05.09.09

The Flynn Effect: Have other moments changed too?

Posted in Psychology at 6:33 pm by Michael

The Flynn effect is an observation that IQ test scores tend to rise among the general population (and among many subpopulations) at a rate of about 3 points per decade. The cause of this trend has been the subject of much debate. Despite this, I found it difficult to find standard deviations or other moment statistics over the time period studied by Flynn. Aside from the increased knowledge of IQ testing today (which would cause more of the gifted to get tested and presumably raise the mean score), there isn’t any reason why more would test gifted. However, it’s possible that improvements in medicine have prevented many from falling below the mean due to disease (congenital or early developmental, most likely). These stats would allow testing of these hypotheses.

Religion is a beneficial evolutionary trait due to hidden rationality.

Posted in Ideas, Philosophy at 11:17 am by Michael

Many of the world’s religions, particularly the earlier ones, tend to have certain curious traditions which at one point made life possible. Failure to adhere to these traditions typically invited harm of a material rather than spiritual nature, supposedly brought upon by a deity in response to the transgression, but well within the purview of science now. For example, meat must be soaked and salted to be considered Kosher. The concept of a pathogen was unknown then, but it was probably observed that people who prepared their meat in that manner tended not to get as many foodborne illnesses, as the salt acted as an antiseptic. Thus the precaution became ingrained and the illness became a matter of divine retribution.

In this manner, religion has a beneficial effect and would be a supported trait through our evolution.