Every generation thinks they're smarter than the next. It seems lead might be to blame.
Every generation thinks they’re smarter than the next.
Usually culture’s to blame. Whether it’s video games, reality TV or dancing the Charleston, apparently every era falls victim to some new brain-rotting craze that threatens the intellectual fibre of society.
Yes, from Socrates to Snooki, people have been lamenting the collapse of civilisation for as long as civilisation has existed. But what if there’s a grain of truth to the age-old idea that humans are getting dumber?
According to a recent study, exposure to lead shrank half of Americans’ IQ scores in the last century.
Using publicly available data on US childhood blood-lead levels, leaded petrol use, and population statistics, the authors determined the likely lifelong effect of lead exposure carried by every American alive in 2015.
As of that year, they found that more than 170 million Americans had clinically concerning levels of lead in their blood when they were children, likely resulting in lower IQs and putting them at higher risk for other long-term health impairments. Indeed, childhood lead exposure may have blunted America’s cumulative IQ score by an estimated 824 million points, which is nearly three points per person on average.
Unfortunately, the study doesn’t account for those who were played Beethoven in the womb. They should be fine.
As leaded petrol has been mostly phased out in recent decades, its neurological impact has subsided. But those who were young at the height of its prevalence in the 1960s and 1970s are all but guaranteed to have been exposed to pernicious levels of lead from car exhaust, potentially to the tune of six IQ points.
So it turns out that not every generation is getting dumber. Just one in particular.
new reply to every boomer tweet that mildly irritates me. check mate https://t.co/Yq9Epp11jQ
— james hennessy (@jrhennessy) March 9, 2022
If you see something stupefying, say something stupid to felicity@medicalrepublic.com.au
