Zone1 Is mankind progressing?

[Votto]

I get the sense that most posers on this site believe mankind to be progressing on one or all fronts, whether it be physiologically, morally, and/or intellectually.

Do you include yourself on these assumptions?

The more we learn from ancient civilizations, for example, the more we realize just how advanced they were.

Take prehistoric man as an example.



We have no idea who these people were or how they even built these megastructures, that in my mind blow away the pyramids in terms of sophistication and intellectual prowess.

They even found more accurate ways to measure right triangles than we use today



As for our moral development, we pride ourselves on knowing that slavery has been outlawed in most places around the world, but fail to see that slavery is more prevalent to day than at any other time in human history.

The World Counts

www.theworldcounts.com

But our political leaders spend all their time rehashing slavery when it was legal hundreds of years ago instead of addressing the slavery of today, all in the name of virtue signaling to voters that they care about the issue.

As one comedian I heard said, California is insane because they are paying for reparations to people who were never slaves, taken from people who never owned slaves, in a state that never had slaves.

If anything, mankind is devolving, especially considering how IQ levels are falling.

https://www.weforum.org/stories/2018/06/iq-scores-have-been-falling-for-decades-new-study-finds/

It’s official, we are getting dumber.
IQ levels are falling, and have been for decades, according to a new study.
The paper, co-authored by Bernt Bratsberg and Ole Rogeberg of the Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research in Oslo, Norway, looked at the IQ test results of more than 730,000 Norwegian men.
The men had all reported for national service between 1970 and 2009, for which a mandatory IQ test takes place.
Analysis showed that the men born in 1962 had higher scores than those born in 1991.
Those born in 1991 scored five points lower than those born in 1975, and three points lower than those born in 1962.

 

[Votto]

Evolutionists I think presume that life forms progress in every facet of their existence.

As a result, this line of thinking may provide a great deal of angst along with denial as to the reality of.......well...........reality.

People like this think that because we have cell phones today, for example, we are somehow superior to those of ancient times.

The issue I think is the ability to record and preserve knowledge that people can expand upon that is the key to such devices as the cell phone. It has nothing to do with being more "evolved".

 

[Votto]

The ancients may not have been able to surf the internet for information, but at least with what little information they had they at least knew what a woman was.



But that is the insanity of how man is evolving. They think not knowing what a woman is, is actually intellectual and moral progress.

 

[GLASNOST]

Is mankind progressing?​

* Is mankind progressing? Of course it is. It is always progressing.

* Is it becoming more humane? No. Progression has become inversely proportional to the concerns of humanity. The pinnacle of humanity was the introduction and development of Democracy. Democracy is now being eradicated.

 

[Votto]

* Is mankind progressing? Of course it is. It is always progressing.

* Is it becoming more humane? No. Progression has become inversely proportional to the concerns of humanity. The pinnacle of humanity was the introduction and development of Democracy. Democracy is now being eradicated.

I should clarify.

You could also say that cancer in a person is progressing in a cancer patient, but when you say progressing in the thread above, I assume you mean for the better.

Right?

Also, what are the concerns of humanity then you are referring too?

And why is democracy the pinnacle of humanity?

 

[Dogmaphobe]

Are we progressing? Heavens no.

We have returned to a state of utter tribalism where people are categorized by identity and then considered either an oppressor or an oppressed with all the spoils society offers reserved for the latter.

 

[Darkwind]

Progressing toward what? Who sets the standard to achieve? Who sets the boundaries and rails toward a goal? Who sets the goal?

 

[Votto]

Progressing toward what? Who sets the standard to achieve? Who sets the boundaries and rails toward a goal? Who sets the goal?

Evolutionary theory, which has gripped the hearts and minds of academia and the media and even the church in some instances, suggests that life forms evolve for the better, all to address deficits that threaten their survival.

Moreover, science has become a sort of Messianic movement of sorts, as if this evolutionary progress will propel mankind to increase his knowledge and mastery of science in a form of salvation for mankind. Mankind once put his faith in God but now they place it in "science". I think the current AI push to "empower" mankind is just but one example of this. So, instead of placing their faith in an all knowing entity, they simply create it best they can.

That is my perception, how about you?

