The Victorian era was marked by an explosion of innovation and genius, per capita rates of which appear to have declined subsequently. The presence of dysgenic fertility for IQ amongst Western nations, starting in the 19th century, suggests that these trends might be related to declining IQ. This is because high-IQ people are more productive and more creative. We tested the hypothesis that the Victorians were cleverer than modern populations, using high-quality instruments, namely measures of simple visual reaction time in a meta-analytic study.
Really? Reaction time? Seriously, anyone who has tried to swat a fly knows that the fly has faster reaction time than the human swatting him. Yet I doubt that reaction time is indicative of intelligence. But if you want to make an argument that reaction time has increased since Victorian times, I can well believe it. The type of skills required to survive in Victorian time perhaps depended more on reaction time, such as in hunting, or hand-to-hand combat. Modern society does not depend on hunting or hand-to-hand combat as much as in Victorian times. So it is no surprise that evolution has not wasted any effort improving or even maintaining that kind of skill. Instead what is more prized today is thinking in depth, perhaps over years. We certainly
use that kind of intelligence more now than in days gone by.
In short, I am even more disposed to disbelieve the claim as it applies to our present discussion than I was before, having seen the methodology of the support for that claim.
