00:00:00
do you ever feel like you are surrounded by
people who can't follow basic constructions
00:00:04
use simple intuition reason or even think
beyond the next few minutes well you might
00:00:09
not be imagining things There's been a market
rise in cognitive difficulties over just the
00:00:14
last decade If you haven't noticed this decline
well I might have some bad news for you The rate
00:00:20
of young people reporting trouble learning new
things concentrating or just thinking has almost
00:00:24
doubled over the past 20 years But it really
shouldn't be like this For the last 200 years
00:00:30
humans on average have been getting consistently
smarter with every passing generation Around the
00:00:35
world we have more access to information than ever
before better nutrition and we are now spending
00:00:39
more on education than any point in history But
that can only get us so far Whether you want to
00:00:45
blame it on brain rot short form content AI that
does the thinking for us the defunding of public
00:00:50
education symptoms of long co or the fact that
nobody can get a decent night of sleep anymore
00:00:54
the data is all saying the same thing We might
have already passed peak intelligence and we are
00:01:00
now getting progressively stupider So then what
happens when we build a world that's too smart
00:01:05
for us to use i will sign an executive order
to begin eliminating the federal department
00:01:12
of education once and for all How many sides are
on a triangle oh man you just five It's three Oh
00:01:20
true I forgot about that I went to Harvard
You went to Harvard yes sir What did you
00:01:24
study there it's disrespectful and insult to be
locked out kicked out and then cast out Rondo's
00:01:33
got what plants crave It's got electrolytes
Measuring intelligence is really hard There
00:01:40
are standardized tests to assign intelligence
quotients or IQ But for most people there are
00:01:45
some problems with reducing someone's mental
capacity to a single number Most IQ tests that
00:01:51
are actually performed under properly controlled
conditions are done to diagnose suspected learning
00:01:55
disabilities or cognitive impairment which
means the sample group is naturally going
00:01:59
to be people that already demonstrate impaired
mental capacity Anybody else that actually goes
00:02:04
through the effort and expense of completing a
controlled condition IQ test is naturally going
00:02:08
to be the type of person that cares way too much
about it and studies beforehand and validating
00:02:12
the results IQ tests can give you some useful data
though If someone brags about their IQ they are an
00:02:19
idiot But with a large enough sample size some
generalizations can still be made James Flynn
00:02:24
was a researcher who collated data which was
aggregated over decades to identify the Flynn
00:02:29
effect Since 100 IQ is supposed to represent
the median score of a test taker he noticed
00:02:33
that bell curves had been adjusted over time with
large testing groups indicating that subsequent
00:02:38
generations were getting smarter On average a
cohort 10 years younger would be three IQ points
00:02:43
more intelligent than the group that came before
them And this trend continued for the six decades
00:02:47
he was active But even with such a clear trend
there was not one single cause that experts in the
00:02:52
field could agree on Most concluded that it was
a combination of factors including more efficient
00:02:57
schooling the reduction in infectious diseases
in early childhood development a more stimulating
00:03:01
environment as people moved into larger community
centers the widespread realization that inbreeding
00:03:06
was not the best idea and the fact that we
decided to stop putting lead in our gasoline
00:03:10
There are also many experts that simply argue
that the data is too unreliable to draw any
00:03:14
definitive conclusions over these time frames
Whether it was one or all of these factors it can
00:03:19
only get us so far Most of Flynn's observations
ended in the early 2000s so he wasn't around to
00:03:25
see the current decline that researchers are
noticing across the globe But there were a few
00:03:29
countries that were ahead of the trend From
1962 to 1991 scientists studied nearly 750
00:03:35
Norwegian men who completed an intelligence test
as part of their mandated military conscription
00:03:40
The scientists noted a statistically significant
boom and bust over the measured time period with
00:03:44
average intelligence reverting back to the levels
it was over 30 years ago This decline started in
00:03:49
1970 So you might think it disproves the theory
of leaded gasoline but Norway never actually used
00:03:55
it nearly as much as we did here in the United
States of small block Chevys They instead use
00:04:00
something called public transport which primarily
ran on diesel or electricity One of the theories
00:04:05
that researchers put forth was that in an advanced
economy with education around and access to birth
00:04:10
control dumber people were just having more
dumb babies and smart people weren't keeping
00:04:14
up They called this disgenic fertility but I
prefer to call it the idiocracy theory However
00:04:20
given Norway's relatively homogeneous and small
population the scientists were able to control for
00:04:25
family groups through generations and the results
were the same Dumb people were having dumber kids
00:04:30
but smart people were also having dumber kids
This meant that the dumbing was coming from the
00:04:35
environment rather than being passed down which
was strange because over this time period Norway
00:04:40
was enjoying large material wealth increases from
a sharp increase in oil and natural gas resources
00:04:45
Ultimately the strongest factor that researchers
found in the existing population was educational
