Not that we simple have more collected knowledge now, but that our capacity for understanding has matured and continues to mature? And whatever those people did, thought, and believed is inferior to what we now know?
2007-09-12 14:52:32 · 5 answers · asked by Stranger Danger 2 in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
It is true that with nutritional advancements and better pre-natal care there has been measurable improvement in mental capacities over the last few centuries. But if you examine the much longer evolutionary development of homo sapiens sapiens, you'll discover an even greater increase in mental capacities that is believed to be directly linked to language development.
The development and refinement of oral communication skills in pre-historic times permitted human activity organizations on much more complex scales, thereby requiring more complicated human cognition than had previously been necessary. Language itself requires the development of specialized areas of the brain that had previously been either unused or atrophied from disuse after early childhood. Either way, a completely new level of thinking and discourse became possible once words, phrases, and ideas acquired some standardized methods of expression previously unavailable.
So yes, our capacity for understanding has matured as a species. Unfortunately, our understanding of the currently inexplicably immature behaviors of many who walk among us today remains severley limited. Stupid is as stupid does.
2007-09-12 15:48:25 · answer #1 · answered by Z-man 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The average IQ has gone up but more due to improved nutrition and better access to education. People would be surprised to know how much of an impact good nutrition early in life has on your later intelligence. Life was pretty hard 100's of years ago and most people worked so hard to survive that they didn't have energy to devote to education and knowledge.
2007-09-12 22:03:04 · answer #2 · answered by javaman 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Depends what you mean by "people" and the "past". Do you mean a couple thousand years? Then there is no change not brought on by environment. "We are as dwarves standing on the shoulders of giants." That is, just because you know more nuclear physics then Newton, doesn't make you smarter than him. You might be above average, but it more because your parents could feed you regular and that your mom had vitamins when carrying you.
Now if your definition of past and people stretches to somebody like Joe Australopithecus africanus Six pack (mine does), then we have.
2007-09-12 22:02:58 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Smarter? No. But they thought very differently than us.
As society changes, the ideas we work with change, and so we think in different patterns more appropriate to the times we live in.
2007-09-12 22:04:08 · answer #4 · answered by aspicco 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
actually back then people were a lot smarter than us since they had to do all the hard work themselves
now we just have technology do everything for us
hard work vs. being lazy while a bunch of machines do everything for us
what do u think?
2007-09-12 21:59:02 · answer #5 · answered by ஐﻬ уαмι ηι cнιяυ ѕαкυяα ﻬஐ 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