Idiocracy-The True Story

Being at least somewhat scientifically literate, as compared to many in a country more fascinated with moronic reality shows and conspiracy theories, to the best of my knowledge the consensus among scientists is that human evolution has ended. The overall idea is that after millions of years struggling to survive on the African savanna where our only real advantage against very toothy and far swifter predators was an ever increasing brain once we settled down into villages and then cities the pressure to evolve stopped.

I would have to say for the most part it was a good bargain, discounting the assorted sword-wielding religious crusaders, various bloodthirsty tyrants, wars in general, greed, and pollution on the whole civilization seems to be pushing at least some of us to use our brains to improve ourselves. We express the better angels of our species in such things as science, music, art, in an attempt to figure out the universe and ourselves.

One problem, while our nobler side seeks to understand existence civilization has also possibly created a cosmic “Catch-22” in which our cushy lifestyle does not punish the stupid among us allowing them to procreate. To be fair I am not just talking about your stereotypical nose-picking redneck upset that his tax dollars are going to support such things as arts and sciences but the Wall Street executive who can lose billions of dollars but yet be rewarded with multi-million dollar bonuses and marry a swimsuit model.

So you think this sound far-fetched?

Is Pampered Humanity getting steadily less Intelligent?

Since modern humans emerged from the evolutionary brambles of our ancient ancestry, our bodies and minds have been transforming under the pressures of natural and sexual selection. But what of human intelligence? Has our cognitive ability risen steadily since our forebears knapped the first stone tools? Or are our smartest days behind us?

Gerald Crabtree, a geneticist at Stanford University in California, bets on the latter. He believes that if an average Greek from 1,000 BC were transported to modern times, he or she would be one of the brightest among us. Our intellectual prowess has probably been sliding south since the invention of farming and the rise of high-density living that it allowed, he claims.

Now Crabtree admits it would not bother him at all if his theory was proved wrong buts lets think about it for a minute. In a world where intelligence is truly valued would this person ever seriously be considered for anything other than a local Avon salesperson much less being a heartbeat away from the Oval Office? 

It is even worse because while all sorts of crazy mistakes are possible when humans are involved the fact that she was a headline speaker at the recent CPAC convention should send waves of nausea through anyone with a milligram of sanity.

Taking a strictly non-political stance here but in all honesty there has been a general slide of visible societal intelligence for decades now. And while much of it can be attributed to simple cultural decay brought on by a media playing to the lowest common denominator among the population at somepoint it seems reasonable that the end result could be the same.

As someone who has regularly looked down upon those mired in the survivalist mindset I have got to admit that just maybe they have it right for all the wrong reasons. Because while devolution back to tree dwelling primates is probably not going to happen Homo sapiens are ugly and cruel creatures in the best of times, take away the thin veneer of rational civilized behavior and anything becomes possible.