Re-read the questions. There are 3 questions, in order of appearance:There simply needs to be some logic that implies what that first and last character is. — Philosophim
What is the third character (number, letter, or symbol) you will type to solve this?
How many different characters will you type to solve this?
What is the first character you will type to solve this?
:grin: Intelligence in action.We came to a gate that required knowing a code to open the gate and I was stopped, sure I could not get out of the gate without the code. Mind you I have a college education so I am smart, right? :lol: My retard friend didn't think twice before putting his hand through the bars in the fence and opening the gate from the outside handle. — Athena
I like where you're going with this, but this doesn't even factor in to the explanation as to why, if intelligence is declining, it is so. The modern problems aren't harder. The logistics of living in the ancient times required acuity of the mind. Remember that without them pushing the civilizations forward with their primitive thinking, we wouldn't be here.Another possibility: Intelligence isn't decreasing, in fact it's rising, but this is offset by problems getting harder to solve. The entire calculation for IQ, appropriately adjusted, then registers as a decline. — Agent Smith
Yes, you have a point. That's why I think the studies do not refer to mere brute force as factor in intelligence. Rather, environmental pressure (this is their description) is the one area they're looking at.I don't think knowing how and being good in fighting and hunting makes man -- has made him, in any period of this history-- more intelligent. Are bullies, barbarians, belligerents, primitive tribes intelligent than civilized people? — Alkis Piskas
The brain’s plumbing
The blood flow to the cognitive part of the brain, the cerebrum, comes through two internal carotid arteries, one on the right and one on the left. The size of these arteries is related to the rate of blood flow through them.
Just as a plumber would install larger water pipes to accommodate a higher flow rate to a larger building, the blood circulatory system continually adjusts the sizes of blood vessels to match the rate of blood flow inside them. This in turn is related to the oxygen demand of the organ.
If we can measure the size of the large arteries that supply an organ such as the brain, we can calculate the average rate of blood flow with some accuracy.
This principle has been known for a century and its beauty lies in its simplicity.
...
We found that the size of the carotid canals increased much faster than expected from brain size in 12 species of our human ancestors over a period of 3 million years.
While brain size was increasing 3.5 times, blood flow rate surprisingly increased sixfold, from about 1.2ml per second to 7ml per second.
2. Cortical networks for speech and tool use
Speech and tool use are both goal-directed motor acts. Like other motor actions, their execution and comprehension rely on neural circuits integrating sensory perception and motor control (figure 1). An obvious difference between speech and tool use is that the former typically occurs in an auditory and vocal modality, whereas the latter is predominantly visuospatial, somatosensory and manual. Nevertheless, there are important similarities in the way speech and tool-use networks are organized, including strong evidence of functional–anatomical overlap in IFG and, less decisively, in inferior parietal and posterior temporal cortex (PTC).
I take offense with this. Spirit lives on in infinite slumber. Somehow, flowers is one of those that we use to connect with them. And I always wonder about this. Cause there are fruits to be given, too. There are some really beautiful fruits and they last longer than flowers on a headstone. Plus you don't need to put them in a vase with water.The beautiful bouquet of flowers :flower: on a gravestone hide the decomposing form beneath :death: . — Agent Smith
Incorrect. The reason is because we have a common understanding that while liars want to avoid that which is more harmful in relationships. Would you tell your boss she's fat if she asked you if she's fat? Truth is, no matter how nice a husband tells his wife the truth about her elephantile derriere, that cellulitic comment is never gonna enter her floppy ears like a philharmonic orchestral music.Examining this is kind of the point of my question. Why do you think that is? Maybe because castigating them serves no utility for either party — Cobra
For the record, I provided some passages of the articles about the studies conducted by the researchers whose names I also provided. So stop being dramatic. If you have a habit of skipping pages of threads so that you only get the middle or end or incoherent posts , it's not my problem.Why?????? — god must be atheist
