At Our Wits' End: Why We're Becoming Less Intelligent and What it Means for the FutureWe are becoming less intelligent. This is the shocking yet fascinating message of At Our Wits' End. The authors take us on a journey through the growing body of evidence that we are significantly less intelligent now than we were a hundred years ago. The research proving this is, at once, profoundly thought-provoking, highly controversial, and it's currently only read by academics. But the authors are passionate that it cannot remain ensconced in the ivory tower any longer. With At Our Wits' End, they present the first ever popular scientific book on this crucially important issue. They prove that intelligence — which is strongly genetic — was increasing up until the breakthrough of the Industrial Revolution, because we were subject to the rigors of Darwinian Selection, meaning that lots of surviving children was the preserve of the cleverest. But since then, they show, intelligence has gone into rapid decline, because large families are increasingly the preserve of the least intelligent. The book explores how this change has occurred and, crucially, what its consequences will be for the future. Can we find a way of reversing the decline of our IQ? Or will we witness the collapse of civilization and the rise of a new Dark Age? |
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20th century academic argued average IQ become Bell Curve Buckingham Press Cattell Charlton Christianity civilisation Clark cohort collapse Conscientiousness contraception correlation countries creativity cultural cycle decline developed Dutton Dysgenics educational attainment elite England environment environmental evidence evolutionary Evolutionary Psychology example Eysenck fertility Flynn Effect g factor g-loaded genes genetic Genius Famine group selection heritable higher highly intelligent History human Ibn Khaldun immigration increase Industrial Revolution innovation intellectual IQ tests Islam Jonathan Huebner Journal kind less intelligent level of g living London low intelligence Lynn males meaning measure Medieval Meisenberg murder negative association number of children Oxford personality political Polybius population predicted problems psychologist Psychoticism religion religious Richard Lynn rise and fall Roman Rome sample Science scientific seen simply Social Cycle Theories society solve status strongly survive theory traits University of Buckingham welfare Western women Woodley of Menie