Very interesting article--you're good at spotting new publications that "delight the mind," as the guidelines say. The article talks about a lot more, but I wouldn't quote this little piece: "Most people don’t realize that this process is already under way. In fact, it’s happening all around us, across the full spectrum of how we understand intelligence. It’s visible in the hive mind of the Internet," because that relates to something I heard a while back at a lecture by John Raven, current publisher of the Raven Progressive Matrices IQ test. He said that rather than thinking of intelligence as a trait of an individual, we can think of it as an emergent property of groups. Better communication among groups leads to more intelligence for all of humankind to enjoy. Thanks for sharing the article and boosting our intelligence here on HN.
Of course, that's just e-mail at work. But the "dumbing-down" of IT, education and work in general is unlikely to increase our IQ.
Derek Bickerton, sometime co-author of the article's referenced William Calvin, believes that we may already be going the other way. In his book "Adam's Tongue" he points out how, over time, humans are becoming eerily similar to ants or termites, He also notes that it takes about 40 generations for a wolf to become a domesticated dog-like animal and that the caste system in India, which has probably been in place longer, may have left a permanent trace upon it's members.
The article compared communication overload with calisthenics. Of course that right after doing exercise you're not at your top performance... but stop for a while and the benefits of months of training will show.
In other words, he's comparing long time IQ change, and you're talking about short term.
I am fascinated by the underlying concept of this article, that society is evolving to support a shared awareness or a certain augmented intelligence of the individual. Just look at how much has shifted in society regarding specific knowledge vs. a more general intuition or analytical ability.
I'm somewhat annoyed by the depiction of stimulants as intelligence enhancing pharmaceuticals. These drugs certainly do affect behavior (and as such they obviously play into that old "99% perspiration" maxim). However, I would argue that stimulants (specifically powerful drugs like modafinil and ADD medications) usually cripple intuition and creativity.
To me, these aspects of mental agility are significant components of intelligence. Intensely focusing on an extended stretch of work seldom yields optimal results (aside from those truly inspired "in the zone" moments). Years of experience/experimentation would indicate that I need sleep, breaks, and a balanced mind to produce anything even resembling my best work.
Has anyone here actually felt MORE intelligent while taking modafinil or ADD medication (or to a lesser extent, even coffee)? I'm very curious to hear what you have to say.
Once a month or so during college I'd devote a day to taking an ADD medication and working all day. I feel that I did more, and better, work under the influence.
I would start working on a Sunday morning at 8AM and besides a lunch break I wouldn't take stop until 10PM or so. I was working on an art major as well as doing some web development on the side at the time, and for these sessions I feel I was working at or above my normal creative and intellectual output for the majority of the time.
Besides a stamina boost for the day I also feel there is a similar effect to the Balmer Peak. (http://xkcd.com/323/) I would be much more confident then my average self, and because of it try (and sometimes accomplish) things that I would normally shrug off as out of my league.
Am I the only one who isn't a fan of taking "performance-enhancing" drugs to stay more alert, get things done, etc?
I put off starting my coffee habit until I was almost forty years old, but now I wonder why I waited so long. The only time my coffee habit (rigidly just one cup of coffee each morning, every morning) was inconvenient to me was once when I had a business trip to Salt Lake City. I didn't have a coffee-maker in my room in my hotel (operated by the Mormon church). I couldn't get my local host (a high official in the Mormon church) to take me somewhere where coffee was served. As my sick headache from caffeine withdrawal developed, I was handed off to another local host, also a Mormon, but also a medical doctor, and he told me that sometimes the Mormon health code allows physicians to administer caffeine "medicinally"--that's really how he said it. He took me to a convenience store that sold caffeinated Coca Cola, and that is how I got my fix. Other than that, I think I have gained somewhat in concentration and productivity in my caffeinated years compared to my noncaffeinated years, although I am hardly an objective observer of myself.
Coffee is grandfathered in, like aspirin. Aspirin probably wouldn't pass FDA screening today, because of the stomach problems it causes so many people.
