d) The blowhole expels carbon monoxide, condensation and mucus (refer to footnote in comic)
I think you mean Carbon Dioxide.
Carbon Monoxide binds to hemoglobin and does not release, destroying the capacity for the hemoglobin to carry oxygen in the blood, generating a state of hypoxia, leading to death.
Carbon Dioxide is the wast product of cellular respiration cycle, and is transferred by the blood, to the lungs, where it is exhaled, and replaced with oxygen.
@Tumblr Feminism Is A joke
I actually wasn’t reminded of this comic until I saw that image. I’m glad it did, because that image BELONGS in this comment section.
On a side note, I think there’s a debate on human evolution going on in this comment section…
On another side note, I wonder how Fluttershy would feel about brood parasitism? Just a thought that popped into my head.
@Fendo
Well, even using technology is a mental challenge.
It will be like that until the day machines will perform tasks better than we do, and without our aid. Then we’ll become more stupid.
We already pretty much stopped “classic” Darwinism (= survival of the fittest), allowing weaker and physically inept people to live without many problems, not to mention even those with congenital diseases.
Nowadays, it’s pretty much about social Darwinism… and sadly, it has little to do with intelligence.
*Yeah, if intelligence were the sole parameter of modern evolution, I’d be surrounded by a harem of beautiful women! ***shakes fist at the stars****
I remember Scott Adams (yes, the creator of Dilbert) once writing in one of his non-comic books “Technology has started to become smarter than us. We build it, but do we really know how to best use it? Is this world of billions not run by a few hundred amazingly smart deviants?”
now seriously, I really get your point BigMax, but like Miguel Delibes said “The machine has come to warm man’s stomach, but has cooled his heart” same apply to intelect, I see people using the technology but not using their brains :(
@Millennial Dan
Honestly, those articles sound very weak, scientifically speaking.
Humans have never been taller in the history of humanity. An average Dutch man is 184 cm tall. In the Middle Ages, we were midgets compared to that we’re now.
That, of course, depends on a richer diet and better health. (On a side note, we’re growing taller, and very fast.)
Cro-Magnon men used to be very tall (compared to the Neanderthal race), more or less like the modern man, but it’s more related to both better nutrition and simple Darwinism. Cro-Magnons eventually superseded Neanderthals.
Probably we’re not as strong as in the past, but that’s mainly because we do much less physical activity. I’d stand no chance against a Neanderthal man, and I’d be about 20 cm taller and 30 kg heavier… and I play rugby. (Heck, I’d be in serious troubles even against a large chimp.)
Both Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals had larger brains than the modern human (1600 cm3 against the actual 1400), but due their physical fitness their brains were less encephalized, meaning that a greater part of their brains was used to control the fitter body.
So, it’s not really about the brain size.
Also, about the tests: it really matters the sample you test. There’s a big difference between the modern high-school or university student than a student from the Victorian age, who probably was the descendant of a rich family, with easy access to culture and… less distractions! (Really, no Internet, no TV, no cellphones… no wonder they used to procreate a lot!)
But, overall, boys and girls have a better education this days. Illiteracy is long forgotten in Western countries, and will soon be in other.
Better education means better attitude to face and solve problems, and understand the world. This means that we are more intelligent than in the past.
Maybe the modern student isn’t better than a Victorian one, but if you humanity as a whole, there’s no doubt we improved. The best thing you can do to improve your intelligence it to make you brain work.
If you take a farmer that did nothing in his life than plowing the fields, planting the seeds, watering the plants, harvesting the crops, picking the apples… he may be a good fellow, but he’s probably an idiot, too, living with his sole life experience. Put him before an unexpected problem, and he’d be in dismay.
(This happens even today, actually, but the life of a modern farmer is actually much richer with stimuli. That improves things a bit.)
(Some explained that intelligence is related to the number and the depth of the convolutions in the brain. It’s a known fact that people with Alzheimer’s syndrome have brains with less convolutions.)
