[QUOTE="bunkster"][QUOTE="xaos"][QUOTE="bunkster"][QUOTE="xaos"][QUOTE="bunkster"][QUOTE="Oleg_Huzwog"][QUOTE="bunkster"]And I agree with whoever said that American culture is slowing down the process even more.xaos
Doesn't America have one of the higher birthrates among developed countries? If so, wouldn't that mean it's accelerating the process?
Quality is much more important than quantity.
A lot of people here seem to conflate eugenics and evolution :(Whats wrong with that? We've manipulated most other things in nature, why shouldnt self-direction of evolution be possible? Its sitting on a sound basis. While one person developing his intelligence to the limits isnt going to change the world, if many people do it than it will eventually have an effect on the genetic level. An example of developing these kind of traits is the Aborigines, research has shown that they have developed far greater tolerance to both hot and cold than other people and this is simply due to them enduring extremes of hot and cold for so long. Similar advances in intelligence should be possible if alot of people develop it instead of taking the lazy instant gratification route popular in American culture.
You misunderstand me; I'm saying a lot of people don't seem to know the difference. People are treating the dumbing down of culture to the biological process of evolution as if they are interchangeable; they are not. And sorry, but somatic changes, such as personal education, do not express themselves as genetic traits. Even if changes to brain cells were shown to occur with increasing intelligence in a single lifetime, that does not affect the zygotes that person can pass on to offspring.If that were true than advances in intelligence wouldnt be made at all.
How so? First, there is intelligence and there is knowledge. Knowledge is communicated culturally; having a parent with a PhD in math does not produce a child born with a complete understanding of set theory, for instance. Intelligence, the ability to process knowledge, establish connections, etc, can be improved in an individual but someone doing those exercises does not cause their child to be born with more innate intelligence.You misunderstand me, I know the difference between knowledge and intelligence. I was refering to the point that we would never have raised our intelligence from our ape ancestors if it wasnt possible to develop it as a species. The apes did it by working with tools and pushing their own intelligences to the limit for the sake of improved survival.
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