journal features

so the West is getting dumber

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-eight years and a million words

Toronto, 2013.09.27

Apparently, the population of the west has seen a steady erosion of IQ test results since Victorian times (the late 19th century). The results have slipped so badly (by 14 points) that we've effectively lost one standard distribution.

Here's what I mean. In the diagram below, the gold distribution curve on the right, plus the green area makes up the profile of IQ test results in Victorian times. The green area overlaps with the current distribution, which continues through the blue area. From this, the green area represents the number of results that remained the same, while the blue area represents a new population of people getting poorer results, and the golden area represents a population who formerly were getting high results, but which society no longer has. In other words, we've lost a hell of a lot of bright people.

I'd be curious to see how this actually plays out in some detail. Are the usual suspects of faltering educations systems and lead exposure to blame? Is it recreational substance abuse? The dissolution of the extended family? I'm not sure I buy the argument about people with less IQ potential having more kids. Or maybe is the IQ test a big friggin' waste of time?

rand()m quote

If I had my life to live over, I'd try to make more mistakes next time. I would relax, I would limber up, I would be crazier than I've been on this trip. I know very few things I'd take seriously any more. I'd certainly be less hygenic... I would take more chances, I would take more trips, I would scale more mountains, I would swim more rivers, and I would watch more sunsets. I would eat more ice cream and fewer beans. I would have more actual troubles and fewer imaginary ones. Oh, I've had my moments, and if I had to do it all over again, I'd have many more of them, in fact I'd try not to have anything else, just moments, one after another, instead of living so many years ahead of my day. If I had it to do all over again, I'd travel lighter, much lighter than I have. I would start barefoot earlier in the spring, and I'd stay that way later in the fall. And I would ride more merry-go-rounds, and catch more gold rings, and greet more people and pick more flowers and dance more often. If I had it to do all over again - but you see, I don't.

—Jorge Luis Borges