Abstract
The following paper discusses the status of intelligence research in the Anthropocene. First, I discuss how the transformations we have experienced signal the need to more deeply consider the role of context in our thinking of intelligence. Next, I discuss the demographic and cultural changes that transformed the niche of human intelligence after the Industrial Revolution. Then, I comment on how, in the origin of intelligence research, the invention of the theory of general intelligence was marked by a lack of consideration of the role of context, notwithstanding that the British founders of the field were working in the midst of the great transformation provoked by the Industrial Revolution. Finally, I conclude by discussing how intelligence research should be conducted to address the challenges of the Anthropocene.
If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.
Isaac Newton
IQ gains over time signal the evolution of minds that can be better educated. They provide no guarantee that the educating will be done.
James Flynn
Chapter prepared for Intelligence in Context: The Cultural and Historical Foundations of Human Intelligence, edited by Robert J. Sternberg and David D. Preiss. Palgrave.
Author’s note: Work on this chapter was supported by grant FONDECYT No. 1181095 from ANID.
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Preiss, D.D. (2022). Human Intelligence in the Time of the Anthropocene. In: Sternberg, R.J., Preiss, D.D. (eds) Intelligence in Context. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92798-1_15
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