00:04:50
systems that have become overly focused on
rigid curricula distracting TV and media as
00:04:54
well as worse nutrition from overly processed and
sugary foods So yeah if schools that look like
00:05:00
this color televisions that looked like this and
the occasional fried fish undid decades of worse
00:05:06
intelligence gains in Scandinavia it's time to
learn how money works to find out exactly how
00:05:10
cooked we are in the age of brain rot content
crumbling education systems and high fructose
00:05:15
corn syrup This video is sponsored by Shopify the
platform trusted by businesses of all sizes to
00:05:21
build manage and grow their online store On this
channel we talk a lot about money and for a lot
00:05:26
of business owners that means understanding how
to take what you're already selling and make it
00:05:30
more scalable That's exactly where Shopify comes
in Shopify helps you build a fully customizable
00:05:35
online store with no coding required You can start
with free professionally designed templates and
00:05:40
use the drag and drop editor to make it your own
fast It also gives you powerful tools to run your
00:05:45
business day-to-day You can manage your inventory
track orders connect with customers and even view
00:05:50
analytics to see what's working and what's not
all from one dashboard If you already have a
00:05:55
product or a storefront and you're ready to grow
online head to the link below to start your 3-day
00:05:59
free trial with Shopify You'll get your first
3 months for just $1 each And when it's time
00:06:04
to make the sale Shopify Checkout and Shopay
make the process smooth for your customers and
00:06:09
faster for you to get paid Features like one-click
checkout and abandoned cart recovery can genuinely
00:06:14
move the needle If you're selling in person
too Shopify point of sales syncs your online
00:06:18
and retail sales automatically so you always have
accurate inventory and customer info And if you
00:06:24
need something specific the Shopify app store
is packed with tools to tailor your store even
00:06:28
further Shopify isn't just for new entrepreneurs
It's for established businesses ready to level up
00:06:34
If you've already figured out what you're selling
Shopify can help you sell it better Join Shopify
00:06:39
today and enjoy a 3-day free trial in 3 months for
just $1 each Click the link below to get started
00:06:47
Okay maybe the biggest question is why we are only
now noticing a decline in intelligence There are
00:06:53
factors that have increased our intelligence and
factors that have made it worse And for a while
00:06:57
the good stuff was more than compensating for
the bad stuff but that is starting to change When
00:07:02
was the last time you felt bored or even slightly
mentally challenged probably not for a while right
00:07:08
technology has put the world's information
in our pocket along with basic tools like a
00:07:12
calculator and an automatically updating global
map I don't want to make myself sound too old
00:07:17
here but in the past most cars had a big book of
streets in the trunk that you had to look through
00:07:22
to figure out manually which turns to take to get
to a destination It wasn't exactly rocket science
00:07:28
but it took a bit more intuition than plugging
a destination into a phone and letting ways to
00:07:32
the wheel Researchers have noted that offloading
these simple everyday problem-solving tasks means
00:07:37
our brains aren't as exercised as much as they
were even two decades ago The spike in recorded
00:07:42
cognitive challenges amongst 18-year-olds from the
monitoring the future survey did start around 2012
00:07:48
right as fully capable smartphones were entering
the mainstream Easily accessible technology
00:07:53
started to do the thinking so we didn't need to
But that by itself wouldn't have actually been a
00:07:59
problem Yeah nobody these days knows how to read
a paper map but we also don't know how to turn our
00:08:05
own butter or read a sundial either Technology
has been making mental skills irrelevant for
00:08:10
a lot longer than we have been getting dumber
The difference now is that mindlessness is the
00:08:15
goal This new wave of technology has not only
taken away minor inconveniences that could be
00:08:20
overcome with a bit of critical thinking it's
also replaced it with easy instant contentment
00:08:25
It's no secret that the competitive meta of
the world's largest technology companies is
00:08:29
to keep you engaged with their platform as long
as possible Endless scrolling tailored content
00:08:34
on demand engagement metrics echo chambers
dopamine loops time-sensitive rewards and
00:08:38
push notifications are just some of the tricks
and it really does work for userenerated content
00:08:44
platforms The companies themselves don't even need
to try that hard They just push the content that
00:08:49
someone else figures out how to keep engaging As a
disgusting low-life influencer I am 100% guilty of
00:08:56
that myself I need that watch time too For example
I spent hours refining the opening hypothetical
00:09:02
question of this video the one about you feeling
like you were surrounded by dumb people It's
00:09:07
unfortunately relatable It makes you think and it
probably made you feel just a little bit smug All
00:09:13
things that are good for engagement but are also
kind of bad for challenging our minds Humans are
00:09:18
not made to be constantly contented And if we
are it makes it really hard to give up the easy
00:09:22
dopamine to commit to something challenging and
not immediately rewarding like studying learning
00:09:27
a new skill or just sitting down to get some
work done AI is shaping up to be the ultimate
00:09:32
incarnation of this trend where people don't have
to think about challenging problems and just get
00:09:37
maximum stimulative output from minimal input