Anyway, back to nuclear bombs: the USA and the USSR had the chance to use them dozens of times during the Cold War, but they never did. There’s a reason for that too.
The USA and allied forces could overthrow every hostile regimen in a matter of days, simply razing their cities and shredding their armies thanks to superior armaments: Iran, ISIS, Talibans, Cuba, North Korea (that would be ridicously easy, anyway), you name it. With more effort, even China would fall.
That doesn’t mean it would be an intelligent and, above all, a humane thing to do.
TL;DR: no, we’re not less intelligent than the past. Yes, we have a higher concept of life, so we don’t kill anymore just because we can.
@Align
After reading your article, a number of issues arise. In particular, the gains they’ve observed are the domain primarily of those on the low end of the scale. In other words, it’s not that people are on average becoming more brilliant, but rather that the seemingly incompetent are becoming slightly less so. There are a variety of reasons that this may occur, the most compelling of which I think are nutrition, disease, and test familiarity.
It’s notable that those who have measured this effect tend not to conclude that people are simply becoming smarter.
@Millennial Dan
It’s even easier to find articles about how our IQ has been increasing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_effect
But IQ tests are mostly about pattern matching, which is a skill and as such increases with exercise. Like you get from working with computers, which are all about patterns.
That university students are physically weaker than farmers doesn’t really need further explanation.
Personally I seriously doubt that the biology of a species would change that fast. More likely it’s due to increasingly widespread education.
@Align
Much as people wish it wasn’t true, well, it is. It’s not even that hard to find studies that show that humans are in decline, whatever X-Men may have you believe.
And if you don’t think IQ is important, what in the world would you use? Technology sure isn’t any indicator, considering its nature. So?
@BigMax
Don’t be ridiculous. Do you think we’re smarter than people back then? Scientific research regarding our declining average intellect would beg to differ.
Can confirm; was molested by female dolphin.
(It is definitely impossible to replicate a silly voice in a comment. XD )
Thanks. I’m not perfect, though I try! =P
I think you mean Carbon Dioxide.
Carbon Monoxide binds to hemoglobin and does not release, destroying the capacity for the hemoglobin to carry oxygen in the blood, generating a state of hypoxia, leading to death.
Carbon Dioxide is the wast product of cellular respiration cycle, and is transferred by the blood, to the lungs, where it is exhaled, and replaced with oxygen.
The moar you know (correctly)
Also poor, poor Sea Swirl… :’(
Facts? Sorry, but he’s mistaken. Dolphins are not matriarchal.
Pfft, when have facts ever stopped someone’s (self)righteous indignation?
Are you proud of yourself?
I actually wasn’t reminded of this comic until I saw that image. I’m glad it did, because that image BELONGS in this comment section.
On a side note, I think there’s a debate on human evolution going on in this comment section…
On another side note, I wonder how Fluttershy would feel about brood parasitism? Just a thought that popped into my head.
I knew I wasn’t the only one who thought of this comic as soon as the dolphin mark appeared
Well, even using technology is a mental challenge.
It will be like that until the day machines will perform tasks better than we do, and without our aid.
Then we’ll become more stupid.
We already pretty much stopped “classic” Darwinism (= survival of the fittest), allowing weaker and physically inept people to live without many problems, not to mention even those with congenital diseases.
Nowadays, it’s pretty much about social Darwinism… and sadly, it has little to do with intelligence.
*Yeah, if intelligence were the sole parameter of modern evolution, I’d be surrounded by a harem of beautiful women! ***shakes fist at the stars****
jk
I remember Scott Adams (yes, the creator of Dilbert) once writing in one of his non-comic books “Technology has started to become smarter than us. We build it, but do we really know how to best use it? Is this world of billions not run by a few hundred amazingly smart deviants?”
now seriously, I really get your point BigMax, but like Miguel Delibes said “The machine has come to warm man’s stomach, but has cooled his heart” same apply to intelect, I see people using the technology but not using their brains :(
Honestly, those articles sound very weak, scientifically speaking.
