How strong are your genes? How smart are you? People have traditionally estimated answers to these questions based on genetic surveys and IQ Tests, which can provide valuable answers, but stop well short of factoring in the system(s) surrounding us.

Right now, we may be on the verge of a perspective shift that will help us to fill in a few more gaps and better our systems definitions. Both human intelligence and evolutionary studies appear poised for a due emphasis shift from reductionism (the focus on individual human agents and single brains) to a more holistic (the focus on large groups and the surrounding bio/info/tech structures) approach.

a new model, which demonstrates that environmental factors play a much larger role in the evolution of cognition than previously thought.

“industrialization’s rising cognitive demands

could in fact be the kind of widespread

changing environmental factor that could account for the higher IQ scores across so many nations.” (cont.)