My point is that there is no reason to suggest people were less intelligent, Einstein is just one of many; Nietzsche, Freud, Edison, Tesla etc. In fact I'd argue that in the late 19th and early 20th century there were a lot more pioneering academics than there are today. I can't find any statistics specific to Germany, but the US census suggest that well over 70% of the population were literate. Given that at the time many people would have little reason to learn how to read/been blocked from learning I don't think this is evidence that they were not as intelligent. In fact the literacy rates in more affluent areas such as New England were over 95%, supporting this theory.Voluptuous Vuckic wrote:Your point is? There have been genius' throughout history who have always helped advancements in their field. It doesn't mean the majority of people were at the same intelligence level as people are today. Many people in the 1930's struggled to read and write so I fail to see how the general intelligence level of back then, could be classed as the same it is today.Pull the Gosling One wrote:
Our individual intelligence is not evolving, only collective intelligence, and this has no bearing on our ability to make individual decisions. Seeing as IQ and fertility appear to be inversely correlated, there is an argument to suggest that we may as a species be losing our natural intelligence, although advances in education, health care and industry are making up for this.
Literacy rates are a better marker for education levels than intelligence anyway, even in 1930s had a very low rate (which they didn't)