This is a follow-up to Friday’s column. The FT cannot quite admit that IQ is real. But they nonetheless observe some of the problems attendant to its decline.

This inflection point is noteworthy not only for being similar to performance on tests of intelligence and reasoning but because it coincides with another broader development: our changing relationship with information, available constantly online.

Part of what we’re looking at here is likely a result of the ongoing transition away from text and towards visual media — the shift towards a “post-literate” society spent obsessively on our screens.

The decline of reading is certainly real — in 2022 the share of Americans who reported reading a book in the past year fell below half.

That last part goes along precisely with what Tom Moore observed years ago. And from the perspective of the highly intelligent, digital media makes reading easier not harder. All of this is, of course, such lovely rosy news for an author.