It is bad enough that many secular types think that life is meaningless, but to add to that fact that man is not progressing, and in many instances devolving, I think the combination is simply intolerable to even fathom.

It really becomes a Debbie Downer of sorts.

 

[Votto]

From the ramblings above, I gather that many think Progress involves the following

1. Democracy. Society has sold us all on the notion that democracy helps purify a society from its ills. The gospel of democracy is such that we are sold on the notion we can impose it on other societies, which will automatically make that given society better. But is this true? We saw how the people of Gaza elected a terrorist group who have now led them down a road of death and utter despair.

2. Knowledge. Society has sold us all on the notion that knowledge will improve society, because it empowers humanity. After all, knowledge is power. This dates back to the story of the Garden of Eden with man's quest for improvement as he partook of the tree of Knowledge. And yes, I don't think it a mistake that the tree was called the tree of knowledge. I think the message was, knowledge without wisdom brings death. And we have many examples of how this is a truth.

Mankind has still not come to terms with the historical fact that increased power corrupts the soul of man.

Perhaps this is the achilleas heel of mankind. It is the quest for knowledge, i.e., power, which continually leads to their demise.

But their lust for it will not allow them to properly assess this problem.

In fact, I often wonder if the ancient people who had the knowledge to create such fantastic structures shown above in previous posts had anything to do with their ultimate demise. They seem to have had a greater intellect than we do today on many levels.

Many of these megalithic structures seem to have all been abruptly halted via some unknown cataclysmic event.

 

[GLASNOST]

..... why is democracy the pinnacle of humanity?

You don't know.

 

[Votto]

You don't know.

The only true democracy was in Greece. At least that is what academia will teach you, but in all honesty the vast majority of people in Greece were slaves. The slaves enabled the privileged citizens who could vote the ability to discuss and study various issues all day long. That is the model that all democracy lovers have fallen in love with.

Those in Greece also felt that their system was superior to all other forms of government, which caused them to try to force it on other nations, which later helped bankrupt them

Sound familiar?

The democracies that came later where pseudo democracies, which allowed the "slaves"' to vote.

But from what I have seen, it is simply a system where the "slaves" of society are merely influenced on how to vote via the media and academia, etc. Mind you, these slaves who vote do so with a very limited knowledge of what exactly they are even voting for. But then again, they spend all their time making other people money and, at the same time, making enough money to survive on themselves. It is what it is.

Here is an example of how well-informed voters even are.



They are just voting for party or race mindlessly.

But it does have merits. At least it helps address the conundrum of centralized unchallenged power as being a problem due to the corruption that must follow, even though it cannot properly root it out. But what can?

The Biblical account in 1 Samuel 8 is interesting in this regard as the Hebrew people had a government system set up without a centralized body of control. All they had was judges to help keep the peace. However, the people clamored for a king as their kingdom spiraled the drain shortly afterwards.

 

[Hafar1014]

I get the sense that most posers on this site believe mankind to be progressing on one or all fronts, whether it be physiologically, morally, and/or intellectually.

Do you include yourself on these assumptions?

The more we learn from ancient civilizations, for example, the more we realize just how advanced they were.

Take prehistoric man as an example.



We have no idea who these people were or how they even built these megastructures, that in my mind blow away the pyramids in terms of sophistication and intellectual prowess.

They even found more accurate ways to measure right triangles than we use today



As for our moral development, we pride ourselves on knowing that slavery has been outlawed in most places around the world, but fail to see that slavery is more prevalent to day than at any other time in human history.

The World Counts

www.theworldcounts.com

But our political leaders spend all their time rehashing slavery when it was legal hundreds of years ago instead of addressing the slavery of today, all in the name of virtue signaling to voters that they care about the issue.

As one comedian I heard said, California is insane because they are paying for reparations to people who were never slaves, taken from people who never owned slaves, in a state that never had slaves.