Right. So, are you actually agreeing with me or trying to make a point? How does the many hours of work to get some information affect the acuity of the brain? Did you know that the ancient Greek historians or writers had no laptop to record what they heard inside the courtroom? They were not allowed to bring the stylus or any writing or recording instruments inside a courtroom to record the case word for word. So what they did was listen and commit to memory the words they heard, then run back outside and start retrieving the information while writing them down.The most obvious case is when I look at my children's school books where there can be a question to use the internet to answer some question. Do you know how difficult it would have been to answer those question without using search engines conveniently at your fingertips with one's smartphone or the laptop they gave from school? It would many times taken hours first to go to a library, find then a book where the information might be. — ssu
Yes, I actually was thinking of something similar to Earth habitat. But yes, artificial structure would be more realistic. Nonetheless, if that's the case, there is a possibility of creating one since ISS has already established that long term stay is possible in such structure. It's just a matter of time. So, obviously not in the near future. But still my question about the political consequences of such arrangement. We're not going to escape the political and economic domination as we are experiencing on Earth. There's not going to be a utopia.I think that the other planets are known to be fundamentally uninhabitable, any colonization would be within an artificial structure, just like the space station. You appear to be dreaming about something which will never happen. — Metaphysician Undercover
Not like a thunderbolt, but yeah. I had it, too. Deep fondness. It's crazy.My buddy calls falling for someone this way, getting struck by a thunderbolt. I've never been struck by a thunderbolt. — dazed
It's okay to beat around the bush.There's something you're not telling us. — Agent Smith
Yes. Why do we have a hard time accepting nuclear energy? Is it due to ignorance? Lack of education? Cultural?Germany has scraped nuclear energy which is most certainly a backwards step in terms of efficiency and general pollution. There are political games at play and society at large seem — I like sushi
Until the dinosaurs died, in short burst of time.Lots of doom and gloom that will likely amount to nothing much other than a flash in the pan. — I like sushi
Please read the above post. Thanks.Or, another theme in science fiction: we travel for a very long time in space and never find anyone else. — Bitter Crank
Once the exclusive province of science fiction stories and films, the subject of space colonization has rapidly moved several steps closer to becoming a reality thanks to major advances in rocket propulsion and design, astronautics and astrophysics, robotics and medicine. The urgency to establish humanity as a multi-planet species has been re-validated by the emergence of a worldwide pandemic, one of several reasons including both natural and man-made catastrophes long espoused in the pro-colonization rhetoric.
The long-term habitation of the International Space Station by rotating teams of astronauts, scientists and medical professionals has provided us with a wealth of data to establish parameters for keeping humans alive and healthy for long periods in the harsh environment of space. Here on earth there have been several ambitious projects attempting to duplicate as close as possible the conditions of off-world habitation to test the limits of human endurance.
No, because Antarctica was never earmarked for settlement, only scientific exploration. Second, only those who have the means to go to the chosen planet could lead the international treaty. (If settlement is already a possibility),I think Antarctica might a good model for how it could work in space. — T Clark
I said, if a planet could be inhabited. Which implies that it is fit for human habitat. Could you guys try to envision this scenario?If there is nothing to be gained in space other than knowledge, I don't see why anyone will care what happens there. If there is no economical way of bringing resources available in space back here to earth, the only value of space will be military. — T Clark
What was it then? You said it would be first come first served -- we already know which countries have the means to go. In reality.It wasn't an answer. — T Clark
Humor me.Or, another theme in science fiction: we travel for a very long time in space and never find anyone else. — Bitter Crank
You think so, but no.The new melting pot: Mars. — Metaphysician Undercover
Antarctica is a continent on a planet that's already organically occupied by humans. When I said "entity" I meant a separate body of a planet. Sorry for this neglect.Antarctica. — T Clark
Space exploration, to put it bluntly.I'm not sure what this means. Meaningful galactic ambition depends on the ability to travel faster than light. Current science says that's not possible. — T Clark
Questions -
Is there anything in space worth going after. Probably. Raw materials. Scientific knowledge.
If yes, where is it? Is it on a large celestial object - planet or moon - or on a smaller one - asteroid?
Is it economical to go after the materials?
