Human Intelligence Sharply Declining
- Alien On Earth
- Mar 19
- 2 min read
Published: March 16, 2025 / 11:55 PDT / Futurism Neoscope
If you’ve felt like people aren’t as sharp as they once were, you might not be imagining it. A growing body of research, as highlighted by the Financial Times, points to a noticeable drop in human intelligence across multiple age groups. Standardized tests reveal struggles with focus, reasoning, problem-solving, and the ability to process information—key markers of what we call “intelligence,” a notoriously tricky concept to pin down.
Studies like the University of Michigan’s Monitoring the Future, which tracks cognitive trends among 18-year-olds in the U.S., show a rise in concentration difficulties. Meanwhile, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), testing 15-year-olds globally, reports weakening skills in learning and critical thinking. The data paints a grim picture: attention spans are shrinking, and the mental agility humans once prided themselves on seems to be slipping away. While the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated this decline—thanks to disrupted schooling and isolation—these patterns predate it, emerging as early as the mid-2010s. Whatever’s driving this, it’s not just a blip tied to lockdowns.
Some argue there’s no evidence our raw intellectual capacity is damaged. Brains aren’t breaking, they say—just underperforming. Yet the Financial Times notes a clear slide in both the potential and practical application of our smarts. Could technology, with its endless distractions, be rewiring us? Or is it something deeper—diet, stress, or even environmental factors? The numbers don’t lie: benchmark scores are trending downward, and it’s not just the kids. Adults, too, are faltering on tasks that once seemed second nature.
This isn’t a call to panic—yet. But it’s hard to ignore the implications. If these trends hold, a future straight out of a dystopian satire might not be so far-fetched. For now, the question lingers: what’s dulling our edge, and can we sharpen it again?
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