Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

The Victorians Were Probably Smarter Than People Today
Science Direct ^ | 2013 | Michael A. Woodley, Jan te Nijenhuis, Raegan Murphy

Posted on 12/14/2015 8:42:26 AM PST by marktwain

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-36 next last
Many people have commented that as we made life easier and foolproof, we would encourage a world full of fools.

Isn't there a movie out called "Idiocracy"

1 posted on 12/14/2015 8:42:26 AM PST by marktwain
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: marktwain

Considering that global civilization peaked around 1910 (and has declined ever since...I’d add the Edwardians in there as well.


2 posted on 12/14/2015 8:44:49 AM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

We killed off enormous numbers of the best in WWI.


3 posted on 12/14/2015 8:46:11 AM PST by marktwain
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: marktwain
Maybe Seinfeld was correct. When you don't have sex it frees up most of your brain capacity for higher pursuits?


4 posted on 12/14/2015 8:50:23 AM PST by Buckeye McFrog
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: marktwain
Kids in that era would avoid their Latin lesson so they could read Dickens' Pickwick Papers, which was popular reading then, high literature today.
5 posted on 12/14/2015 8:50:39 AM PST by Dr. Sivana (There is no salvation in politics)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: marktwain

Suppose Region A has an average IQ of 105.
Suppose Region B has an average IQ of 85.

Now, if you’ve imported enough people from Region B into Region A, wouldn’t it make sense that the average IQ in Region A is going to decline?


6 posted on 12/14/2015 8:52:52 AM PST by MNDude (God is not a Republican, but Satan is certainly a Democrat.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: marktwain
They were definitely less wimpy.

7 posted on 12/14/2015 8:54:18 AM PST by BitWielder1 (I'd rather have Unequal Wealth than Equal Poverty.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MNDude

Very good point!


8 posted on 12/14/2015 8:55:38 AM PST by pgkdan (But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: marktwain
Many people have commented that as we made life easier and foolproof, we would encourage a world full of fools.
Isn't there a movie out called “Idiocracy”

Yes, there is....and it make the point perfectly.

Even more than our tools, the fact that more intelligent people have to work harder to subsidize the lifestyles of their lower IQ brethren doesn't help either. In fact, many higher IQ folks have been brainwashed into not having kids 'cause its bad for the environment, diversity, social justice, etc.

9 posted on 12/14/2015 8:55:43 AM PST by rbg81 (Don't tell me, show me)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: marktwain

They weren’t smarter. They were Christians whose minds were full of hope and Americans whose minds were full of freedom, not indoctrinated Marxists obsessed with being conformist, dumbed down and easily led by lying, thieving elitists.


10 posted on 12/14/2015 8:56:16 AM PST by Albion Wilde ("Look, the establishment doesn't want me, because I don't need the establishment." --Donald Trump)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: marktwain

An 8th grader in a rural area of the US in the early 20th Century got an education in one room schoolhouses that high school students today would fail to achieve.


11 posted on 12/14/2015 8:58:02 AM PST by SC_Pete
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dr. Sivana

If you look at F. Scott Fitzgerald’s first novel, This Side of Paradise, considered at the time a charming book about flappers and their beaus, you’d be amazed at its erudition and difficult vocabulary. That would have been around 1919.

We’ve definitely gotten more stupid.


12 posted on 12/14/2015 9:03:30 AM PST by miss marmelstein (Richard the Third: I like to destroy the Turks (Moslims))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: marktwain

Certainly, there were a lot more highly disciplined people in that era. Schools were for learning the known basics of reading, writing and basic forms of classic mathematics, including the serious practice of arithmetic, all of which was done by rote and extensive memorization. Most of the upper class of Victorians could quote extensively from Latin, Greek, Shakespearian and Biblical roots, and figure return on investment virtually in their heads. And write lengthy, well-composed letters in a beautiful cursive handwriting, to each of a wide circle of acquaintances.

But life then, as it had been for most of human history, was notoriously short and subject to a number of threats and hazards we know nothing of today.


13 posted on 12/14/2015 9:03:52 AM PST by alloysteel (Do not argue with trolls. That means they win.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: marktwain

Their reading and writing skills were superior as well. Also look at some of the old architecture with artistic sculpting and other hand carved quality ornaments on building facades. Plus they revered and had the utmost respect for the Bible— not that they were all goody two shoes but also generally not arrogant know-it-alls either nor deluded by cheap thrills of this modern culture.


14 posted on 12/14/2015 9:06:07 AM PST by tflabo (Psalm 1)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MNDude

I see stupid people everywhere..


15 posted on 12/14/2015 9:06:23 AM PST by sheik yerbouty ( Make America and the world a jihad free zone!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: marktwain

At least the ones with wealth.


16 posted on 12/14/2015 9:07:46 AM PST by vpintheak (Death before disarmament!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MNDude

Correct.

There is a bi-modal (almost tri-modal) distribution to IQ, but don’t tell anyone because that’s racist.


17 posted on 12/14/2015 9:21:31 AM PST by Jewbacca (The residents of Iroquois territory may not determine whether Jews may live in Jerusalem)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: vpintheak
At least the ones with wealth

With the wealth came excellent education and impressive cultural opportunities.

There was a whole lot of "survival of the fittest" going on. Life was quite brutal for the less fortunate.

18 posted on 12/14/2015 9:31:06 AM PST by grania
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: marktwain

“Isn’t there a movie out called “Idiocracy””

The most brilliant bad movie ever made.


19 posted on 12/14/2015 9:32:17 AM PST by The Antiyuppie ("When small men cast long shadows, then it is very late in the day".)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BitWielder1

They were definitely less wimpy.


The funny thing is that during the Victorian age there were many articles decrying how soft people had become compared to the Colonial period.


20 posted on 12/14/2015 9:44:35 AM PST by Flick Lives (One should not attend even the end of the world without a good breakfast. -- Heinlein)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-36 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson