cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/16659287
First, you need to understand the factors that contribute to one person being low functioning and another high functioning.
Human health, development, and function are multifactorial: Genetics, epigenetics, microbiome, diet, environmental/industrial pollution, socioeconomic influences, etc.
I have a two-step proposal.
- The first step is to limit the impact of low-functioning individuals. https://www.highiqpro.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/IQ-Bell-Curve.png. Right now society is set up so that society is run by the wealthy and the low functioning majority. This results in these people voting for, and implementing policies that exacerbate the problems instead of fixing them.
- The second step is to take action to raise the level of functioning of the human population. This second part probably takes the most learning for the average person. Most people seem to have a very very poor understanding of human health, development, and function. But I tried to condense it into that one article.
My suggestion for tackling the first step is to implement a cognitive (IQ, EQ, etc.) test for city, state, and federal representatives.
Having an IQ test to vote seems problematic. Firstly because of how things like that were used in the past to disenfranchise certain populations. Secondly, the problem right now is that not enough people vote, and that results in the wealthy controlling the government and laws.
I think a better solution is (at minimum) a cognitive test for anyone running for a government position so that can be factored into people's assessment of them. But possibly that won't be enough and it will be necessary to set some minimum requirements for test results.
This way you don't give the option for dumb people to vote for other dumb people. They only get to choose between two intelligent ones.
Some smart people may be corrupt or sociopathic, so this test should be a full psychological evaluation.
I'm curious if it would be possible to get people like Ibram X. Kendi (who gives an interview here on antiracism, anticapitalism and the eugenicist origins of IQ and SAT tests) to agree on both implementation of this solution and an appropriate IQ/psych test for it. I would base my argument to people like him on this type of data [1][2].
My position is also based on polling data from Australia which showed that a political group that is in the vast minority in most countries is the most intelligent, and largest (percentage-wise) supporters of evidence-based policy and holders of evidence-based beliefs. This coincides with the IQ graph I linked earlier. A cognitive test requirement like this should boost the influence of that party and its supporters.
My suggestions for tackling the second step by making people smarter are in this document (which I haven't updated for years). It's doable via a variety of biological and societal interventions.
The problem again is that it's low-functioning people preventing us from implementing these fixes. Possibly if enough intelligent people understand and agree on these fixes and be vocal enough about implementing them we could get it done.
In my opinion, Fecal Microbiota Transplants (FMT) are one of the most promising aspects of this second step. One problem is the people who qualify to be stool donors appear to be extremely rare. You can read more about the current status of FMT in this blog. If you have the ability to influence or fund clinical trials, read this.
As is, with the health of the population rapidly declining, I feel like I'm living in Idiocracy, and surely collapse will be inevitable if nothing is changed.