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The Victorians were smarter than us, study suggests.

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posted on May, 22 2013 @ 08:08 AM
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reply to post by Lady_Tuatha
 



I already knew that years ago. I didn't need to wait for scientific study from the United Kingdom. I just love it when the brits keep following our media the copy everything it has to their websites. It's even funnier that the UK does not follow its own so-called commonwealth countries' media and has only designated "US News" sections on its own websites. Yeah, keep dreaming.



posted on May, 22 2013 @ 09:58 AM
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Originally posted by kimish
I was having a conversation with someone the other day that relates to this. I believe that technology is regressing our critical thinking making us overall slightly less 'intelligent' generation after generation.

I've always thought that technology will be the downfall of modern man.


Nah..we're planning more, thus taking longer to respond. We're no longer the knee jerk responders of yesteryear. We're using a different part of our intelligence now.We use thought more, and reflexes less. We're moving away from our instinctive animal nature, towards more advanced deliberate acting beings. We're actually moving upscale.

It's only a few of us, the internet addicted, mouse clickers, button pushers, with short attention span, who retain the rapid fire animal reflexes, maintained by activities like computer games.

But for most of us, the nature of our environment today, requires more thought and planning, more preparation in responding, than those who lived in a simpler environment long ago.



posted on May, 22 2013 @ 10:31 AM
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Originally posted by BristolStew
reply to post by Lady_Tuatha
 

I just love it when the brits keep following our media the copy everything it has to their websites. It's even funnier that the UK does not follow its own so-called commonwealth countries' media and has only designated "US News" sections on its own websites. Yeah, keep dreaming.

I'm not sure what this means?

The original article is a UK study, many news writers are freelance (and many from the UK), and the U.S is a continent, so many news websites have a dedicated U.S section next to the Europe section. Most news all comes from the same places and companies, so articles are posted to many places.

Like many Euro places use the same coverage for Australian bushfires etc ... Am curious what you mean, but yes I don't understand.
edit on 22-5-2013 by Pinke because: typo



posted on May, 22 2013 @ 10:43 AM
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LOL Scientific proof that we are becoming what Idiocracy said we would. I've always said that the definition of "American Exceptionalism" should be: the condition of not realizing how stupid both you and society are becoming.



posted on May, 22 2013 @ 10:56 AM
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reply to post by Lady_Tuatha
 


I think it's more of a matter of culture and upbringing.

People aren't getting stupider naturally, it's just that our school system and culture promotes memory and does not promote other important factors in intelligence.



posted on May, 22 2013 @ 10:59 AM
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reply to post by BristolStew
 


I dont quite understand this post either
seems quite angry for some reason?

I have to say tho if we are talking about the US media verses the Uk and Irish media then they are just as bad as each other, I would say the American media being slightly worse. I lived there for a while and seeing the way US news companies portray some of the stories on TV was ludicrous. But that's just the way things are run these days I suppose.



posted on May, 22 2013 @ 11:08 AM
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The title is just priceless.

It should read "The Victorians were smarter than we, study suggest"

or

"The Victorians were smarter than are we, study suggest"

Of course, that's just the Victorian in me coming out.


Continue.



posted on May, 22 2013 @ 11:21 AM
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I think it has a lot to do with modern technology. In Victorian times young people read more books, nowadays it all about watching boxsets of 'sex and the city' and other mind numbing shows.



posted on May, 22 2013 @ 11:42 AM
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I feel that statement is false.
There are 7 billion people on the planet, so there are more uneducated people on auto pilot of course. Dissapline and manners have disappeared... kids today are into drugs, alcohol, tattoos, body piercings, etc... Parents need to be present and participate in their child's life for success to happen. Both of my kids are honor students and are involved in activities. They aren't perfect but they are smarter than I was. Kids grades go bad when parents act like it is not important. You get what you expect.
One child made the basket ball team and we play against kids who have been held back so many times they are up to three years older, and already behave like thugs at the games. Swearing and pushing... Some of the other kids can have extreme attitude and be dumber than bricks. I told my child if his grades do not stay up we quit all other activities.
There are a lot of smart people on this earth. Who do you think is producing all the tech? It is not aliens. My husband designed three robots that makes all the packaging for a particular yard product and is getting a patent. These robots took two or more years to build. The smart people are working hard to improve society daily. It is not rock science, it is called education and team work working hard daily.
edit on 22-5-2013 by frugal because: sp



posted on May, 22 2013 @ 12:10 PM
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You can test your reflex/reaction times here:
www.intelligencetest.com - Reflect and reaction time...

On the color test, I did miserable. Best was 0.263. The rest mostly are in the 0.3-0.4 range.

We live a high pressure world. Under the surface, it's dog eats dog. It doesn't make it on the news. I agree with one poster here who stated that evolution isn't dead. Even our artificial environment can't stop evolution. If the purpose is to survive then evolution will produce children that best survive in OUR environment. Believe it or not, there're selection pressures even in our own society. Sure, the bottom majority of people aren't all killed off if they're dumb. But everything from increased obesity due to lack of exercise (and high carb diets) to decreased success due to autistic disorders to stress injuries due to repeated computer use and so on all has an impact on people. This creates a need for evolution to produce people who don't get obese and who aren't autistic and don't get injuries from repeated computer use. I've also read people with higher IQ's make better food choices.

There's no end in sight to this quasi-oligarchy. The top 20% of income earners own roughly 80% of the worlds resources. The top 1% own roughly 30%. Since wealth roughly correlates with intelligence then it makes sense to think that their increased wealth will help to give them better opportunities to survive and to direct society. It's true that education is linked to reduced children, but don't forget that the world needs a large work force to do menial jobs. This means there's a need to have a large population of dumb people. Not every rich person needs to have a kid. They just have to have enough kids to maintain their rule over the plebeian. There's a lot of inertia in their favor too.

