Thursday, June 09, 2005
Living in the smartest of times
I'm not gonna get into the whole debate on the Flynn effect (IQ increase over time), especially not now since I've just returned from a Mensa test (not really knowing how I did - if you really care I will let you know when I get the results...)
But, there is something very important in the findings by NYT Magazine's Steven Johnson... For example - TV shows are increasingly intellectually demanding.... Junk culture is obviously more challenging than before - computer games, plots in tv series and movies - all this culture in today's society demands that we are smarter, better trained et cetera, than ever before in the history of humankind...
Johnson takes the argument further in his newly released book Everything Bad is Good for You. And for those of us who enjoyed a good game of Dungeons & Dragons in our early teens, spending entire weekends inside to take on adventure that came to life by the roll of the dice, then the opening pages of the book does clearly give you your money's worth.
The truth, like always - nerds will rule the world. Now more than ever. Junk culture and media hyped events are good for us all.
But, there is something very important in the findings by NYT Magazine's Steven Johnson... For example - TV shows are increasingly intellectually demanding.... Junk culture is obviously more challenging than before - computer games, plots in tv series and movies - all this culture in today's society demands that we are smarter, better trained et cetera, than ever before in the history of humankind...
Johnson takes the argument further in his newly released book Everything Bad is Good for You. And for those of us who enjoyed a good game of Dungeons & Dragons in our early teens, spending entire weekends inside to take on adventure that came to life by the roll of the dice, then the opening pages of the book does clearly give you your money's worth.
The truth, like always - nerds will rule the world. Now more than ever. Junk culture and media hyped events are good for us all.
