Why did it take Humans so long to get so smart in such a short time? ie. last hundred years!?
447802
Technological growth has been following an exponential curve.
665657
That would be due to the fact that as humans we are supposed to have more intelligence and be civilized...not to mention potty-trained!  That is probably why we also don't go out and poop on the front lawn like they do, or hump everybody's legs.  (At least most of us don't!)
617416
origins are hard for small minds to wrap around.  Modern minds are conditioned to getting answers in a few seconds of a soundbite, otherwise they are bored.  Some teenagers still believe in the easter bunny and santa clause. It wasn't Adam and Steve.  Yes, evolution is a process that takes millions of years, not a soundbite of a few seconds. Evolution may seem to have stages, but they never stop. If you don't believe in the concept of evolution, you don't believe in the concept of graduation and may have to get a job at the level of the rest of us apes.
160376
They do.  When you get older, the guys get wiser.  We realize the smarties are the hotties, and the dumbasses are, well, just dumb.  Be patient.
574152
I think because we learned how too type too fast and too lazy to check our spelling!
1068384
Hmm..  Yes this question is quite thought provoking LMAO Intelligence is not an age
127182
Good question.  I think you may be on to something.  Our ancestors went from small clans roaming from cave/tree to cave/tree.  Then grew from towns and cities to states and countries in just several hundred years.  So as beliefs between people become more assimilated we may see a further melding of the worlds population into larger and larger countries.  Might take hundreds of years?
677712
Our capacity for abstract thought is shaped and goes hand-in-hand with our language.  Stephen Hawking had it right "Then something happened that unleashed the power of our imagination...we learned to talk."\nThis has obvious advantages in a tribal society, in hunting, in battle.  "let's scare the buffalo off the cliff"\n\nThe other thing that allowed intellect to grow to absurdity, like the sabre-tooth tiger's fangs, was the creation and use of tools.  Tools are a product of intellect.  Humans can do more with less work using tools, and increased intellect gave this vehicle fuel.  Smarter tool users excelled over animals and other humans.  Our state of dominance in the world is dependant on tools. \n\nThere are also "riders" on evolutionary traits.  Not all of our mental processes are helpful.  Some are products of complexity.  Some are sheer mental horsepower side effects.  We are not better animals knowing we are flying through space on a rock.  It causes some of us so much angst that we live complex religious fantasies.  We are not better animals because we use condoms, or even know why babies happen.  We have things like orgasms to bribe us into being successful animals anyway.  People have temporary insanity plugged into their DNA which turns on when they're turned on.  These things have to happen to counteract our intellect.\n\nYou are one of the very few people I've seen ask the right question.  You can figure out anything if you just follow "how" all the way.
381718
I guess you mean what changes in the human physique will evolution make in the next 100 years.\n\nNone.  100 years is an extremely short period of time in terms of evolution and changes cannot be expected.  Furthermore, humans are not under any compelling natural selection pressure at the present such that their physical structure would evolve.
1042535
Well you are demonstrating it with the horrible spelling and syntax you used in your question unless that was intentional.\n\nI overall disagree with your premise. I don't think we have become more stupid. There is a significantly greater amount of information required of a person today than there was 200 years ago. Further formal education hardly existed in the country prior to the 1860's. If you are looking at a test from that period it most likely was from a private academy where then, as now, students were put up to more vigorous standards.\n\nAdditionally, most young people completed their education by the age of 14 and were moved into apprentice programs to learn a trade. The number of young men, remember most young ladies were excluded from formal schooling, who actually attended college were minute when compared to today's world.\n\nMost people in this country never received a formal education and the level of illiteracy was in excess of 50%. As opposed to today when the level is less than 20% for adults.
411000
Not by a long shot! Most seem to think that we are as about as sophisticated as we are going to be, but I don't agree. I believe that there are things that we are (eventually) capable of finding or dreaming up that would just blow our minds to know of now! Just try to think of how someone from a century ago would react to learn of what was to come in the next century...hmmmmmmm...
169088
why don't young people know how to dig a well.  Many old people grew up in an different age and consider at least some technology to not be necessary.\n\nThe way the brain works as we age it becomes more difficult to learn new things.  So it is a combination of attitudes and biology.
1061983
Because their machinery is different.  It's just biology.\n\nMen have "refractory time" to factor in before they can "go again," which tends to get lengthier as they get older.
171523
Because 4000 years is too short a time to see major differences. It typically takes millions of years to make a difference, except in species with short lifespans (like mice) than can be selectively bred by humans to possess certain characteristics.
1010077
It really depends on how you gauge intelligence. Now, if everyone thought that people were smarter, then there would be no worry of machines ever taking over the world. \n\nThe fact is, a computer can process information a lot quicker than a human can. Ultimately, we create machines that can outperform us in velocity and force, which is also true of a computer. That is the point of making them. A computer can be as smart as one programs them. We possess so many other possibilities within our brains and through our senses.  \n\nWe really only define our thought through the senses we perceive and draw unique conclusions, even expanding the bounds of reason. It is this expansion that gives way to new discoveries and understanding, hence, people on the whole are smarter. \n\nUnless we can create a computer to attain consciousness, but even then, we will have to be cognitive masters before we can do that. People are smarter than computers, because although a computer may process information faster and recall memory quicker, we are the ones that have the ability to expand the parameters of reason and logic. Machines are faster and stronger than we, but not smarter. We utilize speed and function in a machine to accomplish tasks, and a computer may only appear smarter due it's processing speed.
339504
Because human beings have the innate quest for higher learning/knowledge. For as long as the human brain is in good working condition, there will always be HOWs, WHYs, WHATs, WHEREs, WHENs and so many other questions that need to be answered!
266651
Some people are not that smart. Or just lazy.\nYou have to remember, if you take the average person you must realize that half of the population is dumber than thay are.