I just read an article and watched a news report that over the last 40 years the IQ in the average American has dropped about 14 points. This would mean that the average students grandparents had an IQ 14 points better than theirs. What does this say about the new INFORMATION AGE? What about schools? What does it say about the Internet and cell phones? And all these old people dying? Do your own investigation as I don't expect you to believe someone on an online social media platform. The stats were not easy to find at first but I assure you they are there. Why isn't this the headline of the century?

Because IQ measurement is a fairly meaningless measure of anything socially significant. See Stephen Jay Gould, The Mismeasure of Man on the lack of validity of such tests. And you might be surprised to learn about their origin.

Well, all you need to do is import a few more Germans.

from Berlin, Munich, or somewhere east?

Sloppy or Fussy?

It is good news for magic anyway because if one wants to misdirect an American now, all one needs to do is give him something that bounces.

No need for IQ if you can sorta spell Google correctly.

That is really it: it is easier to be told what to think than to think for oneself. I had to fill out a form the other day and it felt strange using a pen and paper because I had not done it for ages. The Chinese under communism was not very innovative because they had the government telling them what to think. The Chinese were normally very inventive. They are training them now to think for themselves to get back that free thinking inventive spirit.

You're right Slim, although I would call it innate intelligence. Ask any businessman about the quality of the young people applying for jobs today. Not only are they under educated for today's workforce, they lack basic life skills. I blame it on their parents, schools, and society that has failed them.

It is all phones.

No reason to be smart if you have a Smartphone...

1) What makes you think IQ is correlated with business success?

2) And even if it were, what makes you think that that would be a valid indicator of intelligence?

Imagine you were to replace the word "business" with "boxing." Equally meaningless.

What's the meaning of the phrase 'A fool and his money are soon parted'?

Yeah: IQ is a tricky thing. Some (pretty solid) reports indicate we are getting 'smarter' while others say 'dumber'. The truth? "Intelligence" can be connected to the era in which one lives. I know some VERY SMART people (who have some years on them) who, although they have 'used' a computer for 25 years, still have a poor grasp of the very basics of how software and hardware work in sympatico (for example).

What's Sympatico? (I'm being serious)

Things (in a larger system) working well with one another. Maybe 3 musicians, in a great jazz group are said to share a 'good sympatico' between themselves.

Although I can't recall his name, there was a famous neurologist in the early 1900's, who liked to interview people, and he marveled at how many people struggled with the most abstract of concepts. Something like: "If all elephants are grey and you traveled to Holland, and while there, you saw an elephant......what color would it be?" Loads of people answered: "I've never been to Holland." I think the article talked about how much 'education' demands that students focus on 'maybe' scenarios since about 1950-forward (at least in the U.S.)..............and a long time ago, education was extremely 'concrete' in its focus. That is a tiny example of how IQ can be time-locked, so-to-speak. I've known people who were ABSOLUTELY schooled under the Special Education umbrella, but at 25 had more 'street smarts' that loads of 40 year-olds I knew. ......that is a kind of IQ.

The old always think the young aren't as good as they were, in their soft-focus, misremembered youth. Whereas the young always think the old know nothing.

As Paul Daniels said; "when I left home at 18 my dad knew nothing; when I came back at 28 it was amazing how much he'd learned".

IQ isn't fixed; people improve their IQ scores by training. It's unsafe to conclude anything from a shift, really, but it's probably fair to say that people's mental skills are shifting as our brains are moving partly online. We no longer need to remember as many things, but we do all need to use complex tech.

...and that's how we got the Turner watch.

(Sorry, couldn't resist. It's an excellent project and I'm thinking of buying one. But it's too good a joke to pass up...)

The ability to do research has been hampered severely. For example that quote is most often attributed to Mark Twain, though that is dubious as well.

It's almost like half the people have below average IQ s.

Yes, but which half?