Geneticist Gerald Crabtree has recently made waves by forwarding the hypothesis that human intelligence “peaked thousands of years ago and we’ve been on an intellectual and emotional decline ever since.” To whit:
“His argument is based on the fact that for more than 99 per cent of human evolutionary history, we have lived as hunter-gatherer communities surviving on our wits, leading to big-brained humans. Since the invention of agriculture and cities, however, natural selection on our intellect has effective stopped and mutations have accumulated in the critical ‘intelligence’ genes.”
Sadly, there appear to be proof of mankinds devolution. Ancient musical tablature was uncovered in Ugarit, Syria from over 3400 years ago. This music is still playable today, and is quite beautiful. “Hurrian Hymn № 6” can be heard below:
In contrast, we spiffy modern humans have to put up with this:
Warning: This “Music” Will Lower Your IQ
Perhaps Devo was right after all:
Hat Tip to Ace of Spades HQ for the Hurrian Hymn link.
