The Sun-Herald

Dogged by global dumbing

Despite having acquired an American president who can build his own sentences, the world still appears to be teetering on the brink of a daftness critical mass.

Not content with de-evolving ourselves to the max with computer games, Paris Hilton and other anti-intellectual weapons, we're dumbing down our dogs too, according to the UK's The Times. (What I like most about this article is that you can substitute the words 'actor' or 'celebrity' for dog and it still makes perfect sense. Try it.)
Quite a few esteemed commentators have written on the subject in recent years. The most sobering reflections come from technology writer Nicholas Carr, who speculated in the Atlantic six months ago that online browsing habits and bite-sized information-gathering had permanently altered his thought processes. He also related the experiences of academic acquaintances who find their concentration diminishing. For me, his words have ominous resonance:
"Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do. I feel as if I'm always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle."
I know exactly what he means. I finish fewer novels than I used to. I even have trouble following a TV series to the end. Too many rival messages are competing for my attention and my brain flits between them like a playboy in a crowded bar, unable to commit.
A few months earlier, Susan Jacoby wrote in the Washington Post about the deterioration of general knowledge and curiosity about the world. She quoted Harvard research which found that between 1968 and 2000, the average soundbite on the news from a presidential candidate had dropped from 42.3 to just 7.8 seconds.
Does all this really mean we're dumber? You could argue that we've just become faster, more efficient thinkers, capable of editing our own information rather than appointing someone else as filter.
And here's another thought. It won't be popular with parents forking out for extra tutoring for kids who aren't hitting straight As, but: how smart do you actually need to be? I remember at school that the kids classified by the education system as dumb were also the happiest. I have three "dumb" friends from then who found jobs they enjoyed, married people they loved and have motored very smoothly through life without the angst related to over-thinking, questioning and debating. You could say they're a hell of a lot smarter than their neurotic, over-achieving contemporaries.
As for the poor old dogs, supposedly becoming dafter by the minute as we breed out intelligence in favour of good looks, I reckon they're pretending. Even the dumbest dog is smarter than the average human. When my dog was alive I used to rest happy each night knowing that if I was ever to go broke he'd have the wiles to go out and source food for both of us with a mix of charm and guile only a few humans could match.
And never, ever go up against a cat in the game of survival. You will lose.
In general, the planet is probably dumbing down. My plants don't talk back the way they used to. Nearly every menu has spelling mistakes. People use numbers instead of words. Clouds no longer form such clever and complex patterns in the sky.
Is anyone getting smarter? Of course. The usual suspects: cockroaches, people who design computer viruses and Nigerian conmen.
Somewhere in that mix, perhaps, is the basis for a brave new world.

• by Amy Cooper at 11:31 PM
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