Our society's purpose isn't to produce smart people, it's to survive. Not everything is about intellect. There's creativity and specific talents and social aptitude and loyalty and many other things. A society needs a full breadth of different kinds of people in order to function well. In fact, I read research the other day about ant colonies that suggested more highly evolved ant colonies had more primitive ants as opposed to more primitive colonies that had ants with more advanced nervous systems and lower metabolic rates. This seems to be at odds with what's expected. And just the other day I also read another study that showed strong support of an issue is not always accompanied by strong resistance to its opposite. My point is to say reality follows ITS rules.

In my eyes, little has changed. We still can't read the future. We still forget the past. We still die from various accidents and diseases and normal aging. We still have wars. And so on.
edit on 22-5-2013 by jonnywhite because: (no reason given)



posted on May, 22 2013 @ 12:53 PM
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I wonder what animals have fastest reaction times?

According to this idiotic study they must be smarter than humans.



posted on May, 22 2013 @ 12:54 PM
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reply to post by kimish
 


It's not technology. Its flouride and radiation. The radiation testing above atmosphere caused a drop in testing/IQ of school age children so those tested in the 40's were brighter.....!!!!

www.examiner.com...

This article is very good, should have been mainstream instead of examiner... This relates to her court testimony and background given, and good info given on these categories;


This graph on right illustrates the US average for SAT scores 1952-1994, taken the last year of high school (bottom axis), and year of birth (indicated on curve). The annual average decline in the scores inversely correlates with the total kiloton equivalent of nuke tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site the same year. The lower the SAT score, the more radiation released in that year from bomb testing at the NTS.

Source: E. J. Sternglass and S. Bell, “Fallout and SAT Scores; Evidence for Cognitive Damage During Early Infancy”, Phi Beta Kappa 64, 541-545 (1983)....


Exposure to nuclear pollution causes high rates of mental illness....

Major cause of diabetes is ionizing radiation...

Large increases in autism increased dramatically with introduction of nuclear power...

Infant mortality and childhood cancer rates drop when nuclear power plants are shut down



posted on May, 22 2013 @ 02:09 PM
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reply to post by Lady_Tuatha
 


Yea but they didn't have cool toys like today.

I would rather be a bit dummer and have fun, than uptight and be a douchbag.






posted on May, 22 2013 @ 02:34 PM
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So.... nobody sees a huge issue with this study?

Their comparison was off. They are comparing the upper classes of the victorian era to the workers of today. It would be like comparing the best, most impressive roman soldier to a mediocre modern national guardsmen (not saying the national guard is mediocre, just this specific soldier) and then concluding that the roman army was far more powerful than our modern day army simply because we compared to the high end of one generation to the low end of another.

In addition to that, there is the issue of changing requirements for success To be successful in the modern world you must have different skills and strengths than people at that time did. Did anyone back then write computer code? No? That doesn't mean they are more stupid, just that they didn't have that as an option or a need. Just like comparing intelligence between two very different TIMES is nearly impossible to do. They would likely have a very hard time doing anything in today's world. They couldn't use computers, drive, do most of the things that the common man does without thinking about it, would be a struggle for them.

I tend to think we would do better going back, it may be frustrating to deal with the lack of some comforts, but most alll of us could still read, write, do math, know a bit of history, etc etc. A modern day laborer could likely go back to that time and get a job as a laborer there. A laborer from that time could NOT come into the future and compete with modern laborers, as unskilled labor today isn't unskilled at all in many ways.



posted on May, 22 2013 @ 04:13 PM
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Thanks to the Victorians, we were able to reach the Moon in 1869. What an achievement.



posted on May, 22 2013 @ 04:15 PM
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I just love it when the brits keep following our media the copy everything it has to their websites
reply to post by BristolStew
 


Nothing further from the truth. Our media is so much further ahead- 20 minutes into the future...



posted on May, 22 2013 @ 05:01 PM
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Fast reactions come from the spine ... not your brain ... this study is bullcrap


Anyone who has studied medical science even slightly knows that your speedy reactions originate from the spine NOT THE BRAIN

.... If your brain was responsible, your hand would be left on a stove for 5 or so seconds while the brain works out what it wants to do ... (ie take the hand off the heat)

the spine is what makes you pull your hands off instantly as it is responsible for fast reactions ... not your brain.
edit on 22/5/13 by King Loki because: (no reason given)



posted on May, 22 2013 @ 06:07 PM
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Is this really a suprise to anyone?

Look at the people we allow to run our govts. they are slimball criminal sociopathic control freaks. Would an intelligent society allow people like George W. Bush and Barack Obama to run their countries?

Absolutely not!

Most people's communications nowdays consist of pop-culture references and sophmoric attempts at humor, usually at someone else's expense.

The average American has around a mid 90s IQ. Any person with an IQ of about 84 or less probably has a learning disability. So the average American is only about 10 points away from being mentally disabled.

This is what you get when you live in a society where success depends on whoever can make the best tv commercial.



posted on May, 22 2013 @ 06:07 PM
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edit on 22-5-2013 by Nicks87 because: sorry double post



posted on May, 22 2013 @ 06:10 PM
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reply to post by Astyanax
 




This selection is natural, not artificial, because it is not intended by the creators of the environment


I disagree with this view here, it simply removes any responsibility from those with the power to plan and act on it. I will go as far as state that the artificial environment was not strictly planned but has been undoubtedly evolving with and interdependent of the human society own evolution. I can tell that human evolution is today except in very remote regions anything but natural...

I am a pro-eugenic (with moral constrains, not the absolute view of it but one predicated in individual informed decision and even social promoted).







 
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