Is the best way of getting the materials by using fixed bases? — T Clark
Okay, so this is your answer.2) First come/best military first served. Method 2 is how it worked on Earth. — T Clark
Peace is part of the Moon Treaty. And why we couldn't have the same on Earth is obvious. But, I think that settlement on another planet would be just like on Earth -- or would it be a big lab like Antarctica? I believe, though, with increasing intelligence, as I have already been told in this forum by other forum members, humans will try to figure out a way to carve out another settlement somewhere. If Antarctica melts, and as big as it is -- much bigger than the US size, that could be a possibility. But guess what, 7 nations already claimed territories on Antarctica.If we could have, we probably would have already. — T Clark
No. The collective truth has a power beyond utility and boring. This is not the whole-greater-than-sum-of-its-parts case. Rather, when it comes to truth-telling, the parts are as important as the whole collective of truth tellers. If you could pick and choose only those with clear utilities and only then you would tell the truth, then you are violating the principle of fidelity of the whole community of truth tellers. Your system of ethics and morality would quickly crash and burn.Is what determines the point of truth a matter of utility? — Cobra
While I never doubted the power of the intelligentsia -- philosophy, sociology, politics, and economics -- in world politics, I think most of the world do. Especially now that we have the short-attention span generation saturated with social media and visual-centric societies. If some government had stopped in their vigilance in tracking the trajectory of the intellectual movements, that government is plain stupid.What lessons might we draw from this report, particularly in the current political environment with its ongoing assault on the critical intelligentsia? First of all, it should be a cogent reminder that if some presume that intellectuals are powerless, and that our political orientations do not matter, the organization that has been one of the most potent power brokers in contemporary world politics does not agree. The Central Intelligence Agency, as its name ironically suggests, believes in the power of intelligence and theory, and we should take this very seriously. In falsely presuming that intellectual work has little or no traction in the “real world,” we not only misrepresent the practical implications of theoretical labor, but we also run the risk of dangerously turning a blind eye to the political projects for which we can easily become the unwitting cultural ambassadors. Although it is certainly the case that the French nation-state and cultural apparatus provide a much more significant public platform for intellectuals than is to be found in many other countries, the CIA’s preoccupation with mapping and manipulating theoretical and cultural production elsewhere should serve as a wake-up call to us all. — Olivier5
Okay, I can agree that we're not sure about realistic measurement. But could we at least look at the big picture of the results of our mindset. For example, how is it that the more our intelligence increases, the more our environment is being destroyed by us. Let us at least think about that. With all the advancement in technology, there are issues that just don't seem to benefit from out increased intelligence -- overpopulation, environmental pollution, etc.What you have posed is a possibility but we can argue the opposite too. How can we measure this realistically? I don't think we can as there are far to many factors involved and many cognitive abilities are not exactly well understood by any means. — I like sushi
Agriculture had made our activities money-centric or commercial-centric.For the sake of arguing against I could suggest that agriculture allowed us to free up our time and work together in groups more easily (specialisation). Of course there are counter argument to this too as there is reasonable evidence to suggest that human collaborated on a pretty large communal scale prior to the full blown advent of sedentary living and/or agriculture. — I like sushi
Good analogy. The updates -- cultural updates -- could be the culprit, not necessarily the brain.The point is, whatever changes in hardware (I.Q), either for better or worse, may have occurred over the past 5,000 in humanity as a whole, or between individuals, would have to be seen as utterly insignificant in their effects as compared to the powers of cultural transmission , our ‘software updates’. — Joshs
No, I just couldn't outright argue as to the comparison to the mind-capacity of the prehistoric humans. And I'm not even sure if you're being sarcastic. So, if you don't mind elaborating on what you mean.And that's supposed to be a sign of intelligence? Why not call that stupidity? — Dijkgraf
I said in my OP it has nothing to do with the size of the brains -- at least not this time.Even if we have smaller brains now that doesn't make us less intelligent. This is a common misconception. — I like sushi
