Part 1: Can Technology Make Us Smarter?

Anyone with internet has access to more information than most people did twenty years ago. With Wikipedia and Googlebooks and Youtube, a person can learn just about anything. Anyone with access to a library has access to more information than most people did a hundred years ago.

And we are building on our knowledge of the past. Less than two centuries ago, we were still learning how to harness electricity. Now, forget electric lights, we have compact fluorescents and LCD screens. Technology increases exponentially.

In the face of this information democratization, however, languages disappear because no one is interested in learning them. The same applies to traditional farming and crafts methods. Perhaps the overall amount of knowledge in the world isn't increasing. Maybe the accessibility is increasing but the diversity is decreasing because so many people are looking at the same thing.

Another problem with these lines of reasoning is they examine knowledge and products of knowledge, not intelligence. Having access to greater resources doesn't make a person more intelligent.

Unless the X-Men appear, the human brain doesn't seem to be making any evolutionary progress. We're just standing on the shoulders of giants.