Research Catalog

Title

At our wit's end : why we're becoming less intelligent and what it means for the future / Edward Dutton and Michael Woodley of Menie.

Author

Dutton, Edward, 1980-

Publication

• Exeter, United Kingdom : Imprint Academic, 2018.
• La Verge, TN : Distributed in the USA by Ingram Book Compay

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Woodley, Michael A.

Description

210 pages : illustrations; 25 cm.

Summary

We are becoming less intelligent. This is the shocking yet fascinating message of At Our Wits' End. The authors take us on a journey through the growing body of evidence that we are significantly less intelligent now than we were a hundred years ago. The research proving this is, at once, profoundly thought-provoking, highly controversial, and it's currently only read by academics. But the authors are passionate that it cannot remain ensconced in the ivory tower any longer. With At Our Wits' End, they present the first ever popular scientific book on this crucially important issue. They prove that intelligence which is strongly genetic was increasing up until the breakthrough of the Industrial Revolution, because we were subject to the rigors of Darwinian Selection, meaning that lots of surviving children was the preserve of the cleverest. But since then, they show, intelligence has gone into rapid decline, because large families are increasingly the preserve of the least intelligent. The book explores how this change has occurred and, crucially, what its consequences will be for the future. Can we find a way of reversing the decline of our IQ? Or will we witness the collapse of civilization and the rise of a new Dark Age?

Series Statement

Societas

Uniform Title

Societas (Imprint Academic (Firm))

Subject

• Intelligence levels > Social aspects

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

1. Can you believe we put a man on the moon? -- 2. What is intelligence? -- 3. How and why has intelligence been selected for? -- 4. Is there evidence that intelligence was increasing up to the industrial revolution? -- 5. What is personality? -- 6. Was genius becoming more prevalent historically? -- 7. How did selection for intelligence go into reverse? -- 8. But aren't we getting smarter? -- 9. Is there really hard evidence that general intelligence is declining? -- 10. Does this mean that civilizations always rise and fall? -- 11. Did other civilizations show a rise and fall in general intelligence? -- 12. Has western civilization followed the cycle? -- 13. The dying of the light.

Call Number

JFE 19-10468

ISBN

• 184540985X
• 9781845409852

OCLC

1030610840

Author

Dutton, Edward, 1980- author.

Title

At our wit's end : why we're becoming less intelligent and what it means for the future / Edward Dutton and Michael Woodley of Menie.

Publisher

Exeter, United Kingdom : Imprint Academic, 2018.

Distributor

La Verge, TN : Distributed in the USA by Ingram Book Compay

Type of Content

text

still image

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

Societas

Societas (Imprint Academic (Firm))

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Added Author

Woodley, Michael A., author.

Research Call Number

JFE 19-10468