Few things bother me more than this pessimistic view of the human race. Yea, we're not perfect...at the end of the day, we're still animals that are bound to nature. However, just look around the world we live in right now and see how damn amazing we have it compared to just a few decades prior. We have the ability to talk to someone across the world in real time. Hell, even the fact that we are able to have this conversation is amazing. This is something that would not have been possible just 15-20 years ago. Even without going back to the 80s and 90s, just look at our cell phones for the past couple of years. We've went from basic flip phones to mini-computers that fit in our pockets that can do pretty much anything. I can video chat with someone in Australia while riding in a train in NY by using a device that I can fit in my pocket. This is the kind of stuff that we take for granted, but when you actually sit down and think about it...it's unimaginable. Don't even get me started on NASA's Curiosity.

 

Another example: modern medicine save lives everyday, and continues to advance. Just look at HIV/AIDS. In the 80s and 90s, getting HIV was basically a death sentence. It was inevitable that you were going to progress to AIDS. Now, we can control it with antiretrovirals. Sure, it's not pretty and comes with a long list of side effects, but now people with HIV can expect to live just as long as someone without the virus given that it is treated early. Just think about how amazing that is...we were able to effectively turn a death sentence into a manageable condition in just 20 years. And it doesn't just stop there. Advances in the medical field are made everyday. If you want something with a shorter timeline, look at the use of EMRs (electronic medical records) during the past few years. Most charting now done in hospitals is through an EMR system and anyone who is caring for the patient can access it anywhere in the hospital at anytime, greatly increasing continuity of care. When meds are administered, the patient's ID band is scanned, along side with the medication, which drastically reduces med errors (I know it has saved my ass a few times in clincals). Before, all charting had to be done by hand on paper, and each patient had a gigantic binder that was left on the unit the patient is admitted in. All of this was just in a matter of a few years.

 

TL;DR: Just those handful of examples prove to me that no, the human race is not becoming less intelligent. As a matter of fact, we're progressing quite well. It's just that stupid people now have a means to broadcast their stupidity to everyone.

 

The amount of butchering of the English Language I hear/read daily makes the study not surprise me at all.

Let me just quote a Tweet a friend of mine made:
 

I don't get what good abbreviating three-letter words does. I mean, yeah. You saved two keystrokes. Good job.

 

There have been stupid people since the beginning of time. It's just now that these same stupid people have the means to broadcast their stupidity to the world via the Internet.

 

Edited August 23, 201411 yr by LtCarman

Are we becoming more stupid?

Yes, look at pop culture today. Next thread please.

There have been stupid people since the beginning of time. It's just now that these same stupid people have the means to broadcast their stupidity to the world via the Internet.

You have a point there. And a very good one.

However, it is true that a major percentage of our population is 'sheep' and rather than using their own brains, they prefer blindly following stereotypes. I won't go into details here as chaps nowadays seem to take offence at the slightest disclosure of unspoken truth. Some of you may not agree, but its true. Only a small fraction of our population become scientists or creative people who invent, learn and don't mind being proven wrong. The rest are sitting in their cubicles with their Mondays no different than the rest of the weekdays or are busy making money off of others. So in nutshell, there was always only a small fraction of humans who did the real work, the rest would be, if it weren't for the guys that constitute that small fraction, still sitting in caves roasting bull meat on makeshift fire. Taking into account LtCarman's afore-quoted sentence, proves the point aptly.