Are humans becoming smarter or more stupid? Comparing our modern lives and technology with that of any preceding generation, one might think we are becoming increasingly smarter. But, in two papers published in Trends in Genetics, Gerald R. Crabtree of Stanford University claims that we are losing mental capacity and have been doing so for 2,000–6,000 years! The reason, Crabtree concludes, is due to genetic mutations—which are the backbone of neo-Darwinian evolution. The significance of these articles is that a senior scientist, writing in a peer-reviewed journal, claims that humankind is susceptible “as a species to random genetic events [mutations] that reduce our intellectual and emotional fitness.”1 This conclusion is consistent with the second law of thermodynamics, which states (among other things) that natural systems tend toward a state of disorder and that random processes cannot bring order out of disorder. (This is such a fundamental law of nature that British astrophysicist Arthur Eddington wrote, “But if your theory is found to be against the second law of thermodynamics I can give you no hope; there is nothing for it but to collapse in deepest humiliation.”2
Posted on: Thu, 30 Jan 2014 15:15:11 +0000
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