Are we smarter than our ancestors?

Question

Are we smarter today than our ancestors. Consider some of the marvels and developments of the ancient cultures, i.e. the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians and Chinese just to name a few. Do you think we are smarter than they were?

Answer 1

I don't believe we as a population have a greater IQ then our ancestors, but we are more educated as a population. Long ago only the wealthy got an education.

Answer 2

Well, I wouldn't exactly say smarter because they were born in a different era. I do believe people of each generation, time, and era, were smart during their own time period. Alot of our inventions come from our past ancestors. Everyone contribute somehow to the building of the entire world.

We just live in a world that is far more advanced in technology than when our ancestors lived. And maybe 40 or 50 years from now, our technology will be considered old and outdated because our children will have invented more advanced computers and electronic equipment for their generation.

I guess it becomes a pattern, we and our decendants will keep on advancing forward into time....

Answer 3

Smarter in what way? Knowledge is increasing daily. Each generation has different problems to deal with. A thousand years ago people didn't know how to drive a car, go to the moon, skate, ride a wave on a surfboard, use a microwave, etc. Not many of us today know how to kill wild animals for food, milk a cow, make cheese, butter, soap, sew our own clothes out of animal skins, etc. Who was smarter ? I think the answer to that question is: the one who created us all!

Answer 4

The truth is Roy, we are so much more stupid than our ancestors, that it isn't even funny. Our ancestors didn't spend most of their lives in front of the TV. They were out there doing things and making things happen. We are so freaking lazy and ignorant these days, it's pitiful. We have computers doing it all for us. The farmers can still tell you when a winter is going to be killer, just by checking out the catapillar. Our elders, whom we once honored and held in esteem are now disposable and not worthy of our precious time. We no longer pass down knowledge to our children, we sit them in front of a gameboy....Now I am very sad, but you ask a very good question.

Answer 5

We aren't smarter than they are. We simply have more advanced technology. We wouldn't have what we have today without the foundation that our ancestors laid. This included the prehistoric cavemen humans that were first truly humans, even. They invented all manners of things that were the basis of how our ancestors achieved what they did.

Answer 6

As far as intelligence goes, no. They were just as smart as we were. However, there are some things we have figured out that they didn't simply because of the experience the world has gone through in the intervening years. So we have more knowledge but are at the same level of intelligence.

Answer 7

Good question. I think in the past there was a tiny percentage who were extremely smart and the rest were as thick as a brick (an eglish term). Now its more spread out, though you still have that underclass that do not want or like education.

Answer 8

We aren't even smarter than our monkey cousins. They at least don't kill each other with bigger and better weapons year after year. Our monkey cousins are happy with a few bananas, while we want more and more which just makes us miserable most of the time.

Answer 9

We've gathered more information, but are not inherently smarter. You'd have to go back about 50,000 years to find our ancestors who weren't as smart as we are. The "Cro-Magnons" didn't think the way we do. They weren't artists or engineers or authors.

Answer 10

Of course we get wiser as the years pass by. I mean look @ technology today and back then. That answers your question.