Humans have never been taller in the history of humanity. An average Dutch man is 184 cm tall. In the Middle Ages, we were midgets compared to that we’re now.
That, of course, depends on a richer diet and better health. (On a side note, we’re growing taller, and very fast.)
Cro-Magnon men used to be very tall (compared to the Neanderthal race), more or less like the modern man, but it’s more related to both better nutrition and simple Darwinism. Cro-Magnons eventually superseded Neanderthals.
Probably we’re not as strong as in the past, but that’s mainly because we do much less physical activity. I’d stand no chance against a Neanderthal man, and I’d be about 20 cm taller and 30 kg heavier… and I play rugby. (Heck, I’d be in serious troubles even against a large chimp.)
Both Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals had larger brains than the modern human (1600 cm3 against the actual 1400), but due their physical fitness their brains were less encephalized, meaning that a greater part of their brains was used to control the fitter body.
So, it’s not really about the brain size.
Also, about the tests: it really matters the sample you test. There’s a big difference between the modern high-school or university student than a student from the Victorian age, who probably was the descendant of a rich family, with easy access to culture and… less distractions! (Really, no Internet, no TV, no cellphones… no wonder they used to procreate a lot!)
But, overall, boys and girls have a better education this days. Illiteracy is long forgotten in Western countries, and will soon be in other.
Better education means better attitude to face and solve problems, and understand the world. This means that we are more intelligent than in the past.
Maybe the modern student isn’t better than a Victorian one, but if you humanity as a whole, there’s no doubt we improved. The best thing you can do to improve your intelligence it to make you brain work.
If you take a farmer that did nothing in his life than plowing the fields, planting the seeds, watering the plants, harvesting the crops, picking the apples… he may be a good fellow, but he’s probably an idiot, too, living with his sole life experience. Put him before an unexpected problem, and he’d be in dismay.
(This happens even today, actually, but the life of a modern farmer is actually much richer with stimuli. That improves things a bit.)
(Some explained that intelligence is related to the number and the depth of the convolutions in the brain. It’s a known fact that people with Alzheimer’s syndrome have brains with less convolutions.)
Anyway, back to nuclear bombs: the USA and the USSR had the chance to use them dozens of times during the Cold War, but they never did. There’s a reason for that too.
The USA and allied forces could overthrow every hostile regimen in a matter of days, simply razing their cities and shredding their armies thanks to superior armaments: Iran, ISIS, Talibans, Cuba, North Korea (that would be ridicously easy, anyway), you name it. With more effort, even China would fall.
That doesn’t mean it would be an intelligent and, above all, a humane thing to do.
TL;DR: no, we’re not less intelligent than the past. Yes, we have a higher concept of life, so we don’t kill anymore just because we can.
After reading your article, a number of issues arise. In particular, the gains they’ve observed are the domain primarily of those on the low end of the scale. In other words, it’s not that people are on average becoming more brilliant, but rather that the seemingly incompetent are becoming slightly less so. There are a variety of reasons that this may occur, the most compelling of which I think are nutrition, disease, and test familiarity.
It’s notable that those who have measured this effect tend not to conclude that people are simply becoming smarter.
It’s even easier to find articles about how our IQ has been increasing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_effect
But IQ tests are mostly about pattern matching, which is a skill and as such increases with exercise. Like you get from working with computers, which are all about patterns.
That university students are physically weaker than farmers doesn’t really need further explanation.
Personally I seriously doubt that the biology of a species would change that fast. More likely it’s due to increasingly widespread education.
Much as people wish it wasn’t true, well, it is. It’s not even that hard to find studies that show that humans are in decline, whatever X-Men may have you believe.
And if you don’t think IQ is important, what in the world would you use? Technology sure isn’t any indicator, considering its nature. So?
What? I’ve only ever seen the opposite claimed, though I disagree that IQ is the best indicator.
Don’t be ridiculous. Do you think we’re smarter than people back then? Scientific research regarding our declining average intellect would beg to differ.