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Ariana said:
Fine. I'll say it very nicely - the age at which people have kids is in positive correlation with their IQ.
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So if pensioners have kids then they're geniuses? :p

One of my Aunties had her first kid at 16 and then another a year later and then another 6 years later. She managed to get her life back on track eventually though.
 
Well, in general the more intelligently minded people wait until they have their life sorted before thinking about children, knowing that it is not only less stressful for themselves but also much much better for the child to have a stable environment to be brought into - both in terms of the parents relationship and financially. The less intelligent will on the other hand frequently not only not be so cautious, but of the few that got pregnant in my school I believe at least one was heard to say "well contraception is too expensive", they didn't want to have a kid, but saw it as a worthwhile risk in the situation >.>

Long ago such things would be solved by the simple process of natural selection.
 
Not to the same degree... sure they'll do stupid things like fall off buildings trying to take #selfies, but modern medicine and health and safety and all that stuff takes care of them. They're not about to wander off and get eaten by a lion or anything :P
 
Yeah, I've heard that "modern medicine is the end of evolution" talk before. If you think about it, that has to be the most extreme statement of human hubris there has ever been.
 
It's a very common misconception about evolution that there is some kind of pristine "nature" that human society isn't part of, and that evolutionary processes have therefore stopped applying. If we create an environment for ourselves where, say, a lethal inherited disease can be treated, then that disease is no longer an obstacle to survival (and reproductive success). The fact that it would be a problem in a different environment is irrelevant.
 
Perun said:
Yeah, I've heard that "modern medicine is the end of evolution" talk before. If you think about it, that has to be the most extreme statement of human hubris there has ever been.
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Oh it's no way the end of evolution, but it and other things about where we are as a species will have slowed it, or rather given it a different aspect. The strongest survive aspect was always more about physical aspects imo, outrunning/overpowering etc, growing taller, adapting to environments etc. As a species we don't really need to evole in that manner any more, as we have found other ways to combat problems.

A few larger differences between humanity and animals are that we don't really have a breeding season, but we also stick with our young for longer and make sure they survive. So we try to counter the affect this has on population growth in some ways - but the result is the stupid breeding more than the intelligent. That used to be solved for a long time by the stupid getting themselves into danger more, balancing out, it still happens of course but to a lesser degree due to our ability to fix things afterwards. Evolution is ofc adaption, and we found a different way to do so, we don't have need for the physical adaption part unless we encounter something that is 'higher on the food-chain' (i.e we can't fight it with science, we have to flee). The removal of natural selection isn't a problem due to lack of advancement, but overpopulation and outgrowing our environment.

That is how things seem to me anyway, but I'm not exactly the pinnacle of intelligence either so let the scientific education continue!
 
Crimson Idol said:
The strongest survive aspect was always more about physical aspects imo, outrunning/overpowering etc, growing taller, adapting to environments etc. As a species we don't really need to evole in that manner any more, as we have found other ways to combat problems.
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There are any number of ways to adapt to an environment. There is no difference as such between evolving great body strength and evolving enough brainpower to build a gun instead. It seems to me that you're introducing a qualitative difference where there isn't any.

A few larger differences between humanity and animals are that we don't really have a breeding season, but we also stick with our young for longer and make sure they survive.
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Neither of those things are uniquely human.

So we try to counter the affect this has on population growth in some ways - but the result is the stupid breeding more than the intelligent.
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Do you have any actual data backing that claim?

In any case, human intelligence is simply a successful adaption, like an elephant's trunk. Nothing more, nothing less. That doesn't mean that more of it would necessarily be better for survival and reproduction, any more than having a trunk twice as long would necessarily be better for an elephant.
 
Ariana said:
Fine. I'll say it very nicely - the age at which people have kids is in positive correlation with their IQ.
Click to expand...
Crimson Idol said:
Well, in general the more intelligently minded people wait until they have their life sorted before thinking about children, knowing that it is not only less stressful for themselves but also much much better for the child to have a stable environment to be brought into - both in terms of the parents relationship and financially. The less intelligent will on the other hand frequently not only not be so cautious, but of the few that got pregnant in my school I believe at least one was heard to say "well contraception is too expensive", they didn't want to have a kid, but saw it as a worthwhile risk in the situation >.>
Long ago such things would be solved by the simple process of natural selection.
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This is crass generalising, is it not?
 
Perhaps you're right, Ariana, but I am not sure if intelligence is the only factor here. Lack of education, reckless behaviour, lack of wisdom, or perhaps something cultural (e.g. in Antillean communities you often see teenage mothers, but are they more unintelligent?) .. not sure if all these qualities/circumstances are connected to intelligence.
 
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