Yahoo Answers is shutting down on 4 May 2021 (Eastern Time) and the Yahoo Answers website is now in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.
Are people more intelligent or do we only have greater knowledge?
12 Answers
- Jogger2425Lv 63 weeks agoFavourite answer
Interesting question. I don't know.
Part of the problem is there is no universally accepted definition for intelligence. Some might see improvements in human thinking, compared to centuries ago, as an increase in intelligence, while others might see it as applying knowledge about what we learned from the past.
- Anonymous1 week ago
Your question seems like a comparison if some sort, but really doesn't make sense.
- DiStefanoLv 62 weeks ago
There are different definitions of intelligence. Hence that is impossible to say. Generally, we have greater knowledge than before available. However, that does not mean that people know how to apply that knowledge (correctly) and/or have the right skills.
- ?Lv 73 weeks ago
If you mean as compared to the past we just have different knowledge. A typical teen who can navigate the internet and even code probably doesn't understand classic literature as well as an educated teen from a hundred years ago. Meanwhile satellites have made the modern study of things like geography much easier and more accurate than it would have been in 1920.
- .Lv 73 weeks ago
Neither. It's all relative and distribution. People are probably weaker, but have more productivity potential with machines.
- jpopelishLv 73 weeks ago
Just a bigger library.
Recorded knowledge is part of our culture.
--
Regards,
John Popelish
- El Nerdo LocoLv 73 weeks ago
Maybe a bit of both. Intelligence isn't entirely a fixed trait. It does develop with practice. And we do have near universal education in every industrialized nation now.
Source(s): Not like the nobility was innately more intelligent than the peasants under feudal systems. They were just the only ones given an education.