scepticus Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3724165/Boffins-say-the-human-brain-is-as-big-as-it-gets.html?OTC-RSS&ATTR=News Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Bart' Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 because our grey matter has stopped evolving Is it possible to stop evolving? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krackersdave Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 (edited) Is it possible to stop evolving? Well at the moment the progress seems to be going backwards - at least in the west... Remember the days when a penicillin cured most ills..? Remember the days when a man walked on the moon and the shuttle first flew? Remember the days when you could cross the Atlantic in 3 hrs? And if the global warming freaks have thier way it'll soon take two days to drive to London from Edinburgh (with recharges on the way)! Edited August 2, 2011 by Krackersdave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Sacks Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 oh the irony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
libspero Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 (edited) Good to know that if we ever suffer global famine, I will have a physiological advantage over the rest of you.. Edited August 2, 2011 by libspero Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackgoose Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 Evolution is simply the survival of those who pass on their genes to the next generation. It APPEARS as though those with lower intelligence levels have more children than those with higher intelligence levels. Therefore, future generations may well be less intelligent than now. I would be interested to see a study done about this, though it would be controvertial. Those future generations will be more evolved (as evolution selected for less intelligence and not more), and not devolved as implied. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dorkins Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 brain takes up just two per cent of our body weight but 20 per cent of energy Is that it? Energy intake is really not a limiting factor anymore. Almost everybody in the West eats much more than they need to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
200p Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 Evolution is simply the survival of those who pass on their genes to the next generation. It APPEARS as though those with lower intelligence levels have more children than those with higher intelligence levels. Therefore, future generations may well be less intelligent than now. I would be interested to see a study done about this, though it would be controvertial. Those future generations will be more evolved (as evolution selected for less intelligence and not more), and not devolved as implied. Absolutely. We are seeing eugenics at work here because of the monetary policy and from the benefits policy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeepLurker Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 Is it possible to stop evolving? Maybe the article was talking specifically about the readers of that particular newspaper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
campervanman Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 I have had the misfortune to catch the news on BBC3 which is aimed at Thatchers children (20-30 somethings). Back in the 1970,s we used to get a similar level news bulletin aimed at 10 year olds, it was called John Cravens newsround. Seems the BBC think that peak IQ was reached several decades ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kilroy Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 Is that it? Energy intake is really not a limiting factor anymore. Almost everybody in the West eats much more than they need to. Besides, if there was a shortage of food, the smart ones would devise ingenious ways of eating the dumb ones in a sustainable way (Orwell's Time Machine etc) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Self Employed Youth Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 I don't think the median will ever rise above 100... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zebbedee Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 I don't think the median will ever rise above 100... I wonder how many forums you could put that on and nobody get it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken_ichikawa Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 Explored in Time enough for Love. Lazarus Long gave the Earth the coup de grace. In that IQ and intellect were a bell shaped curve. Those on the right hand side of the curve tended to leave (the planet) or in our case now, the country for greener pastures. Which moved the centre of the bell curve to the left. After a while the bell curve is pretty much moved to the left several notches. Those on the right of the curve see what is going on and leave for pastures greener, which shifts the curve to the left again and again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrPin Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 Explored in Time enough for Love. Lazarus Long gave the Earth the coup de grace. In that IQ and intellect were a bell shaped curve. Those on the right hand side of the curve tended to leave (the planet) or in our case now, the country for greener pastures. Which moved the centre of the bell curve to the left. After a while the bell curve is pretty much moved to the left several notches. Those on the right of the curve see what is going on and leave for pastures greener, which shifts the curve to the left again and again. I never knew you read books Ken, apart from double-entry ledgers, and motorcycle workshop manuals! One Mr Heinlein's finest! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnny5thumbs Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 I never knew you read books Ken, apart from double-entry ledgers, and motorcycle workshop manuals! One Mr Heinlein's finest! Blimey - don't you two realise that memorising passages from Robert Heinlen is taking up valuable brain space that could be used to store miore important data such as gold price resistance levels, etc. G*d help you when the 'head for the foothills' moment arrives. Ken - Hainoreno sugoi desukedo atarashii hon o yomanakereba naranaiyo ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrPin Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 Blimey - don't you two realise that memorising passages from Robert Heinlen is taking up valuable brain space that could be used to store miore important data such as gold price resistance levels, etc. G*d help you when the 'head for the foothills' moment arrives. Ken - Hainoreno sugoi desukedo atarashii hon o yomanakereba naranaiyo ! Johnny! I dont think Ken is Japanese, and I am not either! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlinkTooFast Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 Churchill and Eugenics Much more at the link Abstract: When he was Home Secretary (February 1910-October 1911) Churchill was in favor of the confinement, segregation, and sterilization of a class of persons contemporarily described as the "feeble minded." The most significant letter Churchill wrote in support of eugenics was not, however, deliberately left out of the official biography by Randolph Churchill for reasons of embarrassment, but simply through oversight. -Ted Hutchinson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fluffy666 Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 Abstract: When he was Home Secretary (February 1910-October 1911) Churchill was in favor of the confinement, segregation, and sterilization of a class of persons contemporarily described as the "feeble minded." The most significant letter Churchill wrote in support of eugenics was not, however, deliberately left out of the official biography by Randolph Churchill for reasons of embarrassment, but simply through oversight. -Ted Hutchinson I didn't realize that Churchill was in favour of eliminating the British Ruling Classes. Of course, with modern day science, it should be possible to achieve one goal of eugenics - the elimination of genetic disease - without crude means such as sterilization. Who is against that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fluffy666 Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 Well at the moment the progress seems to be going backwards - at least in the west... Remember the days when a penicillin cured most ills..? Remember the days when a man walked on the moon and the shuttle first flew? Remember the days when you could cross the Atlantic in 3 hrs? And if the global warming freaks have thier way it'll soon take two days to drive to London from Edinburgh (with recharges on the way)! Penicillin (and later antibiotics) have problems with resistance mainly because of over-prescription and bad usage practice, because people dn't listen to the scientists.. Space programs have been pretty much hacked to death by those who think that taxes are the most evil things ever. And, of course, economists who demand a payback in 5 years.. Crossing the Atlantic in 3 hours.. OK, NIMBYS and the enviro-luddite crowd may have that one. And as far as fossil fuels go... well, if you think that using a one-time, short lived and highly polluting shot of chemical energy represents the best that the human race can ever aspire to, then you need an imagination transplant. Or we should all join the VHEM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lagarde's Drift Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 It's not peak iq, it's peak cheap energy. All the examples above are because of cheap energy. Humans have always been very smart and very adaptable, I highly doubt our iq is.going backwards any time soon. It's just much more difficult to invent a cure for cancer when you're busy trying to find your next meal and defend it from others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nationalist Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 Great Britain has been raising its IQ level for the last few centuries by exporting its underclass population to the colonies. We are now noticeably more intelligent than Australians, Americans, etc. Unfortunately the end of empire and the introduction of the welfare state has started reversing the gains. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
@contradevian Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 I didn't realize that Churchill was in favour of eliminating the British Ruling Classes. Of course, with modern day science, it should be possible to achieve one goal of eugenics - the elimination of genetic disease - without crude means such as sterilization. Who is against that? At the time, girls who had babies, out of wedlock and without means of support were regarded as feeble minded. Not sure if the fathers were though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussieboy Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 I wonder how many forums you could put that on and nobody get it. Before we all get too pleased with ourselves, it's probably a good idea to bear in mind the Flynn effect. A 2010 IQ test performance of 100 would be scored more than 100 by 1980 criteria. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussieboy Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 (edited) I didn't realize that Churchill was in favour of eliminating the British Ruling Classes. Of course, with modern day science, it should be possible to achieve one goal of eugenics - the elimination of genetic disease - without crude means such as sterilization. Who is against that? Would love to understand how enforced contraception or prevention of intercourse could be considered a less crude means than sterilization. Edit typo Edited August 3, 2011 by aussieboy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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