Are we getting dumber as a species?

[noisyturtle]

Because this is some advanced stupidity right here.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/04/25/dogs-cannot-get-autism-british-veterinary-association-warns/

[tp4tissue]

Autism is up by quite-alot.

Vaccination after birth is probably only a small influence.

The replicant humans are likely born broken.

The high consumption of meat, and therefore significantly elevated exposure to:

dioxins/
antibiotics/
hormones/
pesticides/
industrial pollutants

is causing DNA damage/ malfunction in the parents and during gestation.

People are always looking for reasons outside of themselves.

Hey perhaps eating toxic foods can affect offsprings, who would've thought ?

[noisyturtle]

you did not even look at the article did you?

[tp4tissue]

you did not even look at the article did you?

I did look at it.

It's similar to how people believe Sharks cannot get cancer..

They most certainly can..

People believe these things in some cases because they're desperate for a cure.

In the case of autism parents, it's completely hopeless, so they will naturally reach for anything at all to explain to hate to suppress their predicament.

In the case of cancer patients, we simply don't have very good technology to FIX cancer,  so when someone comes along and offers you a relatively cheap product, shark cartilage, they buy into it..


All the while..  Broccoli is the strongest cancer prevention and treatment known to man..

[fohat.digs]

No, we are getting smarter as a species, but a large proportion of the human race is deliberately choosing ignorance.

Aggressive ignorance, in fact, as a core component of their world view.

[tp4tissue]

No, we are getting smarter as a species, but a large proportion of the human race is deliberately choosing ignorance.

Aggressive ignorance, in fact, as a core component of their world view.

That is not the whole story.

Those that you speak of are not absolved of all responsibility for their predicament; but, there is an ACTIVE force in politics to keep a segment of the population both economically disadvantaged and intellectually neutered.

This is necessary to maintain a workforce for less-attractive harsh labor.

[Leslieann]

Autism is up by quite-alot.

Don't read too much into the numbers because they paint a false picture.
We changed how we define Autism, which added a lot more people to the list.

[tp4tissue]

Autism is up by quite-alot.

Don't read too much into the numbers because they paint a false picture.
We changed how we define Autism, which added a lot more people to the list.

Yes, part of the 2000%+ rise in autism is very well due to diagonostic differences and search prevalence over time.

But correcting for that the rise is still ~800%.


Epidemiological studies are predominantly linking air-pollution and pesticide exposure as statistically significant.


Air pollution, well that's easy, move to hick-country.

Pesticides,  that one is tough, especially if we eat meat, because meat contains concentrated pesticides.

We grow grain, we spray pesticides, then we feed the grain to cattle/pig/chicken.

The toxins build up the food chain, until human babies come out a little dimmer.



This relationship is very strong.

[iaso]

Well, the Brits sure are it seems

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5652743/Schools-removing-analogue-clocks-exams-teenagers-tell-time.html

"Digital clocks will be used after students complained they couldn't tell the time"

[tp4tissue]

Well, the Brits sure are it seems

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5652743/Schools-removing-analogue-clocks-exams-teenagers-tell-time.html

"Digital clocks will be used after students complained they couldn't tell the time"

Hahahaha..

Alot of peeps can't read vernier calipers either..

I rely on Digi-cals these days myself, but that's primarily because my vision's gone bad.

Even dial calipers, while they're very cool, Lots of squinting.

[chyros]

No, we are getting smarter as a species, but a large proportion of the human race is deliberately choosing ignorance.

Aggressive ignorance, in fact, as a core component of their world view.

Pretty sure this varies per country, tbh.

[fanpeople]

No, we are getting smarter as a species, but a large proportion of the human race is deliberately choosing ignorance.

Aggressive ignorance, in fact, as a core component of their world view.

Pretty sure this varies per country, tbh.

OI MATE DONT PUT YOUR DONGA CHUGGERS ON MA KANGEROO.

[tp4tissue]

No, we are getting smarter as a species, but a large proportion of the human race is deliberately choosing ignorance.

Aggressive ignorance, in fact, as a core component of their world view.

Pretty sure this varies per country, tbh.

OI MATE DONT PUT YOUR DONGA CHUGGERS ON MA KANGEROO.

/Translation Query

[shadowrealmwarez]

We are, we have people eating tide pods and snorting condoms. What we really need to do is take warning labels off EVERYTHING and just add a legal warning that if this product injures and causes bodily harm or kills you, <company> is not liable.

