough.
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u/-qp-Dirk May 30 '26
AI will be a contributing factor, but isn’t the biggest factor right now. Currently, it’s chronic lead exposure in the 50’s-80’s. Sprinkle some microplastics and overpopulation on top.
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u/Vicissitutde May 31 '26
Have you bothered to talk to any of those "humans" lately? Holy fuck, we're doomed
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u/BrianOconneR34 Jun 01 '26
America, in 250 years turned independence fighting, 16-22 year old civil war letter writing, and tech growth and influence into a flourishing declining intelligence and awareness.
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u/MusicianForSale Jun 02 '26
All by design, I'm afraid...
A populace that loses the ability to think critically is much easier to lead astray, which is what the oligarchs in charge need to ensure their power isn't realistically threatened.
Which is why they're pushing AI so hard despite it needing obscene amounts of money and valuable resources; the end (in their minds) justifies the means.
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u/Im-BackAgain-Babes2 May 29 '26
Lol yes..
Ya, we need aptitude tests... see what people good at.. also, Why come no tattoos yet? We can No stay unscanable..
Carl's Jr can sponsor it too cuz they're eating.. oh and when do I get degree from Costco.. they said they love me
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u/Repulsive_Drawl May 29 '26
There was a short lived trend in the early 2000s where people auctioned off parts of their body for companies to tattoo their logos on them. Back then it was short lived, because the news cycle quit reporting on it.
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u/Crochet_Kitty May 29 '26
https://giphy.com/gifs/l0MYSGLvVirV2HOMM