A new study of human intelligence has found that the IQs of American citizens have been
dropping for nearly two decades as we continue to lose our skills in logic, in math, in vocabulary,
in critical thinking, we are turning into a nation of dummies according to this study. Right?
Yeah, we are. And what's really interesting to me is, you know, not just the drop in IQ,
but the way they explained it and they said, you know, look back in the day before we had washing
machines and dishwashers, those were manual labor type things. You had to do them every day. It was
physical, you did it. And then as technology came in, you didn't have to do it. So we lost a little
bit of that physical activity and they're saying it's no different with the brain. So what we have
seen in the years that we're seeing the drop, you know, 2006 to basically today, so almost two.
It's significant. It's two to three points is what's dropping.
In such a short amount of time. And they're saying it's because we don't have to think anymore. We
have this little phone in our pocket that contains all of human knowledge. And so we don't have to.
Alexa do this. Siri do this. Is that what you're saying?
Yeah, absolutely. And so we don't have to use our brains. We don't have to put ideas together
because we can just wait for somebody else to do it and then we say, okay, well that sounds right.
I'll go with that. And that also confirms our, you know, confirmation biases. It makes people
more tribal one way or the other depending on what you're consuming. And it is making
us dumber to put it as bluntly as possible. There was something called the Flynn Effect.
You might wanna check it out. Google it. Flynn Effect is where our IQs were raising, I mean,
just going sky high. And so now the question is, have we reached a ceiling that is irreversible?
I mean, is it gonna go, is it now gonna start going down the other way? I mean,
I think you're mensa, if I'm not mistaken. I'm not trying to put you on the spot, but I think you are
mensa and I don't see any signs that your IQ is dropping. But this is very, this is problematic
to me. I see these videos on where they go on a college campus. Have you ever seen these videos?
Yeah. They're man on the street. Mr. Joe,
could you tell us who won the Civil War? Oh, the British won the Civil War. Could you tell us how
many planets there are? Well, there's, I think there's four planets. And you go,
my God. What is happening? Can you name a Supreme Court judge? Oh yeah, Herbert Hoover. You know,
and doesn't it scare you just a little bit? It really does. And I will say, you know,
the one thing actually that I feel great about is, you know, yesterday my son came up to me,
he's like, I've been seeing all these videos on TikTok for this thing called the Willow Project,
like up in Alaska. What? Explain that to me. So I was like, oh my God. And he's, you know,
13 years old. So I was shocked. I thought, okay, if we can utilize the technology properly, we can
use it as a tool instead of a replacement for actual knowledge. And that's the problem is far
too many people want to use it as a replacement. I don't need to think anymore. I can just say,
Alexa, what does this word mean? Instead of me looking it up, reading it, which does,
it is a difference in learning that way. Okay. You and I have done a couple of
stories on not just kids, not just, you know, how's the IQ of kids in school? The,
how is the IQ of the American public? And you, they read and comprehend the American public,
reads and comprehends on a sixth to seventh grade level. Okay. Now,
you're gonna get all these Europeans coming, oh, well, we're so. No, you're not that much
smarter. Don't get on our site and say, well, I'm in Europe, and we're, you know, we're much
smarter. No, that's not what these studies show. Yeah. The studies show that even over in Europe,
you guys are losing a couple points. Just be clear, it's not just America. Okay.
Farron, thanks for joining me. Okay. Thank you.
That's all for this week. But all of these segments, well, they're gonna be available
throughout next week. And make sure you follow us on Twitter @AmericasLawyer. I'm Mike Papantonio
and this has been America's Lawyer, where we tell you the stories that corporate media won't tell
you because their advertisers don't let 'em, or their political connections are
either so Republican or so Democrat that they don't allow for it. We'll see you next time.