IQ decrease a problem of the modern age, or not?

I do believe most people are retarded... yes... look at Mississippi.

It's not like entirety off mankind was always super-smart or something. It was always a case of remarkable individuals thinking outside of the box and pushing us forward.

It's also ridiculous how they claim something in relation to past IQ...even though several decades ago, that concept basically didn't exists. Yeeeaaaahhhh. And it might as well being even lower than it is today.

And finally, smart people are smart specifically because the rest isn't up to the par with them. As simple as that.

I believe when they say IQ decrease, they mean the fact that our generation doesnt have as much common sense. If you look at how we function, most of us cant even build a fire or know how to cook. These used to be basic skills. Now we have stoves and microwaves. Its not that we are becoming dumber, but that our basic skills are being lost because of these new technological advances. Industrialization has is problems, such as this. That is why many countries during the time of industrialization refused to be a part of it. The side-effects are pretty bad. Just look at America.

Some what because the modern is the age of rapid technology, new gadgets, theories, tools medical and personal. a decrease in IQ would effect progress i believe or i can be completely wrong and those with high IQ's will strive and monopolize the field that they're in but to your question i believe the effects will soon be noticed when libraries fall in disrepair :)

I already think the mass majority of human beings on this planet are fucking retarded.

The food we eat actually has an impact on this. What with all the preservatives and chemicals, it messes with a person's head dumbing them down. Check the links below for an article about this.

http://vigilantcitizen.com/?p=4051
http://vigilantcitizen.com/?p=4116
http://vigilantcitizen.com/?p=4210

Idiocracy. While the movie was amusing and fairly funny, the idea that IQ will essentially drop due to people with common sense having common sense is debatable. With technology essentially making life easier and the lower class doing what ever the hell they like because they can't get out of the situation (in addition to not really caring), there's really only going to be cheap leisure and almost no creativity to expand horizons or even run the world.

I read somewhere that the IQ of a person does not increase or fall much after reaching a certain age. Of course, reading widely and engaging in mentally stimulating activities may help to make a person more knowledgable.

I don't believe it is true. It is how people choose to use their intelligence; a person with an IQ of 180 may be extremely lazy, choosing not to do anything. On the other hand, a person with an ordinary IQ of 100 may be extremely hardworking, striving to do a lot more.

Yes..like any other answer.. it is due to modern technology to make our life easier and people lacking of common sense with it..

IQ is the comparison of your ability on certain cognitive skills to the average of your cohort or those people currently in your own age group. This is the important part. You aren't being compared to the past; IQ scores are always calculated with respect to the average score for the present group. So basically, they give the standardized tests to a bunch of people and measure it. The score that divides the upper 50% from the lower 50% (basically, the average IQ) is called 100. So, if a person scores 20% above average, the IQ is 120, or if it's 20% below average, the IQ is 80, and so on and so forth. Again, this is only compared to people currently in your age group.

But when current IQ scores for a certain cohort are compared with the average for the corresponding cohort tested one generation earlier, studies show that in actuality, IQ scores are increasing with each successive generation, and that this is true across all cultures and all types of IQ tests. This increase in IQ between generations is called the Flynn effect. According to the Flynn effect, people in the top percentile of a group 100yrs ago would be considered in the bottom percentile in the current time! That means someone who was a genius 100yrs ago would be considered a moron now. Some reasons for this effect are better health and nutrition, better access to education, a more complex society...generally, a better standard of life.

TLDR Version: IQ scores aren't actually decreasing, and are actually increasing, if compared to previous generations.

Yes, of course I.Q. decrease is a problem.

But it won't be a problem if people actually struggle to learn. Even a person with an IQ which is said to be below average can still usher at the top of the class when he is diligent enough in his studies.

A person may have high I.Q. but it is impossible for him to know everything from the start. Everything starts with your urge to learn and improve yourself.

IQ decrease - how and who is measuring this? Sounds pretty out-there ...

On the other hand, few folks are willing to learn the hard stuff any more (willing is not the same as unable), science and engineering programs in U.S. universities are largely filled with none citizens. I took some high level computer science courses a few years back at Berkeley and in most of my classes, of the 30 or so people enrolled - I was often the only American in the class. That's a little scary.

there's a movie on the whole idea that humans are no longer susceptible to natural selection and thus intelligence becomes unneeded - it's called Idiocracy, its quite a funny movie

That movie gave me a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuge headache. But yeah, it was funny.

To expand on my point though, the Flynn effect is seen more strongly in the lower IQ levels. That is, the high end of the IQ distribution for one cohort doesn't increase much compared to previous generations', but the lower end often sees leaps and bounds in increases. Again, this is because of better access to education, a more enriched environment, etc. for those on the lower end of the IQ scale. Scary as it may be, Idiocracy isn't *that* likely. It's more likely that we'll hit an IQ plateau that is higher than what we currently have, and there will always be smart and dumb people.

This is my theory

In the past, through natural selection, those who could not adapt were killed off. Those who could adapt where smart people who were also fit.

So if your unfit you became fit.

If you were dumb but were fit, you had a chance of living but not the best

but if you were unfit and stupid, well your fucked.

Today's society makes it so that dumb people have a better chance of survival.

So in other words.

Because these people are more likely to live due to the comforts of modern society. And not natural selection. with no strife, well not the strife like how it was before. And said people continue to populate the earth, and those who are smart don't tend to procreate. (I wont specify why)

I believe that IQ degradation on the society isn't the problem of the modern age. One justification is the IQ system itself is vague at best, unreliable at worst so the IQ median isn't exactly valid because no matter how sophisticated IQ rating system today they (I felt) still unable to fully determine the height of intelligence someone have precisely. My friend from kindergarten used to have 76,82, and 80 on his IQ test around age 8,12, and 14 but recently he just receive his PhD after graduating from a university in Indonesia along with "cum laude" award. I always doubt the IQ measurements, while some really accurate, some just really inaccurate like shooting some AK with one hand while enjoying pizza at the other hand.

Simply put: Not a problem for the modern age, just a trivial question.