Charlie Stross wrote,
>From: Charlie Stross <charlie@antipope.org>
>Reply-To: extropians@extropy.org
>To: extropians@extropy.org
>Subject: Flynn Effect explained?
>Date: Sun, 22 Apr 2001 14:51:32 +0100
>
>See http://www.observer.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,476639,00.html
>
> >Analyses of IQ tests show that people are getting rapidly more
> >intelligent, or at least getting higher scores. Average scores have risen
> >by 27 points in the UK since 1942 and 24 points in the US since 1918,
> >with comparable gains across the world. This so-called 'Flynn effect',
> >first discovered in 1987, has until now baffled psychologists. However,
> >a study in the Psychological Review of the American Psychological
> >Association claims that a more stimulating environment and genetic
> >inheritance interact in a virtuous circle to make people far smarter. The
> >authors, Bill Dickens and James Flynn (who first discovered the effect),
> >reckon the rise is partly caused by improved education.
> >
> >But more important is a stimulating environment, which makes people think
> >more, prompting them to choose yet more stimulation. The smarter you are,
> >the more likely you are to enjoy books, puzzles and challenging jobs.
>That
> >in turn gets your brain working more and you choose even higher levels
> >of stimulation in a virtuous circle of intelligence. 'Higher IQ leads
> >one to better environments, causing still higher IQ,' said the report.
>
I don't see if this allegedly higher IQ is getting translated into better
language skills, however. I am struck by how inarticulate the under-25
crowd is, almost as if they are a generation of George W.'s.
Perhaps the current crop of kids growing up on those "Harry Potter"
phonebook-sized novels will turn out better, especially if they develop the
habit of explaining why they like what they read.
Trans-millennially yours,
Mark Plus, Expansionary
"Working to make religion and death obsolescent in the 21st Century."
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