I wonder if you could analyze internet discussions for an effect.

  • HubertManne@piefed.social
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    21 hours ago

    if you got married before 2000 and had a decent job. especially if both did. having kids seemed like a thing to do. past 2000 anyone smart had to contend that the world of their kids adulthood did not seem like it would be great.

    • A_A@lemmy.world
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      11 hours ago

      Yes, i agree, and many other lemmy users said similar things about : “why it does apply recently” …
      Yet, it’s more interesting to look at why in the past centuries or millennias there was quite a strong selection pressure favoring intelligence.
      During those past times, life for humans was much more competitive, so that any major deficiencies, including in intelligence, physical strength, mental strength or whatever important survival characteristics, meant death.
      Similarly, in any living species, would it be plants, animal or other, if you remove survival pressures, you rapidly, in just a few generations, diverge into completely different life forms.
      Since selection pressures have drastically decreased in many rich countries, for maybe 50 to 100 years now, their populations are on this unsustainable path (in my educated opinion).
      Comments from other users were close to what i am saying here, but never so bluntly.

      P.S. : @otp@sh.itjust.works this comment is of the type for which i would expect to be, as you said : “regularly get called out on”.

      • otp@sh.itjust.works
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        5 hours ago

        Well, I’m not seeing anyone calling you out yet. But maybe you made it sound more racist before, or something? Lol

        • A_A@lemmy.world
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          4 hours ago

          Up to this point, i have read most comments inside this post and race or racism was nowhere mention. Yet there have been studies to measure its influence on intelligence … humm … is that a topic that you wish to develop here ? Why ? Do you believe it is useful ? Or do you agree with me that it is a waste of our time ?

          • otp@sh.itjust.works
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            4 hours ago

            Lol ok, yeah, that’s probably what it was.

            You might want to look into some studies done on those studies – there are IQ tests that historically (and sometimes presently) had culturally-ingrained aspects to their questions that made it hard for minorities and newcomers to answer properly. E.g., IQ tests with questions about baseball that assume the test-taker knows how many innings are in a game, how many outs/balls/strikes to get a player out, etc.

            Wikipedia seems to have a lot to say on it, including some of the criticisms.

            But generally speaking you’re probably looking at what’s mostly a correlation, not a direct causation.

      • HubertManne@piefed.social
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        10 hours ago

        Some selection pressure seems to be returning. anti mask (during a pandemic), anti vax, homeopathy. some folks seem to want to or have their kids die early.

        • A_A@lemmy.world
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          4 hours ago

          Such a nightmare… i suppose we can describe this as :
          (hypothesis #1) : Stupidity increasing up to a breaking point where it’s no longer sustainable and kids start to die again.
          (h #2) : this increase in stupidity is not necessarily genetic … it can be from other (social …) causes.
          (h #3) : selection pressure can also act on social behaviors.

          Disclaimer : i’m not working in this field : this has no scientific value.