Humans Still Evolving as Our Brains Shrink

FoxNews ^ | 11/13/2009 | Behemoth the Cat

[Behemoth the Cat]

"As to why is [the human brain] shrinking, perhaps in big societies, as opposed to hunter-gatherer lifestyles, we can rely on other people for more things, can specialize our behavior to a greater extent, and maybe not need our brains as much(...)"

[Behemoth the Cat]

Isn't it a scientific explanation of the mental inferiority of liberals? Dependent on the government, mentally challenged...

[Pearls Before Swine]

I think that brain shrinkage is a symptom of DEvolving rather than Evolving. I recall hearing about a wolf-to-dog generation breeding experiment based on domestication traits, and in several generations the transformation was quite impressive. Along with body shrinkage, the brain shrunk by about a third. Was that Evolution or DEvolution?

[BlueStateBlues]

Brains. Smaller. Which way is up? Can you see the Sun from the moon? Who is you?

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

A human being should be able to change a diaper,
plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship.
design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts,
build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take
orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve
equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure,
program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight
efficiently, die gallantly.
Specialization is for insects.

Robert Anson Heinlein

[Secret Agent Man]

TV , MSM and welfare society. IE not learning skills and depending on others to solve your problems. Who the hell needs a brain when politicians and their lapdog media tells you what to think?

[vbmoneyspender]

Aren’t IQ scores going up every year?

[Marie2]

Supposedly, evolutionary changes take millions or years. I think evolution is a load of hooey. However, were it true, I don’t think the last few hundred years of occasional socialistic trends would be “changing our brains” yet.

There are so many holes in this theorizing, I don’t know why anyone gives it any credence.

Haven’t the majority of human beings in the last five hundred years been under some sort of tyranny? Look at the entire continent of Africa right now, not to mention Asia. Geez.

[vbmoneyspender]

The Flynn Effect

[ClearCase_guy]

Are they saying that Democrats are more highly evolved?

[Trod Upon]

More fully devolved. Shrinking brains would sure explain 0bama in the White House.

[MaxMax]

My brain isn't shrinking! I have no idea what you're talking about, stupid studies.

[Quickgun]

What I was thinking, brains couldn't get any smaller than they did last November.....☺

[coydog]

A quite relevant comics page:

http://www.bigheadpress.com/pk?page=18

[Nosterrex]

I really do not know what to make of this. Perhaps people were far smarter than we are today. That certainly undermines the view of some that humans living today are more enlightened than in previous generations. This could be one explanation for the decreasing scores on ACT and SAT tests. The changes are for the worse, not the better. Humans are not evolving upward where it matters most, intelligence as related to a shrinking brain. Species that become too specialized, as the editor speculated, become extinct. Depending upon a specialized society in order to survive is not conducive for survival. Many things can disrupt an overly specialized society. None of these findings sound encouraging. For instance, in ancient times, people could memorize huge amounts of material verbatim. Today, we cannot get our children to memorize the times table.

[adorno]

Aren’t IQ scores going up every year?

That's due to one or two of the following:

Inflation has even expanded into IQ scores

or

$20 can get you a higher score.

[Behemoth the Cat]

...and it won’t be better. Just think who typically has more kids: a PhD, or a welfare queen?

[Pearls Before Swine]

Re post 13: What a great cartoon. Love the final panel!

[The Antiyuppie]

“Aren’t IQ scores going up every year?”

Yes, but the measuring standards are shrinking.

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

Aren’t IQ scores going up every year?

Not if average is defined as 100.

Same with poverty. Poverty is approximately the lowest quintile in the statistics of every country. Look it up in the CIA factbook. Sri Lanka and the US are about the same, SL should be about 95% on the same standard. When it varies against an absolute dollar amount by more than a few percent, the dollar amount gets changed to bring it back to 20%. IOW, statements that the poverty rate is this or that or rising or falling are meaningless until there is an absolute-only measure. Most people are completely fooled, especially libs.

[vbmoneyspender]

IQ tests are re-normalized periodically, in order to hold the average score for an age group at 100. In fact, the necessity for this re-normalization provided Flynn with an initial indication that IQ was changing over time. The revised versions are standardized on new samples and scored with respect to those samples alone, so the only way to compare the difficulty of two versions of a test is to conduct a separate study in which the same subjects take both versions.[2] Doing so confirms IQ gains over time.