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NEWS > SCIENCE > SCIENTISTS CONFIRM HUMANITY IS GETTING STUPIDER
SCIENTISTS CONFIRM HUMANITY IS GETTING STUPIDER
December 30 2010
Madison, WI – The human brain is one of the many mysteries of the natural world that science is only on the precipice of discovering. The complex brains of all mammals are certainly marvels of natural engineering but, for obvious reasons, the human brain
is something entirely different. Our ability to speak, to emote, and to create dramatically bypasses even our closest relatives and all of that is a result of our complex and ever evolving brain.
What makes our brain so unique is the real puzzle though. For centuries it was believed that we were simply imbued with some sort of entity, a spirit or soul that created the human animal. Eventually those beliefs gave way to scientific exploration and the long held assumption that an increased brain size meant more processing power, which in turn led to complexity. However, recent studies have shown that our brain is not the largest in the world, not even in relation to body size, pushing the mystery even further. Now a new study has shown that the human brain is actually becoming smaller, shrinking at significant levels despite all our recent advances, and that the size appears to be diminishing ever further leading to the inevitable conclusion that after all our accomplishments and all our advances, human beings are simply getting stupider.
“Over the past 20,000 years the volume of the brain in men and women has lost about 150 cc, about the size of a tennis ball. I’d call that a major downsizing in an evolutionary eyeblink,” said John Hawks of the University of Wisconsin. “This happened in China, Europe, Africa – everywhere we look. If it continues at that rate over the next 20,000 years our brains will be about the size of those found in Homo Erectus. This casts a new light on the importance and advantages of a big brain but also whether or not we are as smart as we think we are.”
It has long been accepted that one of the major reasons we diverged from other great apes was a rapid increase in brain volume.
“Given all our advances in the last few thousand years and everything we have been able to accomplish the last thing anyone would think was that we were getting 
stupider. Stupid animals don’t invent the internet or firearms. They don’t write poetry or go to the moon. These are all products of intelligent beings,” said Scrape TV Science analyst Dr. Howard Poe. “Scientifically there has only ever been superficial evidence connecting brain size to intelligence. It would make sense on the surface but it is possible that, like we have done with electronics, that it is the organization that truly matters. Nature tends to push for simplicity and it could be that our brains surged and now are starting to streamline themselves. It would make sense. The brain takes up a great deal of energy and reducing the load would help a great deal.”
The human brain requires about 20 percent of caloric intake to function efficiently.
“The other option is that we had our shot and now our success is just based on sheer numbers. That we are the most populous of all the mammals on the planet and therefore we are going to have the widest selection of intelligent members just based on sheer population and that may be what has been carrying us through all these years,” continued Poe. “We could very well be getting stupider individually but the collective is getting more intelligent. Eventually that will fizzle out. Eventually the stupid people will have more babies and the population will get stupider and the intelligent people will be either ignored or eaten or something. If we are indeed getting stupider there may be no stopping the decline.”
Some scientists believe the increase in electrolytes in our diets may be contributing to the decline.
Anna Phillips, Science Correspondent
NEWS > SCIENCE > SCIENTISTS CONFIRM HUMANITY IS GETTING STUPIDER
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