While this is not the subject of the studies I mentioned on this thread, are you forgetting the masterpieces created in the 17th, 18th, 19th centuries? Literature, fine arts, music?Besides, advance language and written text has expanded vastly our abilities to communicate and solve problems. Just think about, look at the threads in this forum. Now what would it look like to people let's say in the 19th Century? They would awe how much the members (who all aren't academic professionals) know about literature or the data about a subject. Of course, they should be explained that we can use search engines and "google" things. — ssu
I agree. I used "IQ" because that's what everybody here wants to use.As someone else notes there is a difference between IQ and being intelligent I think? At least in general parse. — I like sushi
It's more like this:Is your argument like this? Intelligence produced luxury. Luxury produced laziness. And laziness reduced intelligence. — Metaphysician Undercover
While I could not produce concrete evidence -- as what our forum friends have been asking -- I could only cite studies by researchers whose findings tend to show that intelligence is not the IQ we are used to attribute to intelligence. IQ is culturally influenced. What I want to talk about is intelligence that could be measured without the benefits of modern culture we have now. The researchers have identified one -- reaction time. It could mean reaction time to threats, which requires quick thinking, which requires quick decision making. We no longer live in life and death situation where our adrenaline could be tasked regularly. Because we have all the tools and technology now to do all that for us. Of course, you could argue that we created these technologies, so we must be awesome compared to the prehistoric humans. And for that, I do not have an argument.Yes, there is evidence to suggest that hunter-gatherers were much more well-rounded and capable than modern domesticated humans (the same can be said about domesticated farm animals). Much of this has to do with the specialization of work that comes with sedentary agricultural life. Cities are like tool boxes, with each person being a tool that performs a specific function but is only really useful when part of an assembly of other tools. A hunter-gatherer, on the other hand, is like a Swiss army knife, capable of doing lots of different tasks on its own (viz self-sufficiency), or at least with assistance from a small group of other multi-purpose tools (of which the collaboration is voluntary). — _db
I like your approach. Thanks.Seems like what's being argued actually relates to a specific and limited set of cognitive skills rather than intelligence in general or intelligence as it's generally understood. And there's not even a clearly articulated alternative theory of what intelligence should be. It could be an interesting subject but it deserves a much more nuanced approach. E.g. Recent evolutionary studies pose questions for how we measure intelligence, or X cognitive skills are on the decline in modern humans (+this is bad because...) — Baden
It's not my problem that you refused to delete it. If you're not happy with it, then just close it. No need to stress out and show you care. It's really no big deal. This is just a thread. Sorry to disappoint you.This thread is really bad, partly because of your obnoxious manner. I'm reluctant to delete it only because people have put some effort into writing posts. — jamalrob
Don't worry about that. I said that becauseI favor that kind of thinking. There's insight.? — _db
Well, that's what we would commonly expect. But have you ever been a part of a group assigned to do a project with very little training and of diverse background? I had been in that group. The will (or motivation) will always trump smarts.One thing I think we should take into account is that smart people will likely shine brighter within a certain population range. In a group of ten people the smartest will likely be clear, whereas in a group of more, at some point, they may not shine as bright. — I like sushi
Crabtree and Woodley are researchers. They use science to do their work. Not speculation.We certainly can and will speculate about what we MIGHT know in the future. That's fine as long as we don't claim our speculation as fact, until it IS fact, which it might never be. — Bitter Crank
I'm gonna use my bias argument and say this is the kind of thinking I have been expecting on this thread.Yes, there is evidence to suggest that hunter-gatherers were much more well-rounded and capable than modern domesticated humans (the same can be said about domesticated farm animals). Much of this has to do with the specialization of work that comes with sedentary agricultural life. Cities are like tool boxes, with each person being a tool that performs a specific function but is only really useful when part of an assembly of other tools. A hunter-gatherer, on the other hand, is like a Swiss army knife, capable of doing lots of different tasks on its own (viz self-sufficiency), or at least with assistance from a small group of other multi-purpose tools (of which the collaboration is voluntary). — _db