Should solve all our problems real quick, and we'll give out a lot of Darwin awards.

[tp4tissue]

We are, we have people eating tide pods and snorting condoms. What we really need to do is take warning labels off EVERYTHING and just add a legal warning that if this product injures and causes bodily harm or kills you, <company> is not liable.

Should solve all our problems real quick, and we'll give out a lot of Darwin awards.

Those tide pods look too much like gummy candy..

It's really not too much of a stretch.

Kids ate lead paint since forever..

[fanpeople]

No, we are getting smarter as a species, but a large proportion of the human race is deliberately choosing ignorance.

Aggressive ignorance, in fact, as a core component of their world view.

Pretty sure this varies per country, tbh.

OI MATE DONT PUT YOUR DONGA CHUGGERS ON MA KANGEROO.

/Translation Query

"Hello fine sir, could you please not place your hands on my vehicle."

[tp4tissue]

OI MATE DONT PUT YOUR DONGA CHUGGERS ON MA KANGEROO.

/Translation Query

"Hello fine sir, could you please not place your hands on my vehicle."

[noisyturtle]

Autism is up by quite-alot.

Don't read too much into the numbers because they paint a false picture.
We changed how we define Autism, which added a lot more people to the list.

Agreed. Kinda like how every kid has ADD now. Heck, every adult claims to have it too.

[Leslieann]

Autism is up by quite-alot.

Don't read too much into the numbers because they paint a false picture.
We changed how we define Autism, which added a lot more people to the list.

Agreed. Kinda like how every kid has ADD now. Heck, every adult claims to have it too.

That was the "in" thing in the late 80's, putting every kid on drugs for it.  Now it's Autism.



As for getting dumber...
I don't think we are necessarily dumber or even more violent, we just find it easier to find evidence of all of it and the things we "need" to know, change over time. Take the telephone handset symbol on your cell phone... Kids don't know what that is, but do they need to? Does a kindergartner need to know about cassette tapes or cd's? The same goes for analog clocks, and even alarm clocks, they are pretty much a relic these days when everyone has a cell phone with a digital clock on it.

That said, we are breeding a bunch of people who lack the ability to apply basic fact checking (not that they try), merged with a platform perfect for trolls and a group of leaders who are determined to undermine our education system. Mine sucked, but as I got older I realized that as bad as mine was, it was far better than what other people got. Where I currently live, I would home school or move, no question.

[davkol]

Are we getting dumber as a species?

Some research has suggested so (Live Science report):

The study, published today (Nov. 12) in the journal Trends in Genetics, argues that humans lost the evolutionary pressure to be smart once we started living in dense agricultural settlements several thousand years ago.

[…]

 Early humans lived or died by their spatial abilities, such as quickly making a shelter or spearing a saber-toothed tiger. Nowadays, though almost everyone has the spatial ability to do ostensibly simple tasks like washing dishes or mowing the lawn, such tasks actually require a lot of brainpower, the researchers note.

And we can thank our ancestors and the highly tuned mechanism of natural selection for such abilities. Meanwhile, the ability to play chess or compose poetry likely evolved as collateral effects.

But after the spread of agriculture, when our ancestors began to live in dense farming communities, the intense need to keep those genes in peak condition gradually waned.

And its unlikely that the evolutionary advantage of intelligence is greater than it was during our hunter-gatherer past, the paper argues.

"A hunter-gatherer who did not correctly conceive a solution to providing food or shelter probably died, along with his/her progeny, whereas a modern Wall Street executive that made a similar conceptual mistake would receive a substantial bonus and be a more attractive mate. Clearly, extreme selection is a thing of the past," the researchers write in the journal article.

Gerald R. Crabtree. Our fragile intellect. Trends in Genetics, 2012.

[Waateva]

We are, we have people eating tide pods and snorting condoms. What we really need to do is take warning labels off EVERYTHING and just add a legal warning that if this product injures and causes bodily harm or kills you, <company> is not liable.

Should solve all our problems real quick, and we'll give out a lot of Darwin awards.

Yeah I see no way that any companies could or would abuse this, no way at all. 

****, a lot of the labels on things are there because companies were selling ****ty products that were harming people, those injured people sued the companies, and either by choice or by legal necessity, the companies added them or were forced by a governmental agency to add them.

Now, this isn't to say that common sense shouldn't be used daily, but removing ALL labels is stupid as hell.