So, I've seen a lot of people who were extremely sharp as PhD students become blunted as soon as 9--5 starts.

A lot of decline among adults can likely be traced back to increased cognitive load during working hours, which chips away at intelligence over time as folks burn out.

With kids it's harder to place, maybe it's walking the tightrope that is modern social interactions?

Bored people can now tune into (source of entertainment) instead of learning.

I don't think the capacity for intelligence has dropped significantly, rather we as a society dedicate our time differently.

is anyone here talking about the systematic dismantling of public education and starving of teachers and children in terms of learning resources and actual food

also i again have to complain about Idiocracy, the comedy film that suggests intelligent rich people will solve our problems and stupid poor people will doom society, where in reality you have incredibly wealthy and also incurious, unintelligent ghouls hoarding generational wealth, making it a top priority to have tons of children in order to make their 'superior' genes take over.

Idiocracy keeps becoming truer and truer every year.

I can believe it. Physical inactivity, less creative play for children, distraction all the time.

Mind you, in some ways I don't buy it - the two of my kids who were very academically motivated both learned much more in school than I did (I went during a conservative time when the schools were doing "back to basics" which didn't help, but simple research before the Internet was so difficult that I didn't have access to as much as they did, it took more effort to learn less) and those two are whip-smart. So I think the potential to be smart is higher now. Also maybe we have included more people in the measurements now that it's easier to get the data.

But physical inactivity does harm brain health, plastic probably does, the dumbing down again in the schools here (is this some 40-50 year cycle?) certainly does. I do, like @drascus@sh.itjust.works work at maintaining my thinking by trying to learn new things, not just get good at what I am good at already; and do a lot to maintain physical health, meditate, and try to guard my sleep as much as possible within the context of a normal life.

Microplastic brain

Its a lot of work but you have to constantly push. I am 42, but I read a few dozen books a year, I'm constantly learning new languages, new instruments, I write short stories for fun, do creative projects, and meditate. I still feel really sharp but I'm throwing down everyday.

Tech companies hire psychologists to behavior modify us to be engagement zombies. That alone must have done a number on intelligence.

This article seems to be only looking at America based off the sources that I can access without a paywall

I fucking believe it.

There's also no real proof that high intelligence is actually a productive evolutionary trait.

We're juuuuuuuuust smart enough to grow like a cancerous parasite and are getting close to killing our sickly host organism.

What does Chat Gpt say about this?

The FT source seems to be behind a paywall, and this article seems to be jumping between a bunch of possibly unrelated issues (focusing on young adult cognitive decline but looking at whole population reading rates and numeracy ability).

Summary The article describes a decline in human intelligence, particularly among young people. The decline is attributed to reducedk reading habits and the negative impact of excessive screen time on cognitive abilities.

I can't help but think how much science fiction had stories where a civilization created machines to make their lives easier until there was no one left who knew how the machines worked or anyone who could fix them.

Those stories always seemed so far away yet here we are at the beginning with LLMs and machine learning.

I wouldn't worry about it .... it wasn't that high to begin with

I always remind my friends when we have political debates about so many things ... we aren't that many steps away from the cave we emerged from 100,000 years ago

Honestly, I don’t think it is that surprising. Sadly.

🙄