Does spelling matter?
Does grammar matter?
Many years ago, I came across a blog from Tia Ghose, a writer for “LiveScience.” The headline really grabbed my attention: “ARE HUMANS BECOMING LESS INTELLIGENT?”
First off, I don’t want anyone to comment about in-laws, cousins, or people who live in any specific suburban area. We’ve heard all the jokes before… save them for the amateur hour at the local comedy club.
With the advent of AI, I re-read the items and thought it’s time for me to add my 2 cents.
So, here’s what Ms. Ghose wrote in 2012:
“Humans may be gradually losing intelligence, according to a new study.
The study, published in the journal “Trends in Genetics” argues that humans lost the evolutionary pressure to be smart once we started living in dense agricultural settlements several thousand years ago.
‘The development of our intellectual abilities and the optimization of thousands of intelligence genes probably occurred in relatively non-verbal, dispersed groups of peoples [living] before our ancestors emerged from Africa,’ said study author Gerald Crabtree, a researcher at Stanford University, in a statement.”
The researcher contends the study shows it’s been “all downhill since then.”
The theory is that we have lost special abilities: those special skills that helped us avoid the tiger and the lion while we hunted for our next meal.
Those abilities gave us the basic abilities to compose music and play chess, but when we moved to a more agricultural lifestyle, we lost the basic need for those abilities and developed lesser, more sedate skills.
The researchers argue that between 2,000 and 5,000 genes determine human intelligence. He says these genes are particularly susceptible to harmful changes, or mutations. They claim that based on the rate of mutations, the average person harbors two intelligence-stunting genetic changes that evolved over the last three millennia.
However, over the last century, the average IQ has increased… dramatically. But the scientific community says that’s because of better prenatal care, nutrition and a reduction in levels of lead in our everyday lives.
So… here’s my question: Are we getting dumber or smarter?
IF we are getting dumber, should we not aim our marketing efforts at the masses with dumber promotions?
But if we are getting smarter, then isn’t our job as communicators to elevate the level of language with correct spelling and proper grammar?
Do we “dumb down” our messages despite the fact we have higher IQs, or do we aim for the lowest common denominator?
Think of all the TV ads that now use animation… and often very simple animation… as a means of communicating a complex sales benefit in a simple way.
Is the story all about the sizzle and not about the steak, and when we write or speak about the streak, do we need to use mono-syllabic words?
I know we all want to elevate our efforts (and some want us to be Shakespeare, Chaucer or Milton.)
But could it be we have a smaller group getting smarter, and a larger group getting, well, dumber?
I would appreciate your comments…
(To read Ms. Ghose’s article, please visit http://news.yahoo.com/humans-becoming-less-intelligent-173400651.html )
Peter T. Britton
Idea Generator. Wordsmith. Resultant.
Comments