An update of sorts on this week’s column. Joseph Bronski notes the geniuses left in fading Western society are generally shunned by their lower-IQ peers to the detriment of society as a whole.

Two immediate causes suggest themselves: fewer geniuses, and less public willingness to recognize and celebrate genius. Some data support the first hypothesis, at least in so far as general intelligence is declining and having high cognitive ability is a precondition for being a creative genius. However, there are countervailing forces, such as more people and more mobility, which allow people to maximize their potential. Thus, this is likely not the predominant cause. Instead, the more important cause is that we are failing to recognize genius.

Also, pay close attention to the part about purging competence.

Richard Hofstadter once observed the thin difference between intelligence and intellect in his Anti-Intellectualism In American Life. He was somewhat correct about the long-standing suspicions of Americans against the educated academic types. This has continued, being compounded by an outright hostility to V/UHIQs. The process is accelerating and will continue to worsen for the foreseeable future. This means, in addition to lack of advance, there will likely be some form of reversion and societal regression. It’s already observable as it starts. This will be compounded by other related matters. Again, there is no voting this problem away.