In this fascinating Ted Talk by moral philosopher James Flynn, we learn why IQ scores persistently rose throughout the last century, and why they continue to rise today. If Flynn’s findings are correct, it’s not that past generations were more stupid than we are, but that they interacted with the world in ways that were profoundly different to how people began to perceive the world following the rise of modern science and technology. What was lacking in traditional societies was an ability to think hypothetically and to make logical inferences from abstractions. Flynn’s findings are a fascinating testimony to the power of neuroplasticity and the role that cultural and environmental factors play in the processes of cognition.
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