Now I am not a psychologist and even though I
00:09:43
spoke to a few and read a few papers when putting
this video together there are simply better people
00:09:47
to discuss the exact mechanisms of brain rot So
instead of making a video about the Coco Melon to
00:09:53
Skippy toilet to Aiden Ross pipeline there is
something else more important to address What
00:09:58
happens when we are too dumb to use a world built
by smart people it sounds like a silly question
00:10:04
but it is literally already happening We are now
spending more on college than ever before and the
00:10:09
rate at which people are getting these expensive
degrees is also higher than ever since it's become
00:10:14
increasingly essential to land basically any
job The result of all this education is that we
00:10:19
apparently have a massive gap in technical skills
that young people entering the workforce aren't
00:10:24
able to fill and aren't willing to train into
Now sometimes that's because the pay is simply
00:10:29
not worth it but they don't like to say that part
out loud too much Okay so businesses complaining
00:10:35
about not being able to fill underpaid hands-on
roles is not exactly breaking news But there is
00:10:40
a surprising trend emerging from the computer
addicted generations entering the workforce
00:10:45
They aren't that good at using computers Modern
computers have become so refined and userfriendly
00:10:49
that people who have grown up using smartphones
and iPads aren't as savvy as older generations
00:10:54
who grew up using Lime Wire and loading mods onto
their pirated copy of Age of Empires Commercial IT
00:10:59
tools in most companies are still fairly old and
utilitarian They have a lot more in common with
00:11:04
the home computer experience of the 2000s than the
smartphones of the 2020s Formal education programs
00:11:10
are also not equipping labor force entrance with
these foundational skills because they are largely
00:11:14
even further behind A survey conducted by Dell the
computer maker found that more than a third of Gen
00:11:19
Z admitted to not being adequately prepared to
use computers in the workforce Eventually this
00:11:24
could become a massive problem because even
those lovely user-friendly computer programs
00:11:28
rely on a foundation of technical adeptness to
build It's a big challenge from 20 years ago
00:11:34
but some of the most skilled people in the world
of technology are now the 50 plus year olds that
00:11:38
wear socks and sandals and have been working
on computer since MS DOSs Technology companies
00:11:42
have made this even worse for themselves because
there is a not so secret agism problem amongst
00:11:47
the trendy companies that have actually seen
declining numbers of older workers even though
00:11:51
the population is getting older overall Now most
of the big tech companies will be fine They can
00:11:56
hire people who have specifically trained to
work with technology But regular companies that
00:12:01
have grown used to people entering the workforce
with a basic knowledge of computer systems are
00:12:04
increasingly running into problems already
And this goes well beyond computers as well
00:12:09
It actually gets way dumber than that The rush to
make everything as user friendly as possible means
00:12:14
less people are reading choosing to consume purely
audio and visual media instead The Financial Times
00:12:20
that wrote the article about moving past peak
intelligence called this a decline towards a
00:12:24
post-literate society a hypothetical society in
which multimedia technology has advanced to the
00:12:29
point where literacy is no longer necessary or
common So why are we just noticing this now well
00:12:36
we aren't We are just feeling the consequences
of it now All the way back in 1985 Neil Postman
00:12:42
a media professor published the book Amusing
Ourselves to Death where he spoke about the
00:12:47
influence of showmanship in public discourse
Basically the book saw the trend of television
00:12:51
consumption taking over from newspapers and
theorized that in the future the truth would
00:12:56
matter a lot less than what narrative was more
entertaining It would also create a world where
00:13:01
the people with the resources and expertise to
make things entertaining and easy to consume
00:13:05
would have a lot more influence than the people
who took the time to report things factually Again
00:13:10
this book was written in 1985 and ironically it
never actually sold that well because it is quite
00:13:17
dense and full of facts and figures Now if anybody
should have known to present this information in a
00:13:21
Tik Tok dance it should have been him But these
warnings were largely ignored Now this book is
00:13:27
still fascinating and some of the predictions are
downright scary And if you want a bit of light
00:13:31
horror I will link a link to it like I always
do in the description below Postman wrote two
00:13:36
other books on the subject as well Technopoly
the surrender of culture to technology and the
00:13:41
end of education redefining the value of school
These both came out in the early 1990s so there
00:13:47
is a good chance this guy might have been a time
traveler Now there is one other factor at play
00:13:51
here that is a lot more straightforward Yes young
people might have been blasted by brain rot since
00:13:56
birth but we are also on average simply getting
older Cognitive function naturally drops off as
00:14:02
we age and the average American is now almost 40
As we are living longer lives than ever before
00:14:07
a lot of elderly people well past their mental
prime have refused to give up senior positions in
00:14:11
government and business Watch this video next
to find out how we ended up with the senile
00:14:16
managing the brain rot And make sure to like and
subscribe to keep on learning how money works