If anything, mankind is devolving, especially considering how IQ levels are falling.

https://www.weforum.org/stories/2018/06/iq-scores-have-been-falling-for-decades-new-study-finds/

It’s official, we are getting dumber.
IQ levels are falling, and have been for decades, according to a new study.
The paper, co-authored by Bernt Bratsberg and Ole Rogeberg of the Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research in Oslo, Norway, looked at the IQ test results of more than 730,000 Norwegian men.
The men had all reported for national service between 1970 and 2009, for which a mandatory IQ test takes place.
Analysis showed that the men born in 1962 had higher scores than those born in 1991.
Those born in 1991 scored five points lower than those born in 1975, and three points lower than those born in 1962.

IQ is genetic. If more dumb people have more children which is the case then mean IQ will drop. M IQ is 100.
Mean for African Americans 85
Jews 107
Asians 108
We all arent getting dumber just some of us.
Marijuana will drop IQ 15 points

 

[alang1216]

Evolutionists I think presume that life forms progress in every facet of their existence.

Evolutionists don't believe that. They know cave fish will lose their eyes after some number of generations. Is that progress?

As a result, this line of thinking may provide a great deal of angst along with denial as to the reality of.......well...........reality.

People like this think that because we have cell phones today, for example, we are somehow superior to those of ancient times.

The issue I think is the ability to record and preserve knowledge that people can expand upon that is the key to such devices as the cell phone. It has nothing to do with being more "evolved".

I doubt we are any smarter or dumber than our ancestors but we have progressed culturally. Slavery is out and love your neighbor is in.

 

[Votto]

IQ is genetic. If more dumb people have more children which is the case then mean IQ will drop. M IQ is 100.
Mean for African Americans 85
Jews 107
Asians 108
We all arent getting dumber just some of us.
Marijuana will drop IQ 15 points

No, we know of how human exposure to toxic mold, for example, can lower someone's IQ.

And we all have met pot heads who have abused cannabis at an early age.

These people have clearly dumbed themselves down.

But that is probably just the tip of the iceberg in terms of human beings being able to curb their IQ levels downward, and I imagine they can curb them up as well with such things as reading, playing an instrument, and other various activities to work the brain into expanding it's potential.

 

[Votto]

Evolutionists don't believe that. They know cave fish will lose their eyes after some number of generations. Is that progress?


I doubt we are any smarter or dumber than our ancestors but we have progressed culturally. Slavery is out and love your neighbor is in.

I think that the evolutionist does think that the fish losing it's eyes is progress, because their bodies no longer expend energy towards functions that no longer does them any good. It is the assumption that an organism will alter itself to become the best functioning organism it can be.

Also, did you not read my take on slavery? Today, it is more pervasive as ever. Why?

 

[TNHarley]

Slavery is out

There is evidence that there are more slaves now, then ever before. An estimated 30M slaves.

 

[Votto]

There is evidence that there are more slaves now, then ever before. An estimated 30M slaves.

It is far worse than that. Our political leader's neve talk about this. All they rant about is slavery that happened hundreds of years prior that we can do nothing about.

And the intellectual idiocy of voters has no way to critically assess this situation.

 

[Hafar1014]

No, we know of how human exposure to toxic mold, for example, can lower someone's IQ.

And we all have met pot heads who have abused cannabis at an early age.

These people have clearly dumbed themselves down.

But that is probably just the tip of the iceberg in terms of human beings being able to curb their IQ levels downward, and I imagine they can curb them up as well with such things as reading, playing an instrument, and other various activities to work the brain into expanding it's potential.

I never heard of the mold issue so I looked it up. It cause actual brain damage. So does mercury but not enough to offset the normal distribution. Median is still 100.
You cant increase it. What you can do is increase coherence which is the degree of understanding between your emotions and cognition. Emotions can determine what you think you know.

 

[Mac-7]

Votto

Is mankind progressing?​

Technically and scientifically yes

But otherwise no

 

[Votto]

I never heard of the mold issue so I looked it up. It cause actual brain damage. So does mercury but not enough to offset the normal distribution. Median is still 100.
You cant increase it. What you can do is increase coherence which is the degree of understanding between your emotions and cognition. Emotions can determine what you think you know.

But how does one know if it is being increased?

More than likely, increases in IQ is just attributed to normal development.

I don't see how that can be measured.

Moreover, I think we can all agree that if you lock up a child in a closet till they are 18 years old with zero stimulation, their IQ probably won't be that high.