Dumber and Dumberer?

Have you ever watched a movie that made you think about the world and where it is heading?
A few nights ago I watched the 2006 movie, Idiocracy. If you haven’t seen it yet, the movie stars Luke Wilson as a mediocre army lieutenant of average intelligence who is chosen for a military experiment. The experiment consists of Luke’s character, Joe, being frozen for a year, then he is ‘awoken’ and is supposed to live his life as normal. OK, the storyline isn’t great so far but bear with me. While Joe is frozen the facility is shut down and 500 years later, Joe is exhumed from his chamber to find the earth barely functioning, living on junk food and the people of very little intelligence (ie. think of the stereotypical view of an American rednecks/ trailer trash or ‘reality stars’ like Kim K or the cast of Jersey Shore).

Here is the trailer:

The scary thing is, recent studies suggest humans are slowly but surely losing intellectual and emotional abilities. Even though with all the technologies and advancements we have, these things are actually making us lazier and because we don’t really have to use our brains to use them, less intelligent. How many times have you googled something or used your calculator to work something out instead of thinking about it? See! We aren’t using our brains as much as we should be.

The study also suggests that the overconsumption of processed food and additives to our water can also be a factor in societies diminishing intelligence. I can see the relevance of this. If your body isn’t receiving the nutritional needs from eating proper nutritional food (ie low GI, fruits, vegetables, grains and lean meats) your mind won’t function properly as a result. This is a concern when a lot of children are being brought up on processed and junk food.
You have to wonder how preservatives, colours and additives affect our body. Not just affecting our mental or intellectual capabilities but the increase of cancers, heart problems, diabetes and other diseases. What is the follow on effect of these chemicals in our bodies being spread to our babies while pregnant? Apparently. this is a factor as well.

Also, the finding suggests people with lower intelligence seem to breed more than those with higher intelligence. I’m not convinced of this theory as there are intelligent people who have big families but the theory is; most well-off, intelligent people in elite careers (ie. lawyers, doctors, CEOs, accountants etc) will only have one or two children. Whereas, those who are in a lower socioeconomic situation will have more children and therefore spread their lower intelligence to them.

As I said, I’m not convinced of this theory. How many entrepreneurs have started out with nothing, came from average families and are now worth millions/billions? Bill Gates, Oprah, Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, Mark Zuckerberg, and Madonna just to name a few.

I also think the education system isn’t helping the next generation by grading children’s work via Satisfactory or Non Satisfactory ratings. Where is the incentive to work harder for better grades? “Oh well, satisfactory is good enough”.
I’m not sure introducing ipads into schools is a good thing either. We need to get kids into reading more, not into playing ‘educational’ games. In Australia today, over 40% of adults have a literacy level below what is considered enough to get by in everyday life. A very scary statistic, which will only get worse if we don’t push kids to read more.

Speaking of illiteracy, I have to say, when I read comments on Facebook and news sites, I have wondered if people are becoming less intelligent. When comments are related to sex, violence, looks and the inability to use spelling and grammar properly you just shake your head in wonder. Once upon a time, I used to buy the Herald Sun and The Age newspapers regularly. The articles were informative and newsworthy on the latest news and current affairs, both here and internationally. The comments pages were intelligent and insightful. Not anymore! I’m appalled by what constitutes as ‘news’ now, it’s no wonder people are losing their marbles.
Who cares if Kim Kardashian is getting fat because she is pregnant? Ah non-news article people! Most women put on weight when they are pregnant! Or today’s wondrous article “Bras causing sagging breasts”. Yes, thank you for that insightful read. *rolls eyes*
As for the comments, here are some quality responses to recent articles in the Herald Sun:
“These are the same people that promised us a virtual reality sex machine 20 years ago” RE: Scientists.
“stop pleying dum labor”
“I’m 100% with you on this one Andrew except two things”
“I wouldn’t say that I’m a Nazi sympathiser but I sympathise with them”

“people should be in jail from the time they’re born & should have to prove they deserve to be allowed in to society before being let out”
“There is gay and there is harmless Aussie fun. Blokes on our end of season footy trip pashed for a laugh after frothies. Nothing gay.”
“Everything bout scool celbrashion is dum like chukn yr hat in the air. how hell do u now wich 1 is yrs wen they cum down”
“Yeh yeh wev all herd bout how bad hitler is funny how knowone says anything bout all the peple that Michael gorbachoff killed in ww2”
“Catching trolls is bs. Try tacking my computers ip. i post from a Phone halve the time. lol idiots”Ok, enough with the comments, my intelligence is diminishing just reading them! Do you think people were always like this or do you think we are noticing it more because of the internet and media?What are your thoughts on humans becoming less intelligent as time goes on?