Rapid innovations in entertainment and communication instruments have drastically changed how individuals interact and exercise their brain capacity. Unlimited consumption of social media and popular culture has made people more dumper. People spend more time working on the trivialities of life and have abandoned the pursuit of death in politics and social life. The argument forwarded in this paper is that despite advances in technology, human beings are not getting smarter but dumber.
The ability of a few individuals to come up with meaningful innovation have left the rest of mankind to consume without reflection. Gottfredson’s argument that the world is getting more complex and clever people are making it more complex supports the assertion that the world in not getting smarter. A few smart individuals are making the rest of mankind look like they are smart but in reality they are not (Flynn n. p.). Increase in IQ increases sophistication but not the ability of individuals to be smart (Pinker n. p.). Even with increased IQ people are not prepared to abandon consumption of bad popular culture.
In the world of viral videos and posts, it is the stupidest ideas that get the limelight and they dominate human interaction because they are not taxing on the brain. People would rather go through memes on instagram than find meaning in reading Of Mice and Men. Duncan alludes to the number of individuals who get caught by the police because they post about their crimes on social media as an example of how advances in technology show that people are not getting smarter (n. p.). Jackson rightly observes the institutions are aiding in the dumping down of individual intelligence (n. p.). Despite advances in technology and increased IQ people are getting dumber.
Works Cited
Duncan, Ritch. “Smart Moments Don’t Go Viral”. 26 Feb 2012. Handout.
Flynn, James. “Thinking in More Sophisticated Ways”. 27 Feb 2012. Handout,
Jackson, Erin. “Stupidity is Funny, but it’s No Joke”. 27 Feb 2012. Handout.
Pinker, Steven. “To See Humans’ Progress, Zoom Out”. 26 Feb 2012. Handout.
Gottfredson, Linda. S. “The World Grows More Complex”. 26 Feb 2012. Handout.
