Originally posted by stereologist
reply to post by RSF77
People are not more intelligent today. The ancient Greeks, Egyptians, and Babylonians did math more complicated than most people ever learn. The ancients built structures of great size and did it with simply technologies. These accomplishments are impressive even today. Intelligence is no different. There is more knowledge that has been accumulated over the ages. That is the difference.
Originally posted by crohny
reply to post by RSF77
This post makes no sense. Obviously we aren't outgrowing anything cause there is no growth in human knowledge. Just an inflated ego of a species who dreams of superiority but ends up being the most pathetic species a live.
I would beg to differ. You are blind if you can't see the advancement humanity has made since any of those civilizations. In the past century alone, more progress has been made than anything we have ever done.
I would call it a lack of nuts AKA lack of ability to apply anything learned, or to desire knowledge at all.
The option is there for a lot more people now days, hence a more generally intelligent humanity.
a. The capacity to acquire and apply knowledge.
b. The faculty of thought and reason.
c. Superior powers of mind.
How to define intelligence is controversial. Groups of scientists have stated the following:
from "Mainstream Science on Intelligence" (1994), an editorial statement by fifty-two researchers:
A very general mental capability that, among other things, involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from experience. It is not merely book learning, a narrow academic skill, or test-taking smarts. Rather, it reflects a broader and deeper capability for comprehending our surroundings—"catching on," "making sense" of things, or "figuring out" what to do.[5]
from "Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns" (1995), a report published by the Board of Scientific Affairs of the American Psychological Association:
Individuals differ from one another in their ability to understand complex ideas, to adapt effectively to the environment, to learn from experience, to engage in various forms of reasoning, to overcome obstacles by taking thought. Although these individual differences can be substantial, they are never entirely consistent: a given person's intellectual performance will vary on different occasions, in different domains, as judged by different criteria. Concepts of "intelligence" are attempts to clarify and organize this complex set of phenomena. Although considerable clarity has been achieved in some areas, no such conceptualization has yet answered all the important questions, and none commands universal assent. Indeed, when two dozen prominent theorists were recently asked to define intelligence, they gave two dozen, somewhat different, definitions.[6][7]
a (1) : the ability to learn or understand or to deal with new or trying situations : reason; also : the skilled use of reason (2) : the ability to apply knowledge to manipulate one's environment or to think abstractly as measured by objective criteria (as tests)
Or would your rather sit around arguing about what "intelligence" means exactly?