Unfortunately, I do. I started this thread. I should at least have some responsibility for it.We don't care. — Bitter Crank
You mean you're not convinced. That's fine. That's why I created this thread. But to continue saying "we don't know..." and "we have no way of knowing.." are killers of rational dialectic. You don't know. That's fine. But Crabtree and Woodley certainly know something. Crabtree runs the lab to investigate things like this.So, at least Crabtree based his guess on something in particular, though it isn't at all convincing. Look, we don't know whether people are smarter now, or dumber, than they were 1, 2, 5, 10, or 50 thousand years ago. We have no way of knowing that--none. — Bitter Crank
In light of Aristotle's the totality is not, as it were, a mere heap, but the whole is something besides the parts..., let's define what it is to be you. Certainly, you're not a collection of physical components.From a strictly materialistic point of view, the physical components of myself as a biological organism existed long before I was conceived. However, in every practical sense, ‘I’ did not exist before my conception despite the fact that the material components that would eventually comprise me did exist. — Paul Michael
There is truth to this. All in moderation.“The graham cracker was inspired by the preaching of Sylvester Graham who was part of the 19th-century temperance movement. He believed that minimizing pleasure and stimulation of all kinds, including the prevention of masturbation, coupled with a vegetarian diet anchored by bread made from wheat coarsely ground at home, was how God intended people to live, and that following this natural law would keep people healthy.” — Joshs
IQ is influenced by culture. And yes, you can practice the IQ tests.Do people cheat on IQ tests? There are a lot of devices available nowadays that make cheating a walk in the park! — Agent Smith
Every facet of our society is idiotic, so it figures. I can tell people are getting dumber; it's pretty pronounced, actually. — theRiddler
Are Humans Getting Smarter or Dumber?, Stephanie Pappas, LiveScienceThe dulling of humanity
Even as the Flynn effect sends IQ scores skyrocketing, some researchers argue a darker view. Humans aren't getting smarter, they say. They're getting stupider.
In November 2012, Stanford University School of Medicine researcher Gerald Crabtree published two papers in the journal Trends in Genetics suggesting that humanity's intelligence peaked between 2,000 and 6,000 years ago.
Crabtree based this assertion on genetics. About 2,000 to 5,000 genes control human intelligence, he estimated. At the rate at which genetic mutations accumulate, Crabtree calculated that within the last 3,000 years, all of humanity has sustained at least two mutations harmful to these intellect-determining genes (and will sustain a couple more in another 3,000 years). Not every mutation will cause harm — genes come in pairs, and some weaknesses caused by mutation can be covered for by the healthy half of the pair, Crabtree wrote; but the calculation suggests that intelligence is more fragile than it seems.
"It's not simply that intelligence is going down or going up," said Michael Woodley, a psychologist at Umea University in Sweden who led the new research. "Different parts of intelligence could be changing in lots of different ways." [Life's Extremes: Smart vs. Dumb]
You assume too much. My post was gathered 100% from ToothyMaw's OP. I was wondering why no one could get what he was saying.L'elephant is a person who is within more of the far right culture, so he's probably heard something similar to what you were stating. — Philosophim
He is talking about how the government tries to stir the public's attention to the domestic (internal) problems, while talking about going to war on the global scale. Internal affairs as diversion, so the government could focus on going to a massive war with another country. Or talking about domestic culture conflicts while dodging the scrutiny on the lack of socialized medicine. ETC.↪ToothyMaw
No really, what on Earth are you trying to say? — ssu
You can close it if you're tempted. No sweat.Unless the OP can cite evidence for the primary claims, this thread is a non-starter. I'm tempted to just close it. — jamalrob
Right. Compared to your boring threads? Sorry, just kidding. *giggles*↪jamalrob
One could cite this thread as evidence for its thesis. *runs away giggling foolishly.* — unenlightened
They actually did some measurements -- https://theconversation.com/how-our-species-got-smarter-through-a-rush-of-blood-to-the-head-73856Second, we would likely need detailed brain scans to compare brain development. — Philosophim
Okay, for the sake of discussion, how does this increase compare to the learning curve theory?I'm actually with Jackass on this one, mean IQ has been steadily increasing for decades. OWID documents the trends here: https://ourworldindata.org/intelligence — Garrett Travers