We Are ALL Getting Dumber... Yes, You Too!!, page 2

Originally posted by Dashdragon
I think part of the problem is that we have evolved technologically to the point where 'natural selection' has almost become obsolete.

Not only that, but if you look at our society, we routinely idolize the 'least fit' of our population (intellectually speaking) I mean, everyone that was on Jersey Shore should've been sterilized at birth...

nah we are still affected by NS, but it has changed routes, sexual selection is more common and since we can learn to avoid obvious falls and animals, it kills us with disease.

i think the guy is kind of right, though claiming we are getting dumber is a stretch. we don;t need our brains to evolve so much as environmental pressures no longer kill us off, now sexual selection puts pressure on us, and as some scientists speculate, women have spread out needs and desires in comparison to men so there is a wider genetic spread.
this spread means that sexual selection doesn't select for the best of the best, but the average or above average in many attributes, this includes intelligence.

of course evolution isn't about improvement or refinement, it is about survival and spreading of genes, and it may very well be that jersey shore may fit better in the environment..

or maybe not, the one thing i find strange is the guy postulating this idea ignores that the average intelligence has risen along with our knowledge and in fact humans have never focused on intelligence as an indicator of fitness,
since women have had such varying views of a good mate throughout human history, intelligence may just fluctuate.
you can go back thousands of years and see the same level of intelligence as now, except since we focus on it more, in worry it seems worse.
also we have more education and we want more people to be scientists and apparently because our culture has shifted away from seeing science as a panacea for everything, now we are getting dumber,