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Is Human Intelligence Evolving?

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Introduction In my lifetime, which spans the not so awe-inspiring numerical value of thirty-one-years, I have witnessed enough cultural change to detect a shift in the way most humans think. With the onset of technological interventions completing most of our thinking for us, the phrase “Google it” as the end all—be all to knowledge, expanding to the digression of caveman linguistics with the use of emoticons and texting-language, lower level of self-expression being verbalized, to the visual dynamics of gender itself becoming androgynous—we have certainly evolved in the last fifteen-years. In what direction is unsure. One might feel that given the historical recount of the universe, we would have learned our lesson by now within the evolutionary sense of intelligence and learned behaviors. Cumulatively, this data certainly begs the question: is human intelligence evolving? Are we really getting smarter or do we just think we are? Let us consider the data. Brief History of Intelligence: Traditionally, one might begin such a paper with a firm definition of “What is intelligence?” but given the cosmic grandeur of what intelligence means--this is proving rather difficult. Evolution and Intelligence span all disciplines (anthropology; biological; physiological, psychological; developmental etc.…) and thus means something different to each. What I can tell you is that each definition gives thought to one basic idea: Intelligence is the all-encompassing word used to define

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