First we must define what we mean by “intelligence”. For this article I’m defining intelligence as the ability to think independently. Can you think for yourself? Can you make good decisions?
Microsoft’s Copilot AI answers this as: “Intelligence is a multifaceted concept, often defined as the ability to learn, understand, and apply knowledge to adapt to new situations and solve problems.”
Well, AI fails at two out of three of it’s points. “AI” is currently unable to learn (as opposed to being trained). Also “AI” does not understand the information it has.
Social media has provided the opportunity to share your bad ideas with the world (well, your followers anyway). This has led to a lot of commentary about how stupid people are.
Have humans become stupid? Perhaps. Perhaps not completely.
Certainly most of humanity’s “stupidity” is perception. We simply see more of the thoughts of our fellow humans.
What could be real factors in reducing actual intelligence?
I’d argue that our modern emphasis on safety has eliminated a lot of the risks and adventures that we used to engage in. Taking risks and going on adventures are excellent ways to improve your reasoning ability.
Lack of physical activity. Humans aren’t as physically active as we used to be. Physical activity increases blood flow to the brain and this dramatically improves cognitive ability.
Assistant tools. Spell checkers, now “AI” software and all kinds of other things that make our lives easier, sure these are awesome tools, but are they reducing the exercise we used to give our brains and thus making our mental abilities weaker? Or do they just weaken what they substitute for us? Like calculators took away the need for humans to know how to do basic math, and spell checkers have largely removed the need to know how to spell. I’m a stubborn mature man now and I still insist on exercising my brain to do math and to correctly spell, I believe this gives me an advantage out in the “wild”, like grocery shopping where my mind can quickly calculate if something is a good bargain or not. Good spelling ability speeds up my ability to write.
Specialization. More and more, humans have specialized. This seems to lead away from people using their own intelligence and instead simply trusting an “expert”. What if that expert is incompetent or is lying?
Nutrition. We might also blame increasing pollution and poor diets for starving the typical person’s brain of the nutrients necessary to operate optimally.
Indoctrination vs Education. Many comments have implied that the public school systems are doing more indoctrination rather than education. Essentially schools are teaching children to obey authority and not to use their own intelligence.
What do you think? Are humans overall losing their intelligence? Are many of us now simply slaves going through the motions of life?
Pretty sure you know what I think. But I’ll tell you, I think the kids might be alright. I think the younger generation is starting to reject all this new found technology. I see you get kids beginning to flock towards the corporeal. I witnessed a bunch of 8 graders run out of school last week during recess to go make a snowman at the first sign of snow, when they had a chance to stay indoors and play on computers. It really made my heart sing.
The other thing about specialization is that we can miss the gestalt. Because the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Seeing patterns is important in understanding the world. I think that specialization also makes us vulnerable to anyone who claims to be an expert. Even if they are the worst in their field.
Complexity can be overwhelming. Especially if a person is used to being entertained by screens. Using your intelligence can be fun, but for many it's exhausting. We do need downtime, of course.
Intelligence and health support one another. If people are less healthy, they will likely be less able to solve real world problems. Enough sleep, healthy food, etc.