Last century: Western nations lost an average 14 IQ points

UPI ^ | May 23, 2013 | UPI

[Mechanicos]

BRUSSELS, May 28 (UPI) -- Since 1889 to 2004, IQ declined 14.1 points among those from Western nations, researchers in Europe say.

[tbw2]

Importing people from lower IQ parts of the world doesn’t help.

[publius911]

Last century: Western nations lost an average 14 IQ points
Since 1889 to 2004, IQ declined 14.1 points among those from Western nations, researchers in Europe say.

Perhaps fake new, or
if not, definitely distorted or misleading news.
Western countries, primarily the United States, has lowered the bar of competent education beyond the line of incompetence into criminal territory.

Our educational system has failed, so of course, our apparent national IQ seems to have slipped

A close examination of what we now call STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) would reveal that the disciplines that matter haven't degenerated one whit.

In spite that the knowledge required to master those disciplines,(and related disciplines like cosmology, statistics etc. ) have expanded significantly and continuously since the 19th Century.

[publius911]

After 20 years of 3 times a week weed use, there is an 8 point unrecoverable loss in IQ, so that, then, 71% of people are smarter than the pot-head.

I had a very close friend born and living in Ireland who was born a special intellect; high IQ, fantastic memory, naturally curious, a polyglot, beautiful, an excellent writer and a great friend.

Heavy marihuana use during her teen and early 20s years turned her into a practical retard by the time she died, paranoid, neurasthenic an alcoholic and bipolar at age 38...

Definitely not a random coincidence.

May have been a random genetic predisposition, but I doubt it very much.

[publius911]

What a lot of people fail to understand is the IQ is not how smart you are, it’s what you have retained.

...or what they can apply is a useful way to everyday life.

[publius911]

the lame and the lazy.

There's a word for that; the indolent.

[Redwood71]

“or what they can apply is a useful way to everyday life.”

I haven’t heard it defined this way. The act of retention is nothing more than the storage of the information. Being able to apply it correctly and in part or full is an application of reasoning. Reasoning is a physical application of the info which is stored.

Using it in a useful way is a matter of individual choice based upon prior education everywhere from formal schooling to basic life skills starting at birth. And that can create an opinion both by the applicator or the bystander. (Sidewalk supervisor)

I just understood it as retention only. And this is why IQ doesn’t make you smarter. Just keeps you occupied with worthless information you can’t apply.

rwood

[ALongRoadAhead]

And temporarily it lowers it MORE which is especially bad at crucial decision times.

Like, say, around VOTING TIME!