Humankind in Decline
Humans don’t know what they are doing. You can say we want everybody to be happy, or we want everyone to have long lives and have good health, but what kind of goal is that? That’s the goal of your family dog. ~ Edward O. Wilson
Modern humans evolved through a process of self-domestication, as sociality took the forefront of desired traits. That much of humanity has succumbed to institutionalization is merely a continuation of a trend. Nonetheless, the effect has been a dumbing down of the species.
Modern humans are docile and tolerant, like domesticated species. Our cooperative abilities and pro-social behaviour are key features of our modern cognition. ~ Spanish linguist Cedric Boeckx
Evolution nominally favors the savvy. Via technology and economics humans have largely managed to overcome this evolutionary mandate. Hence civilization, the source of much pride, begat an inexorable decline.
(The winnowing of the dimwitted is not entirely absent. For instance, in the 2nd decade of the 21st century, nitwit American pedestrians increasingly became roadkill: too attuned to their handheld electronic devices to pay attention to where they are. Internal fog also takes its toll: 34% of pedestrian deaths owes to drunkenness and other psycho-pollutants.)
